I Spend 3 Hours EVERY Day on Fantasy Basketball

It went from a time filler to a time sink.

I cant play basketball, so I watch basketball on television.

I root for a team, so I want good players on the team I support.

My team doesnt have good players, so I wonder why.

The general manager of a professional team drafts players out of college, makes trades, signs free agents… he shapes the team’s roster. If my local professional team has a bad roster, its because the general manager sucks.

In a fantasy basketball league, the participants are the general manager of a team.

It starts with the fantasy draft… I have heard of people having dozens and dozens of teams so to practice their drafting skills.

You pick players based on their “fantasy value,” which is decided by what statistics they get in real games.

Once the draft is over, and the season starts, its like quicksand.

You check how your players did each night, make trades with other managers, keep track of other players, edit your roster, and talk shit. I dont even talk much trash, so I dont know how I spent 3 hours a day on this stuff.

I guess its because I know things like Rashard Lewis of the Orlando Magic averages 2.8 3 pointers made per game but averages less than 5 rebounds per game or Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets shoots the ball a little above 50% but turns the same ball over 3.5 times per game… and these players arent even on my team.

I had to get out.

So what I did was “waive” all of my players. When you waive a player its like putting the player back in the picking pool, so that other teams have a chance of scooping him up.

The rest of the league did not take it lightly. I guess I did not think it through. I did not consider how my actions would effect the dynamics of the league.

Anyway, I asked to be let back in the league, I will serve a two day suspension… and I will go back to spending 3 hours a day on Yahoo! Sports.

Now said I “spend” 3 hours a day on fantasy basketball… is it spending or wasting?

What else do we “spend” time on?

traffic, television, sports, movies, alcohol, eating, reading, Nine To Five… some of which are not things my mother would be proud to advertise as her child’s life work.

“I am so proud of my son! He makes $100,000 a year punching numbers into a computer for 8 hours a day, sits in his new Mercedes SL500 for 2 hours a day, comes home to his multi-million dollar mansion, watches his 70-inch high-definition-television, has a few beers, has dinner with his family, and sleeps in a Tempur-Pedic bed for 6 hours every night… I am so proud of the life he lives!!”

Many people are happy when they are productive. “Productive” generally has to deal with working towards some goal.

When we dont have goals that require effort, we suffer the human condition.

We ultimately choose to do what we Think will make us happy [or least sad].

Theodore Kaczynski wrote a manifesto. It is titled Industrial Society and Its Future. Technology allows [many of] us to expend little effort to sustain ourselves. So we, as a people, have a lot of time to make ourselves “happy.”

I guess that is why fantasy basketball and television Waste so much of people’s time. Fantasy Sports and Television provide us with ways to easily entertain ourselves. Much of our free time is used to entertain ourselves, and therefore, to make us happy.

The masses want to be entertained while the world goes to shit. Its easier that way.

how real is too real?

Digital Molecular Matter (DMM). That is the new physics concept in video game design. I aint gonna get technical, because that shit is over my head.

From what I understand, DMM refers to creating objects in the video game, molecule by digital molecule.

The physics engine in some of these games is ridiculous. Shooting R2-D2 at plywood.

The artificial intelligence and interactive environment is not lacking either. Each individual video-game-character has a central nervous system, I dont know what that really means. You should click the above link.

My 11 year old brother, who is a skinny little indian kid, had a 21 day vacation for winter break. He sat in front of his laptop for most of the break while breaking in a nifty laptop cooler.

I asked him if he wanted to do something during break, like go to the zoo, he said “ehhh, not really, I am looking at… stuff.” [He shrugged and pointed at his screen, and went back to clicking]

People spend 40 hours a week playing World of Warcraft. I have heard people play that game as a job; they sell game items that other players find valuable on ebay… for USD.

Electronic swords, shields, and magical boots traded for [faith based] currency, over a “series of tubes.” Sounds about right.

It has become the purpose of many peoples’ lives. It desensitizes and engrosses us.

Stupid gamers have died playing Warcraft (not hating on gamers, but they died while playing a video game, which makes them stupid). They died because they did not eat, sleep or drink while playing video games, past the point of exhaustion and to the screen that says “game over.”

Its not too difficult to fool our brains or our senses. Its even easier to addict and indoctrinate young people.

The average American child is exposed to 20,000 thirty-second television advertisements a year.

Watching television is not that different from playing a video game, where you sit in front of a screen and move your thumbs.

What if the state starts providing us with virtual vocations and vacations, which will allow us to avoid the office and the outside world all together?

Could we do “work” virtually? [we can control machines through the internet]

A video game is a virtual vacation. [play to escape the drudgery of everyday nine-to-five]

Less human interaction means less agitation for human rights and less opposition to the state.

We never have to leave our homes. The state will deliver food to our door while enforcing curfew and checking our production.

That maybe too Orwellian… but I dont think The Matrix, I, Robot, or The Terminator are that far fetched either. Well, The Terminator is further fetched than the other two.

The American people have been tamed by an “American Dream” that can now be achieved through simulation.