I play fantasy just as much as the next guy. I'm in 4 football leagues, 3 hockey leagues, 5 baseball leagues, and will probably be in 4 hoops leagues. This being said...fantasy sports has ruined all thesde sports for us "real" fans. Everywhere i turn it's people talking about fantasy this and fantasy that. I had another altercation at the bar this wekend with some fantasy assholes. They were going crazy cause their team was playing against the Colts defense in a fantasy league. One guy had Marvin harrison so he was rooting for harrison but not the rest of the team. This went on for an hour and a half before i lost it. I started screaming hat you can't root for fantasy players in a public forum. Go home and watch if you want to do that. The "gamblers" backed me up right away as did the other "die-hards"(fans of their team). We all started getting very angry and within minutes these guys left cause it got so uncomfortbale.

Anyway, i think these fantasy leagues have tainted football and baseball too much. I think it's even worse than the steroid problems because a lot of people could care less about a player on steroids if he is on their fantasy team. Then you have theswe nerdy fantasy douches yelling at the TV cause they have $10 in some stupid fantasy league.

Just wondering if anybody else is disgusted by these idiots who ruin the true sports fans glory cause they have these fake teams to fuck around with. I'm too old to fight people and get into lame arguments, but i think i'm gonna make it a point to yell at any of these morons who happen to be within ears length of me during some gay fantasy discussion.

Who's ready to unite? Take these pussies down with aggression and smarky comments about how they are gay or somethjing

I dunno, but for avid sports gamblers to blame fantasy sports for something like this is a little crazy. I've never heard of any games being thrown due to interference from fantasy interests.

i agree with for the most part, i mean i cheer when i read the bottom line and Brady has a TD, but i don;t go crazy. for me it's like "oh great he scored, ok now back to the game" but i know what you aere saying.

luckily for me i get to watch the Browns games with 40 other browns fans, and that's all who is there, so it's not a mixed group.

Maybe its just who I hang with, but basically everybody I know keeps fantasy sports in perspective.

I like it so long as you don't take it overboard. I'll always pick my own interests over fantasy production.

This is exactly how i feel. However, there seems to be a shitload of people in this area that won't shut the fuck up about the fantasy. It's non-stop talk. It's almost as annoying as hearing everybody's bad beats in poker.

I gotta disagree here. Us gamblers know we are degenerates and deserve every trip and fall that happens. But the whole fantasy thing is on a compltetly different level and should be "rooted" for accordingly. There is rent/bills/marriages/lives affected by gambling. Fantasy does not have this. All it has is gay bragging rights and maybe a couple hundred bucks if the group of fantasy douches decided to throw some money down on something they think they know about.

I've done my part. I've lambasted anybody that talks for more than a half hour about fantasy at my house, and i've yelled at people at he bar who won't shut up about it after 2 hours.

I realize it's a fun thing and all, but there are limits to this crap. Realize that your "fantasy" team is just what it is...fantasy. Root for a fucking team, pick the fucking Bengals for christ sakes. Who cares? I'm willing to deal with bandwagon fans just so they shut the fuck up about their fantasy team

this goes the same for people who go to football and baseball games. If you went to the game just cause you bet on it, shut the fuck up and let the fans do their part. You don't care about either team, show some respect to the people who are supporting thier team for real reasons. There are always exceptions if the stadium is half full.

oh, i agree generally, it's just a little weird coming from gamblers. for instance, i was taking a shit before the ou/uw game a few weeks agon and the guy in the next stall is on the phone asking who won this game and that and by how many? etc. the conversations are no different, and neither are very interesting to anyone not involved in some way. but one actually affects things and the other is essentially harmless.

oh, and four hours later, when ou gave up a late touchdown to only win by 17 it meant the guy next to me lost 500 bucks, which is really only poetic justice.

When it comes to fantasy teams, I ALWAYS put my team first. I've got a friend who's an Avs fan and I've heard him say stuff like "It sucks that they lost but that's ok because I've got _______ in the pool and he scored twice." I just don't understand how that should change the way you feel about your team. I could understand it if your team wins and you're happy that an opponent did well, but you should never be happy to see an opponent help beat your team.

This is also the reason I will never ever bet against the teams I cheer for. I wouldn't bet against the Jays because I would never want to be happy with a loss.

I was going to start a "Why I Don't Play Fantasy Football" thread, but I think this one will do just fine to deliver my rants about it. (These are personal rants, btw: I don't hold much against people who enjoy fantasy sports).

a) I would seriously blow a gasket over nearly every game I watch. I can already see it during the playoff race: "OK, I need the Bengals to lose so the Broncos can get a first round bye, but I still need Carson Palmer to throw for 400 yards and at least 2 TDs. This means that I need the Browns to outscore the Bengals in a shoot-out, even though their offense currently sucks. Oh wait, I also have the Bengals defense! ARGH! *explodes*

b) The value of players by certain positions is COMPLETELY out of whack. I'm sorry, but when the top 15 players taken in your average fantasy draft are all RBs, there is something seriously wrong. 99% of RBs are only as good as their O-line. Leagues should factor in an O-line to the scoring system and even out the value of the skill positions. Oh, and I like the idea of IDP leagues as well. But yes, I realize that the majority of fantasy players only care about the flashy skill players anyway.

There's little things that are more uncomfortable for me to listen to than people talking in public about their fantasy football teams. I actually cringe when I hear it. The worst part is probably half of the people in my work are in fantasy leagues, out of about 40 people, there are 5-6 real sports fans, the rest are just IT nerds who don't know shit. They are the ones that talk about it so seriously and as if they know a think about the actual sport. You never hear the 5-6 of us who are big sports fans talk about our fantasy teams even though we all have them.

I think the only thing comparible to hearing people talking about that is them talking about poker. Again, I love it, just wouldn't be caught talking about it in public.

I agree that it has gotten a little out of control. I love fantasy but I love the Jets more.

I try not to pick Dolphins or Patsies though I do have R Brown and Moroney on my team this year. I will always root for my real team over good stats by my fantasy team. I definitely never would be loud about my fantasy guys in a bar. It is amazing what a money making machine it has turned into and also how it has altered the way the networks report stats now.

I do both fantasy football and am in a major nfl pool, and i just want to get this straight. Is it ok for me to root for the teams i picked openly and get excited when they win, or is that also taking it too far. I feel that i can be alienating when i overly root for a team that i would usually not care about at all, but because there is money on the line i do.
As for fantasy i really dont pay attention at all during the games to that, i more focued on the teams. I look at fantasy more after the games to see how i am doing, the pool is much more important

exactly...

and Clubber, it's just as bad when someone is rooting for the Colts to win by more than 7, instead of just winning... gambling, fantasy, well it's all of the same mold, so-to-speak

except gambling is real.

dude, they're just looking for the same thrill you get out of gambling... it's not their fault that their livelihood isn't invested in it... no offense, but it's more of a personal problem on your behalf that you count on gambling for so much... most just like to have some fun... and that's not their fault

i do understand the problem with idiots acting ilke they care or give a shit just because they have fantasy players... but most of the guys i know (hell, probably all) keep their allegiance with their fav team over their fantasy squad without question

my fantasy league isn't exactly cheap... but i think my next post better addresses this

and yeah, i joined the RM leagues and have not went back... once i have real money on things, well, playing for fun just doesn't cut it... at all

but what about the people that have no allegiances? These people are the worst cause there whole reason for watching the games is for fantasy purposes They probably wouldn't even watch if there were no fantasy leagues. These are the people i'm talking about

douchebags. no doubt.

I think I might agree with you. It's annoying, I love playing GM as much as the next guy, and FF is just part of the fun for me of football, and I played maybe one season of Fbaseball before I decided it was too involving, but honestly Fantasy Football is good in one way because it makes everybody want to watch all the games.....But I'd watch all the games anyway. FF is basically just another reason to talk s. to your friends, I care about my fantasy team, but my real life football team is my passion. That's one issue, we are having fantasy discussions instead of real life football discussions in bars. Fantasy makes me feel dirty, I don't even like that word, I'd never carry a laptop to a bar, I just want to drink my beers watch the games, maybe put a few bones on a parlay... It's just odd to see some guy going crazy over a 10 yard burst from a backup (even I'm guilty of getting excited about Jerricho Cotchery making a catch) It's got good sides and bad sides, for me it helps me learn more about every team, but fantasy goon, the guy with no team but his fantasy team is the most annoying guy in the room next to fun guy. I'll roll with you.