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Fantasy Fandom: What We All Think, But Won’t Say

By Rob Wilson

NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 5: Alvin Kamara
NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 5: Alvin Kamara /
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Fantasy Fandom – Admit it: Fantasy Sports Make Us Crazy

Every Sunday morning during the football season I have a routine. I wake up at a decent enough hour to tell myself I slept in and flip on the coffee maker (a real one, not the one cup wonder). I often turn directly to the television and within minutes I start second guessing the lineup changes I made to my fantasy team over the past week. For those of us who live and breathe fantasy football this is completely normal and undeniably acceptable, because for us this isn’t football season; it’s fantasy football season.

After a few seconds pass, I selfishly begin to rack my brain for how I can move into a position to benefit from it in my fantasy leagues.

As the internet age of our country solidifies itself with various streaming platforms and online cable options, watching a single game on a single network has become an outdated practice left with the generation before us that thinks Bitcoin is a form of currency that you can use at Hogwarts. Viewership and fandom will be an ever-changing landscape as long as the NFL exists but one thing remains constant: Fantasy Football has completely changed the way we watch the game itself.

This was entirely evident this week, when millions of Americans settled in to watch the Falcons and Saints square off in Atlanta. I was certainly one of them, and right before kickoff I made sure I had all my players in all the right places and I felt a sense of excitement as the game got underway and the fantasy points started racking up. This is usually one of the high points of the week but late into the first drive there was a shift in my thought process and a realization came over me that I didn’t exactly welcome.

Early in the first quarter Saints rookie phenomenon Alvin Kamara was knocked out of the game by a helmet to helmet collision with Deion Jones on a short screen pass to the sideline. It wasn’t a particularly violent or dirty hit like we’ve seen on other occasions (including a game full of them in Cincinnati on Sunday night), so there wasn’t too much emotional response from anyone until we found out how significant of an impact it would have on the rest of the game.

Wait a minute…. he’s a top five fantasy running back!

I look back to how I reacted to that hit and question myself a bit. As Kamara walked off the field and into the locker-room, I immediately thought about where I owned him in fantasy and whether or not I could still pull off a win without him. I know very well I wasn’t alone in this pool of thought so I hopped onto my favorite news source to find out. I searched his name on twitter and was immediately directed to page after page of people tweeting at or about him expressing their disgust because he ruined their fantasy season.

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From a singular standpoint it was quite comical, especially since it was noted this morning that Kamara will be just fine. It could have been left as a laughing matter if it didn’t tell me a lot about fantasy fanatics and how we view the game.

As I calculated points and thought of strategies on how to make up for the loss of a critical RB1, I stopped for a second and asked myself: am I actually disappointed in a person for suffering a concussion?  Although thats a bit dramatic, its not that far fetched when you consider the emotional rollercoaster that fantasy football can be during playoff time.

Whether it’s injuries that kill your team for a week or an injury to a starting running back that gives your prized bench stash an opportunity to win you a championship, it all points to the conclusion  that those of us that live and die by fantasy football have an emotional response to physical trauma that have nothing to do with the well being of the player as an individual. Throughout the week if you dive into industry analysis on how to navigate injuries, you’ll hear a reoccurring theme in which experts preface the analysis by saying they “would never hope for an injury” or remind the listener that “health is the most important thing.”  These types of statements are equal parts professional and admirable, but sometimes I ask myself – is that how they really feel?

I’ll be the first to admit that when I see a starting running back go down with an injury that looks severe my initial reaction is to feel sorry for the guy who put in so much work to be there. After a few seconds pass, I selfishly begin to rack my brain for how I can move into a position to benefit from it in my fantasy leagues.

Whether someone relates to this in a big way or shakes their head and calls me obsessed, they can’t possibly deny reality. Fantasy football has reshaped the way we interact with the players in our own minds. This can be viewed as a beautiful thing or a detrimental one but either way all we can do is make our waiver claims and continue to hope that someone wiser than us will sort that out.

Next: Week 14 Fantasy Footbnall Start Em or Sit Em

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