“Dear Mr. Fantasy, play us a tune, something to make us all happy.
Do anything to take us out of this gloom, sing a song, play guitar, make it snappy.”
Steve Winwood sang those lyrics in the song, “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” from the group Traffic’s first album, in 1968.
But, that’s not the fantasy I want to talk about. Now that football season is here, I want to talk about fantasy football. I’m not going to tell anyone not to fork out some dough to be in a fantasy football league (even my own kids do it). However, I have some thoughts about the whole notion of fantasy sports.
For the uninitiated, fantasy football is where a group of people band together to form a “fantasy league.” The participants in the league hold a “draft,” to pick NFL players for their team. The success of the team is completely based on performance statistics. So, as the draft moves along, you’re the GM of your “team,” picking up the best quarterback, running back, wide receivers, kicker, etc., that you can. And, you do have a “budget” to stick to, as each player costs a certain amount. Each NFL week, your team is pitted against the team of another fantasy league member. Points are awarded for various statistical performances, such as touchdowns scored, touchdown passes thrown by your quarterback, a running back with 100+ yards on the day, how many field goals your kicker made, and so on. From week to week, you can start or sit various players from your stable for that weekend’s game. Your points scored that weekend vs. your opponents points scored determines who wins that week’s matchup, and you end up with a won/loss record as the season moves along. I figure it won’t be long until points are awarded for end-zone, fake group selfies after a touchdown is scored.
Sounds like harmless fun, right? Well, not so fast.
I played on a few teams during my high school days, and I have coached a few teams since. I have rooted for many more teams over the years, and have risen and fallen with their fortunes. I figure that is what team sports is all about. Was Terry Bradshaw the best quarterback in the NFL during his days as a Pittsburgh Steeler? Nope; if fantasy football existed then, there would have been other quarterbacks with better stats. Was he part of a team that won four Super Bowls in a six year period, which propelled him into the Hall of Fame? For sure! Did it make us all happy? Definitely, except for a few sketchy Oakland Raider fans who still believe that Franco Harris never caught that ball. To me, that’s what being a fan is about.
I worry that fantasy sports is taking that notion, and tossing it onto the trash heap. I have watched many NFL games with friends who “owned” a fantasy team. Way more often than not, they worried more about their fantasy team than the outcome of the game on the TV. I even threatened once to place a strip of tape over the bottom of the TV screen, so they couldn’t see the stats that were scrolling across.
Then, I realized that it would be an exercise in futility. They would just get on their cellphones, and look up the stats there. I’d be fighting a losing battle. Sometimes, I would like to use George Costanza’s comment about Cosmo Kramer attending a fantasy baseball camp, “His whole life is a fantasy!”
Since I can’t fight it, the best I can do is to let everyone have their “fun.” I’ll just take my own path, root for the teams I like, and long for the old days, when we all were fans of various teams, and sports arguments were about whose team was better, not about whose quarterback threw three touchdown passes, even though that QB’s team lost the game.
So, Mr. Fantasy…play me a tune, something to make ME happy!
Please!
