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Let me start by telling you about the Pearce Fantasy League, the world’s foremost fantasy football organization. The PFL (as insiders like to call it) is a 12-team “keeper” league with 14-man rosters, an annual live draft, two six-team conferences, four three-team divisions, a BCS-like ranking system, a thriving message board community, a modest $50 buy-in, home-field advantages, a four-man Board of Directors, and a ubiquitous championship game dubbed “The Pearce Bowl.” Named after league commissioner and founder David Pearce, the PFL is just one example of a fantasy sports epidemic that has gripped our nation in recent years. It is also one of five football leagues that I am currently a member of this season.

Remember those anti-drug public service ads from a few years ago? At the end of each commercial, a message would come up with a blank line followed by the phrase “is my anti-drug.” The main character would then fill the open space with whatever it is they liked to do. Now if it were me, there’s no denying that “Fantasy sports” would fill that blank. Fantasy sports is my anti-drug. Besides my five football teams, I’m also currently managing three fantasy basketball teams and have already taken care of four baseball teams this year for a grand total of 12 fantasy teams in 2008 alone. I’ve been doing this since I was 14 years old. I’m 24 now. In ten years, I’ve probably managed nearly 100 fantasy ballclubs. At this rate, by the time I’m in my forties I’ll be the fantasy Larry Brown.

It’s not like I’m alone in this. As the other 11 members of the PFL can tell you (ok, maybe more like eight or nine members, we have some delinquents) fantasy sports are a big deal. Sports information sites recognize this and have gone to great lengths to make fantasy sports accessible to all who wish to participate. In 1999, Yahoo.com became the first major provider of free fantasy ownership. Shortly thereafter, competitors cropped up left and right. Currently, ESPN.com, Yahoo.com, and CBSsportsline.com are the big three when it comes to fantasy sports, free or otherwise.

Each of the big three have also put together teams of experts devoted 24/7 to breaking down fantasy sports. Essentially, these fantasy “savants” are no different than the rest of us, except they get paid to discuss fantasy while the rest of us usually end up paying to lose. Perhaps the most visible fantasy whiz is ESPN’s Matthew Berry, a former comedy writer who, thanks to his Hollywood background and sense of humor, sees more air time than any of his fantasy constituents. Featured almost daily on Sportscenter or any one of the more sport-specific shows on ESPN’s family of networks, Berry mixes in fantasy analysis across all sports with jokes that no one really cares about. In fact, the provided analysis is often spotty, and when it comes down to it there are few individuals out there, paid or unpaid, who have come to master the handicapping of fantasy sports.

I’ll be the first to admit that fantasy sports are out of control. It’s gotten to the point where one-time sports fans no longer root for actual teams, but actual players who happen to be on the rosters of their make-believe teams. Personally, I spend chunks of my day debating whether to play DeSean Jackson over Terrell Owens, a luxury NFL head coaches can only dream of having, but for me an agonizing decision that usually ends up ruining my Sunday. The only thing worse than having an actual team lose, is watching your fantasy team go down the crapper. Sure, it may be labeled the Dungeons and Dragons of today. And yes, we may have distanced girlfriends, wives, and even family members with our tunnel vision towards players we don’t even know. But for many of us, whose dreams of athletic glory died the second we collected our high school diploma, fantasy is as close to reality as we will ever get.

Dawg Pack Dirt, Volume 5, Issue 4, University of the Pacific, November 29th, 2008

By Nate Taggart and Aaron Bean

This Saturday the Dawgs start their month of home games with a matchup against the Pacific Tigers. I know it’s a vacation weekend and some of you won’t be in town but hopefully we can get a decent crowd there to make some noise.

The Game:

-Pacific Tigers at Washington Huskies
-Saturday, November 29th, 2008 @ 1:00 p.m.
-Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion

The Team:
-The Pacific Tigers of Stockton, CA make their home in the Big West Conference which is home to teams such as Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton, and Long Beach State.
-Pacific finished 21-10 last season, finished fourth in the Big West and returns three starters from a year ago.
-Pacific is 2-1 to start this season with wins over UC San Diego and a usually solid Nevada team. They lost to Cal by 12.
-Pacific was expected to win the Big West, until a recent investigation that has led to two starters and a key reserve being removed from the team. A link to the story can be found here.

The Players:

-Sr. G #2 Chad Troyer is a local Seattle Prep grad that is only shooting 22% from the field. His dad played for the UW and set a freshman record by scoring 52 points against Oregon in a game. He’s a music manager/producer and his biggest client is somebody named Mike Knight.
-Fr. G #3 Taylor Shipley is a very exciting person that claims on the official Pacific athletics website that his hobby is sleeping. His cell phone number is (310) 430-5116 and his AIM is ADIDASexTS7. His Myspace says that his game is most compared to Michael Jordan so we’re in for a treat. Unfortunately, this prodigy has yet to play any minutes and it looks like he’ll be redshirting this season but we can still give it to him anyways.
-Fr. G #4 Nick Peterson also looks like he’ll be redshirting but he really loves White Gummy Bear Jamba Juice. He also received a seatbelt ticket on Thanksgiving so we should teach him how important seatbelt safety is.
-Jr. F #22 Royal Edwards has only taken four shots this year, making none.
-Fr. G #24 Brandon Hawkins really doesn’t have any dirt that I can find, but I’m pretty excited because he is the son of Seattle Supersonics great, Hersey Hawkins. Don’t tell me you haven’t played NBA Jam on Nintendo 64 with the great duo of Hersey Hawkins and Shawn Kemp. I really hope Hersey shows up.
-Sr. G #30 James Doran goes by the nickname Jimmy D.
-Jr. C #33 Casey Neimeyer is shooting 0-5 in his 15 minutes of PT.
-Fr. F #25 Anthony Cates has the weird hobby of discovering ways that Fight Club quotes can be applied to Pacific basketball. The first rule of Pacific basketball is you don’t talk about Pacific basketball.

GO DAWGS!

It’s official. Lane Kiffin will not be the next head coach of the University of Washington football team. The former Oakland Raiders head man signed on late Friday afternoon to take over the University of Tennessee football program. Kiffin will succeed long-time Volunteers coach Phillip Fulmer, another candidate rumored to be in contention for the Husky head coaching job.

The Seahawks continued their quest for a top-10 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft with a Thanksgiving-day loss to the Dallas Cowboys yesterday afternoon. All but out of the game at the end of the first half, the best the Hawks could muster was three Olindo Mare field goals en route to a 34-9 Texas-sized shellacking.

Unlike previous matchups where the Hawks struggled to either get the offense in gear, or get the defense going, yesterday’s loss was a total all-around effort. The offensive line provided no protection for Matt Hasselbeck. With three backups starting on the interior line–guards Floyd Womack and Ray Willis, and center Steve Vallos–the Cowboys were able to fill every gap and put repeated pressure on the Hawks QB. Even left tackle Walter Jones got in on the inaction, allowing Cowboys DE DeMarcus Ware to run around him twice for sacks.

The pressure affected the Seahawks running game, as well. Julius Jones, who was afforded the extra motivation of playing against his former ballclub, only managed 37 yards on 11 carries to lead the team in both categories. The trio of backups that comprise the rest of the Hawks’ running back corps finished with a combined 33 yards on 10 carries.

The Hawks defense fared no better, allowing Dallas QB Tony Romo to throw for 331 yards and 3 TD’s. It would be easy to place blame for the Cowboys aerial assault on the Seahawks secondary, but the team recorded zero sacks, allowing a Dallas o-line to manhandle the Seattle front seven from start to finish.

From an optimist’s viewpoint, two encouraging signs emerged from yesterday’s game. One was Seahawks TE John Carlson, who recorded 105 receiving yards on six catches. The first-year product of Notre Dame abused the Cowboys defense down the middle of the field and proved once again why the Hawks traded up in the draft to select him. His sure-handed catching ability and on-field awareness will only improve as the season winds down.

The second encouraging sign was the Hawks improved draft position with the loss. If this team intends to turn itself around even as early as next season, they will need to so via the draft. The worse record they can put together this season, the better the draft pick in the upcoming 2009 NFL Draft. With nothing else to play for at this point, fans can continue to root for the Hawks to come up with a top-of-the-draft selection next Spring.