I received an email on Friday that did nothing more than confirm my belief that the world is quickly spinning to an end.

The email was a pitch for the start-up of a Celebrity Fantasy Draft. Yep, you heard me right….the insanely popular sports fantasy leagues – i.e. football, baseball and stock car racing – have kicked the door wide open for those looking to ride those coattails.

Billing itself as “an interesting and fun concept for people who are not interested in participation in sports fantasy teams, but who enjoy the social interaction of being in a league and who like to follow celebrities and their latest news,” Celebrity Fantasy Draft players scan the pages of three national magazines: People, Us Weekly, and InTouch each week to draft super teams of celebrities.

Here’s how it works: a League Director logs on to www.celebrityfantasydraft.com. Each league’s first season is free, and each season thereafter is $20 per league. The Director creates a league profile, and emails invitations to his or her friends. Leagues can range from 2-20 people.

Each league holds a draft party, and initiates their own pool if they so choose. Each player within the league drafts a team containing five women, four men, one child under 13 years, and two alternates. Celebrities can only be drafted once in each league.

Points are accumulated each week to those celebrities pictured in People, InTouch and Us Weekly magazines. Points are allotted based on celebrities’ life events (pregnancy, engagements, arrests, etc.), and the number of times their pictures are featured within each magazine’s regular sections, with points differing based on section.

Each Monday, leagues receive an email routing them to weekly results, and each player’s standings within the league, thus prompting “smack talk” among the participants.

Winners are announced after each two-month season. When the season is over, league directors can set a new draft and play again.

I guess if I were to compete, I’d rank my top celebs on their level of controversy…in other words, the more they stay in trouble, the better chance they have in landing a spot on my team.

Here’s my list of fantasy celebs:

Lindsay Lohan…we loved her in the remake of the classic “Love Bug.” It all went downhill after that.

Shannen Doherty, don’t let that innocent look fool ya.

Taylor Momsen, an 18-year-old rocker whose on-stage antics, including flashing her bare chest, makes Alice Cooper look like a choir boy.

The legendary “bad girl” Courtney Love….she’s so bad that her daughter filed a restraining order to keep her mom at bay.

Lady Gaga…no need for an explanation.

Charlie Sheen….what comes up, comes out. This guy is a train wreck that did happen. But to the guy’s credit, after all the tirades, drugs, alcohol and rehab, he lands back on his feet with a new TV contract worth a cool $1.8 million per episode. He and Lindsay Lohan are the celebrities gone bad equivalent to NFL quarterback Tom Brady within a fantasy league setting.

Christian Bale….a loudmouth, on the movie set and off.

Kanye West…hands down he earns the title “Mr. Obnoxious.”

Russell Brand…on the plus side he did marry Katy Perry, but, low and behold he’s still Russell Brand.

Isabella Acres, at age 11 this Atlanta native has already logged a lot of hours in front of a camera, included TV roles in Better Off Ted and three episodes of Desperate Housewives. Additionally she has been in 18 movies, including two by the age of five.

On the other hand I think I’ll just stick with Fantasy Football!

 

Cal Bryant is Editor of Roanoke-Chowan Publications. He can be contacted at cal.bryant@r-cnews.com or 252-332-7207.