With at least 29.9 million people participating in fantasy leagues in the U.S. and Canada alone, the fantasy movement worldwide is now turning into a revolution. Perhaps the word “fantasy” is misleading, as this sports fan’s craze is as real as it can get.

Fantasy prelude

Fantasy leagues are defined as a virtual game dealing with real players and real-time statistics from professionals. Players of the game are called fantasy owners and they select from a pool of players in order to build the strongest team possible.

“Fantasy [sports] allow me to be in the shoes of a General Manager, making my team as good and as competitive to go against other teams,” says Jared Chua (III BS Mgt), a fantasy player since 2005. Owners also exercise responsible management by immersing themselves in trades and transactions that involve professional athletes of sports such as baseball, basketball, and football.

It is ironic that the game is coined after the term “fantasy” despite the realism involved in the game. “I really don’t get the term ‘fantasy.’ Why fantasy if the game focuses on real stats and real happenings in sports?” adds Jared.

Humble beginnings

A glimpse of its history would better provide not only the roots of the game but also life before its discovery and eventual rise online.

Its earlier developments began when the concept of picking players and tracking down their detailed statistics came about. What started out as a gig among Daniel Okrent’s friends turned into an alternative hobby for sports fans, eventually evolving into the fantasy leagues of today.

The most common format nowadays would be the compilation of statistics within a period of time, which are totaled against another fantasy owner’s roster. Before that, point systems were implemented where accumulated statistics translated into points leading to totals that would determine the outcome of the game.

Rise on the internet

Okrent probably had no idea that his pitch would become the craze that has persevered nowadays. His idea had such a great impact on the audience, that by the advent of the Web, the popularity of fantasy leagues reached unparalleled heights.

By the mid-1990’s, the available technology paved the way to greater accessibility, as statistics were being updated more regularly, and the game began to start capturing the global market. In 1997, RotoNews became the pioneer website that catered to the growing audience.

Whatever the player’s current status was–benched, traded, injured, and everything in between–“player notes” gave all the necessary information to provide owners that fantasy edge to the championship at stake.

It would not be long before Yahoo.com came up with its own version, introducing a cost-free alternative in 1999, one that dramatically shook the business model for fantasy sports with its new approach. Now on its eighth year, Yahoo! Fantasy kicks off another exciting season for fantasy owners and fans alike.

The massive invasion online has definitely developed a global following. Now, The GUIDON takes a look at two aficionados who have joined the bandwagon and are yearning for their teams to win the season.

Fantasy overload

The growth of fantasy basketball has seen a steep increase of followers in recent years, especially here in the Philippines, where basketball has an almost fanatical following. But what makes fantasy basketball so interesting among the many players who participate in online leagues?

“Basically, one has to form a team composed of five to 10 players, including subs [bench players],” says Marvin Lim (II BS ME). Given a specific budget, owners draft players at the start of every season. “The players who are expensive are the superstars,” he says.

After drafting, the tournament goes underway, where one’s team tries to outscore another fantasy team by basing the team’s scores on the real-life performances of the players. Like any other fantasy sport, the challenge is to always be updated on the player forecast, who will do well and who will play poorly. The keys to victory rely on analysis, observation, but more often than not, a mere stroke of luck.

Marvin, who has been actively checking his fantasy accounts since fourth year high school, says that it can really get one hooked. “When you get really competitive and you really want to win, it can be very addicting,” he says. “It’s easy; you just have to read the instructions. It really tests your intuition and predictions.”

“Marami nang may leagues (A lot of people are part of leagues). Even those who aren’t NBA fans join for the fun and the competitiveness,” he says. But in a basketball-oriented nation such as ours, even fans of less-popular sports are catching on to the phenomenon.

Leagues on the rise

While basketball is at the top of the sports scene in the Philippines, football has steadily become very popular in its own right. Every now and then, students are seen around campus sporting football jerseys of their favorite teams like Manchester United, Barcelona, and Real Madrid to mention a few. There are those, however, who feel that it is not enough to wear a club or team’s colors and consider themselves a true football fan.

“I started playing because I started to feel that if I was to brag about being a real [football] fan I needed to join fantasy as well,” Nathaniel Riskin (II BS Mgt) says. Nathan has been religiously checking his fantasy account at Premierleague.com, one of the more popular fantasy football sites when it comes to England’s premier football league, since last season.

According to him, he felt the need to join his friends in their virtual league in order to be a complete and total fan. “I play it [football], I also watch it, but I still felt that I needed to do more,” he adds.

Fantasy football gives you the power to create your own squad and try and outscore other fantasy managers or owners. “[You] select a team of players from different clubs and earn points based on their performances in real life.” Nathan tries to simplify the whole process. “Given the starting budget of about £50 million, you get to select 15 players according to their field positions [goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, forward], four of which [are] your reserves or subs.”

For Nathan, fantasy football might seem as easy as picking and clicking one’s favorite players every week, but it actually goes beyond that. “At first, it was as simple as setting up a team. But predicting results was rather difficult,” Nathan says. Nathan also describes fantasy football as something that has become sort of an addiction for him. “Even if I’m busy with schoolwork, I still find time to fix my team, it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes in a week.”

With millions of people logging in to these fantasy sites every single day, the fantasy populace has been exponentially growing season after season. Fans like these continue to prove that these fantasy competitions are starting to become as big as the sports they base on themselves.