Sign up by Sept. 8 to play NFL survivor: a fun way to give back

For the past several years, Academic Dean Leanne Bennett has run an NFL survivor pool, largely as “an excuse to extend my football obsession well beyond what is probably reasonable,” she says.

This year, Leanne would like to extend the invitation to the Dawson community as a way to have fun and support the Dawson Food Bank.

Here’s Leanne’s invitation to you:

I thought it would be fun to open up the pool to the college community – and, importantly, continue to do what we’ve always done: supporting the Dawson Food Bank with the proceeds.

The concept is simple, pick a team each week, hopefully they win, and try to survive the season. There will be football, there will be questionable decisions, there will be last-minute panic, and there will almost certainly be at least one moment when you wonder why you trusted your team the team you picked.

You do not need to know anything about football to participate. Some people study injuries, matchups, and defensive schemes. Others picked based on colours. Some go with their favourite team some choose the best mascot, and some employ the highly sophisticated strategy “It’s Birds Week, so I’m going with the Eagles.”

All approaches are equally valid. Probably.

The pool is simply a fun way to bring a little football into the fall and give us something to cheer about (or commiserate over), and raise money for the Dawson Food Bank. Half the proceeds will go directly to the Dawson Food Bank as they have in previous years.

And there’s absolutely no obligation to participate. If football isn’t your thing – or you already have enough uncertainty in your life without trusting your fate to a quarterback on a Sunday afternoon – there’s no pressure whatsoever.

But if you’re interested, come join in. You might know everything about football, absolutely nothing about football or simply enjoy making wildly confident predictions with very little evidence. If you’re interested, please contact me lbennett@dawsoncollege.qc.ca before Tuesday, Sept. 8 and I will send you the rules.

Football is the excuse. The Dawson Food Bank is the cause, and fun is hopefully the inevitable result!