Odell Beckham Jr, star receiver for the Giants, is enjoying a normal day when his phone is bombarded with tweets. All of these, of course, have to do with fantasy football.
He, like many other notable athletes, has been subject to the harsh criticisms of fantasy football users.
The negative writing is a little different than the commentary given by the media who is also extremely critical towards famous athletes.
This is a constant barrage of people who make derogatory remarks and have little to no background in journalism or what it is like to play a professional sport.
NFL players have had mixed emotions and some embrace the game and enjoy the attention it brings to the sport, while others deem it as toxic.
Odell Beckham Jr. for instance, had an injury he was working through at the start of the season. Impatient fantasy owners began to question him and tweeted bitter remarks.
Beckham eventually had enough and said this about the situation,
“No offense. I could care less about ur (sic) fantasy teams. This is my Real Life. Focusing on gettin healthy and gettin better. 1 day at a time.”
Seaman student and athlete Ty Hurla thinks he would have a similar view to the Giants wide receiver if he were in his position.
Hurla stated, “ I would not like it because I am at the top of my game and people who are not are judging me. You go out there and play and see how you produce.”
While the majority of athletes take this side and would like to avoid the game all together, there are a select few out there that do get involved with fantasy football in a positive manner.
Running back for the Kansas City Chiefs Kareem Hunt starred in a video on one of ESPN’s fantasy shows. He poked fun at owners who did not start him week one and provided a comical take rather than bashing the game.
Keelan Palmer, a Seaman student athlete, believes if he were a professional football player he would relish the attention, and the nonstop messages would be motivational.
If Palmer were to have a poor performance he said, “I would feel poorly for my fans. I would want to please my owners so they draft me next season.”
Whatever one’s stance on the topic, it is an indisputable fact that the popularity of the NFL and its players has increased because of fantasy football’s growth.
Now more and more fans tune it to not only the local team’s games, but the games that have their fantasy players in it. According to CNN, this is one of the main reasons the NFL contract with DirecTV increased by 500 million in 2015.
There will never be a true consensus on whether or not fantasy football is healthy for the NFL, but one thing is for sure; The wealth of many organizations such as the NFL has gone up and continues to rise because of the prominent game known as fantasy football.