In the world of fantasy sports, there is no greater triumph than winning a league championship. Claiming first place brings glory, a year of bragging rights and, if your league has a buy-in, a cash prize. But not all fantasy managers reach that level of success, and the consequences of finishing last can range from humiliation to hypothermia.
While some leagues force losers to take the SAT or take a polar jump, others have gotten a bit more creative. This is how Kevin Ring ended up with a fluorescent pink Ford F150 that declares “I came last in my fantasy league” in a giant white font and features unicorns, rainbows and stars.
Ring’s older brother Jeff and one of his fantasy friends took the truck, which was originally burgundy, to a custom graphics store while he was out of town. Jeff says he requested “a truck that a 6- or 7-year-old girl would be proud to drive.”
His league, which Kevin had been trying to join for 19 years before he was finally admitted, has 12 members and is wildly competitive. It’s also “extremely brutal on the person who comes in last,” says Jeff. “No one can remember who won the title, but everyone can certainly remember who came last.”
A unicorn on the hood of Kevin Ring’s Ford F150, which was covered in bright pink vinyl as punishment for finishing last in his fantasy football league.
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The other 11 members began plotting Kevin’s punishment in a secret group message about a month before the end of the season. It was executed over New Years Eve weekend thanks to a quick job from Ronnie Hatem of Hatem Graphics, who spent all night over the holidays to finish the vinyl wrap before Kevin got home.
The truck has already been around the Rings hometown of Andover, Massachusetts many times and caused a bit of suffocation on social media, but Kevin says driving the vehicle Lisa Frank-style has been “humblingly amazing.”
“People are taking pictures, honking the horn. On the road the other day I got stuck next to a school bus full of children. They were all laughing, pointing, thumbs up, ”he says. “I feel like with fantasy most people play or know someone who plays, so they get it.”
Aaron Ladd, who finished at the bottom of a league made up of college friends, certainly gets it. Although he still swears by his team and yells at Deebo Samuel for helping him get his only three wins of the season, he will attend only one JoJo Siwa concert in February as punishment for losing. Siwa is an 18-year-old pop star best known for her big hair bows, dazzling clothes, and huge fanbase that includes 40 million followers on TikTok.
One of his friends, the league commissioner, faced him in last place. The curator “tried to extend an olive branch” before the confrontation by suggesting that the two go to the show together, since it was inevitable that one of them would end up in the background.
“I basically rejected that, I thought, ‘Dude, I’m not going! You can have fun there, ‘”Ladd laughs. “I was so confident. I was like, ‘My team isn’t that bad. These going! ‘”
Unfortunately for Ladd, his team did not succeed. Now he has to drive two and a half hours from Kansas City to Springfield, Missouri, to keep an eye on Siwa. His league spent his ticket, for which he is “very grateful”, but Ladd has to pay the rest of the bill.
“They said I had to put gas on it, and I’m thinking of getting a hotel room since it’s a driving distance. You know, spend a whole night, ”he says, adding that he could also get a shirt that says“ last place in fantasy football ”to wear to the concert.
There was a common denominator in Ladd and Ring’s futility: They both selected Saquon Barkley in the first round. After the Giants running back suffered an ankle injury, so did the losers’ chances of finishing at the top of their leagues. Ring took his brother’s advice, which he now regrets, and Ladd says he went a bit over the top by playing in three leagues (although he did win his family’s league).
An injured running back was also the downfall of the season for Jonah Javad. He recruited a strong team that included Christian McCaffrey, Lamar Jackson and Leonard Fournette, but eventually limped into last place. As a two-time defending champion, he says he got “a little cocky” and predicted his own triple because he was so happy with his draft. In the end, “the gods of fantasy football had the last laugh.”
They gave him three options for punishment, but he is inclined to record a karaoke album with songs chosen by his teammates in the league.
Assembling a winning fantasy team is a task that may require as much luck as knowledge or analytical experience, but Ring offered some advice to players looking to avoid an unexpected truck makeover next year.
“Don’t trust your brother,” he says. “And don’t come last.”
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.