Over the last decade or so, the way we watch sports in America has been changing drastically.

From rule changes to team relocations, one thing stands out to me above all the others. This is the growing popularity of fantasy sports.

Fantasy sports has changed the way we watch sports, and alters the way we think about sports in general.

In the past, people who followed sports had their favorite team, typically the one from their hometown. Avid sports fans like me would follow those teams religiously, rooting for them and against their opposing and rival teams.

With fantasy sports, however, people often draft players from other teams, sometimes even teams within the division of their home-town team. I, for example, am a Bears fan with players from the Packers, Lions and Vikings on my team.

Also, the team you face can easily include players from your own favorite team.

This creates conflicts, do you continue loyally rooting for your home-town favorite, or do you pull for the players on your fantasy team?

With many fantasy leagues having monetary prizes, many people choose to root for their fantasy teams rather than their home-town teams.

I would personally find this disgraceful, but I do it myself, so finding it to be in poor taste would make me quite the hypocrite.

I still feel guilty about doing it, but what else can I do when Calvin Johnson is available in the second round?

Another thing fantasy sports changes is our interest in games that otherwise wouldn’t make a blip on our personal sports radar.

We switch between Fox, CBS, NBC and perhaps even the NFL Network to track games we would normally never care about.

Teams from other divisions and conferences are gaining new followings by people carrying their starting running back in fantasy leagues.

All of this would have been unheard of 10 or 15 years ago, but now fantasy sports are changing all of it.

Football in particular is changing the landscape of watching sports, with fantasy football growing in popularity by leaps and bounds.

I’m personally in four fantasy football leagues this season, and I have noticed myself caring considerably more about games that I would otherwise pay absolutely no attention to.

I pay more attention to the scores, stats, and performance of my fantasy team as well as the team I’m facing on any given week.

In addition to this, I pay a lot more attention to circumstances, injuries, suspensions and match-ups than I otherwise would.

If my experience is any indicator of the experience of the average football fan, and I feel that it is, then fantasy sports have permanently changed the way we watch sports in general, and I don’t know if our viewing experiences will ever be the same.

Brad Kupiec is a freshman journalism major. He can be reached at 581-7942

or [email protected]