The Collegian

Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrew Dodson Sophomore Jerry Perkins plays football and basketball fantasy sports. he is one of many Hillsdale students partaking of the online craze.

"Your fantasy tight end has been looking good lately."

In most cases, this comment would elicit a surprised reaction from its audience. However, the Hillsdale students who play fantasy sports would take it right in stride. In fact, they would probably reply something like: "Yeah, he has been getting more balls thrown his way ever since the quarterback change."

To someone on the "outside," these fantasy sports conversations can appear as if the participants are talking in code. For some people, this small talk reflects on a way of life.

Fantasy sports burst onto the scene in the late 1990's, when the internet allowed for statistics to be updated efficiently and viewed instantly online.

The idea behind the games is that an organized league of competitors gets points for a team of professional players they individually put together. The "owners" receive "fantasy" points based on how their players perform in the real games. The concept had been around for a while, but had never spread due to the tedious nature of keeping and updating statistics.

As of 2007, there are more than 27 million players in the United States, and the market has close to a $1 billion economic impact per year, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

On any given day, sophomore JP Perkins checks his fantasy teams at least twice.

"Except Sunday," Perkins said. "On Sunday I just have the live stats up on my laptop all day."

He currently has three football teams and three basketball teams. A few leagues are composed of his friends, but he also competes online against strangers. From his perspective, it's just an exciting way to keep up with what is going on at the professional level, while interacting with similarly minded people.

For other players, the stakes can become much higher. Many leagues have entry fees, and when money is involved the time commitment becomes greater. Web sites like ESPN.com and Yahoo.com allow users to customize their leagues in every imaginable way - users can adjust the level of obsession required to be successful.

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