warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Arian Foster Tweets From Fantasy Land

Sara Ramsey |
August 29, 2011 | 10:26 p.m. PDT

Associate Sports Editor

Foster is ranked the number one overall pick in the 2011 fantasy football draft. Photo courtesy of AJ Guel/ Creative Commons
Foster is ranked the number one overall pick in the 2011 fantasy football draft. Photo courtesy of AJ Guel/ Creative Commons
Arian Foster might have missed the Texans social media etiquette seminar. 

Although a transgression less severe than most, Foster tweeted calling some fans “sick” for worrying about the future of their fantasy squads when the running back aggravated a hamstring injury.

Foster tweeted: “4 those sincerely concerned, I'm doing ok & plan 2 B back by opening day. 4 those worried abt your fantasy team, u ppl are sick”

Foster left during the first quarter of the Texans’ exhibition game with the 49ers on Saturday. Foster has been dealing with his hamstring injury all through training camp but says he is confident he’ll be back for Houston’s season opener against the Colt on Sept. 11.

Team doctors and coaches are "very positive" about Foster’s return but won’t say for sure if it will be in time for the start of the season.

Texans fans and fantasy owners alike are all hoping for Foster’s speedy recovery—rushing yards, receiving yards and receptions are at stake. The “real life” NFL world is not much different than the fantasy one though. Both are filled with fans that have deep-seeded investments in their teams and players—whether it be years of fandom rooted in childhood memories or $700 in an office PPR league.

Is it so wrong to view an athlete as a “thing” of sorts? A means to an end? Yes, they are real people, with families, lives, and a world beyond professional sports. But they also collect mammoth pay checks, play a game they love and garner celebrity status and respect from thousands if not millions of people around the world. So what if a fan is worried about their fantasy team? Shouldn’t it be suffice that someone cares enough to know your name, your number, your stats.

That fantasy fan is not “sick.” As with any empathetic human being, they do not wish grave bodily harm. They hope and pray that your hamstring, ACL or shoulder injury heals with the quickness of a lioness on an evenings hunt, so you can get back to the game you love, your career—but mostly to catching the ball a lot and running really far, to putting on a good show.

The NFL makes around $9 billion in revenue and Commissioner Roger Goodell is hoping to increase that to $25 billion by 2027. This is no small feat and although television deals play a large role in collecting this revenue, so do the fans. Die-hards are willing to shell out $80 a piece for jerseys, and hundreds more for the matching hats, t-shirts and scarves. Ticket prices are on the rise and concession prices never cease to amaze. Upper reserve tickets for the San Francisco 49ers Sept. 18 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, for example, are selling for $132 a piece.

Football fans spend so much of their hard earned money to be a part of and feel connected with their favorite teams. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that the player might just be a pawn in a scheme to hopefully win a championship, be it NFL or fantasy league.

With the shenanigans of the collective bargaining agreement over—months of training camp time wasted over a financial tug of war— the league and the players should welcome the excitement and fervent involvement of their fans.

Isn’t it slightly absurd then that players, sitting high upon their million dollar salary perches, would scoff at fans? The same fans that make those perches possible.

Reach Sara Ramsey here. Follow on Twitter here.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.