We're looking at ways to further replicate the at-home experience in the stadium.That's from an NFL spokesman explaining why the league is directing all 32 teams to display real-time fantasy football stats at all home games this season. But there's nothing like the intense, emotional stadium experience itself;** it doesn't need enhancing. Fantasy football is more popular than FantasyLaw because the sport itself is so gripping, the games so rewarding to watch.
And tonight, after the lockout and the fantasy drafting and whatnot, football is back. We can sit back (or lean forward with great interest) and watch two very good football teams face each other tonight in Green Bay and New Orleans.
Half-assed predctions: in the AFC I see no reason not to expect New England, Pittsburgh, and Jets to return to the playoffs, with a healthy San Diego team dominating its division. If I have an AFC sleeper I guess it's Denver (Houston doesn't count anymore), but one of the traditionally dominant teams will return to the Super Bowl this year, and Buffalo, Jacksonville, Oakland and Miami will continue to disappoint. And I'm really going to miss Peyton Manning this year (I'm assuming the worst); the only QB in my lifetime against who you'd even consider going for it with the lead on 4th and 2 on your own 28 with two minutes to go and no timeouts, so fearful were the Patriots of what he could do from 70 yards away.
In the NFC, there's only one great team (Green Bay) and a lot of pretty damn good teams -- Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta -- and several with a chance to rise up this year. I know Detroit and St. Louis are the sexy picks, but who says that Donovan F. McNabb doesn't have another few more good years left in Minnesota? I don't pretend to know whether my Eagles have fixed their offensive line sufficiently; all I know is that this is an Andy Reid team, and as in nine of the past eleven seasons I expect him to find a way into January, where anything is possible -- but mostly disappointment around here.
Welcome back, football. I missed you.
** This statement is not necessarily valid in Jacksonville.
*** Our suicide pool is still open. It may close at kickoff tonight; it may close Sunday. I don't know.
I am all for replicating the in-home experience in the stadium. Therefore, rules about wearing pants will be abolished, food will consist of hummus products more than they do now, and game action will be paused when i have to pee.
ReplyDeleteI think Arizona might be better than St. Louis because of regression (for both teams) and a new QB for Arizona. Hard to predict Bradford's second-year leap, but I hate his WRs.
ReplyDeleteSan Diego benefits from two huge, and I mean huge, differences. First, they have actual WRs. Rivers faded a little bit at the end of the year last year, but he carried that team with unbelievable WR injury/holdout issues. Second, the kickoff rule change benefits nobody as much as it benefits SD. If you took away their special teams, SD might have been the best team in the AFC last year. I'm pretty sure that SD gave up a kickoff return TD every single quarter. True fact, look it up. So touchbacks on kickoffs plus regression on punt coverage will give SD more wins.
But there are lots of events which lend themselves to fantasy elements which aren't popular as fantasy sports: golf, tennis, box office predictions, Congress, NASCAR, etc. So what makes football work better?
ReplyDeleteAt LFF, at least, even the controversial stuff gets replayed on the big screen. You lose some stats/information and esp. injury updates, but if you understand football decently you don't need further analysis.
No love for the Ravens?
ReplyDeleteI like them. Lee Evans helps. They're not getting past Pittsburgh in January (again).
ReplyDeleteI love reading the words "only truly great team" and "Green Bay" in the same sentence. Go Pack!
ReplyDeleteI think football's inherent watchability is one of the main reasons that fantasy football is so popular. I'll sit down and watch a football game at home, even if I have no rooting interest. I won't do that with baseball. And based on ratings, America as a whole feels this way, too. Because so many fans are willing to watch a football game that doesn't involve their favorite team, fantasy football gives them something to root for, to have that emotional connection with that game.
ReplyDeletePlus, football translates the best to fantasy as any other sport. You typically only have to tend to your team a couple of times per week at most. So, it's great.
Watching football in the stadium, you see the play develop more naturally than at home and see the totality of the play. It makes more sense than on TV (though the gap has narrowed significantly with the advent of HD.) Waiting out the rain delay at the US Open last night, we talked about sports that play better in person vs. on TV. Football is pretty good either way, as is tennis. Golf, far better on TV than in person. Hockey, far better in person. Baseball: far better with beer and/or kids.
Oh, and in person can be far better than watching any big NFC game on TV, because you can successfully avoid Joe Buck.
ReplyDelete