FantasyNFL

A Referee Urged LeSean McCoy To Play Better Because He Had McCoy On His Fantasy Team

LeSean McCoy had a solid fantasy outing on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, amassing 81 yards rushing, 8 yards receiving and a TD (and a lost fumble). Most of his owners, however, probably expected more, as he was routinely drafted in the top 6 in most fantasy leagues. One of those owners, apparently, is a replacement official. And that official happened to be working the Ravens-Eagles game.

We’ll let McCoy tell the rest of the story, via the New York Post:

“‘I’ll be honest, [replacement refs are] like fans,’ McCoy told 94WIP radio in Philadelphia. ‘One of the refs was talking about his fantasy team, like ‘McCoy, come on, I need you for my fantasy,’ ahhh, what?!’”

Earlier this year, Greg Jennings told Forbes that the fantasy craze impacts actual games, with players routinely participating and caring not only about how their own performances values themselves as fantasy commodities, but how they may subconsciously pull for an opponent because he’s on their fantasy roster.

For players, at least, it’s easy enough to set aside fantasy expectations in favor of wins – players want to play well and win regardless, and there’s a built-in egocentric bias that fantasy only piggybacks. If it takes a six-point fantasy touchdown boost to compel a running back to score a touchdown, then he probably doesn’t belong in the NFL anyway.

For referees, it gets a bit trickier. The ban on gambling is obvious, and so is the issue of fanhood. Fantasy though, that’s a different beast entirely, if only because money doesn’t have to change hands for personal pride to be at stake. And though it’s most likely impossible to enforce any type of fantasy ban, as the nature of an internet game lends itself to anonymity (if someone wants it that way), it might at least warrant a conversation.

No, this issue shouldn’t induce panic, and a mere off-the-cuff comment concerning fantasy by a referee shouldn’t alarm anyone. Even replacement refs have morals, and could have easily said that in jest. Still, it’s fun to see the world of fantasy pervading football in every way, from the top on down.

[NY Post]

Photo via Rich Schultz, Getty Images

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