Fantasy Football, Taking Football to New Levels

Fantasy Football, Taking Football to New Levels

Rebecca Fernandez

Axia College of University of Phoenix

COM 125 Utilizing Information in College Writing

Patty Lucas

October 28, 2006

Fantasy Football, Taking Football to New Levels

Football Sunday, the family has got a bucket of hot wings and beer, sitting in front of the TV waiting for the kick off. It's Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers and I have got my Champ Bailey jersey on while my husband is wearing his Tomlinson 21. We are ready for the game to start, but suddenly my husband changes the channel to check on the Cincinnati vs. Tampa bay game, so he can check on his fantasy football quarterback. Meanwhile I'm on the internet checking on my fantasy football defense, the Pittsburg Steelers. I find myself wondering why we just don't sit down and watch our favorite NFL teams anymore. Before we joined our fantasy football league, the only games I would sit and watch were the Denver Broncos, because they are my home team. I know the players and when and where they are playing. As for the rest of the NFL teams, I didn't know anything until I got caught up in the fantasy football excitement. With the newly founded popularity of fantasy football, the old ways of football are obsolete, now there is more interest in individual players than teams, more knowledge of the game, and better media coverage.

Fantasy Football is game where participants, also known as "owners", draft a team of real-life NFL players and then score points based on how those players perform in real-life games. The game was originated back in 1962 and is now a big business industry due to the Internet (Wikipedia, 2006). Fantasy football is the most popular fantasy sport in the United States. "The Fantasy Sports Trade Association's 2005 numbers show that more than 6 percent of adults (more than 13 million) play fantasy sports games, including more than 10 million in fantasy football" (Griffith, 2005, Fantasy Exceeds, 6).

Fantasy football starts with a commissioner, who is responsible for defining and enforcing the leagues rules. A league is typically made up of 8 to 12 players "teams". A draft is held at the beginning of the season. There are many types of drafting styles; the most common one is where all teams start with an empty roster. The commissioner will designate a draft date and time, usually lasting from two to four hours. The first person to draft in round one will then become the last person on the second round. After the draft is complete, the team will acquire anywhere from 10- 15 players. The average roster has one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker, one defense team, and a few back up positions. The players that were not drafted by any teams then become free agents, which can be picked up later in the season by adding and dropping members from a team. Also there is the ability to trade players within a league. Changing players may need to be accomplished in the event a player gets injured or is not performing adequately. Players earn points for passing, rushing, receiving yards, and touchdowns; negative points for fumbles and interceptions. Scoring the highest amount of points in the league usually indicates the winner of the game.

Fantasy football is becoming a wide spread game with millions of people getting involved. Players are spending anywhere from two to three more hours watching NFL TV on Sunday, visit website that host leagues and stay longer on the site then average (WWW.boston.com, 2006). It brings a new view point on how the sport of football is being played. Fantasy football deals with players from all different teams, and the media of course wants to take advantage of this growing opportunity for profit. In 2005, Anne Riley-Kats stated "DirecTV has expanded its football offerings to include a "Super Fan" package that allows viewers to watch up to eight games on the same screen and a "Red Zone" channel that catalogs significant moments in each game, like an interception or a 70-yard touchdown drive" (Fantasy football kicks off, 4). Things like Direct TV's Super Fan package will be beneficial to a fantasy football player who has three different games to watch, all being aired at the same time. Sportsline has a league that plays for money called "Gridiron Guru League." This particular league's players are made up of 14 celebrities from CBS announcers, Jim Nanta, Phil Simms, Boomer Esiason, Bonnie Bernstein, Dan Marino, Gus Johnson, Randy Cross, Brent Jones, Steve Tasker, Steve Cohen, Tommy Tighe, and Clark Judge (WWW.boston.com, 2006). This is now taking the form of celeberty fantasy football, the endless possablilities for the media to partake in this fantasy world. Sports Center is trying to lanch a new talk show specifically dealing with fantasy football updates, player stats, and so forth. Already ESPN Boston radio has a Wednesday night fantasy show with Mike Antonellis and Bob Halloran. "On the newstands, publications about fantasy outnumbered the traditional previews about the upcoming season" (Wendel, 2004, How Fantasy games, 11).

The internet has a wealth of information which allows fantasy players unlimited football information. Players are notorious multitaskers; who watch the game on TV, follow their league on their PCs, all while chatting or talking with other league members. From managing leagues to checking stats on players, the internet is broadening elements to fantasy sports. The internet is providing speedy services to help fantasy football members get information on their players. Aaron Gray 2006 stated:

The "StatTracker" on Yahoo.com is very cool but it also makes me nauseous. Esoteric statistics, different colors and numbers endlessly flashing all over the screen. For only 10 bucks, you can get up-to-the-second updates on your fantasy team. Almost instantaneously, you can find out which placekicker just threw a touchdown or that some self-loathing tight end just had another temper tantrum on the sideline. (Fantasy Football: An interactive NFL fantasy, 5).

Now many sites on the internet are offering free leagues to play fantasy football, they use upgrades like "StatTracker" to make profit. ESPN has stopped charging players this year and the network has said that it's doubled its number of fantasy football players (WWW.boston.com, 2006).

With the number of people using the internet today at work or at home, the chance