Why fantasy football isn't as good as the real game

By:  Tobias Gibson
Sports Columnist
 

Fantasy football is pervasive, and I do not like it. Magazines that I read, that I wait for by the door, have pages and pages of fantasy drivel within them. People talk incessantly about their damn fantasy drafts. Fantasy points roll past on the broadcast. I can’t rid myself of fantasy team talk, as much as I try to ignore it.

So many LOVE this way of following the sport, and I just don’t understand it. There are so many weaknesses and flaws to the reasons that people (including those I know, respect and love) give for their involvement in this travesty. 

Fantasy football rewards losers. If a quarterback throws for 310 yards, 3 touchdowns without an interception, fantasy fans whoop without regard for the scoreboard. Individual stats are not important in a team effort. In fact, many of the most important aspects to a successful, winning team simply cannot be measured. Locker room leadership is invaluable to a team’s success on the field, but there is not a statistic that measures it. 

Fantasy football rewards the wrong people. Terrell Owens is a locker room scourge. He wants to fight his QBs; he is a distraction to the team environment; he is an individualist rather than a team player; he drops passes at the biggest times in the game; and he is somehow a fantasy goldmine because he has the ability to catch passes when there is no pressure, when the game has been decided and when he decides to run his routes crisply. 

Fantasy football ignores nuances in a game where nuance wins games. Receivers who block downfield and spring running backs for a 30-yard gain, rather than a 12-yard gain, lead to victory. Punishing 2-yard runs on 4th and inches lead to victory. Reliable third receivers who catch 4 or 5 balls a game for 45 yards, but bail out their quarterbacks under pressure, win games. And most important, offensive lines who provide stable pockets and running lanes win games. And none of these are rewarded in fantasy football. 

Defenses are an afterthought in fantasy football. Even defenses that single handedly win games can be drafted in late rounds. The Baltimore Ravens won 12 games last year, and all of the wins were due to the defense. Chicago went to the Super Bowl on the back of its defense, but the D won’t be drafted early in a fantasy round. A defense that intercepts a ball, confuses opposing running backs and receivers, that suffocates drives and leads to good field position for the offense wins games. Defense wins championships. Last year’s Super Bowl champions, the Indianapolis Colts, won despite Peyton Manning, not because of him. A defense that was viewed as soft during the regular season put the smackdown in the playoffs. 

Fantasy football fans, take a few minutes to understand the beauty of the trap, the importance of the fullback lead block or the fact that defense can carry a team. These are the things that make football worth watching.