Fantasy Football has made fans of a team more like an excited casual observer. The Super Fan dies a little each year fantasy football gains popularity. Don't get me wrong, the interest in the game has continued to increase and fantasy football is a huge reason for that. But, what fantasy football has also done is make a fan of a particular team disconnect with the emotions from a big Win or heartbreaking Loss. The main reason is that "Super Fan" that lived and died by how his or her team did every Sunday (or Monday or Thursday or whatever other day they will try to play on next) is more concerned about their team. I believe that "Fan-dom" is still there and really hits at seasons end/playoffs when all but one teams fans are celebrating a victory in the last NFL game of that season. I remember I was pretty freaking bummed when the Broncos lost against the Ravens and it has ate at Denver fans the entire off-season.
I remember the atmosphere in Denver and how sad I'd be as a kid on Monday at school when the Broncos would lose and how it seemed like the day was dark and cold even on a warm and sunny fall/winter day. The city was in a funk. The grocery store was a bunch of zombies afterwards. People bought 3.2 beer after to drown their sorrows (this was before liquor stores were open 7 days a week like you spoiled 21-25 year olds have only known in Colorado). After a win you'd hear people screaming down the street and people high fiving at the grocery store enjoying that watered-down beer and the Foam Broncos bricks sat above the TV instead of ripped in half and laying in front of the TV. People would call in screaming on a Wednesday still pissed off and hungover from the Loss that wouldn't be cured without a Broncos Win. Hell, as a kid there was this idiot Rich "G-Man" Goins that sat on 103.5 The Fox Billboard until the Broncos won. It was pure Super Fan-dom.
Things are much different with NFL teams sports fans. It can be attributed to many factors, but as I eluded to earlier, the main reason is FANTASY FOOTBALL. The reason the Super Fan has died is Fantasy Football has became readily accessible for all ages. Heck, my cousin did a study and drafted a league in school a couple years back at age 9 or 10 I believe. I started getting into fantasy football about 13 years ago when I was a sophomore in college sitting in the computer labs and my e-mail host, Yahoo!, sent me an e-mail about fantasy football. I was an engineer major at Mines with a deep love for math, stats of NFL players (I would read all the statistical leaders weekly and year to date in the paper from about age 10 and on) and football in general, why not? The only available leagues were either salary cap leagues or snake auction leagues back when the internet hit and fantasy football became available to the masses in the late 90s/early 2002. Yahoo hosted a live online draft, it was entertaining but took 3-4 hours. I think my first team was half re-draft. I stayed active that year but I was still more interested in how the school of the road and my favorite college team up the road, Colorado Buffaloes, and lifelong NFL team Broncos were doing. I played each year with moderate success and interest. Still, the Broncos and the adopted in-laws team of the Packers along w/ my Buff Love were what made or broke my weekend.
After years of Yahoo Snake Drafts and deep benches and playing against people I had no face or idea who they were and with my interest decreasing in fantasy football due to real football, coaching wrestling at a local high school and mainly a fiancée and house that had my attention, in 2007 a co-worker let me know he had an opening in his Fantasy Football League and wanted to see if I was interested. It was an Auction League, used Accumulative/Total Point Scoring and had a $100 buy-in. There were unique rules (some that I later disagreed with but we all have our own rules and rights so I probably was a bit of an ass how I approached it, but who would expect anything less from an Ace like me?!) but it was the most fair way I had ever seen fantasy football conducted. It was more like the college game that rewarded a great season, rather than who snuck in and get lucky to have the healthiest players and match-ups at the end of the season. It rewarded the best overall fantasy football manager in the league.
So some knowledge and background from the above. Money Leagues have been around since the inception of fantasy football in the 60s. It was actually the way many leagues were done before the internet made it available to the masses and had all these free leagues where only about 40% of the people stay interested. Money Leagues tend to keep owners interested longer and is a form of gambling that is cheaper than playing cards 17 weeks a year. An Auction Draft is where each owner has a salary to draft their team. Some require each roster spot you draft has a dollar value. Some require just the starters be drafted with that and some vary. Auction drafts allow a team to draft in many varieties (look for future post about that) but the biggest draw to it is everyone in the league has a shot to get the top players and a team can spend the majority of their money and land the 2 highest regarded players. That is impossible in Snake Drafts and another reason Auction leagues are now options on the major sites these past couple years after being something only the live in-house draft could accomplish.
So back to the 2007 Draft: I learned quickly that the live in-house (or bar) group of people drafting together is the best way to conduct a fantasy football draft. There is more involvement (i.e. shit talking, bravado, food and for the dumb asses that like to donate money-drunkenness), more enjoyment and you get to interact and really get into the league from the beginning. I remember that first draft, I knew the commish that invited me into the league (my co-worker at the time) and had seen 3 or 4 other people at Poker tournaments he hosted but it was a little overwhelming. I was The New Guy. I was last to arrive and I was nervous as could be. I sat back and bid but made a ton of rookie mistakes that I still make today. Auction Drafting does one thing to you that Snake doesn't, if you fall in love with a player, rather than reaching on them a round or two early, you spend too much of your budget to fill your team with enough adequate supporting cast and I have done that a few times. The draft lasted about 3-4 hours but it was fun. The end to fill the bench went by quickly because people were mentally spent and you saw some guys that were reached on because people didn't care. From watching the better owners and reading more on it, this is where the best gain their advantage and clean up building a strong bench and supporting cast to support their superstars. In some cases, this is where breakout fantasy super stars are got for nothing. I played another year and got my Uncle involved in Fantasy Football again after years away (he took 1st in the league) and from that the following year in 2009 we started our own league where we could call the shots. We are both the type that when it comes to sports, we like to call the shots, just like the NFL.
The NFL finally realized they were never going to discourage the gambling of fantasy football and instead embraced it beginning in 2010 with the launch of leagues supported through their site. Again, it was a way for them to get a piece of the pie even though they had most of the pie. In 2013, they have now made fantasy football part of the game experience. WiFi is now being increased in NFL stadiums so fans can use their smart phones to check how their team is doing. Stats around the league are being updated regularly the past couple years. So let's tie this all back together, shall we?!
I was the Super Fan, the guy sitting next to me was the Super Fan, the lady in the Manning jersey was the Super Fan The key word is WAS. We are all checking our smartphone instead of being really upset about how bad the team is playing or super excited and enthralled in what is happening in the game, we are more worried about some player we could give two shits about when we trade him to some sucker after he has two good weeks and we know is at his highest value. We go to work Monday and instead of bitching about the game to someone, we bitch about how bad our fantasy team was. We hardly talk about the game and how amazing that last minute drive was, because we are too concerned about what is going on with OUR team, the Blitz Craig Plops, the ManningUp Maniacs, The Brady Bunch, etc, and not our NFL franchise team we buy jerseys of and go through the motions with every week until the playoffs.
The NFL's ticket sales and waiting lists are hurting. Football on TV is such a great product and the ability to relax and spend less money while enjoying comfort and getting a great experience are huge. And fantasy football accessibility is as well. That's why the local Target isn't empty during a game like it used to be. There is TiVo, there is WiFi, 3G, 4G and now as the Manning family told us in an awful commercial song, there is football on your phone. The NFL Sunday ticket wasn't made mainly for the fan in Denver wanting to watch his Bears in Chicago. It was made just as much for the guy that has to see his fantasy stars play and rack up points for him.
So when you are bummed out after losing a weekly Fantasy Football match-up to your buddy or you take the lowest score in the league for that week, remember Fantasy Football has ruined you and killed that Super Fan that friends, family and strangers knew to stay away from after a tough loss and turned you into the mumbling crazy talking about The Pack It to Me tanking it that week instead of the Green Bay Packers win.
Long live Fantasy Football! Good bye Super Fan!
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