Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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NFL season draws fantasy gurus By STEPHEN FASTENAU THE GAMECOCK The NFL season kicked off last weekend, bringing with it thrilling wins by teams such as Edward’s Icy Hots and Team Ramrod, which combined for 194 points in their respective wins. This, of course, is fantasy football — a game played not on the field but in the box scores. Fantasy sports began in the mid 1980s with a group of men, inspired by noted statistician Bill James, who decided that each would be owners of their own “fantasy” baseball team. Each owner chose certain players for each position on the baseball diamond. Each week, two different owners would go head-to-head, with points assigned to each of their players for certain stats each accumulated. The team with the most points after a completed baseball week was the winner of that “game.” The team with the ■ RYDER CUP Continued from page 9 both of whom played in the Presidents Cup in South Africa last year against an International team comprised of players from everywhere in the world except Europe. The International team was stronger than anything Europe can most wins at the end of the season was declared the winner. Millions of people, play fantasy sports via the Internet. ESPN, Yahoo and The Sporting News host fantasy sports on their Web sites. Fantasy football has become the most popular fantasy sport, but many people play basketball and baseball, and some sites even offer golf and NASCAR. The draw of fantasy sports is the opportunity to be an actual team owner. Players participate in live drafts, then must make decisions for their team such as who to trade, who to pick up in the free agent pool and who to start during a given week. If a player’s fantasy NFL team included Panther Steve Smith, for example, the decision should be made to drop him after he suffered a broken foot in Monday’s game against the Green Bay Packers that will keep him out of six to eight weeks. If fantasy players left the New York Jets’ Curtis Martin on their team’s bench this week, muster, with players such as Vijay Singh, Mike Weir, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. The golf was at a higher level than usually seen in the Ryder Cup. What the Presidents Cup is lacking is the sheer passion of playing under the flag of a single continent, the 77 years of history and over-the-top expectations built up by the British press. It has been two years since the thinking him too old, those players are likely kicking themselves now. Martin ran for 191 yards and a touchdown in week one. Critics say fans are becoming more concerned about their fantasy teams than they are about the actual teams, which has spawned a new breed of selfish athlete. Ticket sales do not appear to be affected by fans who choose to stay at home and monitor their players on line or their television sets. Those who play fantasy sports are typically diehard fans that have a loyalty to a specific team already. “If anything, fantasy sports have helped to bring in fans that wouldn’t have already been interested in the sport,” third-year management student B.C. Newton said. “I love the Red Sox. If I had the choice to draft Derek Jeter or Orlando Cabrera, I’d take Cabrera every time.” Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu Ryder Cup was last played — a 15 1/2-12 1/2 victory for Europe at The Belfry. This year’s Ryder Cup gets under way Friday in a biennial match that transforms the sport from genteel appreciation of good golf to a football mentality of “Us versus Them.” Monday was as quiet as it will get all week at Oakland Hills. all well and good for me to say, “You know what, we fought a superior team down to the wire and lost a close one.” JOEL Except WALLACE that’s a flat-out lie. FIFTH-YEAR But it’s OK PRINT f r t JOURNALISM , tanS 1 7 STUDENT things like that. I’ve supported the i Gamecocks all my life, and I’m not going to stop any time soon. The problem arises when players adopt a similar mindset. The USC football players need to realize they are capable of playing with any team in the country. Look at Georgia — they’re ranked No. 3, they have a Heisman Trophy candidate on both sides of the ball and they’re a contender for the national title. So how on earth did they come so close to blowing it all against the lowly Gamecocks? It’s simple — we’re just as talented, just as well coached and We’re just as talented, just as well coached and just as hungry as the other guys. just as hungry as the other guys. One of our top receivers and his backup get suspended for the game — no problem. Our starting tailback goes down on the first play of the game — big deal. The injuries continue to pile up when two of our corners get hurt, a lineman goes down and another receiver cramps up in the fourth quarter. Each and every time, someone else was ready to step up and play. Sure, they might not have been as capable as the guy they replaced, but they were still good enough to push Georgia to the brink of defeat. We’ve got the talent. How about coaching? Call the play calling on offense too conservative — Lou Holtz said as much Monday. If Pinkins gets another few inches on fourth and one — bad spot or not — 1 don’t think anyone would be asking the same questions right now. The defense was another story completely. Coach Rick Minter deserves a medal for what he’s done with the Carolina defense. He’s overcome injuries and inexperience to put together a squad that appears capable of shutting down anyone. They put more points on the board than our offense, for crying out loud. I knew we had a chance against Georgia going into the game. I think everybody knew, especially the players. 1 he way tney piaycu wasn t wnat impressed me most. What stuck out in my mind is that they knew they could have — no — should have won that game. It was theirs for the taking. If USC had won Saturday, I don’t think it would have served the team as well. Last year’s team upset Virginia and came out the next week against Georgia thinking they were hot stuff and got blown out. The expressions on the players’ faces at the end of the game were something I haven’t seen with USC players in a long time. Cory Boyd’s reaction after the failed fourth-and-one attempt, the lineman on the sidelines on the verge of tears and even the players’ language after the game all said the same thing: We’re better than this. I think if the football team can keep this mindset for the entire season, there’s absolutely no reason we can’t win eight or nine games. It doesn’t matter what I think, though — it’s the players who matter, and it looks like they finally realize that, too. I Saturday meltdown shows off true colors ■ Despite a tough loss, we got a good glimpse of USC’s win potential I know I may be completely ^ alone on this, but I think the Gafnecocks’ loss to the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday is the best thing that could have happened to the USC football team. Ac a fon it’c Interested in taking The Gamecock Challenge? If you can beat the editors, you'll win a free Gamecock T-shirt. Send your j picks to gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu by 2 p.m. Thursday. We’li select ONE person’s picks, at random, to be our Reader of the Week. h A This week's games: South Florida at USC 11 Florida at 13 Tennessee 5 LSU at 14 Auburn 21 Maryland at 7 West Virginia 9 Ohio State at North Carolina Stat< > Clemson at Texas A&M Vanderbilt at Ole Miss Indiana at Kentucky Nebraska at Pittsburgh ; Oregon at 2 Oklahoma ♦ FOR TIE-BREAKING PURPOSES, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR SCORE FOR THE USC-SOUTH FLORIDA GAME. AND DON’T FORGET YOUR NAME! HAS MOVED TO RUSSELL HOUSE WEST WING 'LateNight Carolina 'Substance-Free Tailgates 'A&D Resource Center 'Safe Spring Break Week 777-5780 RH West Wing www.sa.sc.edu/adp ★ cQflVERSE