Fantasy Baseball and the Male Psyche

By Jon Pysz - Posted on February 29th, 2008

Men, for the most part can be separated into three categories; those that play fantasy sports, those that don’t, and pre-op transsexuals. The guys who play the game share a camaraderie, and brotherhood no frat house or blood relation can offer. Men from all walks of life can communicate with each other in the universal language of fantasy sports. Next time you walk past a security desk or order a beer, listen. You’ll catch conversation containing key words such as draft, round, auction, all centered around a myriad of different players.

Some will call it a fad or say it’s a waste of time, but fantasy sports are here to stay. Men have always had a love of sports. Sport began as a way to showcase our natural ability, and has evolved over the years into frenzied entertainment. Through the glory that is Internet, we are able to harness this form of manly entertainment into a highly competitive ego driven world that puts to test a man’s intelligence, knowledge, wit and shiftiness. There’s more strategy involved in fantasy sports than in a game of chess, more heated debates than in the Obama v Clinton campaigns, and the levels of intense passion that are reached could rival Kevin Garnett on angel dust.
You can tell the effect this hobby has on us by the way our women look at it with utter disdain. Most of you have seen the movie Knocked Up I’m sure. Now there is a scene where one of the characters has to hide his fantasy draft from his wife, because he wants his own time, but she suspects him of having an affair. When she stalks him to his buddy’s house to find out the truth, she wishes it was an affair! A lot of men out there can relate to this. Usually when we escape the wife, girlfriend, hooker or what have you, we get a nice quiet moment to ourselves, get drunk, watch a game, see a stripper, or all of the above, but we sometimes miss out on our natural want for competition. When our significant others see the passion we put into what they consider a dumb game they get jealous. They see all our good qualities at the peak of their ability. We’re focused, intent, ambitious, and confident. We listen to each other and talk openly and enthusiastically even if it is just to say how overrated Brandon Phillips is. Our women see this and wonder why we can’t devote this same spark of passion we so easily lavish on a dumb game with them. They’d rather we get smashed at the bar with the guys then spend hours on the phone busting out a massive three way trade, because fantasy sports steals some of our affection away from them. That should be a measuring stick of how important it is to us.

People will try to trivialize the game saying it’s for compulsive gamblers, dorks, and those who wish to live vicariously through others. Just remember fantasy baseball is about more than that. Its camaraderie, passion and competition rolled into one. Sure you could find the same qualities in other activities, but fantasy baseball is nation wide and it keeps chugging along every year, and your only investment is time. So next time you order a beer at lunch give your brother behind the bar a nod, commiserate over Carpenter, and remember Magglio as you heatedly debate who the number 2 overall pick is this year….you’ll be a better man for it.