Ode to a Website

Since I took my first, tentative steps towards the internet in 1997 by connecting via a BBS and looking up wrestling results (this very page. I'm still confused over the logic of the Dusty Rhodes turn 11.5 years later) there are very few websites that I can claim have had any influence on my life. YouTube, Wikipedia, the aforementioned DDT Digest, redhotplumpers.com, AFL Tables....

That's about it really - everything else is just background noise and doe-eyed, scantily clad Bulgarian immigrants. However I'd like to pay tribute to the latest member of the TSP Hall of Fame. 

First, some background. Fantasy Football is nothing new. I remember owning a book in the early 90s explaining how you could set up a league with family and friends. Not surprisingly my Grade 6 classmates weren't as keen to pore over the stats and the book ended up discarded. In fact, before the internet came along footy tipping wsa king, and fantasy games were strictly for Americans or the English. Even post-internet nobody gave a rats for years, before the mid 2000s when Supercoach and Dream Team emerged. At first I paid scant regard, bizarrely choosing Jared Rivers as captain, then leaving him in the spot for about six weeks while injured.

Then along came Fan Footy and I was hooked. Being the sort of insular fan who couldn't care less about any player who didn't play for Melbourne a whole world of random players suddenly emerged. Who the in buggery is Craig Bird? No idea, but he's been in my team for two years. What sets it above every other sports site are the jaunty little icons next to players that tell you how they're performing. It's replaced the clunky AFL.com.au Game Tracker as the best place to follow a game. In an era when a player can have 30 touches and still not be anywhere near the best players in a match, it's Fan Footy that gives you the information you need to know to follow a game even if you haven't got it on the radio or TV.

[NB: The graphic originally displayed here has disappeared due to being hosted in a rubbish location. Use your imagination]/

From the 'sun' icon I can tell the top six players are all running "hot", Jack Grimes is on Brad Johnson, Cheney is rising in value, Bartram is tagging, Miller is playing badly and Warnock has a specific defensive job. Hover over any of the logos for specific stats. What else do you need to know? Sure, you need to reject the idea of having a life to get into this stuff but once you do it's addictive. Looking for the scores on your mobile in the middle of a tedious date? Staight to FF. 

The guiltiest pleasure of the whole thing is the tombstone logo. () It means somebody's copped a long term injury but seeing it is a major event. Prismall, Hille, most of the Melbourne side at one time or another, you know that logo means somebody will be gone for a long time. When Russell Robertson blew his achilles to shreds last year and I saw that on the screen in a dingy Singapore internet cafe I let out a plaintive wail. It's one thing when the radio says somebody's done their knee, but it's not true until m0nty confirms it. 

The genius of the tombstone is that in my circle of acquaintances it has passed into common usage. Somebody's broken their leg falling out of a tree, "it's a tombstone for...". Somebody's died? "Tombstones all around". In fact, I would like to think that if I snuffed it tomorrow that my death notice would read; 

 Adam 1.0  

The other notable feature of the site is the running commentary alongside the stats, most of which is seemingly written by 13-year-olds or complete lunatics. The vast majority consists of people posting as if they're actually talking directly to the player, though it's hard to work out whether Justin Sherman would actually know what "BoMbErZ-93" meant if he rolled up to him in the street and yelled "WTF SHERMAN u absolute MANCHILD". Apparently it's a compliment. 

Every game can also be relied on to have some muppet post that they made the lowest scorer on the ground their captain that week (double points) as if nobody has ever thought of that gag before. Then there's outright abuse. This afternoon "footy_wiz" was moved to say "firrito u flowering [fuck is replaced with flower, hillarity ensues - 1.0] spud, the 2 first gamers did better than you". No consideration of the fact that Firrito is richer, more famous and more chance of getting laid than anyone who has ever logged onto that website, myself included. 

This year has seen the final ascent of fantasy football to the tip of everyone's tongue. Suddenly the real footy dissectors are coming in on Monday and talking points instead of tips. The old style footy tipping, where you'd study the form for ten years and still get beaten by the work experience kid who guesses, has been dethroned. It's a good thing, even if it has been taken a bit far with Dream Team updates on the big screen at the MCG and during radio calls. Even if it has created the phenomenon of idiots in the crowd going bananas over their own team copping a goal just because it's come from one of their players. 

 It'll play itself out over the next couple of years and everyone will get sick of it again but it's a wild ride while it lasts - and as far as I'm concerned Fan Footy is the best thing about it. In fact, as they might say , ,  

P.S - If I win my work comp this year I'm going to run into the office, throw Gatorade over myself in celebration and dedicate the victory to m0nty