Recently, Arian Foster of the Houston Texans tweaked a hamstring during a pre-season game. On the surface, not too big of a deal unless you are a die hard Texans fan. But considering the year Foster had last year and the fact that fantasy football is over a billion dollar business, the injury becomes a much bigger issue. Foster took to his twitter account to call out the people that play fantasy football and were questioning how long he may be out with the injury. In fact, he called them "sick". And he is absolutely right. His point that people only care about others when it affects them is dead on. I don't follow Foster on twitter but in looking at many of his tweets, he seems to be a very thoughtful individual. He comes across as a deep thinker with a very good grasp on the big picture. That's why his tweet calling out fantasy players surprised me.
Even though I agree with Foster's points on this issue, it was probably something best kept to himself. When you have chosen to be in a profession that pays you millions of dollars and gives you the platform where people will pay attention to what you say, it may be wise to not offend the people that provide that living. Gambling on football in this country is a multi billion dollar industry. And don't fool yourself, fantasy football is just another version of betting on football. The NFL can try to distance itself in public from gambling as much as it wants, but without it the league would be nowhere near as popular as it currently is. The NFL makes its money from television deals. Networks are willing to fork over the huge dollars because they know people will tune in every week like clockwork. But what the NFL and the networks don't like to talk about is the real reason most of those people tune in; gambling. With games once a week, football is the perfect partner for sports bettors and fantasy players alike. It doesn't require daily attention, though most people will give it some thought daily while surfing sports sites for info, and the games basically all start and end at the same time every week. This allows for the average Joe to plan accordingly and the ability to sit in front of his tv to watch the games and players he has "bet" on. So Mr. Foster, yes, people are sick. But if not for these sick people, it is highly unlikely you would be making the dollars you are and it is an almost certainty that you wouldn't have nearly 70,000 followers on twitter to share your deep insights with. Be careful biting the hand that feeds you.
Now that football is here, finally, we can get away from picking baseball. I'll be sure to give some insight once post season is here, but until then we'll keep our focus on football. If you follow me on twitter, which I'm pretty sure you don't, you would have had my two winners last night, UNLV +35 and Bowling Green +6. I actually liked the Falcons on the money line and that won as well. So we are off to a good start at 2-0 and I have another winner tonight with TCU. The Horned Frogs are laying 3.5 against Baylor and I am expecting a relatively easy cover. Be sure to get on twitter and follow me for daily winners, @vegasobie is my handle. Good luck, and remember, never bet what you cant afford to lose.
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