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Topic: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome... (Read 838 times) |
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Philosopher King
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First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome...
« on: Sep 10th, 2005, 2:14am » |
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Mind you, I like Jimmy Kimmel, but, though I thought his "60 Seconds" skit during halftime Thursday night was witty, especially the beginning, I ultimately thought it was dumb. To me, at this point in time given the rapid and rabid growth of the hobby, putting off the fantasy footballer seems imprudent. I honestly think fantasy football is not an insignificant factor in the success of the NFL in recent years. I thought he kind of cut off his nose to spite his face.
BUT, ON THE OTHER HAND, have any of you, my fellow hardcore fantasy footballers, ever thought to yourselves, "What am I doing playing this childish shit? Enough's enough. I gotta get 'real' and quit this shit. I can't still be playing fantasy football 25 years from now."??? Some of you may even be tacking on, "Christ... I have a family to take care of." Honestly, I, a now 17-year veteran of fantasy football, have at times said that to myself (the fact that I talk to myself is a whole nother issue,  mind you). I have NOT done so in the last two or three years or so, though. I would say starting about 10 years ago and every so often for a good five or so years I did. The feeling never lasts too long, though. I always seem to come to the same positive conclusion. That is, namely, that there is NO greater hobby, for guys especially, moreover, family men, and, kid yourselves not, ladies, a man NEEDS his toys and games. Fantasy football is NOT expensive (compared to fishing or golf, e.g.), overly time-consuming (even for ME, Mr. "FantasyFootballer.com"... I, even with my level of "participation" in the hobby, don't spend as much time as I observe some of my buddies, who, e.g., are into restoring classic cars or collecting coins, do) or dangerous (try hacking your hand off with a pen-knife after it gets stuck between rocks while hiking, e.g.). Hell, it keeps many of us AT HOME on Sundays and Monday nights and it's even something the wife can potentially participate in. The hobby, totally contrary to what Kimmel said, keeps old friendships that might otherwise turn into your typical "Christmas card" friendships before dissolving away alive and well and sets the stage for making new friends (that's what the GBRFL is all about). Point is... my conclusion is that it is the ULTIMATE hobby, for men at least,... and I ain't giving it up no way, no how!!!  This is for you Jimmy...  (from Jim O'Dell, that is.  ) 
I look forward to reading your thoughts and responses. By the way, my asking this now, Week One, is not a random move... 
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| « Last Edit: Sep 28th, 2005, 5:02pm by Stegfucius » |
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Gridiron Great
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Re: I just gotta ask...
« Reply #1 on: Sep 10th, 2005, 5:19pm » |
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I did not watch the halftime show. I was busy preparing our provisions for the second half  .
But based on what you wrote, I know that Jimmy Kimmel does satire and that he loves sports (and is probably a big fantasy player in at least one sport himself, my guess). Sorry I missed the skit, sounds funny.
As for the nature of the hobby, I play in leagues with everything from young students to grandparents, both sexes. Hobbies are supposed to be something you love to do, as long as they are legal and honorable and humane and don't spread diseases. I do not think that fantasy football is childish, and I think that anyone who thinks that it is is probably one of those psychic critics - they don't have to read the book to know that it stinks. They just know because of their expectations due to whatever moronic rationale they can come up with to bolster their desperate strutting. Those are the real childish people. (If anyone who has ever been on this site is a psychic critic, of COURSE I didn't mean that about YOU! You already KNOW that!)
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Philosopher King
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #2 on: Sep 28th, 2005, 5:00pm » |
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Well, Jim Rome just lost me as a viewer of his program and semi-fan. Did you guys hear him disparage fantasy football on his show tonight? Look, I hate the "geek" image of fantasy football. I've been fighting it for some time now. When I first got into it 17 seasons ago, as many of you know, it was a way for a bunch of sports-minded high school buddies to keep in touch as they went in (very) different directions for college, and there was no geeky image attached to it at that time (1989) though, I must admit, there were some "eccentric" people involved in it as I could tell as the years went by. But, then, the internet boom came in the mid-90's and guys, who were more so "computer" nerds (and proud of it, mind you, with Microsoft BOOMING, going as far as one site did to make the 50+-post permanent member moniker "Geek")  rather than "football" guys, built fantasy football web sites, became the "self-proclaimed 'experts'" of our little game, came to dominate the hobby, and the stigma was born and won't easily be shed. But,... whatever,... in the end,... all in all,... I have a sense of humor and, for example, enjoy ESPN's current fantasy football commercials, which jokingly play on the geek image. HOWEVER, I just don't get the assault on fantasy football going on lately, moreover, from guys like Jim Rome, who is, in part at least, catering to an audience filled with fantasy footballers, and Jimmy Kimmel, who himself, I am sure, plays fantasy football. These guys are just cutting off their noses to spite their faces.
Any thoughts on this, my fellow fantasy footballers? I mean... the hobby ain't goin' nowhere. It's here to stay, I am sure, for quite some time. Why, then, are dudes, in the media moreover, being such  's about it?
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| « Last Edit: Sep 28th, 2005, 5:49pm by Stegfucius » |
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Fantasy Field General
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #3 on: Sep 28th, 2005, 5:42pm » |
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Why would we really care one way or the other what these guys think or say about Fantasy Football??? There are apparently hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of us who thoroughly enjoy the hobby and, like you said, "it's not goin' anywhere."
So sit back, relax, enjoy the company of your fellow-enthusiasts, and pop the top on a cold one!
P.S.-- Has anybody noticed that "geeks" get all the really hot women these days??? I say, "GO WITH IT!"
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MordecaiCourage
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #5 on: Sep 28th, 2005, 10:39pm » |
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If playing fantasy football makes you a geek..then I'm in!!
I could care less what people think about it.  The majority of my friends play in leagues and we are all 30 and 40 year olds! We are firefighters  , salesmen, medics, high school football coaches  , power plant foremen, youth pastor's  , students  , a soldier  , and a housewife!!! Not only is it a fantastic hobby, but it also allows you to follow league stats and makes you so much more knowledgeable of the game. Not to mention the extra bonus that I have won cold hard cash every year I've played. It's fun...bottom line! My son and I have been in the same league together for the last 3 years. It's like fishing  together..we always have something to talk about, and that alone makes it ok in my book.
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| « Last Edit: Sep 28th, 2005, 11:26pm by MordecaiCourage » |
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Philosopher King
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #7 on: Sep 29th, 2005, 2:02am » |
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on Sep 28th, 2005, 10:39pm, MordecaiCourage wrote:| it also allows you to follow league stats and makes you so much more knowledgeable of the game. |
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Isn't this one of the problems some of the fantasy football naysayers point to,... namely that it gives you a view of the game that is skewed by an emphasis on stats? I mean... don't get me wrong... I get your point. BUT, the fact that "WE" "get it" (in this way) proves their point (to them)! And, to some degree, I do get their point. The team sport of football can hardly be summed up by and, furthermore, appreciated "properly" via the numbers. Along those lines, I've tried to encourage more of an intuitive  approach to fantasy football rather than the insane, to the point of being inane and, quite frankly, useless, analysis of the numbers. Ultimately, like in the "real" game, the only numbers that matter are wins and losses. The devil's in the details  and the paradox of fantasy football is that the details, though fundamental to and inextricable from the hobby, are the numbers. Knowing what they mean and how to interpret them and putting them in their place, i.e. as a piece of the puzzle, rather than seeing the puzzle as only being made up of them, is the key. Case in point, with all due respect to JYJ, I NEVER did, do nor will go into this level of depth, moreover, of this kind of numbers analysis: http://www.fantasyfootballer.com/cgi-bin/theGridiron/YaBB.cgi?board=56;a ction=display;num=1121953205. I mean... do whatever floats your boat. If you like doing that kind of analysis, have at it. BUT, do realize that it is not just way beyond the level of numbers analysis necessary to be a successful fantasy footballer (I am the case in point; you guys see what I am doing in that "experts" league: http://football24.myfantasyleague.com/2005/standings?L=87061), BUT, moreover, that it may even throw you off because a) you can never know ALL the numbers-based factors that go into any situation, b) taking the time to try to do so doesn't leave you time to appreciate the other (probably more important) factors (this is, perhaps unwittingly, kind of the point of the naysayer) and c) you can never quantify the human spirit (that's why they play the game). You just need to know the most affective factors of the situation for the given game, which aren't really many, but which differ from game to game. This is the real skill of the fantasy footballer, NOT crunching numbers to the point of inanity and, might I say,... gasp,... being a geek (about it).
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| « Last Edit: Sep 29th, 2005, 2:04am by Stegfucius » |
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Philosopher King
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #9 on: Sep 30th, 2005, 12:40am » |
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Remember, MC, my comment was not directed at you... It was mainly a comment about our fantasy-footballing comrades in general. What you said may be the case for me, for you and for many a Gridironer, but our technique of analysis does not exemplify our community. By and large, fantasy footballers are (now) known as being number-crunching geeks without lives. I'll never forget the embarrassing moment I had with one of my best buds from high school and his wife (at the time). He was a big-time high school athlete, football and baseball; was offered a scholarship for football to go to Washington and be a Husky. We're Jersey boys; it was far; he didn't take it (and it ended up being one of the worst decisions of his life). Anyway, years later, like three years ago, we were hangin' out back in Jersey. I was giving him my spiel about fantasy football, trying to egg him on to join the site (which he did, though he's never here) and the CBFL (one of the leagues run here) when his wife (who, mind you, was totally cool and really liked me a lot, so there was no other "motive" behind her comment) just (mindlessly) blurted out something to the tune of "Yea, fantasy football... That's what all those LOSERS I work with are doing all day long in their cubicles instead of their work." I was like... ...  Ed, thankfully, took it with a grain of salt and when she saw the dismay on my face she quickly backed down (and kind of knew she blundered and hurt my feelings). BUT, the message was loud and clear... and it wasn't the one I wanted to hear,... and I want to do what I can to redirect the hobby toward some of its other (less-geeky if you will) more "virtuous" directions.
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Gridiron Great
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #11 on: Oct 3rd, 2005, 11:12pm » |
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OK, guys. This time I actually saw Jimmy Kimmel's 60 second thing at halftime. (We had eaten so much that we didn't want to prepare snacks at halftime this week.) So. First of all, I am obviously ahead of the curve, and Jimmy is obviously way behind. Maybe he's watching our thread. In earlier weeks, when he took what I heard were cheap shots at fantasy football for what sounded like a grab for a cheap laugh, I was making great snacks for the rest of the football night. This week he prepared snacks (toast) with a bimbette. (It was not funny. If you didn't see it, trust me. It was pathetic.)
He was funny on "Win Ben Stein's Money" and "The Man Show." He was very UN-funny tonight. He was pathetic. They must have thrown a lot of money at him to make him sink that low. If this is the level he's playing at these days, don't worry about his input. Even if he plays in 39 fantasy football leagues like Meatloaf (NOT).
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #13 on: Oct 6th, 2005, 2:37am » |
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... I mean... Look at this site... 
http://huddlegeeks.com/.
These fools revel in refering to themselves as "geeks"... and in the process further doom our hobby with this pejorative label. "Huddlegeeks", isn't that... wasn't that... shouldn't that be an oxymoron??? Why not just go all the way and go with "Huddlelosers.com"??? "Geek", notwithstanding DUKE's generous comment above, by definition and in contemporary parlance carries with it a negative connotation, folks. That's a fact! Even if it is the case that most fantasy footballers are geeks, which I do not think is the case at all, it is NOT a word we want associated with our "beloved" hobby,... not at least if we have any respect for it... AND ourselves. The fact that geeks can refer to themselves as geeks is not a mitigating factor or indicative of their being true to themselves, quite the contrary actually. When someone can refer to themselves using such derogatory terminology, it's a show of their lack of self-respect and self-esteem, which, paradoxically, is EXACTLY what makes them fit the bill, in this case, of a geek.
Anyway, then, you got this kind of claim on their home page: "Anyone can give you the obvious starters for each week's game. Huddlegeeks.com goes further into the stats and trends to give you the guys who could be poised for big games in the upcoming week." Meanwhile, here's how they're faring in that "experts" league that I'm participating in and JYJ is hosting:
http://football24.myfantasyleague.com/2005/standings?L=87061.  ... 
    
Let's see how they fare when they come up against a genuine "fantasy footballer"!
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| « Last Edit: Oct 6th, 2005, 2:40am by Stegfucius » |
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Philosopher King
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #15 on: Oct 12th, 2005, 3:25pm » |
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on Oct 12th, 2005, 9:57am, junkyardjake wrote:| Steg, Thanks for reminding us that pompous jackass Jim Rome still has a radio show (why ?)... |
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Worse yet, it was his TV show on ESPN.
Quote:
Nice!
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Philosopher King
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Re: First, it was Jimmy Kimmel... Now, Jim Rome..
« Reply #16 on: Oct 14th, 2005, 12:50am » |
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Okay,... I'm going on a Steggie "rantpage" again... 
Witty, well-thought-through, behind-the-scenes shit-talkin' about dudes who are "asking for it" like JYJ's thing there above, I can go with... But, then, you have fantasy football sites like this with a feature, mind you, called "Joe Must Go":
http://www.411fantasyfootball.com/.
It's one thing to trash-talk over the water-cooler or even on a thread in a message-board forum about sports commentators. You know... just small talk. It's a whole nother to, in part at least, build your site around it. I mean... Did this guy actually think he was gleaning useful fantasy football information from Joe Theisman's (admittedly fluffy) game commentary and have it cost him a fantasy championship or something? Why all the fuss? In any event, making trashing former NFL QB and current Sunday Night Football game commentator Joe Thiesman the bailiwick of your site does nobody, including our beloved hobby here, any good. You're doing fantasy football... Feature THAT!!! Even if there is some truth to the claim, OR public "opinion" is in your favor, it's showcasing a hater frame of mind, which is SO typical of a low-self-esteem, loser mindset. And, that's the kind of the mindset that gets associated with fantasy football. People sniffing around the hobby come across this kind of shit and it splashes all over the rest of us. They can't help but come away thinking that fantasy football is for geeky losers, no, not quiet, little, genuinely brainy nerds, who are endearing in their own way, but straight-up problem-children who can't manifest their creative urges without being haters somehow.
Let me expand upon my point with a little of my Eastern philosophy-inspired philosophy...
Unless consulted, the "superior man" concerns himself not with the imperfections of others, especially not in public.
The "superior man" concerns himself greatly with his own imperfections and little with his perfections while announcing the perfections of others.
On the other hand, the "inferior man" announces both the imperfections of others and his own perfections while ignoring his imperfections and the sublime instances of perfection to be found in others.
As such, the paradox that the "inferior man" is "asking for" his imperfection to be exposed results.
To think you are perfect and to say you are perfect is arrogance.
To think you are perfect and say you are imperfect is false-modesty.
To think you are imperfect and say you are perfect is to be a fool.
To think you are imperfect and say you are imperfect is to be humble.
Combine this with pointing out and to the perfections of others and you have found the Way.
(Wow! Where the hell did that come from? Whencesoever it came... keep it coming.  )
There is a twofold thing going on here. Over and above the obvious "inferior-'manly'" approach of the "Joe Must Go" feature, one of the main criticisms I found of Joe is that he is too positive, always saying "the best" and that for him there is a "non-stop love fest with mediocre players" (a proclamation that reeks of stereotypical fantasy football loserdom),... oh,... the irony... Yea, it is fair enough to accuse Theisman of being saccharine (of course, that's magnified by how big of an asshole Paul MacGuire is, but I'm not going to start a web page about it). But, what does it matter? You surely shouldn't be looking to Joe Theisman, the Sunday Night Football commentator, for fantasy football insight. Game commentary is NOT all about the stats, as "we" fantasy footballers (seem to) want it to be. Joe's comments may be saccharine in light of fantasy points, but "at the moment" "in real time" they are just the "spur-of-the-moment, i.e. spurred-on-by-the-moment" comments of a chap with a (perhaps overly) positive predisposition. BFD! He's not saying to pick the guy up in your fantasy league and if he is, you, the savvy fantasy footballer, shouldn't be listening. This processing of everything through our stats-centered "meat grinder" leads to all the cynics in and drawn to our hobby. We just can't go around insisting that everybody see things through our stats-centered or even stats-zealous fantasy football kaliedoscope lest we become (known as) a babbling-to-ourselves, CYNICAL, know-it-all bunch of freaks to the genuinely normal people out there, who may be interested in the hobby but get turned of by all the (peripheral, mind you) asininity and geekiness that seems to go with it... or, worse yet, be part and parcel of it. In the end, is he hurting anybody? Again, the irony,... is it not he, in sharp contrast with the "Joe Must Go" people, who is acting in accordance with the "way" of the "superior man"?
NOW, I can already see someone quipping back, "Steg... Easy, dog! It's just all in fun!" My response back, "Yea, but at someone else's expense," and regardless of the lack of efficacy of it all (I mean, ultimately, none of this is going to amount to squat, except hurt feelings if Joe Theisman and/or any of his family stumble across it), it's not a good way to relate to and treat people; nor is it exemplary of a right-minded disposition or the right habit to cultivate within oneself. Unfortunately, all the loop-holes inherent in the Christian Golden Rule, prevalent in our American culture, "Do unto others as you would have done unto you," do not allow for the point to stick and ultimately stem the flow of this kind of behavior. The Confucian (version of the) Golden Rule, "Do NOT do unto others as you would NOT have done unto you," a tighter proposition in and of itself, followed up by "Do unto others as you would have done unto you," is a MUCH tighter proposition that contributes to the, I would argue, greater unanimity and univocality that exists in the East, a predisposition that will likely serve them well in this currently contentious world we now live in, in which in-fighting will likely result in downfall. Yikes!  That got dissertational... Sorry, fellas...
...
So, let's just finally cut to the chase... All we have to do is consult the standings for JYJ's Xtreme "experts" league (http://football24.myfantasyleague.com/2005/standings?L=87061) and we can clearly see who the "superior man" is and who is the "inferior man". Who's not doing his job well, bro,... Joe... or YOU?
And, in closing let me add that all this bullshit is not even to mention that Theisman seems to be rather friendly to fantasy football. I've only ever heard him refer to it in a,... gasp,... "positive" way. Who'd a thunk? Isn't that a good thing? Isn't it nice to have people of his stature on our side? The (geek-driven) cynicism and negativism that, to some degree it must be admitted, pervades our hobby, as is exemplified in this instance, has caused us to ironically estrange ourselves from one of the "good" guys who speaks well of our hobby, which, in a second-fold irony, is a curious point in light of the point of this thread, namely, which is to point out the dudes who really are/"should be" SUBSTANTIVELY annoying to the sensibilities of a true fantasy footballer due to their "unfriendly" comments about our "beloved" hobby. In yet another ironic twist of fate, this (sterile stats-centered, know-it-all) cynicism and negativism prevents us from correctly distinguishing between our real friends and our real foes in the bigger media and endearing ourselves to and befriending the former.
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| « Last Edit: Oct 14th, 2005, 12:51am by Stegfucius » |
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!!!! I see that point, but it goes beyond the stats for me.(though the stats are important to fantasy football) No one could, or should have every player on their ff team that would be playing in any one game. Soooooo.....while watching for the all important individual stats of your player, you just may happen to see two teams play that you might not have ever watched otherwise......gasp.....which would give you more knowledge of those teams and the game of football overall .......gasp...give me some of that O2...gasp! 
, so I can grin and bare it.
