Beware the lair of the seiya

I failed. I filled in a March Madness bracket this year and have been rooting for teams based on that rather than purely for entertainment value.

I blame Dom.

I used to be a fantasy sports nut. I peaked maybe 6 or 7 years ago with 2 football leagues and 3 baseball leagues.

I quit cold turkey after I moved to Japan, since it was a competitive disadvantage to be (give or take) 10 time zones away from the actual games.

Refreshingly, I found my enjoyment of watching games did not diminish. I could watch a baseball game without rooting specifically for a strikeout or a stolen base. I could watch a football game without yelling at the QB to throw it to my guy, not my opponent’s guy.

(Since NFL games tended to be while I was either asleep or at school, I didn’t watch much pro football at all, even after I installed a slingbox at my parents’ place.)

Now that I’m back in the USA, I continue to abstain from fantasy sports. It warped my perception of the game long enough. Call me weird, but I don’t need skin in the game to enjoy watching it.