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Subject: "Why we play fantasy sports" by Chuck Murphy Posted by: deepsnapper - [3781598] Fri, Sep 29, 22:07 I ran across this article in the Sports Beast written by one of their columnists and found it interesting. Thought I'd put it here in case anyone else cared to read it. ================================================================ Why Do You Play Fantasy? ================================================================ By Chuck Murphy Chuck@SportsBeast.net I was in a meeting with some businessmen who had never played fantasy sports yesterday and the concept of fantasy sports came up (guess who brought that up!). It turned into an interesting discussion about what makes people play fantasy sports. I have obviously thought about this some and I have a few different ideas. Prizes: Whenever we talk with people outside the fantasy world, their perception is that people play fantasy sports for the prizes. People who have never played fantasy sports can understand people wanting prizes. To them, the whole fantasy season is nothing more than a complicated contest or lottery where the lucky winner gets a trip to the Super Bowl or a 36" television. I would love to win either of those prizes, but I am not about to spend a whole season managing a fantasy team just for the chance to do it. I am sure that there are some people out there who find this a good reason to play fantasy, but I am not one of them. I don't think I have ever even looked at the prize list for a fantasy game. ================================================================ Enhance the Sport: This is a very interesting reason for being a fantasy player. Many people find sports much more interesting if they have fantasy players involved. Who else but a fantasy guy could bear watching a Cincinnati vs. Cleveland game in week one of the NFL season. Can you imagine a non-fantasy person, other than a gambler, who needs to buy a satellite dish for the opportunity to see all 15 NFL games, every Sunday. I think this is one of the biggest reasons for the popularity of fantasy sports. I think it is especially true in sports other than football, because of the length of the seasons. I find myself watching MLB scoreboards and even whole games for teams I don't care much about, just to see my fantasy players in action. Some people might say that this just means that I am less of a fan. If I was a true MLB fan, than shouldn't I be happy watching any MLB game? No, because some baseball teams are so bad that even a true fan gets bored. I think you can make a strong argument that fantasy sports have strengthened the fan base of the three major sports. ================================================================ Bragging Rights: Isn't this ultimately how everyone first starts to play fantasy sports? You are working in some office somewhere and one of your buddies or co-workers tells you how much they know about football, baseball, basketball, etc. and how they play in this fantasy league and they need someone to fill a dead team. It sounds a little strange and confusing but you give it a try because your friend likes it. Then you start to think you can do well at this, and pretty soon you are buying all the magazines and checking out obscure websites trying to get an edge on your league. You convince yourself that you know more tha your competition and you are going to prove it by winning this season. At this point, it is over, you are hooked and even a 12-stepper can't get you out. I think that there are people who play for all three reasons and everybody probably has a mixture of all three. My very first fantasy experience was a very cool basketball site called HoopsCity. I played in a league with a few friends and got my butt kicked, I came into baseball determined to get revenge, and I haven't been able to concentrate on anything else since that time! | ||||||
| 1 | deepsnapper ID: 3781598 Fri, Sep 29, 22:11 | I played in a Hoopscity league with Peter N for the 98-99 season and they had some serious problems with login and response times. The site was down so much it took away from the enjoyment of the game. They folded their baseball game in July last year (99) due to all their server problems. I didn't check out the site last season for roundball. They had a history of too many problems for me to try and play their games. | |||||
| 2 | Perm Dude ID: 45819308 Sat, Sep 30, 08:19 |
Thanks, deepsnapper. Good stuff, here, though hockey gets a bit of a snub ("etc."). Or maybe its fan base isn't strengthened by fantasy play? The rest is good, though. pd | |||||
| 3 | Mike D ID: 248352720 Sun, Oct 01, 10:52 | Interesting article, thanks deepsnapper. I never really thought about this. However, my prize pack from Hoops was clearly nothing spectacular, and I'd never play solely for that (or the chance for the trips). H*ll, it's just a lot of fun. | |||||
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