I Used to be an NFL Fan but Now I’m a Fantasy Team Owner
How Fantasy Football Takes away from the Sport
I spend the majority of every Sunday in the fall watching football on TV. More specifically, I watch NFL Redzone, which is a channel that broadcasts games where either team is close to the end zone or is likely to score points on the next play. I watch this channel so that I can see plays that will significantly impact my fantasy football team. I don’t exclusively root for any one NFL team, and I don’t watch whole games. I root for the players on my fantasy team.
Before I started participating in fantasy football, I was a Miami Dolphins fan because my mom grew up in Florida. I donned my bright turquoise jersey each week, hoping that my team would be victorious. I felt the highs when they made great plays and the lows when they lost. Entering into the Miami stadium on my father’s shoulders, I vividly remember the excitement of my first game. Despite my years of loyalty to the team though, I stopped being a Dolphins fan around 2012 because I began managing my own fantasy football team in a league with all my friends. And there were a lot of perks that came with the league: unethical hopes, rooting for players rather than teams, and constant frustration.
For those readers who are not familiar with fantasy football, it involves drafting players from various NFL teams to fill various positions on your fantasy team and accruing points based on your players’ performances each week. As a result, despite the fact that I grew up rooting for the Miami Dolphins, I may root against them if it means points for a player on my team. My experience is not unique, even at Parker. Many students and teachers at school are avid fantasy football fans, drafting and managing teams throughout the season. Some participate in the hopes of winning a prize at the end of the season, but many are involved just for the fun of it.
I remember the Chiefs-Raiders game this season during week seven. It was the craziest football game I had ever seen. Three flags were thrown in the last 10 seconds of the game, which led to the Raiders scoring and winning the game 31 to 30. But my memory of this incredible and thrilling game is tainted by fantasy football. I wasn’t rooting for either team to win. I was simply hoping that the Oakland Raiders would throw a pass to Amari Cooper, a wide receiver I’d started on my fantasy team. I didn’t need the extra six points to win my game that week. Cooper already had 33. But I was greedy, and fantasy football exploits the greediness in me.
Fantasy football forces team owners to focus on specific players to score rather than on teams’ outcomes. I can remember countless football games where teams would score, and I would be mad because I wanted the team to pass to a different player.
So for me, focusing on fantasy football makes watching football less enjoyable and more stressful. I shouldn’t be hoping for a team to throw a 84 yard pass to my wide receiver and then kick a field goal so that my fantasy team can win this week, but that’s what fantasy football does to me.
I’ve also seen fantasy football bring out the worst in other people too. I have witnessed friends of mine, people I think are decent human beings, take pleasure in opposing players’ injuries. I immediately demand they consult their human decency. I ask them questions that force them to think about how this endangers the player’s career. But I too have succumbed to this side of fantasy football. I must admit that, on a particular Sunday, I found myself hoping for Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension to be reinstated. I was not considering the offense he was charged with, or if he was falsely accused. I was only thinking of my own interest regarding my fantasy football team. I justified my desire for his suspension by convincing myself that I was in the right, that he did something horrible, and that he deserved to be suspended. When I was honest with myself, though, I was only looking at the situation through the lens of fantasy football.
Now I’m not saying I will stop playing fantasy football to solve these problems. I don’t think I could stop fantasy football if I tried. It’s addicting. The feeling I get when I win a game– I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Fantasy football itself is not to blame, it’s how we let it control us. We let fantasy football take priority over the NFL, and it is killing the fun of watching football. We need to reassess our priorities. Now I understand it might be hard, but we can take small steps.
Don’t root for crazy scenarios to occur. Root for a simple touchdown to one of your players. Don’t hope for a suspension to be lifted until you know the facts— and make an ethical choice based on the evidence and not whether you have a specific player on your team. It’s as simple as that. As long as you make ethical choices that still further your team, you can win and have fun.
I’m not saying you should draft your team based on who’s the nicest player. Just don’t rub it in your friend’s face when one of their star running backs tears his ACL.
