The Friends We Made Along the Way: Sports Fandom and the Fantasy Football Community (Part III)
The Fandom We Inherit
April 10th, 1994. A nation in mourning, as just five days earlier, the body of generational voice Kurt Cobain had been found at his home in the Pacific Northwest. However, on the other coast, a picture of a beautiful moment in time with a father and son is captured in the local paper, with the following caption: "Michael Vadala, of Rochester, and his 3-year-old son, Michael, spent the afternoon watching the Syracuse Orangemen's spring football game at the Carrier Dome." 32 years later, Michael (@mikeonkeys.bsky.social) tells me his grandfather was an usher at Syracuse games and used to sneak his dad in to see them. A tradition you know will endure through time as long as that family full of Michael Vadalas lasts.
The Friends We Made Along the Way: Sports Fandom and the Fantasy Football Community (Part III)
This was a common theme amongst responses to this article's premise. BlueSky user NobleSavage (@tamethestallion.bsky.social) wrote in to say his father and uncle took him to the Thanksgiving Day Detroit Lions game when he was about five or six years old, and I quote, "ruined ever since." I don't know if I would call living through Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford ruined, but as a Cowboys fan, I empathize.
There were also responses on the flip side of that, like from BlueSky user Kuya Azzy (@azzynight.bsky.social) who wrote in, "My side of the family never cared for sports. I didn't know the rules of football at all. But my mom bought me a random Florida Gators shirt from the thrift shop. I wore it to school, and many kids made fun of it, since my hometown is Florida State territory.
So, to rebel, I started attending Florida Gators games and learned the sport. The first game was Tennessee vs. Florida in 1995. The Gators were down big, but then they fought back and eventually blew out Peyton Manning and the Vols. I've been hooked since then.
Go Gators!
I already knew where I would go to college (yes, I picked a school for football). I love that story. I identify with the rebellious spirit of my brother in jaws Kuya Azzy (go Gators!) and the determination behind his choices; though they may seem odd to you, they make complete sense to me. The devotion, no matter the genesis, that drives us sports fans to use these franchises as a bulletin board to pin the memories of our lives to.
The lightning rod that attracts any and all irrational emotions caused by said franchise. I say the genesis doesn't matter, because the results are the same. Sometimes you find a poster in Kraft Dinner, sometimes you commiserate with Italians, or sometimes, you are just mad at your grandpa.
BlueSky user Travis Souders (@travissouders.bsky.social) wrote in to say, "Oh, I hated the Dodgers before I liked the Giants. My grandpa, from Brooklyn, was a Dodger fan and had a game on when I was a kid. He had just beaten me at chess and didn't go easy on me, and I was mad, so I actively rooted against his team. (I was 8.) I have a loving hatred of them." Hell hath no fury as a child scorned. When I think of my father and the teams he cheers for (Toronto, doesn't matter the sport), I could never picture myself spite-cheering for the other team to birth my fandom. It's not like he's a Canucks fan.
When Your Father Coaches You: Jung and Individuation
Fandoms aren't the only sports-themed inheritance our fathers pass on. Occasionally, we might be coached, in the literal sense, by them. That was true for me for seven years, until I started playing hockey at a much higher level of competition. My Dad chose to step back then, perhaps to relinquish one formative role and become a supportive father with a wider perspective.
Carl Jung, famed psychiatrist and UFO enthusiast, posited this on that process, which he referred to as Individuation:
"Individuation means recognizing the father's influence, but also symbolically separating from it. It's the shift from the obedient son to the adult who chooses."
As Jung wrote, "This transformative process is what Jung called individuation. It's not just about becoming independent—it's about integrating all parts of oneself, including those inherited from the father, to build an authentic identity. Individuation means recognizing the father's influence, but also symbolically separating from it. It's the shift from the obedient son to the adult who chooses. He goes on to say, "Individuation means becoming an 'individual,' and, in so far as 'individuality' embraces our innermost, last, and incomparable uniqueness, it also implies becoming one's own self."¹
A Fandom All My Own
I became the man I am today, in part, due to my father's influence. However, it's only a piece. Important, but a piece nonetheless. The many additional facets life has carved into me came from the communities I joined along the way.
I am a Canadian islander who cheers for an American NHL team, a Canadian MLB team, two different NCAA teams, a Canadian NBA team and the goddamn Dallas Cowboys. I am a unique manifestation of individuation, one unto myself, because each facet reflects the communities that have embraced me, as I have embraced them. I fly their colors high without a moment's hesitation.
The Demarcation Line
Having covered the various aspects and facets of real-life sports communities reminds me that there's one very important community we haven't covered. One that all of us -- you reading this and me -- are part of. One that has quite possibly been the most welcoming community I have ever belonged to. That is, the Fantasy Sports Community.
My corner of the community started off exclusive: a two-year stint playing fantasy football to learn the ropes before starting my own home league (now in its 12th season). I never played organized football, but I have been a fan since the 90s. Immersing myself in this community compelled me to learn all of the ins and outs of the game. Why? According to D. Roy and B. Goss, "Development and application of sports knowledge is highly correlated with the control experienced by fantasy team owners. The more knowledge one has about players' statistics, injuries, or other variables that can impact individual players' performances that are on their fantasy team roster, the stronger the feelings of control and confidence in decision-making become for fantasy team owners."²
I can put it more succinctly: I was HOOKED. The hyperfocus of my ADHD often turns its insatiable eye towards information. That helped me through my tepid start in the world of fantasy football.
The COVID-19 Effect
Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
For many, this caused an explosion in the fantasy football market. Why? We became cut off from our regular communities, and that was jarring. To compensate, we sought new forms of community, and online fantasy football provided a platform not only for entertainment but also for community.
Be honest with yourself right now: are you in more or fewer leagues now than you were six years ago? I'm backing the Brinks truck up to the under. Even I am guilty of this. The pre- and post-pandemic differences were very stark; before, I had only ever met a small handful of people in person who even knew what fantasy football was. When the door opened to that world, I stepped through it and never looked back. I had found my people. It really was the friends we made along the way.
Denouement
In the beginning, I sought the whys of community, to fully flesh out the whys of sports fandom from myriad perspectives, both subjective and objective. Many roads all leading to the same destination. I hope it has made you examine your own sports fandom origin stories, as they are golden.
The valuable currency that we spend towards deepening the chasm of our sports love. For ours is the age-old story of humanity, society and community. Of Kraft Dinner. Of life-long revenge against Grandpa, or love thanks to Grandpa. Of you. Of me. Of us. I am in a better place now than I was in December, even from when I started writing this article.
It is thanks to you, the community, that I know I'm not alone. That if I falter, if I stumble or fall, you are there with me, linked arm-in-arm. I could not be more grateful. Thank you.
**If you or anyone you know is feeling helpless with their mental health, please talk to someone. Anyone. Even better, a professional. Here in Canada or in the United States, call 9-8-8 for a suicide crisis helpline. Or send me a message on BlueSky! No judgments. You are not alone.**
² Roy, D., & Goss, B. (2007). A conceptual framework of influences on fantasy sports consumption. Marketing Management Journal, 17(2), 96-108
Josh "Smokey-Hell" Nelson is a contributing writer for Optimus Fantasy. If you have any questions or general curiosity about Smokey-Hell Nelson, you can visit his BlueSky page.