Fantasy sports: good or bad for fans?
Since the sports blog has been flooded with serious issues this week, I thought I’d take this chance to lighten things up with a completely new topic.
Two weeks after the Super Bowl has ended, I’ve already accepted my first invite to participate in a fantasy baseball league. Of course I’ve been hard at work modifying my big board, weighing hitters versus pitchers and deciding whose 2006 season was a fluke and who will bust out in ‘07.
Just like Shaun Alexander and Larry Johnson were the consensus first picks in fantasy football leagues, Albert Pujols will be the No. 1 overall pick in most fantasy baseball leagues.
If I find myself lucky enough to snag Pujols, most people would call me an idiot for possibly passing on him for, say, Johan Santana or Ryan Howard. But my decision to skip over the reining MVP isn’t because I value great pitching over great hitting or because it’s a keeper league and I think Howard will be good for a very long time.
The reason is simple: I am a Cubs fan.
Pujols is amazing. Everything from his bat speed and leg drive have made the slugger one of the top hitters of all time. But how can I cheer for a player who plays roughly a tenth of his games against my beloved Cubbies? Pujols has been terrorizing the Cubs since he came into the league, so how can I call myself a fan by centering my fantasy team around a player I’ve learned to hate?
Yet, I’m paying money to participate in this league, so how could I sacrifice my hard-earned dollars by choosing to pass on the game’s best player?
And so the question is asked: how can a sports fan balance their love for a team and their love for fantasy fun?
Truth is, unless you are completely able to separate yourself into two different people, you can’t.
A few years ago, when Dante Culpepper was on the Vikings, he was tearing other fantasy teams apart for me. But when he played the Bears for the first time, I was a wreck. I had to hope Culpepper did well enough for him to get me significant fantasy points, but not enough for the Bears to lose. When Culpepper threw a TD pass, I was upset as a Bears fan and thrilled as a fantasy owner. At the end of the game, which side wins? By the second time Culpepper faced the Bears, I decided to bench to save myself the torment again. Not only that, how could I cheer for a guy who’s team I pray goes down the toilet?
I’m not saying that fantasy is bad for sports. It gives another way for fans to gamble, which is always nice. It allows fans to get closer to their favorite sports, makes fans more knowledgeable about the game and forces you to follow and watch players who may not be on your favorite teams. Fantasy has revolutionized sports by turning their participants into fans of the sport in its entirety. Before fantasy, no one knew what on base percentage was, but now, thanks to Billy Beane, people live and die by it.
However, fantasy sports does make it harder for hardcore fans of a specific team. I can’t be a Cubs fan and a Pujols fan just like I couldn’t be a Bears fan and a Culpepper fan. But is it ok to support Pujols and Culpepper as fantasy players, even though they play for rival teams?
This being my first keeper league I’m participating in with the possibility of making (or losing) money for years to come, I’d be stupid to pass on Pujols. But as I add up all the games that I’ll have to cheer against him as a Cubs fan, but against the Cubs as a Pujols owner, my head starts to hurt. Maybe I’ll just switch to fantasy golf — but I hate Phil Mickelson so much…
February 19th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Very well-put, Steve. I agree whole heartedly with you on the idea of being torn in said fantasy position. Most fans who have ever played fantasy have had to go through this in some fashion unless they were lucky enough to play in a conference league that doesn’t include their favorite team. Even then, there is still a chance that the teams will meet, save very careful and tedious planning. Even then, you can come into a situation that I am facing in an AL-keeper league of having to pick White Sox players and hope that they do well, which I am not completely opposed to, but, when it comes down to intraleague play, that won’t work so well. Unless you have the luxury of being able to bench players in question, you have to allow some give and take. If you can do that, chances are that you will have to play someone in the latter stages of the season and face the decision of playing a player not liked, or lose his contribution in pivotal games. Fantasy always seems to work out like that.
February 20th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I am on two fantasy leagues so yes I think its a good thing
May 8th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
[…] Steve Contorno had interesting things to say about the topic before the season. Check them out here. […]