Picture it: Houston on Nov. 1. I am watching score and stat updates at the bottom of the TV screen. I’m in town for a family wedding, so am stuck watching the Texans game. But, the day before, after agonizing over whether to start Andy Dalton or Eli Manning, I finally went with Dalton. He’d been more consistent than Eli, and after checking various team stats (pass defense ratings, how Eli plays on the road on the first Sunday of the month, indoors, before 3 p.m., etc.), I stuck with Dalton.
Each update seemed to come with another Manning TD pass. He was on the road in New Orleans and finished the day with 350 yards and six TD passes. Dalton had 231 yards and one TD. I was kicking myself as each update flashed across the screen. At the airport later, I posted a picture on Facebook of a margarita with the caption, “Airport margaritas happen when you bench Eli Manning in fantasy and he throws 6 TDs.”
By a combination of my opponent having a bad week and me getting excellent numbers from Julio Jones and Gronk, I still managed to win my match-up, improving to 8-0. (I am now 9-3, but that is another story.)
Playing with not one, but FIVE fantasy teams this season (yes, I know, it is crazy) has changed how I view the game as a whole.
Last week, William C. Rhoden of the New York Times wrote a piece called “Fantasy Sports’ Real Crime: Dehumanizing the Athletes.” He talks about how we get too caught up in fantasy football and forget the players are human. Whether because of an injury or bad performance, we’re prone to attacking them on social media because they are integral to our team that week. As if they chose to get injured or play terribly. (I’m SURE Eli knew I started him this past weekend with full confidence and that’s why he threw three picks against the Redskins.)
Rhoden writes:
“The more troubling issue about fantasy football to me, though, is that its increasing popularity is masking something darker: the desensitizing effect it is having on fans, numbing them to the pain and injuries that are the stock in trade of a violent game.
I’ve seen it time and again: An injury to a player evokes moans and sometimes profanity in the moment. But it is not out of concern for the athlete on the field. It is because the player — often a quarterback, a running back or a receiver — is central to someone’s fantasy team.”
I am guilty of the moaning, for sure. For example:
Bench Eli Manning when he throws 6 TD's and win. Start Cam Newton when he throws 5 TD's and lose. Fantasy Football is infuriating.
— reva🌴 (@reeves526) November 23, 2015
Ugh, Eli Manning is the WORST #fantasyQB in that he gets you 5 points one week so you bench him & miss out on eleventy billion the next.
— reva🌴 (@reeves526) November 2, 2015
What I do not understand are the attacks on social media when a player either gets injured or plays like shit. In fact, while Eli was playing like shit against the Redskins, the only complaining I did was to my friend who assured me that I couldn’t go wrong starting Eli. (Ryan Fitzpatrick would have gotten me more fantasy points).
How I view the game has changed a lot from playing fantasy, but not in the way Rhoden describes.
First of all, I pay attention to more teams than just the one I root for, the Chicago Bears. Especially since I have five fantasy teams, almost every game each week will have some sort of fantasy implication for me. So it’s fun to watch and be invested in players I otherwise would never pay attention to. (Lamar Miller, for example.)
Secondly, this is actually an instance where fantasy keeps me grounded in reality. Whenever one of my teams does badly and I start to sulk, I have to remind myself to snap out of it because I am upset over something that is literally meaningless. 1) The team doesn’t actually exist in real life, 2) I don’t play for money, 3) winning or losing has no impact on my life whatsoever (outside of bragging rights when I start Jay Cutler and beat the people who tell me Cutler sucks).
Fantasy football is fun for avid football fans, don’t get me wrong. But we need to take a step back and remember that the athletes we choose on our rosters are not playing for us. More importantly, they are not choosing to have bad games and probably dread injuries more than we do. So, while you might have lost last week after Tony Romo went down with another nasty injury, think about how that poor guy probably feels. You’ll survive, I promise.
