Vernon Wells pelted four homeruns and drove in five runs to lead his team to the championship Sunday.

Not for the Toronto Blue Jays, whom Wells plays centerfield for, but for Bobby’s Cox – one of my fantasy baseball teams.

I had a memorable fantasy sports day yesterday. Not only did I add a gold trophy to my Yahoo trophy case and won my first league in three years, but two of my three fantasy football teams also emerged victorious in regular season games. Not bad.



I’d call it one of the more satisfying days I’ve had in a while. It was certainly better than last Sunday when Chargers’ kicker Nate Kaeding nailed a meaningless 49-yard field goal in the final seconds in a blowout against the Jets to beat one of my fantasy football teams.

Enough fantasy sports jibber-jab, though. The question is why? Why do I and 20 million other Americans get so much satisfaction out of winning a fantasy baseball league?

There’s something here. ESPN, Yahoo and every other major sports Web site has a whole well-staffed section on fantasy sports. It’s a $1.5 billion industry. Professional athletes even enjoy the pastime.

This blog entry set out to examine why people are drawn to fantasy sports and came out with three primary types of people who participate: past athletes who still love sports, people who love statistics and gamblers.



I agree with the first category. Almost everyone has played a sport at some point and wants to stay up to date with sports in some way. But I think it’s grown beyond the other two categories.

As with many things in the world, the Internet has revolutionized fantasy sports. The fantasy sports phenomenon started nearly 30 years ago, but only diehard fans embraced it because it required calculating all your own statistics. Now, Web sites like Yahoo do it for you. People who just like sports with rudimentary statistical knowledge can enjoy fantasy sports.

Gambling also isn’t a necessity. With free sign-ups across the Internet now, it’s just as likely a league with co-workers or friends could be set up merely for bragging rights. Although throwing in a few bucks to create a prize pot is still common, it’s not absolute.

Of course, fantasy sports have its naysayers. Some go as far as to say it’s ruining athletic competition in America because people root for players over teams.

That’s being a bit dramatic. Fantasy sports have only made me a bigger sports fan – it has forced me to pay more attention to more games. I enjoy the challenge of compiling/setting a roster to go up against another person. It’s a good way to feel more involved with the sports I’ll spend hours watching and talking about anyway.



Beyond that, I'm just hoping Bobby’s Cox can repeat and win another championship next season.