Does Fantasy Football Fill The Void Of Real Football In LA?

When we were back in Los Angeles last week, it was for a purpose. It’s a trip we make every year around the same time, supposedly to see family at eat everyday at Yuccas. But really the timing is set because it’s when my fantasy football league has its draft, and it’s not something we really want to do on the computer (ironic being a blogger, we know). But according to the LA Times’ Bill Plaschke, people like me have found fantasy football to be the methadone to the heroin known as real NFL football in the city of Angels. Considering only three of the twelves members of our league are Raider fans (don’t even mention the Rams), it seems that the evidence is there.

The first reason is that television doesn’t need a team here, the ratings are just fine without one. The second reason is that there is no NFL-ready stadium here, and no support for tax money to build one. The third reason is that there is simply no grass-roots support for a team here.

Twenty-five years ago, fantasy sports were geek sports, basement sports, loser sports.Today, with teams becoming more economically distant from their fan base, it’s more fun to root for individual players, making fantasy mainstream.

“Who needs the NFL here?” said Tom Russo, veteran Los Angeles television executive and fantasy player. “Football fans have everything we need without it.”

Yeah, except it’s a lot more awesome to wear a shirt that says “New York Giants: 2008 NFL Super Bowl champs” than “Balzac’s Memoir: 2008 Beer League Fantasy Football Champ.”
Fantasy football keeps Los Angeles’ NFL fans in the game [LA Times]
Image [homeruncards.com]