Homeless man is the king of fantasy footballThree million people competed at fantasy football on ESPN.com this year. One man managed to rise above all of them, and he did it despite not having a computer. Or a place to live.For the sake of comparison, I finished under .500 in a league of 12 people, and I spend all day with my face buried in NFL news, stats and highlights.Obviously, Nathan Harrington, 33, of Salem, Mass., knows something I don't. Harrington ended up homeless after needing back surgery, going on medical leave from his job, and being forced to leave his home because it was condemned.And still, he was better than over 3 million people at fantasy football.He used computers at his father's nursing home, his mother's house, and the library. He knocked on neighbors' doors and asked if he could use their computers.If you're wondering about specifics, Harrington drafted Arian Foster and picked up Brandon Lloyd as a free agent. He made trades for Adrian Peterson and Dwayne Bowe.Oddly, Tony Romo(notes) was his quarterback, but when Romo went down with a season-ending injury, Harrington had to make due with a string of borderline fantasy quarterbacks. He clinched the top spot behind Tim Tebow's surprising Week 17 performance against the Chargers. From The Salem News: "My fantasy football was the one thing that kind of seemed to be going right at the time," Harrington said. "There was a lot to be upset about, but the one thing that was steady and heading in a positive direction was the fantasy football. So I thought I might as well stick with it and ride it out. Thank God I did."For his unbelievable performance, Harrington won a $3,500 Best Buy gift card, which he's selling to his mother for $2,500 cash.
While Gap Narrows, Professional Football Retains Lead over Baseball as Favorite SportJanuary 20, 2011 | PR Newswire Association LLC NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- It's the eternal debate among sports fans – football or baseball? Most die-hard sports fans will always say both, but, if forced to choose, football wins yet again. Three in ten Americans who follow at least one sport (31%) say professional football is their favorite sport while 17% say baseball. This is a narrowing of the gap from last year when over one-third (35%) of sports fans said professional football was their favorite sport and 16% said it was baseball.These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,331 adults surveyed online between December 6 and 13, 2010 by Harris Interactive.Looking at how other sports fared, just over one in ten sports fans (12%) say college football is their favorite sport while 7% say it is auto racing, 6% say men's professional basketball, 5% say hockey, and 4% each say men's soccer and men's college basketball. Most other sports are favorites for 2% or less of sports fans. Two sports however, women's professional basketball and women's college basketball, are not favorites for any sports fan.There are some fluctuations in favorites over time. Since this question was first asked in 1985, professional football has gone up 7 points from 24% of sports fans saying it was their favorite sport then to 31% saying so now. Baseball, on the other hand, has gone down 6 points from 23% in 1985 to 17% today.Who likes football and baseball… and who really doesn'tWhen it comes to the top sports, different groups are more likely to cite them as favorites. African Americans (45%), Baby Boomers (aged 46-64) (37%), and Easterners (34%) are more likely to say professional football is their favorite sport while Echo Boomers (aged 18-33) (23%), Hispanics (26%), and Midwesterners (26%) are less likely to do so. When it comes to baseball, Matures (those 65 and older) (21%), Hispanics (20%), and those with a high school or less education (20%) are more likely to cite it as their favorite sport. African Americans (6%), those with some college education (12%) and Echo Boomers (13%) are least likely to say baseball is their favorite. So What?While football may be the favorite sport, there is a decline in popularity from last year. And, with the possibility looming of a player's lockout after this season ends, will fans stay loyal? In 1987 there was a strike and the popularity of the sport didn't suffer any lasting damage. And all the major sports have been hit by labor disagreements over the past two decades, including the canceling of the World Series in 1994 and the Stanley Cup in 2005. What if there was no Super Bowl in 2012? Football will most likely survive, but that one day event is so different than both the hockey and baseball championships. Could you imagine no Super Bowl commercials?