So you know someone who has never played fantasy football? I challenge you, “How can that be?” The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates that more than 30 million people play fantasy football annually. Well, I should be factually accurate here; the statistic is that more than 30 million persons age 12 and up play fantasy football annually.

We definitely wouldn’t want to include those countless elementary kids out on the playground, discussing waiver wire claims, and discussing trading their PB&J sandwiches and a second round pick in next year’s draft for Alshon Jeffery. But I will heartily give their parents a virtual high-five for starting these kids off on the right foot in life. You know the old adage about training up a child.

But let’s just got out on a limb and assume you’d like to introduce one of these societal outcasts to the greatest thing since the microwave oven. That’s fantasy football, by the way. Yeah, you’d like to introduce them to the wonderful sport of managing a fake football team.

So what are your selling points? Why convince others to spend hundreds of maddening hours on drafting a fake team, setting a fake lineup and fantasy waiver block decision-making? Here are 10 easily explainable reasons to convince unsuspecting friends, colleagues and family—yes, most of all, your family— to join the revolution.

10. Couch Potato

Assuming you’re asking an actual football fan to play fake football with you, they likely watch football as it is. Now, thanks to fantasy football, you don’t have to apologize for literally being a lazy ass. In fact, it’s encouraged in fantasy football. Watch as much football as possible. As often as possible. Owning your own fantasy football provides a legitimate reason to sit in front a big screen television on your sofa for 12 consecutive hours every given Sunday. You could also opt for watching game after game after game at the local sports bar. As a stock broker would, consider this your own personal research time or tracking your investments. And besides, there’s often money on the line. Speaking of …

9. Get Rich Quick

“Just think of all the money you could win!” This may actually be the top selling point to make, since it sounds so easily attainable and yet doesn’t really happen quite so effortlessly. Reference that guy who won $150 the first time he ever played in your league a dozen years back. You could even give a shout out to the non-sportsminded female who joined your league last year because the league needed another warm body, and her boyfriend’s friends thought she was easy pickings. Oh yeah, and she won the $500 cash prize. It could happen. Yeah, and we’ve all also heard of the fashion designer who won the work office pool in March, due to picking teams according to their team colors. So, yeah, it could happen.

8. Whole New Ballgame

Just when you think you’ve got this whole football thing figured out, along comes the fantasy iteration of the game you know and love. So, let’s say the Packers are putting the finishing touches on a victory over the Lions by simply running out the clock in the closing minutes of a wee 15 meaningless game. Not so fast, my new fake football playing friend. Just because real football tells us the game is over, the fantasy game is far from over. Will Eddie Lacy rush for another 13 yards, to get me to 100 for the game, for that rushing bonus? God forbid the Pack has to go into kneel-down mode, and Aaron Rodgers loses two or three rushing yards from his current total of 11! Drama abounds in boring, inconsequential end of the year games. Not as much drama as a day with those Real Housewives of Atlanta, but drama nonetheless. 

7. Identity Crisis

As a fantasy football team owner, one of the first rites of passage when I started was picking a representative, yet distinguishable team name. You can start fresh, assigning your team’s personality however you choose. This, honestly, is a top of the line perk to playing fake football. Moved from the deep south to the northeast, and want to stake a claim with a local team? Then be the Book of Eli, after a certain quarterback in New York. Bring out the creative, right-brain, visionary side of your football bad self. Are you a Steelers fan, feeling nostalgic? Then choose a classic name like the Steel Curtains. A girl friend of mine proclaimed her love of football as well as her assets by naming her team Cleats and Cleavage. What if you love Dez Bryant and Quentin Tarantino films? Go for something like the Dezevoir Dogs. Bottom line here, go for originality and freedom.   

6. Junkie

Are you an adrenaline junkie? You bungee jump, or take those test spins around speed tracks in racecars? Do you ski the black slopes? Eat chili peppers in a single bite? Tear off the tags of mattresses? You ARE daring, my friend. Do we have the game for you! Your heart will pound as you make that late decision whether to sit Reggie Bush, since your hunch tells you he may not get the carries on real grass with bad weather conditions expected. You’ll savor the thrill of juggling your lineup at 11:55AM on Sunday morning, after hearing that Matt Ryan tweaked his hamstring in warm-ups. We know who you are. You won’t even need extra coffee for this.

5. Bye Weeks Go Bye Bye

For real football only fans, a bye week for your team represents a day off, a vacation, or completing the ‘honey-do’ list. For fantasy players, there is no vacation. We sweat, and plan and grind our options in the ground. And bye weeks mean even more so. If Adrian Peterson is on bye during week 10, you must be strategizing weeks prior to find a replacement. Will you have to drop that fifth wide receiver or the backup tight end? Oh no, Vernon Davis is also on a bye that week, so it looks like the receiver will hit the waiver wire. Sayonara, Brian Hartline; it’s been a fun ride. I hope you’ll be available on the wire next week.

4. Who Do You Love?  

So you love the sport of football, that’s a given. You know with certainty your favorite team is the Vikings—your dad grew up a Purple People Eater fan back in the 1970’s, and you love the talent and leadership of young guys like Russell Wilson. Here’s an opportunity to become a new fan of individual players and even a different team in a whole new way. When I first began playing fantasy football, I pretty much had my teams that I followed. I even had unwritten lists of the teams I loathed as well as players I wanted to lose, no matter what. I subconsciously would have rather watched Olympic curling than rooted for them. A dozen years later, there’ve been seasons I actually cheered for Jay Cutler and Santonio Holmes. In truth, I know more about Rod Streater and Delanie Walker than I ever imagined I could. Now, don’t ask me if that’s a good thing.

3. Fantasy Draft

Though similar to a well-run Super Bowl party or the opening weekend of March Madness, a fantasy football draft party is like none other in terms of fun, food and uber fandom. You and your buddies get to hang out with appropriate party snacks and beverages, practice your latest trash talk, then repeat for hours. As long as the 16 round affair lasts, or until the last Natty Light is gone. Your heart races with anticipation. Will Matt Forte still be there for you at the fourth draft spot? Will you get Calvin Johnson or Josh Gordon? Who will snag Seattle’s defense early enough to set off a run of defenses picked far too early? Who will be the first owner to pick a receiver who tore his ACL in training camp? He is definitely the one on whom to lay the latest smack.

2. The Thrill of Victory

Who doesn’t want to rule the roost, to be king of the hill, to play first fiddle, be second to none, to wear the pants? Wait, I’m pretty sure we all want the other league owners to wear pants, if we’re speaking literally here. Unless, of course, it’s this coed league I’m in, where some of the females wear yoga pants. The ultimate bragging rights were worth the price of admission, in those first leagues I ever joined. Even when money isn’t involved, I can think of little else more enjoyable than being able to gloat over a buddy. “Yeah, I’m the MAN! What? Of course I knew Marvin Jones would score four touchdowns this week. Chump.”

1. You Had Me at Football

Finally, I don’t really want to but I’m ending this list like the disappointing romantic comedy, Hall Pass. The movie wasn’t awful—love me some Owen Wilson—but, oh, those expectations. You know what I’m referring to. The trailer promised a goodly amount of sexual innuendos, drinking games and just the right amount of crass humor. But then the movie came to a close, and dang if it didn’t bring a tear to my eye with its doggone “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” message.

In that same vein, this list has been fun and, admittedly, a bit goofball. But if truth be told, the best part about playing fantasy football is the friendships forged. I’ve been in one 12-team league for over 10 years now, and nine of the original players still get together for the draft, a couple of watch parties each year and plenty of chatter. We’ve seen guys get married, divorced, have kids, lose jobs and hit on cute barmaids while drunk. Not all in that order, of course. I imagine we know things about one another that we shouldn’t, or no one else should. Hey, maybe there’s the next branding idea. “What happens in Fantasy Football, stays in Fantasy Football.” But then Las Vegas or someone will steal the idea for their own brand.