It's that time of year again- School starting, summer fading to fall, and of course, football season. Tonight marks the first game of the NFL season when the defending Super Bowl Champion Packers play the Saints.
Fantasy football is more popular than ever, with millions of avid users playing every Sunday. I am one of those crazy fans who participates in fantasy football, which allows you to create a "fantasy" team with your favorite players. You earn points based on scoring, yards per game, defense, and so on. Esentially, fantasy football gives you a feeling of having power and impressing all the other fantasy players of the world, which truly never actually happens. But we can dream, right?
A big question as of late is, have NFL players had enough of fantasy football? This came into question when Texans running back Arian Foster (who had been recently injured) tweeted: "4 those sincerely concerned, I'm doing ok & plan 2 B back by opening day. 4 those worried abt your fantasy team, u ppl are sick."
Players are resorting to social media to express their disapproval with fantasy football. Last year when a player decided to down the ball rather than score a touchdown, there was pure outrage in the fantasy community. What did the player use to defend himself? Social media, of course.
My point (and I do have one) is that we get so caught up in this make believe world, that sometimes we forget that these players are actually human. There is more to life than beating people that you will never meet in a meaningless fantasy game. This goes for any kind of online game or activity. We need to keep a firm grip on reality before we are sucked into the "fantasy" world.
Great Great points about fantasy football. I think that it is funny how the player responded that people are sick for caring about their scores more than the individual. I also think that fantasy football is a great example of how technology is created a sense of augmented reality. There is almost a world within a world that all of us belong to. In this case fantasy football is only scratching the surface but one day I am sure you could partake in an online virtual reality NFL draft. It would be 3D and feel life-like. Now I know that this is far out, but in reality there are sites right now where you can essentially have an avatar that you can roam around a virtual world with and connect with real people. I am just expanding a little on what you wrote but it is incredible to see how the world is evolving.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I have done quite well in the past with fantasy football, which was all the luck of a weekend of research in a magazine and no ability to change any of my players...which in the end got me a good score for the year. I never knew that NFL players did not care for the fantasy league, although I do understand much more now that I have read your blog. Thank-you- I will be checking these out!
ReplyDeleteI play in four fantasy football leagues and three baseball leagues. I love it and I use it to get to know the players better. I got my father-in-law in several leagues and we know have another thing in common to talk about. He has told me that he didn't know hardly any of the players in the National League in baseball because he follows the Twins(who are in the American League). Now he know a lot more, because of playing in fantasy leagues.
ReplyDeleteWe are fans, we buy the tickets, we buy the jerseys and if I want to complain about a player downing the ball, I feel I have the right. Even if that said player wasn't on my fantasy team. As a fans, we pay the crazy salaries of these players by filling the seats in the stadiums. I strongly believe that fantasy sports has helped these sports blow up into what they are now and that we as fans have the right to say and feel what we want.