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Blog: Why I'm a Fantasy Football addict
NO longer a fantasy! With a lull in the sporting calendar Star blogger Richard Fidler comes clean about what will be keeping him occupied as the summer drifts by.
It's hard to admit an addiction. For most people accepting they're addicted to something is the beginning of being able to kick it.
Once they get into the process of weaning themselves off whatever they can't live without, be it drink, smoking, drugs, gambling or another vice, their life normally becomes a little more successful.
Or does it?
My name is Richard and I am addicted to Fantasy Football. It's not quite up there with a family splitting alcohol dependency is it?
And I'm really not trying to make light of what is a very serious problem in many people's lives. But spending an inordinate amount of time doing anything can be as disruptive as traditional addictions.
Take Facebook for instance. It should be the perfect website to keep up with friends and share photos. An hour here and there, you'd think, would be the maximum time needed to do your business.
Instead I bet you know at least one person who is ALWAYS on it. They have a 'friends' list that runs into the several hundreds and every part of their life is laid out in front of you.
Twitter's the same – @richardfidler if you're interested – with people constantly checking their phone or computer for updates.
I mean, what can be more narcissistic than that (apart from a sport blog where the writer regularly shares aspects of his life).
Anyway, I'm digressing from my original point. It is very easy to start spending far too much time doing something to the point of, or almost to the point of, addiction.
In my case, recently, it has been fantasy football. For two straight seasons I took it very seriously indeed and was rewarded by storming to the league title over my mates. They couldn't have been more pleased for me, honest.
Last year, however, I took my foot off the gas a bit. Hours spent weighing up fixture lists and statistics were replaced by actual work. Sadly I lost my crown to my best friend's brother and I feel a part of who I actually am went with it too…
Ask anyone who regularly plays the game, in fact no, ask the partner of anyone who regularly plays the game, just how much time is needed to pick a successful team.
It takes over your entire life and leads you to watch football in a totally different way. Instead of rooting for a team, you cheer on individual players.
A 2-1 win for Everton with David Moyes men conceding their goal in the last minute can leave you tearing your hair out if Tim Howard is your goalkeeper. Never mind that you have supported the Toffees all your life, the win is ok, letting in a goal is a disaster.
For fans of the Sheffield clubs there's generally not a conflict of interest because most fantasy football games are based on the Premier League – the one I play is on the official Premier League website and there are several other good ones attached to national newspapers.
There's often more madness than method in selecting a squad. Football supporters tend to have a fatalistic mentality, which made it easier for Wednesdayites to pick, say, the Blades' Stephen Quinn during United's brief appearance in the top division.
If the young Irishman scored a few points then it made a United victory a little less painful for those of a blue and white persuasion.
Others refuse to pick players from clubs they dislike as a point of principle. Often the best at fantasy football are those who have no affinity with a team. They are able to choose logically rather than emotionally. Or, in my wife's case, those with the funniest names.
Watching Sky Sports on a Saturday afternoon takes on a whole new meaning too as you wait for Jeff Stelling to go over to Chris Kamara at the DW Stadium for details of whether Hugo Rodallega has scored or made any assists.
Just writing this down in black and white makes it looks so sad; the beauty though is in getting it right.
You can't claim credit for your team winning for real on the pitch. But draft Darren Bent in the night before he scores a hat-trick and you can live off that in the pub or at work for a few weeks.
And, of course, the competitive animal in us all comes out when up against friends and family in a league. There's only one word for those at the bottom who say they don't care what position they are in – liars.
Or maybe that's just me. I know I have taken it far too seriously before, staring at a laptop screen full of mini-shirts on a Friday night trying to decide whether 4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 3-5-2 will be this game-week's winning combination.
It can be simultaneously satisfying and frustrating as you realise one of your players has scored but then find out it was a rebound from his missed penalty, which almost negates his points for the goal.
I could go on and on about the idiosyncrasies of fantasy football. You'd understand if you play the game and you'd be shaking your head in the kind of sympathetic way reserved for listening to your grandparents' stories if you don't.
It drives you mad, it consumes your thoughts and it makes you want to find the winning formula.
So, I'm giving in to my cravings and signing up for another season of heartache and stress.
The quest to regain my title has begun; I must keep telling myself that this is perfectly normal.
Got a view? Leave a comment below.
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
