Just A Regular Guy's Perspective....

[DOUGHBOYS]

I'm not very political. There is not a politician alive that I believe in. When we have elections, I vote for the best of the worst. I'm not alone. A lot of folks feel the same way.
This is why I don't join the conversation much about the future of fantasy sports. Fantasy sports is shifting from bad hands (shifty businessmen) to worse hands (shifty politicians).
And no matter what we do, we feel like there is no control for us.
We feel, screwed.

America is a country that likes to break rules.
Which is alright.
Most of our rules come from old time churches. Churches liked their women in the kitchen and their men at work.
Except on Sunday's.
Gambling, smoking, and drinking were more than frowned on. Politicians, in order to be elected catered to these wishes. They knew that most Americans wanted them to be considered 'good christian folk'.
Since, there has been prohibition.
Since, there has been anti-gambling laws.
Since, smokers have been taxed to the hilt and cigarette ads have been banned from television.

There is an ambiguity to these laws.
They don't permit assault, but professional boxing is allowed.
They don't permit mayhem, but there is professional football.
They don't permit gambling, but there are professional poker players.
If wanting to break laws, become a professional at it!

In watching the 'World Series of Poker', a player called himself a full-time professional daily fantasy player.
It showed him in a room with a bunch of computers, making lineups.
This gave me pause.
Does the guy with the most computers or programs win?
I know that is not the essence of fantasy sports.
The essence is picking the best players in giving us the most points or category help.
If having the most computers wins.
Or most lineups wins.
Or most programs wins.
I don't wanna be a 'pro'.

I've never played the daily game. I am a believer of 'On any given Sunday'.
I do not think it is possible, no matter the match-ups, to skillfully put together a daily lineup.
So professionals use programs or multi-layered lineups.
That's not fantasy sports. It's Numerish. Worse, it's computereze.
Fellows like me, who just simply know baseball, would get crushed.

The daily game may kill our overall fantasy game. They threw our game at the public. So sick of their ads, the public complained.
Instead of drawing jeers or laughter behind backs as we have endured for years, the public was pissed off.
Flood advertising will do that.
They forgot that fantasy walks a tight wire in the eyes of John Q. Politician.
It could be called gambling. It coud not.
They're leaving that question to politicians.
And politicians will do what is best to get more votes.
And now, now we're all in danger of losing our favorite hobby.
Yes, I said hobby.

[KJ Duke]

I do not think it is possible, no matter the match-ups, to skillfully put together a daily lineup.
So professionals use programs or multi-layered lineups.
That's not fantasy sports. It's Numerish. Worse, it's computereze.
Fellows like me, who just simply know baseball, would get crushed.

In it's entirety, well said and I agree on most all. I do think it's possible to be skillful; if I wanted to play DFS seriously I would talk to Dave Potts about that. However, for the most part the game is being won by excess capital and algorithms (aka numerish + computers), much like high-frequentcy trading in the stock market. And you're right, that's not actually fantasy baseball, just like HF trading isn't actually investing.

[ToddZ]

The shame of it is at it's root, DFS is actually an organic extension of what we play -- but the money aspect disguises it and really divides DFS into two separate games.

Now where did I store that biotech resume....