Fantasy Football Lake of the Ozarks Style

Living at the lake of the Ozarks, it’s not a matter of asking if you know anyone who owns a boat, it’s “how many?” in fact, the more appropriate question may be, how many people do you know who don’t own a boat? so, for those of you who aren’t “players,” this next question may not resonate with you…yet. The question: how many people do you know—here at the lake and elsewhere—who play fantasy sports? odds are the numbers are far greater than you may imagine.

Fantasy sports have become a defining common thread around the world: inside offices and schools, among families and extended families, between friends, neighbors and even folks you’ve never met. There’s not enough space here to talk about the evolution of fantasy sports since the days of painstakingly jotting down box scores with a No. 2 pencil. But with the advent of the internet, and especially in the last ten years, fantasy sports have exploded exponentially. And it doesn’t matter what your choice of sport—there’s a fantasy game for you.


If you’re an ace on the golf course, you can be an ace on the fantasy course, selecting golfers such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Rory McIlroy as they compete in weekly tournaments. If the NBA is your game, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Chris Bosh will compile points, rebounds and assists to guide your team to victory. There’s even fantasy NASCAR racing. Climbing to the top of the fantasy world though, is baseball, and of course, the reigning king, FOOTBALL. Let’s take a closer look to see why both are so popular.


With baseball, the self-proclaimed “America’s Pastime,” it’s a game of numbers. And if there’s one thing fantasy sports could not do without, it’s numbers. Stats have always been the centerpiece of baseball, which allows it to go so seamlessly hand-in-hand with fantasy sports. Home runs, batting averages, ERA (earned run average) and WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched). Some stats you wouldn’t even give the time of day, but if they impact your team, suddenly you’re rattling off the formula of EqERA (an adjusted ERA). Now, that’s impressive!

If you have to ask why fantasy football is so big, you may not own a TV. The National Football League (NFL) and its promotional machine is a monster on the American landscape. Not only is it America’s biggest sport, but it’s also the easiest to follow. It allows those who may only be fringe/casual fantasy gamers to spend minimal time in setup with most games only two days a week. But for diehards, it’s not a stretch to say that fantasy football has become 365 days a year, just like the real NFL.


Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? Most standard leagues have 12 teams. That’s the optimal number. The next step may be the most difficult, but the return can be incredibly rewarding: orchestrating a live draft. From somebody who’s been in the middle of the planning process, it’s quite an arduous task trying to accommodate the schedules of 12 (so-called) adults, some of whom are out-of-towners on top of it. But when you pull it off, Draft Day can be the highlight of the year for groups of friends that may have precious few days to congregate as one. “Draft night is the night you circle on the calendar,” says Joey Homm, co-owner of The City Grill and Blue Room, and Commissioner of the Lake Bar Bragging Rights Fantasy Football League.


The Lake Bar League recently held its annual draft in the Blue Room with more than 40 fantasy folks packed in to select their quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers for the upcoming season. Autumn of 2010 represents the sixth year of existence of the league that has seen Team Topsider with coach Scotty Collins win stunning back-to-back Super Bowls. Teams KLOZ and host City Grill also have enjoyed a good deal of success. To demonstrate how competitive a fantasy football league can get, when pressed about how many championships he’s hoisted, Commis- sioner Homm quipped, “None, and it drives me insane.”

The standard fantasy football team will start one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker and one defense on a weekly basis. And what fuels the excitement is that your team will go head-to-head with a different team each week in the season. Scoring is done by accumulating yards and touchdowns. Leagues can adjust the scoring with more intricate formulas at their own discretion. With that type of—at times—extreme devotion, the business of fantasy football continues to grow rapidly. From the websites that host the leagues, to the establishments where the fantasy gamers meet each Sunday, fantasy football means increased dollar signs.

“Players will come in with their notepads and rosters and follow their teams all day,” Homm says. City Grill, along with other Lake establishments, have the NFL Sunday Ticket, where customers can see every single game live. “The beauty of fantasy football,” Homm explains, “is if I’m starting a wide receiver on the Cleveland Browns, suddenly I want to see that Cleveland vs. Cincinnati game. Without fantasy football, that game is practically meaningless to me.”

Now, you can find some ardent opponents of fantasy sports. Those people believe allegiances to a fantasy team can blur the line of loyalties to your real-life favorite teams. That the purity of sports is drained just a little. I think Commissioner Homm can quash that notion right here and now. “I have two goals on Sunday afternoons: 1) The Dallas Cowboys win and 2) My fantasy team wins,” Homm states, unequivocally. So maybe the line between fantasy and reality is slightly blurred, but if that makes me a little blurry, I never want to see straight again.

Tags: Featured

Category: Blog, Featured, Sports & Toys