high school fantasy leagues?
i much prefer watching high school football on fridays to pro football on sundays. the night air is crisp, the hot dogs are cheap, you sit closer to the action, and the kids just seem to try a lot harder.this season, however, st. paul's daily paper came up with the second creepiest thing i've encountered as a football dad: The Pioneer Press High School Fantasy Football League.* a quick google search revealed a broad national trend, with high school fantasy leagues popping up in ohio, new jersey, louisiana, texas, and elsewhere. yeesh.
as a guy who spends a lot of time with a high school sophomore, let me just ask ... have these fantasy football writers ever spent any time with a high school sophomore? if so, they would know that no good can come of this. the kids get too much attention for playing football already, often swamping the attention they get for academic work. plus, the great life lesson in high school football is about teamwork (and overcoming fear and pain with one's buds) rather than the individual stats compiled so carefully in fantasy leagues. finally, i cringe at the thought of some fantasy rube accosting the neighbor kid for failing to accumulate sufficient points under the friday night lights.
i tend to draw a bright line between amateur and professional athletes, with only the latter subject to critical analysis and ridicule. i'd keep college students out of such leagues as well -- let the coaches rip the players and the fans just be fans. i once taught intro statistics to an earnest sociology major who happened to be the walk-on kicker for the football team. i winced whenever he missed a field goal, worried that he'd be savaged by the local scribes. he was a fine student and didn't even have a scholarship at the time, so it wasn't as though he owed the university or the writers or the fans anything. fortunately, he didn't miss very often.
it is bad enough that we put teenage college athletes through the media wringer, but high school kids? i noticed that one of tor's teammates was a first-round draft pick on this team. i hope he takes it as a compliment and then puts it out of his mind. clearly, the middle schoolers are next, with the pee-wees following shortly thereafter. i just didn't expect the daily paper to join in on the fun.
*the modern-day injury waiver form remains the absolute creepiest thing i've encountered as a football dad. and, heaven help me, i signed one that was way scarier than this. i felt as though i were signing enlistment papers for my fifteen-year-old.
posted by christopher uggen @ 12:06 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I love high school football too, but I beg to differ with your characterization of the NFL. If you don't try very hard in the NFL you will likely get your head ripped off by someone who is trying harder than you. Trying hard in the NFL is necessary for survival. Besides, the difference in skill level between those who are great in the NFL and those who are just good is so small that players who don't try hard quickly get benched or lose their jobs.
High school players just look like they're trying harder because it's so much more difficult for them to be good at the game. But I get your underlying point - I'm a big fan of amateur sports.
In terms of where we draw the line, I'm reminded of the fact that a club in Brasil has already signed a 7 year old to an extended contract because they think he's the next Rhonaldino. Besides the obvious fact that so much can happen between 7 and an actual playing age, that's pretty damn creepy.
fair point, brayden, although the vikes' aborted signing of todd "alligator arms" pinkston and randy "i play when i want to play" moss suggest that there might be a few exceptions. but you're right -- the absence of guaranteed contracts promotes some degree of zeal.
i hadn't heard about this one, woz, but i know that sports illustrated has long prided itself on discovering such prodigies.
Chris, thank you for your blog about the HS fantasy league. You nailed it! It is indeed all about the team. My son, a 17-year-old senior, has yet to play his first varsity down. Asthma kept him out as a sophomore, and he chose to concentrate on academics last year. After his friends on the team got to him and pushed him into the weight room, he was, at 5-11, 275, really ready to go this year. The bad news is that he tore a knee while lifting during the summer. He had the surgery, and with any luck, he will be on the field in another couple of weeks. In the meantime, he is still considered part of the team.
The point I'm trying to make is that it was the TEAM, mostly the offensive & defensive line guys, that got him back into football. There are a number of players on the team who gather the headlines every week, but they are nowhere without the rest of the team. When was the last time you read a sports page headline about the pancake block that sent the star halfback off to the end zone? At least my son's team, Nashua, NH, South, puts little stock in individual performance. Yes, they have their top notch performers, but all of them recognize that they are dependent on each other. Their coaches have a lot to do with this, and for that I give them a lot of praise. The team parties together after a win and shows up on Saturday morning for the film session ready to look for ways to get better.
I don't think there are many HS students who have the maturity to put their inclusion in a fantasy league into the back of their minds. It is guaranteed to cause some sort of friction with team mates. Perhaps it will influence play calling in a game, and thereby the outcome. I agree with you entirely. No good can come of it.
I've gone on far too long, but I have to add that the team concept extends far beyond football. Where I work, each project is considered a team enterprise. The Program Managers and first-rate Engineers might be the visible stars, but the culture of the company is to make sure that everyone is recognized for his contributions. The systems we build are used to protect aircrews in combat. There is no room for failure. Every person who touches the product in any way has to do it right every time. I think you can understand the importance of teamwork, and the unimportance of individual performance, in this situation.
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