Fantasy football: Ego edition
Written by Hannah Ulm, Oct 3, 2011, 0 Comments
As fantasy owners, we consider many different aspects before deciding who to sit and who to start. We look at injuries, opposing defenses, teammates who might take opportunities away from our men and countless other things.
For an individual player, we might think about his talent, how often he gets the ball and his ability to make a big play.
But I think there is one component we sometimes overlook: spite.
Football is a sport designed to inflate egos. We cheer for the hardest hits and the craftiest runners. We love the fights that break out and the trash talk between rivals. Heck, sometimes I expect to see a WR turn around and stick out his tongue at the safety he just outran. So with all that testosterone pumping, how is a player to react when his team gets crushed? Oh yeah, mercilessly.
Let’s look at a few examples from the first few weeks of this season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers shocked fans with their embarrassing 35-7 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in week one. Week two had opposite results for both teams—the Steelers came back with a 24-0 win against the Seattle Seahawks and the Ravens got me kicked out of my work’s football pool with a disgusting 26-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
It’s undeniable that the Steelers have not played like the team that made the Super Bowl last year. But in week two they looked better. And yes, they were playing the Seahawks, so that has to be acknowledged. But I think they had an added spark caused by the embarrassment and spite left over from the week before.
So keep spite in mind. Think of the egotistical highs and lows you go through during your winning (and losing) fantasy seasons. Then imagine that being broadcast to millions of fans that could turn on you after one bad game. Which reminds me—Joe Flacco, what little relationship we had before is now over.
