“Please, Brees, I just need one more touchdown.”
“Why couldn’t Adrian Peterson have scored me two more points this week?”
Phrases like these are often overheard in the excitement and intensity of a close fantasy football matchup. But is the fantasy sports realm ruining our appreciation of the game?
Nowadays, fans are more interested in padding the stats of their players than a quality football game.
ESPN has a team of reporters dedicated to providing fantasy content, and some extreme fans have even rooted against their own team when fantasy circumstances are desperate.
And if a game has no fantasy relevancy, interest drops dramatically.
Fantasy football certainly has its place in the game; I have learned more about football players from fantasy than anywhere else. But are we taking it too far?
I miss living in the moment of a down-to-the-wire NFL game. I miss watching football free of fantasy implications.
Am I going to change my habits though? Probably not.
Replace Brees with Brady in the first paragraph, and it’s a sentence I shouted several times Sunday afternoon.
Fantasy has changed the culture of football. Let’s hope it’s not too late to change it back.
Reach the columnist at bmargiot@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @BenMargiott
