Fantasy Baseball: Cool or Uncool?
Each and every year, for over 10 years now, spring brings up two words: fantasy baseball. It’s the time when drafts pop up all over the place and people start uttering their wish list of players. I, on the other hand, am totally against the idea of fantasy baseball, or any fantasy sports for that matter.
Before most of you stop reading this because you are a fan of fantasy sports, let me defend my position. I used to participate in fantasy baseball. It kept me up to date with players’ stats, including players new to the league and/or rising stars. I actually picked up a rookie by the name of Albert Pujols in late April of 2001, following a torrid series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. I was up to date on what players were worth something to the league, and which ones were all hype. But then, in 2003, I was forced to do something that I dreaded and even decreed to never to do. I drafted Sammy Sosa, of my nemesis, the Chicago Cubs. Now did I root for him to do well, I would never admit that, but maybe there were some days where the Cubs were so far ahead or behind it didn’t matter how well he did. That’s when it hit me. I hated fantasy sports because it took the joy out of seeing your foes do poorly.
To me, sports are more than just rooting for your team and your players to do well. It is much more. Being a sports fan includes being able to root against players and teams that you don’t like! The joy of seeing another team lose in the final weeks of the regular season, or in the playoffs can sometimes feel just as good as your team going all the way. For example, when the Mets have blown first place leads in the final weeks of the past two seasons, I rejoiced. It literally made up for the Cardinals not being in the playoffs. Now of course I didn’t settle though; I had to continue to root against the other teams that were fortunate enough to make the playoffs.
But that’s my rationale on hating fantasy baseball. Imagine being a Yankees fan and being forced to hope that Big Papi clobbers a homerun into the seats of Fenway on the season’s final day. Because whether or not you have money riding on the outcome of your fantasy league, you will at some point have to hope that each player on your roster does well. I mean, how about if the Yankees were playing the Red Sox on the final day of the regular season! Would you root for him then???
This leads me to my next point; fantasy sports must have been created by a non-sports fan. Even though this probably isn’t true, it would explain the previous example. Only someone who truly doesn’t like sports would create a loophole in which rooting for players one hates is a possibility. And if a sports fan did create fantasy sports, this “fan” couldn’t have favored one team over the rest of the league. But in this case, he/she couldn’t have possibly really been a fan.
Even if the intention of fantasy sports was to draw interest from non-sports fans, one would have to wonder why to even bother. This person is probably only playing to win money and won’t really care about what teams are good or even bother watching any games.
I’m not trying to bash fantasy baseball specifically. I’m just trying to make people aware of what they’re really rooting for by joining a league. And when your pick comes up this spring and you have to choose the best player on the team you hate the most, I hope you remember what I wrote.
I must say, I completely agree with this. Even though there is a huge difference between Fantasy Baseball and the actual MLB, a person’s likes and dislikes can be shown in a number of different ways by the way they draft their team, and by the way their favorite team(s) do/does in the regular season (and postseason if they are good enough to make it that far).
Just last night I had my fantasy draft on Yahoo! Sports, and boy does this come into play. About midway through the draft, I see that I’m lacking a decent outfielder and I look on the board to see who’s left. The best available player for that position was Johnny Damon. I dreaded this pick, to say the least. Being an Anti-Yankee, I had to take a deep breath when choosing Damon because I know when the time came, he could either make or break my team, or better yet my emotions, come late September.
There will always be a little bit of a tie between a person’s Fantasy team and the teams they prefer and root for during the 162 game season. There can be some exceptions, but it always feels somewhat weird drafting a player you know you’re probably going to root against come crunch time. It’s nearly impossible to compile a team of players that one completely approves of because there will always come that time when that person has to select a player they completely and utterly hate. But come that time just before the 1st of October, a person’s true colors can easily come out when they are put in that position to either root for, or against, that one disliked player.
Okay as I type this I am totally expecting to get ripped and/or hated on. I am a big fan of fantasy sports, more so football and basketball, than baseball. I am not a huge baseball fan due to the New York Yankee Empire destroying all hope for my Cleveland Indians even though we have had several opportunities to win a World Series (Don’t rub it in Chris).
I guess my whole view on professional sports is flawed. At times it is so hard for me to root for a team when players are constantly coming and going. For example during my childhood I absolutely loved Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, and Manny Ramirez (When he was only semi-lazy). It killed me to see these players eventually get traded or decided to sign elsewhere because Cleveland couldn’t afford them. The same goes with C.C. Sabathia. He is my dude and it just breaks my heart that he is on the Yankees.
This is why I have decided that it is impossible for me to root against teams. I’m going to use my love for the New York Giants to describe what I mean. As a Giants fan, every Sunday I should be glued to my television or computer cheering every time the Redskins, Eagles, and Cowboys turn the ball over, give up a score, and lose. Whats the point of this though? Yes, I should be rooting for the failure of my opponents, but if the Giants do not handle their business it does not matter what they do. Do not get my wrong, when the Giants are playing one of these teams I want to shut them out and show that we are the best team in the NFC East, but when they are playing someone else I could care less. My team has to win and control it’s own destiny, not depend on the losses of my rivals. I’d rather have the Giants win the division because they earned it rather than because everyone else in the division is horrible and hands it over to us.
Is this the way the other 99.9% of sports fans think? No, and I realize that. I have never chosen a NFC player outside the Giants or outside the Indians in the AL Central, but hey that is just me. As much as he killed me, I got a laugh yelling at Braylon Edwards every time he dropped a pass (which was just about every pass thrown to him this year) along with dropping him during the championship week to pick up Chad Pennington so he could be on a team that actually won a championship (yes I actually won). I also had a blast following players that I may not have if it wasn’t for fantasy sports such as: Chone Figgins, Carl Crawford, Matt Forte, Michael Turner, Antonio Bryant, Wes Welker, Russell Westbrook, Paul Milsap, and Rajon Rondo, to name a few.
I am fully aware that my view on sports is not the norm and Chris you brought up some great points. I just figured I’d give my two cents and give another honest view of fantasy sports and sports in general.
Though I don’t necessarily like fantasy baseball, I do feel like fantasy sports are great for a few reasons. As mentioned before, fantasy sports, and in this case, fantasy baseball, helped teach me players of other teams that I never knew before. Without those drafts in Jason’s basement back in the day, I’d be even more clueless than I already am.
My second argument for fantasy sports in general is that they can make an ordinary game much more meaningful. As a Phillies fan, an ordinarily meaningless game between the Yankees and Blue Jays becomes very important if I have Roy Halladay on my team and I need a W. Again, I don’t even play fantasy baseball, but in the case of basketball, I’ve watched a lot of games this year solely because I had a player on my fantasy team playing in it. So I guess I look at it as a way to bring more attention to sports.
Chris the point you made about people rooting against their own teams is very interesting, and I think it happens often. Me personally, I avoid this by refusing to draft players off teams that I hate, even if out of pride. I realize most people aren’t like that and suffer from drafting Sosa like you did (2 years in a row I believe?? lol).
The only thing that bothers me about fantasy sports, is that sports media has almost made it into a sport of its own, offering advice, tips, and devoting tv specials to a fantasy draft. It makes me laugh because the whole fact that fantasy sports are still based off of some luck goes completely ignored.
I like this site. Holla.
Jon great point buddy and I agree with you. If you team doesn’t take care of business then who cares.
G, haha, I like how you go way back to the days of my basements drafts. Good times my man and I agree with you as well. DON’T DRAFT THE GUY! Check back later today as I post my rebuttal to Chris’ article as to why fantasy is GREAT.
Thanks for posting comments everyone.
I fully agree with Jason. If you don’t like them, don’t pick them. It’s your fricken team, and don’t act like you don’t have a choice, thats the beauty of fantasy sports. Also, if you do pick the next available person you do like, its not forever, he is not branded on your team, he is not a slave. If he is not doing well, drop him, and do your research. This is in fact the reason we all should love fantasy sports. YOUR ARE IN CONTROL! Don’t give me this nonsense that you had to do it. You sound like a little b.
I can say this from absolute experience, and everyone here knows it. I draft my favorite players, and I refuse to draft others. For example, anybody on the Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Oakland Raiders, Allen Iverson, and PAU GASOL. I still do well, there are plenty of players out there to fill the void, and in the season, we all know you can find hidden gems. For example in fantasy basketball: Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green, Louis Williams, Thaddeus Young, and I could go on. This is why I love fantasy sports, because you HAVE to be a sports fan to appreciate and discover all of these precious jewels. You become a better one because of it. So, don’t give me this BS Chris that you have to pick the players you don’t like and be forced to cheer for them. Call 9-Wha-Wha so somebody could care, in the meantime, I am going to be a true fan as well as a fulfiller of my fantasy sports destiny. BOOM!
PS Jon, thats the way the entire world should view there teams, like a man. Well done.
Great comments…!
Dave – I see we’re on the same page here in terms of the dread of picking a player you don’t want to root for, but feeling the need to draft him because you want to win! It’s a horrid feeling and it only gets worse during the season.
Jon – This is a baseball site, not football haha. But seriously, I totally respect your view of fantasy sports. You do have to focus on your team more than any other because that’s why you like that team! However, for example, the 2006 Cardinals lost many games toward the end of the regular season and won the division with only 83 wins. Without the help of other teams losing in their division (which I GREATLY rooted for), they may have not made the playoffs and even won the World Series. That’s why I love rooting against teams almost as much as I root for teams.
Galen – I like your perspective of finding reasons to follow a seemingly meaningless to yourself. It’s true that a Yankees/Jays game would bore me normally, but with the starting pitcher of a team going that game, I would instantly have a factor in watching and following the game. But what if Halladay is pitching against the Phils during interleague play. Wouldn’t that kill you?!? I hated having a pitcher go against the Cardinals! But also, like you love to quote, “YOU PLAY, TO WIN, THE GAME!” Why play fantasy baseball if you’re not gonna pick the best player available. It makes a farce of the game if you’re just gonna pick players you like. That’s why I don’t play though!
Derek – As I said to Galen, pick players that will make you win, not ones that you want to root for. Your team will lack in quality if you pick a middle relief guy on the Astros instead of the closer for the Cubs. And all of the guys you listed from fantasy basketball would make you a middle of the pack team, at best. They are all role players who don’t have high averages in more than one category. Are you saying you’d pass on a star because you don’t like him to pick a man named Thaddeus? By the way, I do agree with Buggey’s point, but your point makes me believe that you have never won a fantasy sports league EVER.
Keep the comments coming ya’ll
Chorn22, I think your missing my point, I am talking about the entire draft, not just the first round. Therefore, I totally disagree with you since your going to get the stars anyway, but its guys like those (in any fantasy sport) that will help you capture the crown: role players, any fantasy player can tell you that, and yes, I have PLENTY of fantasy leagues, primarily basketball. That point is mute.
That point is moot, not mute. It’s not a silent point.
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