It’s mid-June. And here is what the sporting world looks like right now: The NBA Finals are in full swing (or at least supposed to be, but all indications are that it very well could end tonight), baseball is still a month out from the All-Star break of it’s marathon season, and the World Cup is just beginning to thrill soccer fans from all over.
Yet when one walks by the magazine rack at their friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart, they will already spot the fantasy football owner’s most invaluable secret weapon: Magazines written by the “experts” of the hobby, which over the years has developed into it’s own full-fledged sport. And it seemingly starts earlier and earlier every year. As mentioned above, it’s the middle of June, and there are just under three months until the Green Bay Packers square off against the Seattle Seahawks on September 4th to kick off the NFL season, and there is plenty of sporting action going on right now to keep fans occupied until then.
But we still have the die-hards out there pouring over their cheat sheets, stat books, and player analysis reports like their fantasy draft is next week. This is exactly the kind of evidence that people point to when arguing the notion that the NFL is bigger than any other sport combined. What other athletic endeavor has its fans preparing to draft made up teams of the sport’s players…three months in advance?
One thing is for certain: The NFL has never been more popular, and if folks would rather focus their energies on creating their own teams that won’t actually do anything in the real world than concrete athletes that currently are, then so be it. Sports exist for the enjoyment of fans, so if that’s how they want to indulge in the world thereof, then nothing, not even the dominant performances of the San Antonio Spurs, should stop them.
Image via Facebook from Fifa World Cup