Before about 2008, I was always skeptical about fantasy sports. Back then, I was really into NBA basketball, since it has always been my favorite sport. That was the first year I had any experience with fantasy sports. I was invited to a Yahoo fantasy basketball league by my brother and it was a rather lame league and I neglected my team pretty much all that year. When it came to any other sports, basketball always came first, and everything else seem like a distant second.
It was 2009-2010 season where I played fantasy football for the first time. I had a condescending attitude of hesitation when I joined that league, but what I didn't know is that it would change my perspective of sports for a long time to come. I started the league and was in it with a few friends from school, I really didn't know much about the NFL, expect what I needed to know to watch it every Sunday. I knew a few players, I knew that I loved the Chicago Bears, and I knew that basketball would always be my favorite sport to follow no matter what.
I finished that season 2-14, I didn't follow it like most the other people, but something about that year changed my perspective on fantasy sports and sports in general. I became more open and unbiased to my love of sports, I simply loved fantasy football, I loved football, and basketball still was my favorite to watch. Even though my record didn't quite show it that year, I still loved following it every Sunday, watching each player on my team with every chance I got and having my mood depend on pointless statistics that when I got to school Tuesday morning after the football games for the week, meant absolutely nothing.
Last year, I joined two fantasy football leagues, I got a little more serious with fantasy football and quickly put my love of the NBA second to my love of the NFL. I joined one $25 dollar league with a bunch of friends and two of my brothers, which ultimately became the league I was most applicable of having a chance to win. I also joined another league as a co-owner with my sister, which was a keeper auction league, it was a $75 dollar league and now that I joined these leagues there was money on the line.
The keeper auction league quickly became my favorite, there was so much strategy behind it, it just made me want to research more players and keep playing, it distracted me from school and I just kept on searching for more ways to win. I finished that league 4-12, and was not much better than the year before, but it still kept me going. I finished 9-7 in the other league and still wasn't enough to be in the top 3.
This year, I stepped up my fantasy football managing and also became a commissioner of my own league. It's been a pretty decent year for me. The auction keeper league I started out 3-0, but went on a 5 game losing streak due to the fact I lost 4 of my top players (Jamaal Charles, Kenny Britt, Tim Hightower, and Jahvid Best). I'm currently 12/14 in that league with a 3-5 record, but still follow it closely. The league I'm commissioner of I've had better luck I drafted the top running back and top wide receiver (Adrian Peterson and Calvin Johnson). I'm currently 5-3 in that league and in 5th place.
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| To you, this is pointless statistics, to me this is research and what will be able to make or break my week. |
Fantasy football changed my perspective on sports. I feel that because of it I've became more open to other sports. I was incredibly biased towards the NBA and as basketball will remain my favorite sport and the sport that is always there for me, the NFL has become my favorite sport to follow, simply because it is the most interactive experience in football. I never thought before that I'd know who Kregg Lumpkin is, or that Calvin Johnson scored two touchdowns every game in the first four weeks of the league this year. It's those pointless statistics that keep my sane in each coming week, the ones that can make or break my week, and the ones that just occupy some of my time and make my further my love of the game and when the NBA is out of the lockout, I'll be there waiting to participate in fantasy basketball, waiting to watch game one by one, and loving every minute of the playoffs, but for now the NFL has dominated my weekends and changed my perspective of sports. I love sports, and fantasy sports are a great measure of that.
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