High school fantasy football???

Hey guys: Apologize if this is a d_b, but came across this and thought "wow"...

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/15607498.htm

 

I can't believe any newspaper actually thought that was a good idea, let alone do it. Reminds me of when I saw someone reference the Foster's beer commercial as a lead-in to another Foster -- a high school junior -- for a state tournament game story where she dominated the paint.

If it sounds like a bad idea when you first bring it up, it usually is.

 

I agree. Totally bad idea.
But the reaction from the high school community is ridiculous. Not calling in stats because of this and saying it promotes "individualism" is crazy. I bet the same people don't complain when newspapers pick All-County teams, players of the year, and run stat pages that could promote this same "individualism."

 

We did a draft at one of my former stops, though we never really kept up with it after that. And we sure never put anything in print about it.

 

What a STUPID idea.

STUPID

 

"Some" schools are complaining. Which schools?

I'm sure the kids love it. Hell, the first place I worked at, 15 years ago, the guys in the sports dept had done their own HS fantasy football the year before. I was psyched as hell; I wanted to do it. But then it broke down cuz the guy who won the previous year never got paid his pizza that he won, so it was over.

Some schools say "it promotes individualism over team." How is it any different than showing the statistical leaders every week? What, players are going to try to get their names in the paper because it is a fantasy football column, but not because it is the statistical bests?

Load of crap. I bet this is a feature that readers love.

 

Here's one of their actual columns. Yep, this is so awful.

Screw those crybaby schools. Get the stats from another paper.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/high_school/15559936.htm

 

This is sick. SICK!

 

I thought this was about high school cheerleaders wearing thongs while on the sideline.
(Though a friend of mine did that once, no high kicking from her that day.)

 

All anybody needs to know about this idea is that it came from Mike Bass...

High school fantasy football has got to be one of the all-time worst ideas I've ever heard of since I've been in this business...

 

Tried it at one of my last stops. I can't remember if it was my idea or not, but it was an OK feature. We didn't get any complaints and the kids loved it.

It was a new way to get more kids names and faces in the paper. We made our roster moves public, but never mentioned by name the kids we dropped (although you could figure that out pretty easily).

I don't see what is so bad about it. To me, it's no different than listing stats leaders. It gets everyone (even desk guys) to pay attention to what is going on and makes it much easier come all-area time to get everyone's feelings on player of the year.

 

If you are not a preps writer/desker who knows the stuff by osmosis and you spend even 30 seconds per week worrying about your high school fantasy team ... you're definitely a looooooser.