"Do this research if we don't have a season — watch how much evil, which we call crime. Watch how much crime picks up, if you take away our game," Ray Lewis told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio during the looming labor lockout this offseason.
While no previous statistical correlations support Ray Ray’s claims, and no criminal has ever plead insane due to lack of pro football to watch, may I offer you a hint of wisdom as to what Ray Lewis is getting at.
Every NFL offseason for the past two decades American pro football fans come together in bliss as the anticipation of the start of the season pumps adrenaline into the veins of millions. During the sizzling ides of July as students enjoy the last days of freedom before school begins, and the boys of fall commence preparations for another football season, over 18 million Americans come together at bars and living rooms alike, as well as in online draft rooms to pick their teams for a season of Fantasy Football.
Whether your stakes are monetary returns or for pride alone, you are living through the players of the NFL.
Fantasy Football is an $800 million dollar industry and is continually growing with casual football fans across various demographics. It’s hard to imagine an American autumn without an NFL season. For me, it’s even harder for me to imagine an autumn without the ever time consuming management of a fantasy football team. Countless working and studying hours are wasted each fall as working Americans and students alike pick up their leagues’ free agents, tweak their starting line up and talk trash to the opponents in their league. I am absolutely one of these Americans.
Ray Lewis may be reaching for the notion of an increase in criminal activity if there is no NFL season this year, but he is right about one thing. We do live through these players, general managers, and teams that make up America’s game. The threat of a full-season lockout and an autumn without fantasy football seem to just be another sign of the time this country’s economy is going through.
Although I don’t know what I will do without a season of fantasy football obsession and trips to Buffalo Wild Wings on Sunday afternoons, I know my criminal activity will not increase or decrease.
I can’t speak for the rest of America, or TAG radio that is.
-Rome
TAG Radio Intern
"The Green Ranger"
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