Confessions of a Fantasy Hockey Junkie

....ahem....

"Hello, my name is Wazz and I'm a fantasy hockey junkie. It all started back in 2001 when I started college. I started with one team, then two-- now I have five teams this year. In fact, I've started websites with back-stories and updates for my fantasy hockey team...and it's affiliates."

That's how it would go if there were support groups for my condition, but it is that bad. I do get a little psycho with my fantasy hockey with research, buying books, and all that jazz-- but it's all in good fun. With the new season coming up, the new fantasy hockey season starts-- which includes that of the FOHSHL, which has the biggest league ever with 56 teams heading into the season.

I don't think I'm alone either, as many people (obviously in Canada) take part in some office pools. The fantasy sports industry as a whole is a big money business with pay leagues, draft guides, office pools, and so on. It's an industry that been booming for a while and probably won't let up anytime soon. It let's people get away from their real lives and focus on being the armchair GM and coach that they usually are when watching the games and tracking their players.

However, it's something that may be a little obsessive, but like The Hockey News draft guide states-- most fantasy hockey owners could be smarter than NHL GMs. In theory that could be correct in some aspects.

Let's be honest, when you play a fantasy sport-- you have to be on top of your shit if you don't want to get murdered and humiliated. It also goes on to say that fantasy owners would work better under a cap than some NHL GMs and would recognize better value along with some players. Granted, the risk of your job isn't quite as high and the demand from fans and beating up by the press isn't there-- but it is certainly something that would be interesting to see.

I think the one thing that could be used as a defense is that if a back-up goalie could be a GM and succeed (for the most part), then anyone can do it. I don't think we're far away from seeing someone go from armchair GM to assistant GM, especially in hockey. Hockey fans are probably the most knowledgeable fan base out there. They know their team, the other teams, and what players could boom and bust at any moment. If there is one league to take a chance on a person as their GM who used to play fantasy game for a living-- it could be hockey.

It would be quite the litmus test to see how one fantasy owner would fare as a GM for an NHL team. It may not happen anytime soon, but it certainly would be a great sociological study. I, in all my humbleness, would like to be the first volunteer for this study; my references are available upon request at my email, scotty@faceoffhockeyshow.com.