Great Post Hoss...Last week on a Red Zone thread, where everyone was talking up how awesome that channel is to watch and follow your fantasy team, I offered a dissenting opinion and just about got booed out of that thread. In my opinion, I argued that if you just watch and concentrate on your favorite team, you learn more about your team, have more invested in your team, and ultimately grow closer to the ups and downs of your team. You become a real fan. I think that fans of NFL teams have a much more interesting opinion of the game, college or pro. We end up talking about things like divisional rivalries, great matchups we look forward to, and can generally talk about the defenses and offenses without singling any one player. Somebody called me a bitter old man. Gee that stung to hear that, although my pretty young wife and kids don't see me as bitter, although I do have some grey showing. Having said all this, I can't help but check my fantasy score from time to time, but never when my game is live. But to be a fan of a team is to take pride in that chosen franchise, something of a birthright that you may end up passing on to your kids. I remember I was just 4 years old when my uncle took me to my first game in the Oakland Coliseum. I was a Raider fan for life, shortly thereafter, Ken Stabler's 1976 Raiders won SB 11. Back then, I didn't know about anything called fantasy football. There was just being a fan. I don't know how I got into fantasy football, but it's never been more than a game, nothing more meaningful than yahtzee. Being a fan is like it's own religion though. I like fantasy football, but I'd sell all my fantasy football teams down the river and give it up completely if that was the deal with devil to make my team win the SB again.Now my youngest is 4 years old. At bedtime at kickoff of the season opener of the Vikings/Saints game, he climbed up on the bed and assumed my same anxious position, head rested up on my palms, looking up at the TV just over the baseboard. When mom fetched him for his nighttime story, him saying, "Aw....I wanna watch the game with Daddy" made me smile and remember how I became a fan. Just hope he doesn't become a Saints fan.
Very very well said! 
I feel the exact same way. (except the Broncos instead of the Raiders)
