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MMQ: Some NFL players/coaches lash out at fantasy FB

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by mpcincal, Aug 30, 2011.

  1. mpcincal

    mpcincal Well-Known Member

    Interesting passage in Peter King's column Monday on opinions around the league on fantasy football and it's effect on fans' rooting interests.

    Speaking as someone who has played fantasy quite a bit in the past, but who has sat it out the last couple years (couldn't find a league I really wanted to join), I considered it good food for thought. (Second item down).

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/peter_king/08/28/preseason.week.3/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_wr_a2
     
  2. Yodel

    Yodel Active Member

    That is interesting. I say it as a non-fantasy person (my fantasies don't involve football). Interesting read for certain. I'm crazy enough to watch all that football without a fantasy team, so I can't relate to the fantasy players. Interesting for certain though.
     
  3. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Fantasy football turned the NFL into the unquestioned no. 1 sport in America and allows for the giant network deals that put a shitton of money in the pockets of players and owners and prevented owners from locking the players out all year long. Any players or coaches bitching about it should STFU.
     
  4. mpcincal

    mpcincal Well-Known Member

    I gotta quibble on you a little bit on that BYH. First off, the NFL was already the No. 1 sport when fantasy football took off -- the craze has just simply widened the lead.

    You make a good point on the second one. The fantasy craze has brought more attention, and more dollars, to the league. However, I definitely understand the players' side of it (I liked the quote from Kurt Warner): Their job is to help their team win and their franchise (the people actually signing their checks) to be successful. Their first priority is not to pile up stats so a bunch of Joe Schmoes watching at home get bragging rights (and maybe a little money) from their friends.

    It's kind of like the arguments us journalists have with disgruntled readers: A lot of them think you're just there to pump up their little Johnny's athletic pursuits, or to slant everything to their particular political view. But we're putting out a paper, mag, website etc. to reach the widest audience and be fair and objective, not meet a single reader's narrow focus. Sometimes, the two different goals actually intersect; a lot of the time they don't.

    Like I said, just food for thought.
     
  5. Flying Headbutt

    Flying Headbutt Moderator Staff Member

    It's a major reason that football is so popular, and a huge reason players are going to get paid even more once new TV deals are negotiated in a couple of weeks.

    The adage that football is a business, which makes it ok to holdout or switch teams and all of that? Same goes for fantasy football. It's part of the business. As the disconnect between pro athletes and fans grows wider, this has sprouted up to help fill some of that gap. But players can't sit there and blow off fans or take them for granted or charge them for an autograph and then turn around and expect the fans to care more about the player himself as a person than they do about how it'll impact their fantasy football team. After all, it's just business.
     
  6. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    you guys are nuts. or have memory issues. the nfl/foottball was america's no. 1 sport by any measure long before 'fantasy football' reared its head. ff is just one more example of the rich getting richer. everything nfl-related turns into gold and this is nothing new.

    ironically, the lone exception is nflnetwork. but that's because of cable systems like cablevision refusing to cave. the network is terrific, imo, but not nearly enough people have access to it, leading to annual rumors that it might soon cease to exist. that's highly doubtful. the shield loves the exposure it does offer to those who get it, and if any organization can carry a money-bleeder for a long while it's the nfl.

    i know plenty of folks, primarily those who cling to the notion that baseball is our national pasttime, chalk up the nfl's popularity to gambling, office pools and fantasy football. that's b.s. all of those factors bring in an audience that might otherwise not give a darn -- though i even disagree with that -- but the sport/game itself captured america's heart at its purest, too.
     
  7. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Fantasy does affect the way players are evaluated, at least by fans and talk-radio and all that. For instance, Kyle Orton sucks. But his status had people in two states on pins and needles, and that's largely because he's a good late pickup who can give you a 300-yard game. It certainly isn't because your team is going to be any better with Kyle Orton at quarterback. I also think a guy like Matt Ryan is not fully appreciated because as very good game for him is 225 yards, a touchdown and no mistakes. That's, what, 15 points in fantasy? I would guess that a poll of fans might rank Tony Romo ahead of Ryan as a QB, which would just be insane.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Gambling drives the NFL. Fantasy football is just part of that.
     
  9. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    I'd caution anyone who decides to make Arian Foster the anti-fantasy poster boy. He's pretty much disgruntled about any feedback he gets from fans/the media. (Remember the "speaking in pterodactyl" interview at Tennessee?)
     
  10. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Chip on his shoulder from being undrafted coming out?
     
  11. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    That was a truly great moment and one of the most underrated athlete/reporter interactions of all time.
     
  12. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    (er, dick)
    wow, do i think folks grossly overestimate the number of serious gamblers there are. the kind who call their bookies to drop a load on games. sure, there are a substantial number of those, but not nearly enough to move the needle much in opinion polls. and i absolutely appreciate how office pools have run amok. but do you really believe the majority of those 'gamblers' are spending their sundays riveted by the scoreboard? or buying season tickets?

    again, i've always felt those who harp on the gambling link to football's popularity are simple baseball fanatics looking to rationalize what they cannot accept: that football's popularity keeps growing the more young fans come of an age to love the games. and kids becoming teens turning into adults more and more seek action and pace from the games they watch and lack the attention span required to develop the fanaticism for baseball as they did back in the day.

    the best barometer is not attendance, but with tv ratings and merchandise marketing. but i suppose it's gamblers accounting for all that. baseball's attendance is generally very strong, at least in town's with competitive teams, for a couple of simple reasons: tickets are the most consumer-friendly of all the major sports. and its played primarily in summertime, when what could be better than taking the fam to a game outdoors in lovely weather to eat a few hot dogs.

    so the ballpark for baseball games remains a terrific option for folks. especially since prime-time in the mlb world is june, july, august, when mlb has the sports landscape to itself.

    but once september comes, the attention of america focuses primarily on football. as reflected by the tv ratings, in which any nfl game does better in its market and/or nationally (for national games) than all baseball postseason games. and that's a fact, jack (um, dick), driven by a lot more than fans holding onto their office pool sheets.
     
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