.....Fantasy what?

Five years ago I read about (and thought about joining) a fantasy football league...thinking at the time how silly it must be to sit and look at numbers and “points” to generate a win in a football game. This is a game built around an alternate state of reality.

Now…everyone seems to have an opinion on fantasy football, and there's no mushy middle to inhabit. You're either with the fantasy players or against them, and the debate is almost entirely dominated by the true believers who worship the game. This scared me a little. What the hell is wrong with people and this must be a "fad" that will not last very long.

So let’s see…in the last five years…..the housing bubble burst, the stock market tanked, and the economy almost slid into a capital-lettered second Great Depression, but fantasy football is bigger and thriving more than ever. That point was soundly driven home to me again when I read that the NFL announced the league was jumping with two feet deeper into the ever-expanding world of fantasy football.

I read that for the first time, NFL.com has launched a new fantasy platform (and don't you know it's all about the platforms these days), featuring "the world's only NFL fantasy game with video and extensive in-game highlights.'' The press release goes on to say that player projections are tied to Madden NFL 11, which seems about right, since that seems to link a fantasy game that really doesn't exist in reality... to a video game that really doesn't exist.... in reality. All by a league that may not play any real games itself next year if it doesn't get its labor situation figured out.

How perfect.

NFL at its March owners meeting heard a pitch from former Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson, who along with current Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is marketing a hand-held video device called Game-Day Vision that would be available to fans in their seats at the stadium, allowing them to keep track of everything that unfolds around the league while they're at the game.

You get the feeling we're headed for all access, all the time, with fantasy football furthering its grip as this sports-crazed nation's favorite pastime while watching its favorite game. In the NFL world, fantasy is the clear-cut king. Even if non-believers like me have our reasons for not liking it, it's not about to go away or decrease in popularity. From the looks of things, to think otherwise is pure fantasy.

Now excuse me...my fantasy draft starts in 13 minutes and 11 seconds.....and I have the second overall pick.