Fantasy Football Changes Everything (1 Viewer)

[Banemorth]

Well I'm new here (just joined FBG yesterday!) and I was just reflecting today on just how much Fantasy Football has really completely changed my love of the game. It's my first year playing fantasy and it's like my whole world got turned upside down. My whole life I have been a DIE HARD Giants fan. I bleed blue. My love of big blue was rivaled only by my hatred of Dallas and Philly. Last weekend my wife walked in the room slack-jawed to find me cheering for McCoy and rooting for Felix Jones. I was watching games that before I couldn't care less about. I have a deeper respect for the game as a whole and for different players as individuals behind their jerseys. I'm kind of curious if I was the only one to have such an "awakening." How did getting into FF change things for you?

 

[Bri]

I think this is fairly common, what you wrote.

Welcome and all that stuff.

 

[Tick]

I recommend never checking your fantasy scores during games, and doing your best to ignore your opponent's roster(s), particularly if you're in multiple leagues. It can ruin your fun a bit if you're sweating your FF game the whole day... just enjoy the NFL games and check on your scores before the MNF game.

Multiple leagues help with this - if you're in 6 leagues, you're basically rooting both for and against every player, so you can focus on enjoying the games without trying to track things.

 

[The Jerk]

The reason my first league started was to make every game more interesting to watch, and certainly that has happened. Of course, the trick is finding the right balance so that you can best simultaneously enjoy the sport as you always have, enjoy the fantasy aspect, and not obsess like a burned out actual NFL coach over losses. For me, I have found some semblance of balance by absolutely watching the games when I can, but realizing what should be obvious, that I don't literally affect the game. I put in sufficient time when available to make my teams as successful as possible, but then I let it go as much as I can.

Last night's 99-yard TD cost me a win, as my opponent had both Brady AND Welker. Well, what are you gonna do? It's probably not even the worst of the "bad beats" I'm going to end up having this year. When I remind myself that even though I lost, it still made it a more interesting MNF game, it takes much of the sting out of it.

Anyway, welcome to FF and FBG. Enjoy the ride! I can only imagine how different it is to jump into this hobby in the present information age compared to the comparatively dark ages of 1991, as in my case. I can still remember working in Europe and waiting for three-day old game information to make its way to an international version of USA Today so I could find out some of the details in my early-1990s league. That's right, I didn't know for sure if I won a game then until I saw the boxscore on Wednesday morning. Try to imagine that, if you can.

 

[Khy]

In the same boat as you... literally on every level of what you mentioned. Die hard Giants fan and everyone I know couldn't fathom why I was freaking out when Dez Bryant caught that 42yd catch then the TD in the first like 30 seconds of the game. Also... being down like 1pt to my opponent he had Brady I had Welker when that 99yd TD came in I freaked (20yds = 1pt for WR and 50=1pt for QB) it ended up pushing me over the edge for the win. Fantasy adds a ton of fun to the game when your winning. It can be tough when you lose though.

 

[snellman]

Welcome to the dark side man.

I needed to read this as I have been wondering a bit why I am playing fantasy football this year. I never played in money leagues in the past, just playing for the pure enjoyment of the game. I started playing in a money league last year for the first time and am in 3 money leagues this year (2 dynasty, 1 keeper) and it seems to have tarnished it a bit for me. I had a bad first week but it seems I got more upset because of the money leagues. I had to separate myself and just go back to watching the games.

Enjoy yourself, have fun getting overloaded with knowledge here on the boards and on the site and good luck to you this year.

 

[Multiple Scores]

I like These ideas. I am going to do this for the upcoming week.

I recommend never checking your fantasy scores during games, and doing your best to ignore your opponent's roster(s), particularly if you're in multiple leagues. It can ruin your fun a bit if you're sweating your FF game the whole day... just enjoy the NFL games and check on your scores before the MNF game.Multiple leagues help with this - if you're in 6 leagues, you're basically rooting both for and against every player, so you can focus on enjoying the games without trying to track things.

 

[Mindgame]

Yea, I'm in two leagues and what sucks is I had Mcfadden for one and the opp had Mcfadden in the other. Needless to say, I'm 1-1 lol

 

[Cecil Lammey]

Welcome to Footballguys! Thanks for jumping on board here, a great community in the Shark Pool and a TON of interesting discussion all the time.

 

[abhall]

I recommend never checking your fantasy scores during games, and doing your best to ignore your opponent's roster(s), particularly if you're in multiple leagues. It can ruin your fun a bit if you're sweating your FF game the whole day... just enjoy the NFL games and check on your scores before the MNF game.Multiple leagues help with this - if you're in 6 leagues, you're basically rooting both for and against every player, so you can focus on enjoying the games without trying to track things.

This is spot on. I've played for years, but only recently started ignoring my opponent's roster(s) and I must say it it makes it so much more fun. It can definitely be a challenge as part of being a GM is analyzing/targeting players on opponent's rosters for trading (as the season progresses you can't help but learn who some of your opponents own); however, I enjoy the games more if I don't know who I'm playing against. I prefer celebrating a Dez Bryant TD because I own him in multiple leagues. I can't do that if I know that the TD works against me in 2 other leagues (perhaps my most important leagues in priority) because my opponents have him. I prefer finding out late Sunday night when I look at the live scoring/matchup. There are no conflicting interests that way and like I've stated it makes the games so much more fun with less anxiety.

 

[Tony Reali]

Tip: Don't be one of those people who joins 10 leagues and has to root for and root against every player in the league

 

[LargeMouthBass]

Since you bleed blue as you say, you can always draft all Giants next year. Just sayin...

 

[Banemorth]

Since you bleed blue as you say, you can always draft all Giants next year. Just sayin...

Have you SEEN the Giants this year? I'd like to actually win!