One of the things that I enjoy doing is fantasy sports. Fantasy sports has become a hobby of mine, almost to the point where I spend countless (and pointless) hours on the computer looking at box scores, reading articles, and analyzing statistics instead of doing things like studying or socializing with the real world. In fact, I'm surprised my lack of socializing with the outside world hasn't left me pale from no sunlight exposure. I think it's because I spend 3 months of summer out in the sun during mathcamp and softball, and the tan stays with me for the next 9 months until I continue the cycle again the following summer.

Also, not a lot of people have ever played fantasy sports or really understand the rules or concept behind it. To help me with a definition, I get the following from Wikipedia.com: "A Fantasy sport is a game where fantasy owners build a team that competes against other fantasy owners based on the statistics generated by individual players or teams of a professional sport." That's a pretty good definition I think. Basically, a bunch of you and your buddies sit around and build a team of professional athletes, and using the athlete's stats from the season, the person who has the best stats wins.

The term "Fantasy" is sort of misleading I think. People hear the term "Fantasy Baseball", and they immediately think of some game that we nerds play that has no relevance to the real world. However, I think they're wrong. In fact, fantasy sports is very applicable and relevant to reality. I will now prove that with the following analysis. I've come up with 5 terms used all the time in fantasy sports, but I've also figured out how they relate to the real world, which explains why fantasy sports is really like real life:

1. Superstar: In fantasy sports, this refers to someone who has high expectations, and lives up to them. They are the true ballers and shot callers in the world of sports (I have no idea what I just wrote). In reality, these are the guys who grow up saying they're going to be millionaires with the model in the bikini on their car hood, and they end up with all those things. Barry Bonds is a Fantasy Superstar, much like Bill Gates is a superstar in real life.

2. Sleeper: This is someone who goes under the radar in fantasy sports and is unnoticed, but then exceeds expectations by having a breakout year. These are the guys in school who seem to not show up to class, wear dorky clothes, then next year have overnight success because they invented some machine. You can see their potential, but it just takes time and the right environment to bring it out in them.

3. Bust: These are the players who have high expectations and the skills to become great, but they cannot live up to the hype. In real life, these are the people who get the good grades and have all the populairty, then OD at some frat party and lose it all. Please, no Todd Fuller references.

4. Utility Player: Someone who can play multiple positions, and you can plug them into any slot when you need them (1st base, 2nd base, Outfield). To me, this is your best friend. Someone who can be many things to you when the time calls for it. This is probably why the utility player is so useful (and perhaps the only reason why Ramon E. Martinez still has a job in the major leagues).

5. Keeper: This refers to a system of having a player for one year, watching that player grow, develop, and build a bond with you. When the next year rolls around, you can either keep the player for more years and make a commintment for the long term, or let that player go and watch them join someone else's team. Some of us haven't found that keeper yet.