Reality > Fantasy

I've mentioned this here and there before, but it's worth bringing up again since it is NCAA Tournament time...

Fantasy sports can suck it. There, I said it.

Why? Because it makes me mad Cleveland State beat Wake Forest yesterday. Some little school knocked off a team that was ranked #1 earlier this year. That's something that makes this tournament great. That's why people watch/follow this tournament.

And I had picked Wake Forest to go several more rounds, so I'm screwed in the pool.

The good news? This isn't costing me money. Never understood pay pools/leagues. I played in a fantasy football league for the first time in three years this past fall. My team, a typical case of looks-great-on-paper, quickly dropped to last. And I have to admit, I made a good decision... I stopped trying to care. The Steelers were playing well. And that's my thing, reality sports are always better than fantasy.

Let me give you some examples of why I am pretty much signing off for fantasy sports:
  • The above-mentioned Cleveland State win. The NCAA Tournament is all about underdogs knocking off big-time schools. I want to cheer for those, not sit and whine that my bracket is shot because of them.
  • Say the Steelers are playing Dallas and my fantasy team has Tony Romo starting at QB. I don't want to spend the game pissed off that Romo is killing my fantasy team when the Steelers, my favorite team, are doing the job. No fun.
I've heard a lot of people say, "oh, but it makes the games you don't care about more interesting."

Folks, some news:
  • If there's a game you don't care about, don't watch. Read a book. Anything.
  • This attitude is killing coverage of real sports. Every year, without fail, I have to hear about how San Diego is going to the Super Bowl. I mean, they've got LT! They've got a good solid QB in Rivers! Truth is they've got players fantasy owners love, but when it comes to getting on a field and winning a real damn football game, they're kinda average at that. Why? Because fantasy football is all about stats, but it doesn't deduct points for "safety completely missed Harrison after he made a high school-level deke." Thing is, that's you you lose reality football games. But since ESPN and every other network wants you to play fantasy football on their Web sites, all we ever get coverage of are the great fantasy players.
Anyhow, for what it's worth, I've got Duke winning the NCAA Tournament. Against UConn. Just think that Duke is peaking at the right time. There are no stats to back it up. There are no players on Duke you'd pick in the first round for your fantasy team. They just seem to have their act together.

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is the most sense I have heard anyone talk about fantasy sports. You are smart. Imagine what it's like for someone like me to sit through all this annoying jabber when I don't even care about REAL basketball, let alone fantasy crap.

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