Why This Fan Will Never Play Fantasy Football
Playing fantasy football has become a national phenomenon that has allowed many football fans to experience the game in a different way. Now regular fans turn themselves into general managers overnight and live out their NFL draft war room fantasies. Picture this, every August a group of grown men and women get together and host fantasy football draft parties. The goal: to draft the best collection of professional football players who can score enough points each week to give players the title “fantasy football guru.” Major platforms like Yahoo offer free fantasy football leagues. However, the stakes are even higher with the inevitable advent of fantasy football leagues that offer weekly payouts. All of a sudden, fantasy football for some has become another form of addiction.
I have many reasons why playing fantasy football does not appeal to me. First of all, I am a card-carrying New York Giants fan. This means that I root for players on the New York Giants. Except for a few rare exceptions (Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, and Calvin Johnson come to mind) I refuse to root for players who are not members of Big Blue. Do you think I would EVER draft a member of the Dallas Cowboys, even if a stud wide receiver like Dez Bryant is available? Chip Kelly may have the Eagles offense taking flight, but I hope the Eagles defense is always out-of-sync. You will not see a Pittsburgh Steelers running back on my football wish list. I hope by now you realize that this is one New York Giants fan whose fantasy football team consists of� New York Giants.
Fantasy football can easily become a full-time job during the football season. After you choose your team, you have to keep track of stats every week. You also have to keep track of the other players in your fantasy league. What happens if a player on your team gets injured? Then you have to sit that player, insert a new player, or maybe even pick someone up off the waiver wire. What happens if your fantasy football running back is playing against the best defense in the league next week? Fantasy football players have to decide whether or not to start that running back or put in their backup who is playing the Jaguars. I’m sorry! This is too much work for a football fan like me. In my opinion, it takes a lot of the fun out of watching football. All I want to know is who won, a few statistics, the current standings, and what teams play next week.
The fact that many fantasy football platforms are offering cash payouts has added the element of gambling to the fantasy football craze. Now your fantasy football “team” has to perform. They have to score points for you and avoid injury all so a fantasy player has the opportunity to make some money! Are you serious? Football is not just a game to the players on the field; it is their livelihood. This means that they have to perform for their team and to keep their job. This doesn’t sound like a fantasty to me! In contrast, the fantasy football player can simply go back to the drawing board and find a new player. On top of that, many fantasy football players take it to a new level when they get upset if they are players do not score for them. God forbid that any of these keyboard warriors take their grievances out on real players (remember the Brandon Jacobs incident).
These are only a few reasons why fantasy football is great for some football fans, but not this one. You can keep the fantasy football while I keep what is real. Surely there must be a few hard-core football fans left who agree.
