thnigs that rock: day 9

day 9: fantasy sports (be prepared for a little soap-boxing)

you either love it, or you hate it.

personally, i love it! football is my favorite fantasy sport. not to mention, im really good at managing my team. i dont feel like writing in paragraph form so i will use a more FAQ-style approach.

what are fantasy sports?

fantasy sports are a way of taking an active role as a fan. instead of sitting idly by, watching a sports season fly by, you re-draft an entire sports league (nfl, mlb, nba etc.) and are now a manager and in the driver's seat. you make the call who plays and who doesn't. you may have players from all different teams. it doesnt matter. once you have selected your team, you know use their real-life statistics to determine how good your team is day by day and week by week. you play against other teams and compare their stats to yours. if your team's stats are better, you win! it makes almost every game of a season somehow important.

doesnt this take away from the enjoyment of the game?

absolutely not! it makes you that much more involved. i dont normally care about the toronto blue jays but now that i have a player on their team, im very interested in all their games.

arent fantasy sports ruining sports?

no. sports are ruining sports. it is not by accident that i picked today to run this. i think this whole lebron james thing is a joke. free agency is ridiculous. the money being thrown around is ridiculous. athletes no longer play for the love of the game. they are playing for the money. and thats fine. i dont care. i still like to watch. but why, as a fan, do i have to respect this so-called integrity of the game if the players actually actively participating dont. lock-outs, hold-outs, contract disputes, people switching teams every year for a bigger salary... its a business. they are trying to buy a nicer bentley. cool! great for them. im trying to win a couple hundred bucks in a fantasy league. seems pretty similar. and if it is a business, NOT playing fantasy almost seems like leaving money on the table.

so all in all, fantasy is just a natural extension of sports becoming more about business and less about being just a sport that people live for and love to play. i still root for the redskins. but now i care about a handful of players across the national football league as well. and if the redskins are making $$ of me by charging me $12 for chicken tenders, i feel like i should be able to make some $$ on them in a fantasy league.


lebron, you are a joke and im rooting against you and your little all-star team in miami. and dont play up this crap you took a pay cut to play in miami... youre getting paid $4 million less ($96 milion as opposed to $100 million... boo hoo) and you probably have some ridiculous endorsement deal in miami waiting for you... even if you do win, you needed an all-star team at your side to do it. mj's legacy as the greatest ever is safe thanks to your insecurities about not having a ring.


i will now put my soap box away.