Postgame Press: Fan(tasy)hood

Being a fan means you get to be a part of an amazing community of people with whom you have a bond as soon as you see them at the game or on the street wearing a jersey. I see someone with my team’s hat and immediately feel a sense of kinship. But team allegiances have been changed with the advent of fantasy sports.

Fantasy football has changed the landscape of being a football fan. With the 'ownership' of individual players on your team, you can cheer for your team to score through certain means, like a touchdown to a specific wide receiver. This can be a problem, though, when your fantasy players compete against your favorite team. Do you want them to score? Yes. You probably want them to score multiple times so you have a better chance at winning. On the other hand, you definitely want your team to win the game in real life. If it comes down to your fantasy matchup or your real team, which do you choose?

Some fantasy owners have solutions for this. Some draft loads of players from their favorite team so that they do not have to root against them. Others care more about the money they can win than their teams. This is usually the case for a fan of a team that is not performing well. So the person will root for winning money instead of their real-life team that will only win a few games. One would imagine, for example, that Bills fans are rooting for their fantasy team more this year.

I have had an interesting arc in my fantasy fanhood. I used to be someone who never rooted against my real-life teams. Never. Even if it meant losing my money; that is what had to happen for a win. Real life is more important to me. Or was. Now it is getting iffy. When my star running back is playing against the Bears, I sometimes find myself cheering for him instead of the Monsters of the Midway. My best possible scenario is always seeing a great game by my player and a victory by my team. Sometimes, though, I find myself rooting for my player as much as my team. That worries me.

Fantasy has changed what being a fan is like. I have friends who have ended their allegiance with any real-life team, only caring about winning in fantasy. NFL football becomes unimportant to them, compared to their smorgasbord roster. Does that stop you from being a real sports fan? Do you miss out on real fanhood and love for the game? Or is it just different rooting for a team you made instead of any Super Bowl-bound roster? I win too much in fantasy to be upset, but fantasy has changed the fundamentals of being a sports fan, and in my mind, not for the better.

With sports betting now legal in more places, fans should beware. Sometimes your bank account becomes more important than a team or an experience. And that is not what sports are about. Right?