Is Fantasy Football the root of all evil? Do you play? Why?
I don't get why folks do this, I have to admit. I believe in watching real football, like the Bears themselves, and rooting for that team. I will admit that FF is one step above the American League, but I'm not sure that is good news.
See Randy Youngman's article in The Orange County Register (HT: OY):
I hate fantasy football.
Fantasy football is out of control.
Fantasy football is the root of all evil....
When your fantasy team becomes more important than your favorite real team, you often find yourself watching as many games as you can, sometimes simultaneously --- or going to Internet sites -- to track your players' stats instead of, say, watching the Chargers game from start to finish. Several of my friends who are in FF leagues admit this.
I once went to a buddy's house to watch a Bears game, and all he did was change DirecTV channels every minute or two to check up on players on his fantasy team. It was infuriating. Last time I watched a game with him, too.
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I agree with the guy who said, "If I can't have the Incredible Hulk on my team, then what's the point of fantasy football!"
I completely don't understand the appeal of fantasy sports. For me, good sports is good narrative; a good game is a good story. Fantasy sports totally removes the story and makes sports simply an accumulation of numbers, which when isolated often have little to do with the outcome of an actual sports contest.
How about fantasy church? You get to draft local churches, pastors, teachers, denominations, parachurch organizations, and seminaries. You get points for conversions, baptisms, funds raised, theological arguments won, worship band volume, and poignant illustrations.
Fantasy Football makes watching pro-football fun and more interesting. I am a Patriots fan and I will never cheer for the Jets or for any person playing my boys.
A person who keeps flipping channels has issues and probably never wins his league but thinks that doing this will give himself some great insight while still loosing his league.
Scot give it a try and suddenly the other 15 games a week will have meaning to you outside of your Bears game.
I am a HUGE FF fan. It is where my generation is heading imho.
1. I've moved around a ton since birth. I've lived in 6 different states and 10 different cities in those states. Growing up I didn't have an NFL team near my city (they had absconded to Indianapolis in a Mayflower truck on a snowy day in February.) I don't have a "favorite" NFL team that I live and die with.
2. I love football. I love watching the games. I love seeing tremendous plays. This allows me to have an interest in many different games. It is great fun watching one game, following my stat tracker, and flipping over to another. I naturally multi-task (really I'm not just saying that I multi-task) so this is a normal thing for me.
3. The camaraderie is great. I have one league every year with a bunch of fellow ministers I know. We are all over the US and this is one way we can blow off steam, fellowship, and edify (through trash talking) each other. Also in my ministry we hold a FF schedule in our ministry area. We have a big draft party and enjoy some terrific fun.
4. It has helped me better understand football. Honestly it has. I can see the importance of a certain kind of play. It is maddening to see a defensive struggle sometimes but then you can see how the guys in the trenches are the line of demarcation between greatness and mediocrity.
Is FF an "evil." Nope, but neither is money...it is the obsessive love of money that is. Honestly I think this is where a lot of people will be heading from my generation with sports. We are a nomadic people who go from place to place because of our interconnectedness. How rare is it to be born, grow up, live, and die within 5-10 miles like they did in Christ's time? It doesn't really happen.
But I digress...
peace, love, and keep Jesus First!
I wrote this to be dryly humorous, if it's not, I apologize.
Fantasy Football enables you to truly understand the story of football. Many people, instead of taking the longer more rewarding path of watching football as epic story want a shortcut. They want to get the benefit of the story of football without putting in the hard work of watching 4-8 games per weekend (depending on the number of TVs available). Just as shortcuts in reading the Bible affect our spiritual health, shortcuts in watching football affect our football health.
Shortcut 1: Officials to be argued with
Some people see football as a series of controversial decisions which must be contested from their living room couch. This person thinks they know the rules of football better than the officials and they need everyone to know it. This person can become pompous, self-righteous, and accusatory. Sometimes they become resentful that others haven't caught up to their level of football knowledge.
Shortcut 2: Morsels of Blessing and Promise
Some people ignore football altogether until a local team starts succeeding and then they jump on the bandwagon. They pick and choose when they are a fan; they may even jump from team to team riding the wave of whoever is successful and disregarding the rivalries intrinsic to the game. Because these people are looking for morsels of success, and avoid the ups and downs, the pains and sorrows, they miss out on the blessing that is football. The blessings and promises of football emerge from living out the overall story of football.
Shortcut 3: Mirrors and Inkblots
Some people project onto football what they want to see. In the pre-season everyone thinks they’re a Super Bowl contender. We project onto our favorite team what we want to see; when it does not work out we blame it on the refs, the injuries, and that one unlucky bounce of the ball. Instead of being swept up into the story of football these fans sweep football up into their own story; football becomes an opportunity for narcissism.
Shortcut 4: Puzzling Together the Pieces
For some football is like a big puzzle. Once you’ve got the puzzle solved you go to Vegas and stake your fortune. For these people I would just like to say that the Gambler’s Anonymous national help-line is 888-424-3577. Call it.
Shortcut 5: Maestros
Some people go to football to watch the story of THEIR team. Depending on the time or place we are born into we select one team over another and assert that this is THE true, right, and good team. All other teams are weak, misguided, potentially evil, and destined for failure. Unfortunately, seeing football through only one team’s eyes gives us only one chapter in the story of football.
Fantasy football allows us to develop “Magic Eyes” and be drawn into the full, multi-chaptered story of football. Watching the story of football through fantasy football gives us a context within which to enjoy the artistry of players regardless of team. It allows us to appreciate the part of the story made up by each individual team, and each individual player. These are in fact wiki-stories. On any given Sunday, football stars will be brought low and unknown players will achieve amazing acts. None of these individual wiki-stories is final; none of them is comprehensive; none of them is absolute; none of them is exhaustive. Each of them tells A story of football; but it takes all these stories put together to see THE story of football. This is what fantasy football does; it enables us to see the overarching story of football.
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