Fantasy Football addiction (1 Viewer)

[SaintsInDome2006]

From the FBG site:

Obsessed With Fantasy Football…I Don't Think So

By Dennis Michelson

Some people in my life, my latest ex-wife comes to mind, seem to think I am obsessed with this hobby we call Fantasy Football. While the court ruled in her favor, setting precedence by officially declaring Fantasy Football Abuse as a cause for divorce, I appeal to you the great football fan of these United States to make a ruling for me! Perhaps after you hear my brief story you can give me some good advice.

How Much is Too Much

Really now I am asking you, is having 47 different Fantasy Football teams really a sign of obsession? After all there are so many different sites offering Fantasy Football, would it be right to neglect one of them by not playing in a league there? So what if the cost of my Fantasy Football habit last year rivaled the gross national product of eleven different third-world countries, I didn't discriminate against any league last year! I really did think I was stuck last year and had to leave one out, but I was able to sell a kidney to pay for the big Fantasy Football Mega Tourney out in Reno! What the heck was I going to do with that extra kidney anyway? I don't think 47 teams are too much. Oh sure managing them does require a few late nights pondering waiver moves but that is only two days a week without sleep. They say sleep deprivation can lead to several mental neuroses, but I just haven't noticed any of the warning signs yet. It is all about time management.

Work and Fantasy Football

It is very important to have your priorities straight or having a career and playing Fantasy Football will not mix. I remember my first experience on the job with Fantasy Football. My boss Carl called me back into his office. Apparently our office group e-mail got on to one of my Fantasy Football teams by mistake. He handed me this piece of paper with my waiver move on it and said, "What is this all about? Do you think this sort of thing is wise to be doing today?" I looked at the piece of paper and saw what he was talking about. How could I disagree with the guy? This simply was not a smart thing to be doing. But I had little options available. After all the waiver deadline was coming up and there was no other choice but to make the move right then and there. So I looked Carl right in the eye and said, "I know that was a dumb thing to do. But what other choice did I have? Emmitt just went down with a nasty neck injury and it was either this move or Robert Smith." I can't understand why Carl was so down on Terry Jackson anyway. The jerk even fired me for making that move! Talk about letting Fantasy Football interfere with a business decision!

Life Changes are a Good Thing

Wife number two once criticized me for quitting my job to go back to school. But what other choice did I have? I just got creamed playing Jim Kelly in a lake effect snowstorm when those fools at the Weather Service were forecasting "Partly Sunny." After six inches of partly sunny and a howling wind off the lake my Fantasy Football playoff hopes were looking slim as Kelly threw 3 INTs and had 2 more fumbles. Losing points at the all important quarterback slot on the eve of the playoffs with a wild card spot on the line is enough to make anyone go back to school for a weather forecasting degree! At least Doctor Davies believed in me and gave me a chance as a graduate assistant at the university. The staff still talks about my Master's thesis today. "The Affects of Mid Latitude Short Waves on Quarterback Point Production" has really helped turn my lineup decisions around. It really was so simple though; any fool can see that the potential rotational discontinuity caused by a significant short wave trough causes the dreaded cumulative turbulent stratification that can wreak havoc on any quarterback's production!

Politics and Fantasy Football

It dawned on me last fall that us Fantasy Football players are discriminated against so badly. Last October I was turned down for a loan because they wouldn't accept my Dynasty League Team as collateral. The fools can't see the value of having 3 top running backs along with strength at quarterback and wide receiver in a $250 buy in league? Any idiot can see that team is worth at least $5000 but I get discriminated against because they say that isn't a real asset. So instead of just getting steamed about it, I decided that in an election year maybe something could be done about it. I wrote all the major candidates for both the Republican and Democratic Parties. I suggested that adding the following plank to their Party Platform would be a great idea: "Since Fantasy Football players do so much to fuel the economic engine of this great Nation, resolve that the 'Fantasy Football Player's Rights Bill' be passed in the first 100 days in office. No longer will this neglected group of patriotic Americans be deprived their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of Fantasy Football fame and fortune." Only one of the candidates even bothered to write me back. Dennis Kucinich loved the idea! Unfortunately he didn't survive the primaries. I guess the word just didn't get out to the Fantasy Football community that a savior was on the way! Maybe the least that either President Bush or John Kerry could do is to pledge to outlaw the dreaded scourge that could tear our great Nation apart. That of course is the dreaded "Running Back by Committee" syndrome that is running amuck in the NFL! That has to be second to only Al-Queda as one of the most serious threats to our way of life in this great Nation!

In Conclusion

Looking back over the years it certainly makes sense how this hobby has grown into such an important part of my life. That first year having just one team was accepting too much risk! Not making the playoffs that last week was very traumatic. Anyone can see that adding more teams would minimize the risk. Having diversified my Fantasy Football portfolio winning a championship each season is almost guaranteed! Sure this might be getting a bit carried away with 47 teams but this is the NFL after all. If I were truly obsessed I would have had much more than my usual compliment of 8 Arena Football League Fantasy teams and 3 Australian League Fantasy teams this year. Perhaps then I could truly be called obsessed.

http://footballguys.com/05freelance_michelsen01.php

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Also from FBG:

The Obsession of Fantasy Football Ownership

by Sandi Edmonds

You don't have to go far to find out how psychologically unstable fantasy football owners can be. Just ask the wives or husbands of those involved and you'll hear more than you ever wanted to know!! It's almost as though we have split personalities (I say "we" because I have to admit I'm as guilty as anyone in this respect) --- the responsible family-person appears from February through July, and the distracted soul with other obligations and commitments appears from August through January.

From the time we begin preparation for our draft until after the league Super Bowl is a period of distraction from our families, friends, jobs, household chores, or whatever else requires our time and attention. Please note that I specified the "league" Super Bowl, not the actual NFL Super Bowl. That's because the serious, hard-core fantasy football owners don't care as much about the NFL after playoffs begin because our fantasy league championship trophy has already been awarded!! Watching football just isn't the same when you aren't fielding a team yourself.

Okay, so we all can admit to being a little distracted during the season. But how many of us will admit to being obsessed? Probably not many, even though most of us really are obsessed with all the details related to the success of our team. And the obsession multiplies with each team we own.

We spend endless hours on the computer searching website after website. We go through countless reams of paper and ink cartridges as we print off the weekly rankings from 20 or more web sites EACH week. When preparing for the draft we have to worry about projections, and depth charts, and average draft positions, and mock drafts, etc. We can't rely on just one source, so we constantly search for more and more "experts" on the web. We create links and we add them to our bookmarks until we have so many they don't even fit on the screen!!! If anyone else in the house needs the computer, they'll just have to wait. After all, everyone should just understand how important fantasy football really is and why it should be the priority!

The phone line should operate in much the same fashion as the internet connection. Priority goes to fantasy football - no questions asked. After all, I might need to call in a last-minute roster change. Or we should probably keep the line open in case anyone wants to propose a trade. Rules for the kids usually include no phone calls after 10 p.m., but it's okay if a fellow owner calls wanting to "make a deal". After all, it's not THAT late and it's not like it'll wake anyone up!! It's frustrating when the mother-in-law calls on Sunday morning and interrupts a quiet family brunch or makes us get up while reading the sports section of the paper, but it's always forgivable if the commissioner needs to call and give some important, lifesaving fantasy information!!!

Work can be a double-edged sword during the season. If you work with people who are in your league, or even in another league, many water cooler conversations revolve around fantasy football topics. It can progress to mutual agreement, disagreement, or even an occasional argument. Countless work time is wasted having fantasy discussions or doing fantasy research on the computer. After all, maybe the spreadsheet program on the work computer works a whole lot better to compute individualized stats, projections, results, or whatever. If you're like me, and no one else at work is an owner, you're almost viewed as a deviant. They aren't as forgiving when a fellow owner calls to make a trade during work hours. They don't understand why your computer history includes so many fantasy sites. And they sure as heck don't understand what you're talking about half the time - they claim you are speaking a different language when you use terms like "starting QB", "VBD", or "IDP". I've even been asked, "So do you REALLY 'own' those players?" They just don't seem to grasp the concept of "fantasy"!!!

As a fantasy owner, I will admit to a strong distraction, and maybe even an obsession with the game and all it entails. Maybe I need to make some promises:

• I vow to spend an equal amount of time with the family as I do with my fellow owners
• I vow to share computer time with others in the house
• I vow not to get angry when others in the house receive phone calls late at night or early in the morning since I get them also
• I vow to actually "work" when I'm at work and not spend work time surfing the fantasy sites, talking stats, or making trades with fellow owners
• I vow to stop making excuses to go to the store just so I can see if there is a new issue of my favorite fantasy magazine on the shelf yet
• I vow to pay more attention to those who talk to me during Sunday pre-game shows (as long as it isn't while the fantasy advice is scrolling along the bottom of the screen)
• I vow to go to Sunday church service once in awhile during the season (provided the service ends early enough to get me home before game time!!!!)

This all sounds good, but I seriously doubt that I (or any other serious owner) can stick to all of these promises. There are some serious psychological ramifications affixed to fantasy football ownership. We are all very, very impaired by the impact of our addiction to this "disease". Admitting it is the first step, and I've conquered that.... maybe I'll work on actually doing something about it next year!!!!

http://footballguys.com/05freelance_edmonds01.php