Stations cater to fanatics' needs
It's estimated that there are 12 million fantasy football players scattered around the United States.
And that number is growing, and don't think for a second that the networks haven't noticed.
They have.
Numerous shows have popped up devoted primarily to fantasy football players and the networks are addressing the issue during their respective pre-game and post-game shows.
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Like at Fox.
If you tuned in last Sunday to the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show, the beginning segment is devoted to the fantasy football player, presumably in time to make any lineup changes.
"The start of the show will be far more hard-core than in the past, in terms of information,'' Hill said. "It will still be delivered with the guys (James Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson) but the addition of graphics package is going allow us to do a whole lot more of information dissemination.
"One of key things we are going to be looking at in the first 10 minutes or 12 minutes of the show will be information for fantasy football players. Those last-minute changes, any injuries, obviously weather and ground conditions.''
Fox also has a halftime and post-game crawl with fantasy football updates.
When you're watching the ESPN telecast Sunday night of the Vikings-Bears game from the Metrodome, there'll be a "Fantasy Line'' crawl during the game which will run twice each hour (15 and 45 minutes after the hour) giving updates of the top quarterback, running back, receiver and defensive performances.
Another way to get your fantasy football knowledge is via the internet.
It's estimated that the ESPN.com site has around 3.5 million hits on an NFL Sunday.
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The vice president for fantasy sports on CBS SportsLine, David Hersh, told the Fort Worth Star Telegram that fantasy football players produced an $8.8 million profit for the site, or one-third of its bottom line.
Finally, maybe as a fantasy football owner you may want to check out Fox Sports Net at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday for the "Ultimate Fantasy Football'' show.
It's hosted by Patrick O'Neal, and features analysis from former Vikings quarterback Warren Moon. The show airs again at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
There is also a two-hour fantasy football show from 8-10 a.m. Saturdays on KWEB-AM (1270) via the KFAN Radio Network.
Around the tube
The first Vikings Live show of the year in Rochester, sponsored by KWEB-AM (1270) will take place at 7 p.m. Monday from McMurphy's. Safety Brian Russell is the host and his guests this week are Corey Chavous and backup quarterback Shaun Hill.
The shows, which will air on KWEB, will be held here the Monday following each Vikings' home game.
From Boomer Esiason of CBS' NFL Today, talking about Chicago Bears coach Dick Jauron. "Can someone please get him some players for next season? What an absolute debacle. It looks as though one of the NFL's really good coaches has been hung out to dry.''
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The Bears, of course, play the Vikings Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in the Metrodome. It will be televised on ESPN and KSTP-TV.
Paul Christian is a Post-Bulletin sports writer. He writes at weekly Friday column devoted to TV and radio sports and can be reached at pchristian@postbulletin.com
A variety of sources was used to compile this column.
