ESPN says Fantasy Football Ruining Fans

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

I play in an IDP (individual defensive players) league and have Merriman. I've benched him for Sunday night's game because of his poor stats showing last week and because I think the Pats will handle him enough to keep his stats down again. If I didn't bench him, I wouldn't be rooting for him to do well by any stretch, but any time he made a play my attitude would be, "Well, at least he got the sack and not Philips."

Several times a year my players are playing the Pats. It's the same thing. I don't root for them, but if they happen to make a play it's a small consolation prize. Heck, Marvin Harrison's late TD (and his monster performance in general) in the 41-21 2005 victory over the Pats won me my game that week.

Regards,
Chris

 

[mgteich]

You personally have cleanly and strongly dealt with the potential conflict that a dedicated fan could have. As fantasy football becomes more and more important, and the money prized increase, there will be a lot of potential die-hard football fans who will become die-hard fantasy fans. In the end, I don't care much. Fantasy football (and Madden for that matter) have no interest for me. ESPN will continue to discuss and analyse, which I think is a good thing.

First and FOREMOST, I root for the Pats. When I play fantasy football, yes, I want to win. Its the competitive nature in me. However, I do root against teams who I might have players on. Manning, for instance. I ended up with him in a couple different leagues. I was rooting against him and the Colts to lose to the Saints. He will be benched when the Colts and Pats play.

Its doesn't make me (or anyone else) any less of a Pats fan because, after the Pats game is over, I look in on other teams.

 

[STFarmy]

fantasy football sucks

I agree. I'm not saying other people shouldn't do it obivously, but seriously, stop talking about it. I don't care about your matchups, I don't care about your draft picks. There's nothing worse than watching the game with a guy who cheers when the opposing team of the week does well becuase it helps in his league. I must be missing the boat however, cause it's very popular.