Post
by DOUGHBOYS » Fri Jan 02, 2015 4:26 pm
For those of us old enough, we remember what fantasy sports used to be like. We would get box scores for both football and baseball and post those numbers weekly in our leagues on Monday, Tuesday, maybe even Wednesday or Thursday.
We wished for the day when we could get those numbers more expediently.
Then, internet happened.
Fantasy leagues started slowly. But, with each passing year, more and more started arriving. Still, we wished there was more fantasy content. Most baseball and football stories pertained to real baseball and we were left to translate those stories for our own fantasy use.
Soon, even fantasy stories became as plentiful as 'real' stories. Magazines and writers for sites started writing stories for our fantasy tastes.
Now, we have fantasy coming out of our ears. Every sport has some kind of fantasy fix for its fans.
A golfer, in 66th place on the final day of a tourney, missed a putt, and was yelled at by a fan because it hurt his fantasy golf team.
We have gone from too little fantasy focus, to too much.
There are daily games that can be played almost every day of the year. Besides shysters proclaiming themselves as 'experts' in how to bet a sports game, they now want money in advising fantasy players in who to play for their fantasy games.
There are more fantasy football magazines than real football magazines at our book stores.
Most of us got to play during the 'Golden Age' of fantasy. That era when fantasy was small. Quaint. Fun.
Now, fantasy sports is a steamroller. We want everything now. If a site is behind in its software or does not have the latest technology, that site is ridiculed for not being up to date.
Fantasy sports folks now have to do due dilligence before forking money over to a site. Too many sites have just plain taken the money and ran.
Even local leagues will use the internet to play in leagues. Its become too much 'work' for a Commish of a league to do stats.
Instead, a site, mostly for a price, does the figuring for a Commish.
We used to want a sport, any sport, to acknowledge the fantasy players.
Now professional sports organizations are buying or partnering in fantasy sites themselves.
Buying and partnering in sites!
The irony.
We have to be selective now, also, in which sites and sources we get our information as players. Some sites will focus on numbers or news that is somewhat irrelevant for our use.
While other sites fall right in line with our way of thinking.
For folks new to the NFBC, I reccommend Mastersball. Simply because it is written by folks familiar with the NFBC and they give a true NFBC slant to most stories and numbers.
Fantasy info, invitations, and sites are now everywhere we go. We used to have to look for ANYTHING fantasy. Now, it smacks us in the face.
When a fella would tell me the local Rockies score, I would instantly asked "How did they score?"
Fantasy meant more to me than the score itself. Now, I'll just nod, whip out my phone, and see how they scored myself.
It is more business like. That is what it has become.
A blend of technology and money has made fantasy sports what it is today.
In short, technology has taken away most of the work. We arrive at a fantasy destination everyday.
To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, I adored the journey, more than the destination.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Nice job Rich. What a Christmas present for you, your wife (who was with you in Las Vegas) and the family. Enjoy and GREAT JOB!!