Students master sport wits in fantasy games

     Sports fans often comment how they could do a better job managing a team than most professional coaches. The rise of fantasy sports in the past 10 years has given sports critics the chance to see if they are really coaching material.
     A fantasy sport is a game where participants build a team that competes against other league members based on the statistics produced by professional players or teams. Fantasy sports provide the ability to virtually trade, cut and resign players, like a real team owner or manager. Fantasy leagues exist in many sports such as football, baseball, basketball, hockey, auto racing and golf. Leagues are offered by numerous companies including Yahoo, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and CBS. 
     The Fantasy Sports Trade Association estimates 16 million adults in the United States, ages 18 to 55, play fantasy sports, with that number reportedly increasing 7 percent to 10 percent annually. Moreover, fantasy sports have an estimated economic impact of $1.5 billion within the industry and close to $4 billion total economic impact.
     Football was the first sport to have a fantasy league. In 1962, Oakland Raiders partner Bill Winkenbach, Oakland Tribune beat writer Scotty Stirling and Raiders public relations man Bill Tunnell created the scheme for fantasy football in a New York hotel room. The first league was called the Greater Oakland Pigskin Prognosticators League and the only players were staff members of the Tribune and the Raiders.
     The rules were a lot like today. Players’ statistics determined the payoffs. A participant earned 25 cents for a passing touchdown $2.50 for kickoffs returned for touchdowns and $5 for a touchdown by a defensive lineman.
     Teams chose four receivers, four halfbacks, two fullbacks, two quarterbacks, two kick returners, two placekickers, two defensive backs and two defensive linemen.
     The first player chosen was Houston quarterback George Blanda, for a logical reason: Blanda threw at least 40 passes a game and a fair percentage of them went for touchdowns. Blanda still holds club records for the Oilers/Titans with 68 passes in a 1964 game against Buffalo and 36 touchdown passes in the 1961 season.
     While the recent trend has achieved national popularity attracting celebrities such as Samuel L. Jackson and Sean Salisbury, it has also affected GCSU. In a 2007 survey at GCSU, 18 out of 30 students said they participated in a fantasy sport.
     Junior rhetoric major Alex Jones has played fantasy sports since he was in high school.
     “(Fantasy sports) makes the sport you’re watching mean so much more. You actually take an interest in the league, not just your favorite team,” Jones said. “It’s more fun with friends, because you can talk trash to one another. In my senior year of high school, my friends and I had a NASCAR pool. I picked the first and third place winners three races in a row and everyone stopped playing because they refused to play with me. I never felt more like a redneck than during this time of my life, kind of sad.”
     Sophomore math major Daniel Smith is also a regular member of fantasy leagues, playing every year since eighth grade. Smith plays fantasy football, golf, baseball, hockey, and basketball.
     “Playing in fantasy leagues makes normally meaningless games interesting, and it helps me keep up with my sports knowledge,” Smith said. “I won four different leagues this year, two on Yahoo and two on CBS.”
     The survey finally addressed the question of whether or not athletes should be allowed to play. All survey participants, including GCSU cross country runner Jason Hendrix, believed it was acceptable for athletes to partake in a fantasy league as long as they did not play with money.
     “Oh yeah, athletes should be allowed to play in fantasy leagues,” Hendrix said. “It keeps them up to date with their sport they are involved in and it gives them experience in scouting the competition.”
     Today, fantasy sports continue to grow each year. Most sports publications include sections on fantasy sports, there are entire magazines devoted to it, and even some TV stations show stats for fantasy league players. It is obvious that this fantasy has become a reality.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 20 2007. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry