Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
This time of year, students will be preparing to go back to school and America will be preparing for our new favorite pastime. In sports bars, living rooms, and Internet sites around America, men and women of all ages will be building up their hopes and dreams for the upcoming season. Articles will be read, magazines will be purchased, and strategies will be practiced in mock draft lobbies on various websites. ‘Wait, I thought we were talking about baseball or football! You know, America’s pastime?’ Not anymore! Fantasy football is the new favorite pastime in 21st century America.
Years ago, sports fans would read about what new free agents or draft picks their favorite team got over the past offseason. These fans could tell you every player on their favorite team’s roster as well as who was their favorite player and who was a player that ‘couldn’t hit sand if they fell off of a camel!’ Today, fantasy football fans are the exact same way, except many of their rosters (in non-keeper leagues) change from season to season. I know that when I draft, if a player burned me the season before, I will never draft him again (cough cough Philip Rivers), but if a player has helped me have a successful season (thank you Mr. A.J. Green), then I will more than likely try to get them on my team every chance I get.
Also, a new phenomenon has been created by fantasy football: Fans cheering for players who are playing against their favorite teams because it will greatly affect their fantasy football team. For example, I know someone that I work with who went to a Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens game in Pittsburgh. This co-worker and her husband are HUGE Steelers fans. Now common sense would tell you that a Steelers fan rooting for anything a Ravens player does that is good for the Ravens is blasphemy in Pittsburgh. However, every time then Ravens’ kicker, Billy Cundiff, made an extra point or a field goal, this co-worker would cheer. When asked, “Why are you clapping for a Raven? What is wrong with you?” my co-worker replied, “Because he is on my FANTASY TEAM!” This is something that would never have happened 20 years ago.
Fantasy football may be making many of us “bad” fans for our teams, but it is doing wonders for the NFL itself. Compared to 20 years ago, more people today know about players on other teams than they did then. Some great examples of this are fan participation or lack thereof in attending live games to fans purchasing the NFL Sunday Ticket or the NFL Red Zone package. When you attend a game, you do not get up to date stats about players in the league. You only get to see the game you are at and may miss some of the next or prior games going on in the league. However, with the NFL Sunday Ticket and the NFL Red Zone, I can stay at home and watch everything I need to know about my fantasy team and watch whichever game I want to no matter where I live. This is making many fans experts on players but not exactly experts on their favorite teams. You will have many fans telling you how Adrian Peterson did on a particular Sunday, but ask that same fan how the Minnesota Vikings did and more than likely they will have no clue!
In this age of technology, everything is changing so fast that we are all racing to catch up to it. But, in sports bars, living rooms, and websites all over the United States, the American tradition of trash talking is alive and well. It may not be the traditional, “Hey man, how bad are those Cleveland Browns going to be this year?” Instead, you will hear, “Wait until you see what my picks are going to be, your team will have no chance this year” showing that we still love a healthy competition, we have simply moved the competition from the football field to our laptops and draft boards.
Dom DeCarlo is a Fantasy blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him @DomDecarlo1, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
