Jacob Karam is a stud.
Jacob Karam?
He’s the strong-armed quarterback for the high-octane Friendswood High School offense in Galveston, Texas. He was also the first pick in the Galveston County Daily News’ high school football fantasy draft.
High school fantasy football? Crazy? Not in the Fantasy Revolution sports has become.
This revolution is digitized and being played on a computer near you. It cannot, and will not, be limited to football or baseball, the two most popular fantasy sports. It has grown to fishing and cricket and sumo wrestling.
“If you can keep score at it, there’s a way to play a fantasy version of it,” ESPN fantasy sports expert Matthew Berry said.
And Americans are hooked.
It’s a movement akin to the boom in filling out brackets for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, but more interactive. There is a measure of control and involvement in fantasy sports that is intoxicating to even otherwise indifferent fans.
According to a Fantasy Sports Trade Association 2006 study, as many as 20 million people older than 18 participated in fantasy sports in the United States last year. The FSTA estimates a 7 percent to 10 percent yearly growth in fantasy sports participation.
“The Internet allows people to do it so easily and so seamlessly is what’s made it just kind of explode,” Berry said. “The appeal of it, there’s just so many great things about it. Everyone talks about MySpace and Facebook, but the original online community was a fantasy football league.
“I went to school at Syracuse. That’s how I’ve kept track of (my college friends’) marriages, their kids, because we know once a year we always get together for the draft. So, No. 1, I think is the camaraderie and the community aspect. Number two is the competition. People love to compete. They like to win, they like to prove they are smarter than each other. The third thing is – listen, people like sports, right? That’s no big secret. Well, the cool thing about fantasy sports is that it gives you a rooting interest in every single game.”
Football is the unquestioned leader in fantasy participation. Drafts have already been held, and anyone who owns one or more of the Indianapolis Colts’ quartet of Peyton Manning, Joseph Addai, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne is beaming after their performances against the New Orleans Saints on Thursday.
Real-life championships
Fantasy football has grown so large, the demand has spawned the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF). The fifth-year fantasy league, which drafts in Las Vegas, is a spinoff of the World Series of Poker, with a cash prize of $300,000. But to get the big money, you’ll need to fork over a hefty $1,750 entry fee, or pool a group of friends to have controlling interest in a team to lessen the financial hit. Some Vegas casinos are taking bets on fantasy football this year, with over/under on yards gained or touchdowns caught.
Baseball was the original fantasy sport, according to Greg Ambrosius, who has been editor of Fantasy Sports Magazine since 1989.
“In 1980, when baseball got started, Dan Okrent and Glen Waggoner wrote a book with rotissiere rules and that took off,” Ambrosius said. “From 1984-89, it spawned like crazy. We started doing a fantasy baseball magazine in 1989, and (fantasy) football wasn’t even a blip on the radar. We didn’t even allocate any pages to football at the time.”
Lots of ways to play
That has changed, as has the nation’s insatiable appetite for fantasy sports. Or fantasy anything, for that matter.
Fantasy NASCAR is growing, as is fantasy golf. There is fantasy tennis, fantasy soccer (who is Chelsea’s top midfielder again?), fantasy lacrosse, fantasy cricket and fantasy bass fishing. Don’t like sports? How about fantasy soap opera (accurately predicting the tears, breakups and proposals). Or fantasy Congress? Track your favorite politicos.
“I personally have played fantasy bass fishing,” said ESPN fantasy commentator Eric Karabell, who has a fondness for fantasy sports that are off the beaten path. “You can make pretty much anything a fantasy sport these days. You can make movies and the Oscars a fantasy sport, if you like. And I think that’s great. Because as long as we understand their place and why we’re doing it and just trying to have a good time, it all makes sense.”
Staff writer Mike Klis contributed to this report.
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
