# SI writer says Fantasy Football is an empty, detestable farce! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-writer-says-fantasy-football-is-an-empty-detestable-farce/322657 "2005-09-21T03:46:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-writer-says-fantasy-football-is-an-empty-detestable-farce/322657/21 "2005-09-21T15:32:05Z")
On preview, I see **Bordelond** already explained me. > [@Trunk](#): > > Now, I bet on football, so when I watch a game, I’m into who covers, and I’ll change allegiances based on where my money lies. Ah, and rooting passionately for Cleveland to score that meaningless touchdown when they’re down by 9 with four seconds left is so much a natural part of the game. > [@](#): > > But, still, you can watch the offense, and defense and the line, and get into the strategy and play calling and flow of a game. > > But with fantasy. . . That’s _your_ problem, chief. I am more into the X’s and O’s of football than 95% of fans (and 98% of broadcasters), and the fantasy game has never, ever distracted me. If anything, it’s made me more interested in understanding the game. > [@](#): > > Furthermore, it takes a lot of time and it ain’t cheap. And, in any league you’re probably competing against guys that live and breath fantasy football. They’re in multiple leagues. They start working on it in July. I’ve never paid a penny to play. I’m in three leagues, and I spent a few hours looking over a preview magazine. > [@](#): > > something that ain’t as fun as just sitting down and watching a game. Actually, I do just sit down and watch the game. I usually check my fantasy scores Sunday night or Monday, and start thinking about trades and that sort of thing in the middle of the week. Y’know, when there are no games on. > [@](#): > > I’m not down on guys who want to look at foots that way. Bullshit. You want to simultaneously mock them while acting condescendingly superior. If you want to call them nerds, do so. Don’t do it and then pretend you’re not. ---
**Author:** ![TJVM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@TJVM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJVM)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-writer-says-fantasy-football-is-an-empty-detestable-farce/322657/22 "2005-09-21T16:11:17Z")
As someone who’s not really into football of any sort, this gave me a chuckle. To me, it was like a Star Trek fan ranting about how Battlestar Galactica fans are such dorks. The truth is, “real” football is just as imaginary and arbitrary as “fantasy” football. There are a bunch of guys in pads running around and throwing a ball – that idea that it _means_ anything is purely in your head. There’s nothing wrong with that; I just don’t see that one way of keeping score is inherently any better than another. > [@](#): > > It makes heroes out of problem children. Randy Moss… Wasn’t it “real” football that gave Randy Moss millions of dollars and made him a celebrity? And the problem is that he’s too highly regarded by the “geeks” who play fantasy football? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-writer-says-fantasy-football-is-an-empty-detestable-farce/322657/23 "2005-09-21T16:40:14Z")
> [@TJVM](#): > > As someone who’s not really into football of any sort, this gave me a chuckle. To me, it was like a Star Trek fan ranting about how Battlestar Galactica fans are such dorks. The truth is, “real” football is just as imaginary and arbitrary as “fantasy” football. There are a bunch of guys in pads running around and throwing a ball – that idea that it _means_ anything is purely in your head. There’s nothing wrong with that; I just don’t see that one way of keeping score is inherently any better than another. > > Wasn’t it “real” football that gave Randy Moss millions of dollars and made him a celebrity? And the problem is that he’s too highly regarded by the “geeks” who play fantasy football? What an odd distinction - as a human being the “idea” that anything means anything is “all in your head”. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-writer-says-fantasy-football-is-an-empty-detestable-farce/322657/24 "2005-09-21T17:11:59Z")
Football is a bunch of steroid-infused behemoths pushing each other around for three hours so the denizens of one city or another can get a vicarious thrill from it until the tycoon owner finds a rival city whose taxpayers can be shaken down for a greater amount of cash. That “real” enough for ya, Don? I play fantasy football for camaraderie and whatnot. I rarely even watch the games. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-writer-says-fantasy-football-is-an-empty-detestable-farce/322657/25 "2005-09-21T17:32:31Z")
> [@The Mad Hermit](#): > > Nice strawman attack on the “geek” factor- almost all the fantasy players I know are what could be called “jocks,” supposedly the antithesis of geekdom. Fantasy football is D&D for jocks. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-writer-says-fantasy-football-is-an-empty-detestable-farce/322657/26 "2005-09-21T18:07:31Z")
There are about a thousand people in this country who have any real stake in who wins this week’s NFL games. All the rest of us are just watching. So if you find fantasy football as entertaining as real football, why not enjoy yourself? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/si-writer-says-fantasy-football-is-an-empty-detestable-farce/322657.md?page=1)