Fantasy vs. Reality

If you’ve ever read Richard Bach’s Running From Safety, you’ll have no problem grasping the hypothetical I’m about to lay out to you.  If you haven’t, don’t worry.  It’s an easy follow.  The book is about a man’s journey to reconnect with his inner child; to learn from his past experiences and understand how the analytical adult version was so quick to dismiss the youth.    After recently re-reading the story, I find myself wondering about similar things.  I often wonder what it would be like if little 8 year old Howie Bender ever met his 38 year old counterpart today.  Would they genuinely like each other?  What would they talk about?  Would the childhood version be proud of his adult counterpart and vice versa?

One thing I do know for certain, is that they would have one helluva time getting along at a baseball game.  Little 8 year old Howie Bender was a rabid Yankees fan in his day.  His favorite player was Thurman Munson and he spent entire summers without ever taking off his Yankees cap or #15 t-shirt.  He played catcher in little league and was always eager to stay out back until nightfall while his older brother, pretending to be Ron Guidry, fired fastballs into his glove.  Baseball wasn’t just a game.  It was a love.

Today’s Howard Bender also has a profound love for baseball.  He still loves his Yankees, Munson is still his all-time favorite, and while playing catch is a much less frequent activity, he makes up for it with the number of games he attends each season. 

But there’s one tiny little difference that separates the two and would probably result in fisticuffs if they were ever at a game together.  While little Howie Bender would stand on his seat and fervently cheer for Joba Chamberlain to strike out Oakland’s Matt Holliday, his adult version might not share in the same enthusiasm.  What if the Yankees are up by 6 runs, the bases are empty, and it’s the 7th inning?  Would a dinger from Holliday be that bad?  The Yanks would still be ahead by 5 and 38 year old Howard’s fantasy team would get a nice little boost.

And there it is.  Holliday pops one over the right field wall, a sad little boy climbs down from his seat and sits dejectedly with his head in his hands.  He looks over and there’s the adult him, smiling and giving a little fist pump.

“What’s that about?  Why are you cheering for him?  He’s not a Yankee!”

“No, he’s not a Yankee, but I own him in 2 of my fantasy leagues.  By hitting that HR, both of my teams separate a little more in the standings from my opponents who are right on my heels.”

He has a puzzled look on his face.

“But he hit it against the Yankees.  He just hit a home run against your team.  That doesn’t bother you?  You don’t care?  You’re not a real fan!”

And so the debate ensues.  But it does pose an interesting question.  Do fantasy sports inhibit team loyalty?  Can you truly be a fan of a team and still root for an opposing player, especially when he’s up against your favorite?  As a Yankees fan, am I “allowed” to wear the jersey of Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria because he is the cornerstone of so many of my fantasy franchises?

Of course I can.  And so can you.  And why not?  In an era where free agency is so rampant, there’s very little team loyalty among the players, so why not the fans?  Players move from team to team so often, that most of the time you have to reacquaint yourself with your hometown roster every year.  And it’s not like we’re abandoning our loyalties completely, like Johnny Damon leaving Boston for New York.  It’s that we’re realists and we understand that, like the game is to the players, fantasy sports is a business.  The league may not be about monetary prizes or trophies, but bragging rights over your idiot friends is just as important.  We fantasy owners play to win the game.  It’s a war.  And with every war there’s collateral damage.  And if that damage has to come at the expense of C.C. Sabathia’s ERA, well, he’s got 30 odd other starts to go to make it right.

Not to mention, the boom in fantasy sports has been great for Major League Baseball and the NFL.  Basketball, Hockey, and NASCAR are following suit, but still have a ways to go.  But the popularity of baseball and football through the growth of fantasy games has massively increased.  Look at how busy that sports ticker is at the bottom of your TV screen.  Look at how many random fantasy shows are popping up on cable channels all over the country.  Hell, even in the pre-game and highlight segments on national network TV, there are fantasy updates.  There is no question that this geeky little game we play has done a great service to the sports we follow.  There’s an increase in jobs, an increase in merchandise revenue…hell, it unifies people socially.  You can go into any bar in any city and schmooze about the local sports team with the guy (or girl) next to you.  You can’t say the same thing about stamp collecting or model airplane building, can you?  To quote James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams, “ The one constant through all the years…has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time…it’s a part of our past.  It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.”  The game brings us together, and fantasy sports only enhances that togetherness.

So I turn and put my arm around little Howie Bender.  I tell him everything’s going to be all right.  I tell him the Yankees will win it all and we’ll have much to celebrate throughout the years.  I tell him that I will always root for my Yankees to win the game; to win the World Series.  But if they have to sacrifice a little something so that my Suicide Kings can finish at the top of the standings, well…so be it!