A Football Fantasy
When the NFL lockout was going on, numerous calls were made to sports talk radio and many articles were written in Newspapers all over the US and the world. But why? Were these articles written because people would miss the excitement of the most popular game in America , or was it the fact that these same callers and writers would not be able to play fantasy football? Most likely it was the later, as over 25 million people in North America play fantasy football, making it the most popular fantasy sport of all.
What has happened to fantasy football over the years? I remember “back in the day” sitting in a room with 5 friends, drafting and looking up results in the newspaper to see who won for the week. The next league I joined was a 40 team league, 4 divisions, a playoff system more complex than the NFL and the draft was held at a Moose Lodge in Massachusetts . And now 10 years later I am set to draft again. Changes, I would say. I am in a league with guys from Gibraltar , Israel and the US . We will draft online through ESPN. Most of the guys in the league I have never met and probably never will.
So why play? Why do so many people all over the world enter in to this world of Fantasy Football? Some get involved for the gambling aspect, they put-up money and hope their team makes it far enough to get paid. Not me! I am in a free league. Some play to hang out with friends at a draft or a way to bond for 17 weeks with old friends that they rarely see, not me I don’t even know half the guys in my league. I play to make the Brown-Bengals games interesting. Can I get excited over the Raiders playing the Seahawks? Usually not, but if I have Darren McFadden or Tarvaris Jackson, I may watch to see how this meaningless game helps my fantasy football team.
The negative aspect of fantasy football is obvious, work productivity drops as men and women all over the world spend countless hours of “work time” making fantasy decisions. On aver a fantasy player spends over 9 hours a week of work time making fantasy decisions, costing employers millions if not billions of dollars a year. Who to start, who to sit, who is the free agent that has slipped through the cracks, should I approve a trade and other nonsense that we all become wrapped up in. This is not to mention rooting for a team you cannot stand just because you happen to have player on your fantasy team. I can’t wait to see all those Redskin fans rooting for Dez Bryant as he trots down the field and helps their fantasy team as he kills their beloved Skins, or the J-ET-S fans rooting for Tom Brady as he cuts through the vaunted Jet defense.
The bottom line with Fantasy Football is it is here to stay so if you have not done so already, time to embrace. There are free online leagues through ESPN, Yahoo and others. If you want to make it more personal, get some friends together and have a draft of your own. Trust me you will thank me when you look up and the Carolina Panthers are playing the Arizona Cardinals in week 1.
