Losing interest in my fantasy football team midway through the season: It’s as inevitable as a final exam on the last day possible, guaranteed like streakers on a Friday night, as inescapable as death and taxes.
It just happens. Every year. In every fantasy sport I play.
I have it down to a science now. Phase one: draft a team, get excited about an electronic hoax that makes you feel like you are in control of something real. Phase two: pay attention to your players, check injury updates, stare at your computer screen for hours trying to decide whether to start Tony Romo or Vince Young. Phase three: start to get interested in other things that are much more important, real and that actually have some bearing on your everyday life. Phase four: forget that your starting quarterback and running back have byes, lose by an ungodly amount. Phase five: give up hope and neglect to check your team for the following 12 weeks.
And so, with that pattern in mind, I figured it was time to remove myself from the vicious cycle that has held me in its grip for the past eight years.
Now, with that behind me, it’s clear just how harebrained, frivolous and inane the whole idea of fantasy sports is.
It is a mindless activity that, in many cases, takes your money for something as uninteresting as “up-to-date stats.” How fun.
Fantasy football players will tell you the biggest benefit to participating is that it forces you to pay attention to the teams, players, injury reports and more. All of a sudden you find yourself grossly interested in the Cleveland Browns’ season because you have their defense.
Well, if being tricked into following a team is something that interests you, then by all means pursue it.
An advocate of the game might say it’s fun to play the role of the general manager and coach, getting to decide who plays from day to day and trying to put together the best combination of players possible. That makes sense to some extent, but what would make the whole process much more realistic would be to add the dimension of a salary for the players you get, and a salary cap for your team as a whole, which most fantasy leagues don’t offer. That’s the big thing with being a GM — evaluating a player involves looking at more than just his stats. It also requires looking at how much he’s getting paid.
But the thing that irks me about fantasy sports the most is that, on the whole, it appeals to just one demographic: white, middle and upper-class males. According to ESPN sports analyst Stephen A. Smith, 96 percent of participants are men and 95 percent are white.
After realizing the demographics of the fantasy owners, it’s painfully evident just how much of a gimmick it is. Fantasy sports sites are playing on the interests of those who have high-speed Internet, work in an office and need something to talk to their colleagues about at the coffee machine. And, even if you don’t pay for your fantasy league or purchase stat tracking devices, you are still a sitting duck for marketing schemes. You are also the bait used by the site to attract advertisements. If you go to a fantasy sports site and look at the ads, it becomes painfully obvious that those companies know exactly the demographic browsing the site. You find yourself inundated with more commercial products, paying in other ways for a game that offers little to no benefit.
All of a sudden, the fantasy land of mock drafts and mock trades becomes as much of a ruse as $5 sodas at the ballpark and $150 jerseys of your favorite player. It becomes clear that the fantasy player is less of a player and more of a consumer. He (and 4 percent of the time, she) is used as an attraction for advertising money.
And, while this is no different than a lot of consumer products, it is important that the fantasy player at least sees what’s going on: The fantasy players, not the players on their “team,” are the ones who are getting played.
Read More
Virginia men’s golf loses in final match after historic run at NCAA Championship
By Ben McNiff | 2 days agoVirginia made history, and then some more, before falling in the final.
Virginia baseball excluded from NCAA Tournament
By Xander Tilock | 4 days agoThe Cavaliers' season is over.
Scott Stadium selected to host 2026 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships
By Michael Liebermann | 6 days agoThe biggest event on the college lacrosse calendar will unfold on Grounds.
