Fantasy sports: 'Worst trend of the last three decades'

He's not.

 

Know what's a trend?

The run and shoot.

The Wildcat.

Moneyball.

That grab and clutch defense in hockey.

Fantasy sports are not a trend. That writer is clearly out of touch.

 

Most unintentionally ironic post of the century.

 

To me, the worst part of fantasy sports is that it has made people shitty fans.

Some examples:

- Your favorite team scored but you're upset player A got a touchdown instead of player B, who is in your starting lineup.

- Instead of having your team pull a shutout, you'd rather have the opposing RB, who happens to be in your starting lineup, have a great game and your team still win.

- Cheering for a hated rival just because one of their players is your weekly flex.

If you're playing for money, I understand the frustration and obsession. If you're playing with friends/for bragging rights, this way of thinking is incredibly lame, IMO.

 

See, I think the opposite.

I think fantasy sports has turned idiot fans into rational observers. And that's better.

 

I think you're both right. Fantasy football helps a lot more people have a greater (statistical, at least) knowledge of the game, but it also makes them act in ways others like Trey don't particularly care for as the fantasy team becomes the priority.

 

Agreed. It's made fans more knowledgeable of the game. I never understood the importance of WHIP or OPS before I started playing fantasy baseball.

Also a great activity with your significant other.

 

I question the degree to which it really makes you cheer for a rival. It's not like we're short of crazy fans these days.

My own experience, I dabble in football and play a lot of baseball. I'm a Royals guy, so it's been a little hard to be a die hard fan recently, anyway. I'm also a Broncos fan, so it's not like I was too tied up in rooting for them this year either. When my teams are competitive, I have no doubt I'll be able to set aside my fantasy feelings and cheer like I always have in the past. When they're not competitive, at least I still have something to pay attention to day in and day out.

 

I've played for both, but I tend to care more about the bragging rights than the cash. It is more of a competitive, fun activity than gambling for me.

I have played fantasy football, but rooting for the Steelers always come first. I usually don't even look at my fantasy football results until later.

That is one reason I think I do so much better at baseball -- I have no "real" team to root for, so I focus more on my fantasy teams.

 

I hate to play the "been there, done that" card, but I will. When I was in 5th-7th grades, I was huge into fantasy football before it blew up. I remember seeing a fantasy game ad in Sporting News that assigned a value to each player and you had to select a team but keep it under a cap. I always volunteered to be the commissioner and kept scores by hand, also passed out results and standings every week during homeroom. In sixth grade, I made it $5 buy-in and had 10 guys join. We did $35-10-5 payout. When you were in sixth grade, $35 was a lot. This was probably the height of my fantasy football fandom.

Also played later on in high school and college, but I haven't played any fantasy sports since 2004. I just don't care enough to. Plus, I'm much more into handicapping NFL games. On another board I frequent, a guy runs a Three Best Bets league where you pick (up to) three games a week, including over/unders. I'm 14 games over .500 right now, meaning if I bet $100 on each game, I'm up $1400! I even had a former co-worker put money down on my picks with an online casino one weekend (without my knowledge). I happened to go 3-0 that weekend. He shows up Tuesday and hands me $50. "WTF is this for?" He goes, "your picks from Sunday." Thing is, I finished fourth in my league (according to win %).

I get people being into fantasy sports. I just am not into it. But I really don't get fantasy leagues for the long-season sports. You have to check up on that shit every day. I just don't care enough.

 

Git aht of tahn.

 

Fantasy sports is great when I win; it sucks when I lose.