I don't understand fantasy sports. I mean- I UNDERSTAND fantasy sports. I grasp the idea. But I don't get it. I am a die hard sports fan- rabid, foaming at the mouth, sports fan, but I can't get into the fantasy thing. I tried it one year and I got Ben Roethlisberger as a quarterback. BEN ROETHLISBERGER! I'm a Patriots fan. So that meant, if I had actually cared about my fantasy team (which I could not bring myself to do), that I would have had to root FOR Roethlisberger AGAINST my Patriots. Not happening.
I can see that fantasy sports might be interesting for the casual fan, the fan with no allegiance to any particular team. Playing Dr. Frankenstein, and trying to put a team together might be fun for some people, especially fans of perennially losing teams, but some of us are already fans of great teams, teams methodically put together, teams well coached. Those teams are already the stuff of which dreams are made. Last year, my baseball team won the World Series. My football team made it to the Super Bowl. Fantasy sports would have been a distraction to two great seasons.
Fantasy sports make sports fans lesser fans. They take the team out of the sport. Personal stats are not the goal on the field of play, and when we, as fans, start caring more about personal stats and less about overall team performance, we show our ignorance for the game. A baseball player cannot hit a league-leading number of RBI without previous batters reaching base. A football player cannot have a league-leading number of catches without a team member throwing the ball to him. A hockey player cannot have a league- leading number of assists without another player scoring the goal. And on it goes.
The fantasy of sports is in the amazing plays, the impossible comebacks. It's not in piecemealing together a "team" on the computer. Come out from behind the screen, buy a ticket, and go make a fantasy a reality.
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