By now everyone has heard of the craze that is fantasy football. Fantasy football is for crazy sport nuts who dream of running their own team. It's a very simple system. Every NFL player gets put into a pool, then each member/team of the league selects a player to put on their own team. You end up being able to have several different players from different NFL teams.
The way your team scores points is by converting the real stats that your players compile every Sunday, and turning them into fantasy points. Say you have a running back who runs for 76 yards and 2 touchdowns, then he scored 15 points for you. 6 points for each touchdown, and 1 point for every 20 rushing yard. .
Here is why fantasy football has ruined the way I watch my favorite team. I have a really good shot of winning my league this year, and I don't have a single Seahawk on my roster. My biggest competitor has Julius Jones, the Seahawks running back. I've gone from watching the Seahawks, hoping they win any way possible, to hoping they win without Jones having a big day. I also have Larry Fitzgerald, a great wide receiver who puts up huge numbers. Unfortunately he plays the Seahawks twice a year since he's a divisional opponent. When the Hawks play the Cardinals, Fitzgerald's team, I have to wish for a 48-45 thriller in which the Seahawks win, and Fitzgerald catches 2 touchdowns for a 100 yards.
I shouldn't be hoping that the opposing team plays well. In fact I should be hoping for a 48-0 drumming, but things have changed since fantasy football has arrived. The Seahawks used to be the most important team to me, but now my fantasy team is the most important team to me. I actually have money and time invested into this team. I put more thought into my fantasy team, my reputation is on the line.
There are some good things about fantasy football. I have never followed the league so closely as I have now. Obscure, unknown, and unproven players with huge upside are now the biggest part of conversations among my friend and me. I now follow every game around the league, and I can tell you which teams are actually good, and which teams just hope to be good. You learn what young talent is on the rise and which all-pros seem to be losing their edge. You even learn to look beyond the stats. Lots of stats are products of the system that the players play in. This is often why statistically monsters in college never seem to pan out in the pros. Statistical monsters for one team, may not work for another team. Examples of this is every running back for Denver since Terrel Davis. Mike Shanahan has the system in place to have runners go for big numbers for cheap money. Those players then think they deserve a lot of money, some other team foolishly picks them up, and the player is never heard of again i.e. Ruben Droughns, Olandis Gary, and Tatum Bell. These guys will end being drafted in a fantasy league, and the person who drafted them has to deal with the trash talk that follows a lousy pick.
Another problem is that you begin to think good fantasy players will pan out to good real life players. An example was the old Kurt Warner. He has great fantasy numbers. He throws for lots of touchdowns and yards. The problem however is that can't take care of the football. He throws too many interceptions, and fumbles the ball too often. Turnovers in a real NFL game hurt a lot more than turnovers for fantasy reasons. In fantasy, a turnover from your QB doesn't give your fantasy opponents opportunities to score, but in real life they do.
Although fantasy football has changed the way that I watch football, I will participate until I die. I am willing to sacrifice how I root for games. I still want my Seahawks to win first and foremost, but now I can appreciate a little bit more when their opponents do well. Watching Fitzgerald score a touchdown in the 4th quarter with the Hawks up 14 wont be as painful anymore.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment