I never really understood why girls get on a dieting kick every Spring, right before what they would call "beach season" was set to begin. These girls come out of Winter hibernation each April and begin an annual ritual of obsessing over their bodies. Their physical forms are no different in April then they had been in December or the preceeding September, mind you, but because Summer was fast approaching these girls were intent on reworking their diet and exercise routines. The threat of looking unattractive in a bathing suit is a strong enough motivator to drive these girls into the gym, and I had never been sure why. While bathing suits do make it easier to judge someone's appearance, the presence of normal clothing doesn't really hide one's form. Instead, it was as if "beach season" and "Spring weight loss" went hand in hand, and there was no use arguing.
What does this have to do with sports, you ask? Well, if following Major League Baseball religiously is my diet and exercise routine, then fantasy baseball is my beach season. While there's no reason that I can't follow every inning of regular season baseball without fantasy sports implications, it's the presence of fantasy baseball in my life so far this April that has kept me glued to my TV, computer and phone like never before. My fantasy team has been motivating me to check scores, monitor player progress and generally consume a more-than-healthy level of baseball content over the past two weeks since the 2011 MLB season began, and I've definitely become a better fan because of it.
I realize that this is completely irrational on my part. The usual amount of baseball-watching that I've done in years past is more than enough to stay competitive in our weekly, 11-team league, and I also know that watching baseball on TV or online doesn't change the outcome of the games. That being said, I just feel better knowing that I'm keeping tabs on league happenings. Just like how last-minute, pre-beach season workouts usually don't help girls shed extra pounds heading into the Summer, the work I'm putting in now probably won't impact my team's success this season. It does, however, make me feel better and more confident about myself as a baseball fan (and the self-appointed "MLB whiz"), and for that I'm very grateful.
It's been almost a decade since I last participated in fantasy baseball. Over the last ten years, I've avoided it in order to focus more on the games themselves, rather than individual player performances. Or, at least, that's what I had told myself. Instead, avoiding fantasy baseball kept me further apart from the sport I love most, and I realize now that fantasy baseball can be a wonderful blessing for a true fan. While it's not clear that following players on your fantasy team will make you a more complete baseball fan, the engagement that competitive fantasy baseball necessitates is enough to boost your Major League Baseball-related IQ and confidence level.
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