9781422283004

A nother W ay of C heering

A Green Bay Packers fan goes nuts when Jay Cutler, the quarter- back for the Packers’ archrival Chicago Bears throws a touchdown pass. A Houston Texans fan dances around his living room when a Dallas Cowboys running back runs for a score. A Seattle Seahawks fan hangs his head when a Seattle kicker makes a long field goal. What’s going on here? Those fans are watching sports in a very different way than most fans. They are cheering not for the teams on the field, but the teams in their head and on their computers and mobile devices. They are cheering for fantasy teams. Fantasy football has completely changed the way that NFL fans watch games these days. In fantasy football, a person chooses a lineup of real-life NFL players. He (or she) then matches that lineup against another fan-chosen team within his (or her) fantasy league. The stats put up on TV by the NFL stars turn into points for the fantasy teams,

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