Once upon a time, I thought fantasy football was fabulous, as I'm sure many still do. But this season, I noticed something interesting. I was watching a football game, the Lions vs. the Falcons, and I found myself rooting for the Lions but hoping that Michael Vick had a great game. On the last week of the season, the ball was on the 1 yard line, and Seattle ran a QB sneak, and I got mad, because that meant that Sean Alexander missed out on 6 points, which hurt my team.
The point is, I reached a point where, rather than enjoying the game and rooting for my team, I was cheering for individual players and hoping my teams didn't run plays for other players. What a waste of a season, where I can't even root for the home team because the other team has "one of 'my' players" on it.
This seems to exemplify a bigger problem in sports. People are more possessive of players than ever and feel as though because they own a fantasy team that has a player, they own a piece of that player as well. This doesn't bode well for one's enjoyment of sport. Additionally, it empowers the players even more, because it celebrates the individual in the sport, instead of the team.
For the record, I hope that New England wins the Super Bowl, because they appear to appreciate the object of team play in a way that should be celebrated, not derided. I also think that one of the worst things that could happen to football is that Philadelphia loses the Super Bowl this year and they win next year with a healthy Terrell Owens, because that would simply justify his contention that he is "that good," and encourage his me-first antics.
I'm not ready to give up sports, because, quite frankly, I enjoy the diversion they provide, but I am done with my fantasy involvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment