Philosophy vs Pragmatism — Fantasy Football

Fantasy football is for fun, supposedly. Of course, you also play it for the thrill of beating your competitors in a game that is a mixture of skill, chance, and darkest necromancy (or some other kind of divination). And yet, there is also some room for personal philosophy.

In most fantasy football games based on the English Premier League, people think nothing of buying Chelsea's Didier Drogba and making him their captain. He scored a hattrick last night, so those people all received a handsome return on their investment. In real life, of course, he's not often captain, and his cost would be prohibitive to most.

I always start off the season with Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas as captain. It reflects my natural optimism. It might not be the most pragmatic choice, but at least he is in real life the captain of his team.

My philosophy is thus based on some sort of realism. I've seen players think nothing of fielding three left-backs in a squad with only five defenders. Would that make sense in real life? Unlikely. But it can get you a lot of points in a season when left-backs are doing well.

I guess the point about Fantasy Football is that it's fantasy. Do what you want. Enjoy it. No regrets. That's a good philosophy for fantasy games in general.