Day 7 - Drawing up a Cost-Benefit Analysis of my Hobbies Probably Isn't Ideal

Fantasy football rears its ambiguous head once again as the international break draws to an end. My relationship to it is complex; there are positives:

- I’m good at it
- It keeps my brain engaged (somewhat)
- I don’t find it boring
- I enjoy the content creators (again, somewhat)

But on the other hand when the game isn’t active, I slowly begin to remember the other things I like and used to enjoy more frequently, before my fantasy football pre-occupation escalated. Although I don’t find it boring, I’m not entirely sure what my emotional response to it is. There are few moments of pure joy. Although there are few moments of pure joy with anything I like so maybe that isn’t fair.

Consistent interest perhaps? That is probably it. Plus, it keeps my relationship with football alive and without that the structure of my weekend is thrown into disarray.

On my waning interest in football - I have always been aware that football is inherently unfair – the rich teams will win more often. Simple. And I’ve also always known that the players in the most part have no relevance to which club they happen to play for. But recently the intangible magic which makes sense of this illogical relationship has faded.

A few years ago, Philip Lahm wrote in The Guardian speaking in favour of the European Super League, a proposal which would extract the best teams from the domestic leagues and instead place them in a cross-continental competition. His argument was premised on the basis that football clubs are brands. That there is a hierarchy - the aim is to play for the top brand and that the top brands should play in a “Super League”. No other teams would be able to qualify for this competition. At the time my reaction to this was negative, but now, depressingly, I think it may as well happen. It essentially already exists in the form of the Champions League. The only real difference with the currently existing situation is that technically, although it is the same teams qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages almost every season, there is the illusion that technically anyone can qualify.

People will point to Leicester as an example of how it is possible for a lesser team to qualify, in a similar way to how people will point towards the likes of Jay-Z or Eminem as a justification of capitalism. See, the American Dream IS possible! You can become rich from nothing! See, Leicester did it! Examples such as these which maintain the status quo across all forms of capitalism.

The combination of the irrelevance of which players play for which club and the financial barriers which maintain clubs’ natural positions means my interest in who wins any given week has ended. I used to always support an underdog, but it’s meaningless. Whether the worse players who arbitrarily happen to play for Bournemouth happen to beat the better players who arbitrarily happen to play for Man City, I don’t particularly care. Ultimately, both teams will occupy their retrospective mean average positions you would expect over say a 5-year period.

Sidepoint- I still like international football. Population and available resources still create an unfair bias, but at least USA can’t just buy Messi, Neymar and Mbappe.

This seems like a long digression, but getting back on track with the theme of this post, there does maintain a long connecting thread! Fantasy Football provides a way for me to maintain an interest in football. Now, when 9 times out of 10, the best players, being the best players inevitably do well, because in fantasy football the aim is to pick the best players, this has become a good thing. This is a healthier dynamic than always hoping vainly for the worst players to be the best – An entirely illogical fools game. Fantasy football has enabled me to sustain an interest in football on a more individual, rather than club level - I don’t care if Arsenal win, as long as Saka scores.

And I have social ties to football. Many of the friendships and conversations I have exist within a foundation of football. Not to mention small talk at work. If I stop playing fantasy football, I need to fill some huge gaps.

So there are definitely positives to my playing fantasy football. Although this largely seems to be based on clinging to a failed past-relationship. The ultimate question is do the positives outweigh somewhat sacrificing my other interests? But I do still have time for other things, especially as although I spend a lot of time considering my fantasy team, I no longer watch nearly as many games. So for now, I reckon the course of action is to keep on playing.