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Fantasy Football: NFL Fans’ Obsession Rivals Real Sport’s Following

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October 16, 2011

By Nick Corbett

The main focus on Sundays seems to be changing for most NFL football fans: fantasy football is taking over. Fantasy football is an interactive, virtual competition in which fans manage NFL football players against one another. Before the NFL season starts, a group of people plans out a league and has a live draft in which the goal is to draft the best possible team. The pick order is complete random, therefore the best possible choices are not always available.

Fantasy football was created in 1962 by Wilfred Winkenbach from Oakland, California. The goal of the game was to compete against others’ teams on a performance-based point system. Although the game of fantasy football did not gain popularity quickly because of the lack of technology, by 1989 there were 100,000 participants. From 1989 to 2011, fantasy football has reached an all-time high of 19 million players according to NBC Sports.
There are several types of leagues with different sponsors that run each league. ESPN and Yahoo are the two main choice of leagues for fantasy players. There are both public and private leagues. Private leagues are made through a group of people whose members know each other and have live drafts. Public leagues choose users at random and put them in a league already made up.
The storm of fantasy football is growing each year by the thousands and seems to becoming the hot topic of conversation on the weekends.
“I don’t even care about the Browns on Sundays; all I care about is if my fantasy football team wins,” junior Dom Orsini said. “I mean I love the Browns, but my fantasy team is way more interesting each week.”
This seems to be the consensus among NFL fans these days. Even NFL players tweet or post on Facebook about fantasy football. In preseason, the league’s 2010 rushing leader Arian Foster pulled his hamstring and immediately tweeted about his injury.
“4 those sincerely concerned, I’m doing ok & plan 2 B back by opening day. 4 those worried abt your fantasy team, u ppl are sick,” Foster tweeted.
Fantasy fans are becoming more concerned about the wellbeing of their own virtual teams rather than the actual injury of another human. Fans gather around local bars, restaurants or their own television sets to watch all the NFL games, not just their favorite teams. The bars and restaurants are filled with people on their smart phones or laptops to keep track of their players on their team throughout their game.
“When I heard Mike Vick got a concussion, the first thing I did was go to my fantasy page and tried to find a new quarterback,” junior Sean Merle said. “I’ll be honest; I was more worried about my fantasy for the next week.”
Each team owner has his or her own unique strategy that they use throughout the season. Fantasy owners continue to show their love for football watching every game they can. It has improved ratings of the amount of football watched, making it the most-watched sport in America.
Do not worry Cleveland fans: if the the Browns cannot hang on with the 2-1 start, at least there still is fantasy football.

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