It occurs to me that perhaps the only really relaxed and fulfilled folks in our society are those whose lives revolve completely around sports. Their goals are clear and attainable. Those who participate know what it is they want (need) to achieve; those who are spectators (usually no less dedicated than the participants) are able to cheer, rant, blow off steam, gloat, etc., and keep their own scores on their lives tallied in simple wins & losses.
Probably the reason fantasy sports became such a giant hit is this simple tally. Yes, the internal workings of the draft selections and choices made each week do qualify as complex. But the over-all goals & accomplishments, making up the tally of wins & losses, would have to be seen as "simple" when viewed with the perspective of how life is lived on the planet as a whole.
For a professional athlete of any stripe, life certainly should be a blur of highlights with only pain of injury or unfortunate health issues being the downside. Incredible riches can befall a truly gifted athlete, but as the heading suggests, there has to be some luck involved to reach the apex of any sport. And for those who are anything but professional, maybe not even marginally athletic themselves and who just "live for the sport" - of whatever genre has grabbed the individual's attention - they have made their own luck. They choose not to wallow in the ugliness of the real world of poverty and politics, but to make their days happy ones filled with box scores and bets won or lost.
At times I have envied these souls who have elected to ride high above the common drudgery of living. Even the vast majority of them who have to work at some job or profession in order to feed their habit of attending sporting events or buying the accoutrement available everywhere, are somehow able to subjugate everything to their chosen sport madness. These lucky people are above us muck dwellers; they occupy a comfortable fan-attic.
