FOOTBALL!!!!!!!

Yep, it is that time of year again, FOOTBALL! The time of year where we break out our team jerseys and hats and then watch the crawl to see how well our fantasy teams are doing. Today my beloved 49ers beat the Rams in a great 17-16 game (which I did not get to see from Dallas). My day should be complete with that one event, they are now 2-0 on this season having beat two division rivals already, but it is not. This supposedly huge fact is being overshadowed by my concern over the health of Donavan McNabb, whether Shanahan will use Travis Henry again as he did last week or whether or not the Vikes defense can stop Kitna and the Lions. Fantasy football has wormed its way into my existance over the last few years until now I feel the need to watch the stat lines more that the actual games. I dont care that I have did not see Carson Palmers 6TD game this week, I am ticked off that I didnt pick him up for his points for MY team. Even stranger than that is the fact that I really dont care that he lost that game, its all about the stats. As I write this it occurs to me that our fascination with the stats, even to the exclusion of wins and losses, has a very serious drawback. Our team loyalties are being undermined and, even worse, our team concepts are being erased. Is it any wonder that we have TO's and Chad Johnsons out there trying to be bigger than the team? We, the fans, are telling them that it is ok and even desireable to act in this fashion. We tell them, "get YOUR points, dont worry about the team so much. If YOU have a great game your team will probably win, and even if it doesnt, all the fans who had you on thier fantasy teams will love you." We are creating our own monster here I think and we will have to live with our tendency to do things to excess. In any case, I have to get back to ESPN, the Vikes D already have an interception...