Fantasy Sports - Not Just for Nerds Anymore (But Nerds Still Needed)

Tewks and I see eye to eye on many things: the fact that we write for the same blog can speak to that. However, his recent diatribe on fantasy sports has compelled me to write a rebuttal.

Only one of Tewks' arguments is salient: I do spend an inordinate amount of time working on my fantasy teams – time that after the end of an 8-8 season would probably have been better spent doing other things – but that's where the validity of his arguments end.

The average sports fan does not play fantasy sports for money – I'm currently in two leagues: one that I play in for free, and one where the winner will take home a whopping $60. Now, I realize that this represents a whole week's salary to a small percentage of the populace (an eight year old running a lemonade stand, and Tewks, for example) but to me an extra $60 would mean buying Labatt Blue over Lucky Lager for one week.

Also, the notion that people play fantasy sports because they think that they're smarter than the front offices of professional teams is equally fallible. I know for a fact I am smarter than JP Ricciardi, Al Davis and Matt Millen – because they're all idiots who don't/didn't have a clue how to run a franchise, not because I have any sort of eye for discernible talent.

So why do I (and almost everyone I know) play fantasy sports?

It's a chance to test your sports knowledge against that of your peers. It goes beyond the trivial aspect and digs deep into the game, forcing you to take the same considerations in starting your team as a real professional coach would – albeit at a much more simplified level. I don't want to try and prove that I'm a better manager than Cito Gaston, I want to prove that I'm a better manager than the jackasses I work with (sorry Duja).

In an ironic way, fantasy sports mimics life: if you work hard, do your homework and stay up to date on a sport that you like anyway, you'll have success – and have fun. You engineer something from its infancy, modify it based on how the season is transpiring, and hope that your knowledge and intelligence is enough to make you successful.

Tewks still lives with his parents and doesn't have a real job. When he's 35 the only thing he'll be engineering is a daily trip to the food bank with the rest of the squalor – burning copies of his unpublished manuscript in an industrial drum to keep himself warm during another frosty winter.

Too much? Nah... we're good friends.