The Game Changes When You Have Your Guys

This post is from the Wikipedia fantasy football page. The excerpt below is from the Effect on Spectatorship, where the author of the article explains the effect owning a fantasy football team has on watching a football:

A fantasy owner might have the quarterback from one team and the running back from the opposing team on his roster, and end up hoping both teams score frequently. However, he will only cheer passing scores from the first team and running scores from the second. As another example, if a team is up by many touchdowns, the "owner" of a running back on the losing team may be upset since the losing team will prefer passing instead of rushing for the score. Finally, a fantasy owner may wish to see an opposing team tie or take the lead in the final minutes of a game, thus giving the ball back to his player with one last chance to drive and score.

I thought this paragraph hit the right points of how an owner will root for specific things to happen. However, I thought the phrasing was not helpful for the reader to properly understand what an owner cheers for each game. I thought a specific example of a what an owner wants to happen in a game for their player would be more helpful. Here are the changes I made:

The way a fantasy owner watches a game is greatly affected if a player on their team is playing. An owner will root for specific things to happen in order for their player(s) to score points. For example, someone who has a running back will root for a goal line situation or for the team the running back plays for to be up by a significant amount of points. If the running back's team is on the goal line, then a running play is more likely to be called. If the running back's team is up by a significant amount of points, his team will call more running plays in order to run out the clock. The more running plays called, the more points for that running back. Different scenarios will provide certain players an opportunity to score points for fantasy owners

The owner of a fantasy team will suddenly be intrigued in seemingly random games. I am from New York and I am a Giants fan. Last year I had Percy Harvin and Doug Martin on my team. So when the Bucs and the Vikings played last year, I was very into the game. I wanted the Bucs to score quickly and get well ahead of the Vikings. This would give Doug Martin plenty of opportunity to rush for serious yards and possibly to score. At the same time, the Vikings would make an attempt to get back into the game. The fastest way to do that is by passing. Percy Harvin was their number one receiver. This is just one example of the effect having a fantasy team has on viewing any football game. The Bucs did score a lot of points in that game. Martin had a great game but the Vikings were unable to get Harvin the ball. Unfortunately, I had benched Martin that week, which brings me to my next point.

If you are truly a spiteful fantasy owner like myself, then you hope players you benched have a very poor performance. I never hope a player I trade or bench gets injured. But, if it's an injury that slows the player down or prevents him from playing in the game, it's not a bad thing to be happy about. I say this because there is a great disappointment if a benched player does very well. It could be the deciding factor between a win and a loss. This same way of cheering for a players demise goes for the opposing fantasy owners' players.