“NFL” appears courtesy of drodd.com

June through August always marks something of a low point for sports. Hockey and basketball have just recently concluded, and baseball is in the middle of it’s hundred and sixty game numb-a-thon of a season. Really, the only thing to do is to look ahead to that magical time when football will once again unveil itself to the world, and we can all dream that our favorite teams, both real and fantasy-based, won’t completely suck.

Now we all love our squads for one reason or another (I’m a Titans fan born and raised in Los Angeles, and not coincidentally, a contrarian by nature), but if you play Fantasy Football, then you know that for as excited as you are about your real life team winning the division, there’s really only so much you can do to affect the outcome i.e. nothing. But Fantasy Football, that’s a different story. In Fantasy Land, you’re both coach and GM, and as such, you are directly responsible for the outcome of the game. Well, insomuch as one can be, anyways; at the end of the day, we only fool ourselves into pretending it’s not a total crap shoot.

“Fantasy Football” appears courtesy of someecards.com

But I was thinking about the whole Fantasy Football phenomenon the other day, and rest assured, it is in fact that, and something about the game struck me. For as much as Fantasy Football is centered around the game of football, it’s really not a game about football in and of itself; rather, it’s about how you manage your team of football players, and in that respect, Fantasy Football is less a football simulator, and more of a business simulator.

Think about it, the whole structure of fantasy football is that a team of owners, not coaches, mind you, but owners, take turns selecting their players, or assets as it may be, and you have to invest in each asset to varying degrees of cost in the from of draft picks; the higher the draft pick, the higher cost of the asset. Using your limited and available resources, the goal is to select the best assortment of assets that will net the greatest aggregate return.

Then, you’ve got dynasty football, which takes the basic framework of Fantasy Football, and makes it even more business-y, adding multi-year contracts, RFA’s, dead money, and all of those added elements that real GM’s have to go through. Now, undoubtedly to some, this sounds like an enormous waste of time, and you’d be right to a degree, but at the end of the day, for those that are into it, it’s a great way to bring 8-32 more or less like-minded individuals together.

This is what a pre-season roster in a 32 team Dynasty looks like. It’s insane. #NFLExecutive

So why the great attraction to fantasy and dynasty football? While it’s true that the sport of football itself only continues to grow in popularity, and revenue, year over year, you have to wonder how much fantasy football has attracted people to the sport? I personally know of several people that wanted nothing to do with football until they were roped into a season of fantasy football by their boyfriend/girlfriend. From there, the general camaraderie of the league brings you into the fold, and your innate sense of competition kicks in, unless, of course, you’re a Millenial, in which case you have a trophy made up for every owner at the end of the season. Or at least, you would if you could afford it. (Kidding!) (Kind of.)

I think a large part of the appeal has to do with the fact that, while the sport of football itself is something everyone reading this can readily admit there’s no possible way we could ever hope to participate in, it’s entirely, 100% believable that we could manage the finances and rosters of teams comprised of professional football players. You and I may never be able to be professional quarterbacks, but we can certainly negotiate with their agents and convince them to come play for our organization. After all, everyone knows what a cake job being a professional GM is. (Kidding!) (Absolutely, 100% kidding. Seriously, that’s a 24/7/365 gig.)

This appears courtesy of me, and my awesome Fantasy League: Ballers of Moderate Wealth. Just a little weekly snark in the form of Power Rankings. #BOMW

And on a purely fundamental level, there’s some truth to the idea that any one of us could be a successful GM; just as far as managing the numbers, with a little experience, the basics of the position could be understood and executed. But as is the case with so many occupations, it’s not just the job itself, but the demands, the lifestyle, the bosses, the personalities, and everything else that goes along with the job that would keep most of us from being able to succeed.

Still, we can all dream, can’t we? Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a Marcus Mariota contract to deal with.