"He Trade Raped You. You have been Trade Raped!":The Religion and Rituals of Fantasy Sports

When it comes to fantasy sports every sports fan becomes a fanatic. There are leagues for many sports.   Each league is different.  Some are very intense and competitive while others are just for fun. Most leagues have a huge amount of smack talking.  People that participate in leagues take them very seriously.  Often blaming the players for not doing good for the reason why they lost their match up.  We see this in the show The League.  The character Ruxin yells at a Professional Football player for the reason he lost his matchup, when he sees him at a spa.  Yet, leagues are considered a religion and each league has a ritual. 

   The FX comedy The League, follows a group of friends that are involved in a fantasy football league.  This League's league is highly competitive.  The members hold a draft every year at someone's house.  They use a board and do the draft in person.  This is very old fashion, because now drafts are automated.  This is a ritual of this league.  Also, each member is playing for the SHIVA.  The SHIVA is the trophy of the League.  It is named after a girl form their High School.  This isn't uncommon many leagues have trophies or something that is given to the winner.  In my league the ritual is a NFL football form one of the Super Bowls and my Pap always gives it to the winner like he is announcing a wrestling match. Many people treat this trophy as a god and they worship it like a religion.  In The League the members have a song that goes along with this.  They also, worship it like a god; by taking it everywhere, having a shrine for it, or treating it like it has feelings. This would make the trophies a part of the religion of Fantasy sports.  

   Apart of leagues is smack talk.  This consist of telling your opponent how bad they are and how you will beat them.  In the show The League there is a lot of smack talking.  The one that does it the best and the most graphic would be Ruxin.   In Fantasy leagues this seems to be more potent. These are the extremely serious ones. I looked up some good smack talks well ones I thought would be funny. For instance, these one-liners made ESPN's top smack talkers.  The list consisted of:"Grab a Spoon and taste defeat.",  "Go make me a sandwich.", "What time is cheerleader tryouts?", and my favorite "Save your breath you'll need it to blow up your date." (Here's the rest of the best smack talks). Smack talking is what makes Fantasy sports fun.  It’s the competitiveness of this ritual that people love.
  Another ritual would be having the worst record in your league.  In The League the punishment for having the worst record was that you had to keep the Sacko: a disgusting looking trophy.  Some other ones that people had to do in other leagues were:  Make them wear a dress if you have your draft in a public place, have a humiliating that they have to keep on their mantel all year, or make them do the cinnamon challenge. Many leagues make players that get the worst spot do something extremely embarrassing. 

                Fantasy sports are a big part of being a fan.  Many Fantasy players treat the game as a religion bowing down to their trophies as a God, or by participating in the ritual of smack talking.  And if you get the “Sacko” you better reevaluate your game plan for next year, or hope your friends don’t make you do this because you’re so bad a Fantasy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-agpv48woE 

Freak Out Choke Out: Latrell Sprewell's Apology

 

       In December of 1997, Latrell Sprewell, guard for the Golden Gate Warriors choked his coach P.J. Carlesimo.  The incident occurred only three days after Sprewell was fined for missing a team flight and showing up late to a Salt Lake City game.  Tension had been boiling between the two, ever since Carlesimo yanked Sprewell during the Lakers game calling him a joke three weeks earlier.  Carlesimo has been known for his coaching style: yelling and screaming at players and being hard nosed and stubborn.   Latrell Sprewell lost his cool in practice after Carlesimo got on him about passing the ball.  In which, Sprewell responded with "I don't want to hear it today" (ESPN Classics). When Sprewell warned Carlesimo about approaching him, Carlesimo did it anyways and Sprewell jumped at the coach's throat for ten or fifteen seconds until other players broke it up.  About twenty minutes later Sprewell went back at Carlesimo throwing punches and planted one on across the coach's face.   The following is an analysis of Latrell Sprewell's apology. 

        Sprewell begins his apology by saying that he believes that people need to hear his side of the story.  He states, 

     

"I have to say that I never really got a chance to tell my side of the story. There were times where I reached out and tried to reach out to try to rectify the situation here at Golden State. I was willing to meet with the team and the league after being suspended and it just seemed like no one wanted to hear what I had to say". 

 Sprewell is evading the responsibility of his actions, in order to reduce the offensiveness on himself.   In the self-defense strategies this can be classified as Denial.  This is because he doesn't even say I'm sorry but, he automatically tries to put the blame somewhere else.  Yet, he goes on to apologize by saying that he will try to fix what he had done and stop it from happening next time by controlling his temper.

  Latrell Sprewell uses some bolstering by talking about how he has spent so much time getting where he is today.  He states:

"I think if you look back, and I've looked back, over that span, those 10 years, and I just feel that those 10 years of hard work shouldn't be taken away for one mistake. My career didn't happen overnight, and I don't think it should have been taken away from me overnight."

He also blames some of the problem on the media for portraying him as a bad guy.  You can classify this as differentiation.  He knows he did something wrong but blames the media for not showing what really happen.  He ultimately blames them for the reason why his career is going downhill.  Sprewell states: 

"A lot has been in said in the media, on TV, in the paper, about what has happened and the events that have taken place. In my opinion, a lot of it has been one-sided, and I've really been looked upon as a negative person, as a person that can't handle problems, and isn't good in problem-solving situations, and that is totally not true. I've been vilified”.

   As you can see, Latrell Sprewell does not only take reasonability for his actions but he blames the media for portraying him as a villain.  And blaming his long suspension on the NBA for not hearing his side of the story.  

If you would like to see the rest of his apology:  http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1997/Transcript-of-Latrell-Sprewell-s-public-statement/id-64b3ccc28ba73589a617dc1d33cffdc6