{"id":21656,"date":"2023-12-20T02:11:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T08:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=21656"},"modified":"2023-12-20T02:11:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T08:11:09","slug":"nfl-players-face-pressure-as-never-before-in-the-digital-age-surge-of-betting-and-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=21656","title":{"rendered":"NFL players face pressure as never before, in the digital-age surge of betting and fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) \u2014 Alexander Mattison and the Minnesota Vikings<\/u><\/a> had boarded the flight home after a tough loss earlier this season, when the fifth-year running back found dozens of hateful and racist messages directed toward him<\/u><\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criticism for the fumble he lost or his lack of rushing yards in the game? Fine. That comes with the job. But the trolling that night was so egregious that Mattison, after conferring with a trusted friend and fellow Black teammate, decided to push back<\/u><\/a> and share some screen shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder my helmet, I am a human, a father, a son,\u201d Mattison posted on Instagram in his lament and challenge to the 60-plus users to reflect on their words and the harm they can inflict. \u201cThis is sick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intensity of NFL<\/u><\/a> fandom that increased with the surge of fantasy football participation<\/u><\/a> around the turn of the century has spiked further in the age of online betting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\u201cWhen you used to lose, you would hear about it because of a fan\u2019s loyalty to the team. They want to win. Now you hear about it because they\u2019re losing their money because of you,\u201d Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>The accessibility of social media has put players in position to feel that ferocity as never before, and that\u2019s one reason why the league has a wellness program<\/u><\/a> for these uniquely high-profile employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come to a place in society, unfortunately, where we think it\u2019s acceptable to dehumanize people. I think that veil of anonymity online creates that culture or that belief that it\u2019s OK to go after people with impunity, but I think that we have to consider the impact on athletes,\u201d said Dr. Brownell Mack, the team clinician for the Vikings. \u201cWe see them in armor. They wear the helmets and the padding, and we think that they\u2019re somehow invincible or don\u2019t have feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The contrast between those ups and downs in public approval rating can be particularly jarring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee. I\u2019d like to think of myself as a pretty good dude. But I pushed my backup quarterback last year. That went viral,\u201d Vikings left guard Dalton Risner, referring to a sideline confrontation<\/u><\/a> during his time with the Denver Broncos. \u201cIt was an all-out brawl, how I got made out to be as a guy. Woo, man. That\u2019s a good example of how you\u2019ve got to be able to ride the wave of this whole deal and keep even-keeled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock learned this as a freshman at Missouri, when he eagerly soaked up the praise after a win in his first start and had his eyes opened to the opposite after a lopsided loss the following week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Holy cow, this is a roller coaster of, \u2019You\u2019re the best and you\u2019re the worst,\u2019\u201d Lock said. \u201cOnce I cleared through that first year I was like, \u2018I\u2019m done with it. I\u2019ve got to stay away.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mack and his colleagues with other clubs regularly counsel players through mental health challenges that can quickly arise in this tension between the fame, fortune and privilege of playing a game for a living and the scrutiny surrounding such short careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rookies across the NFL each summer aren\u2019t just trying to memorize their playbooks. They attend a required symposium and receive skills training in areas such as decision-making and stress management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to put our best foot forward on the field, but people are going to mess up,\u201d Vikings cornerback Akayleb Evans said. \u201cYou\u2019re not always going to be at your best every game. People just have to realize the human side of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media is the proverbial double-edged sword. That\u2019s the easiest way for players to show their human side to the world. But that\u2019s where the danger lurks too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just got to understand that I\u2019m doing something that only a small percentage of people get to do. It\u2019s what comes with this game,\u201d Dallas Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse said. \u201cBefore I was here, this came with it. After I\u2019m gone, it\u2019s going to be the same thing that comes with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people on the other side of the screen are often grappling with the same realities. Matt Rigby manages a high-maintenance fantasy keeper league with friends and relatives, an intense hobby he fits in behind raising a family, working as a data scientist and coaching high school football in North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had Deebo Samuel on my team for six years. He\u2019s like my brother at this point,\u201d Rigby said. \u201cSo when he doesn\u2019t perform well, and I know that I speak for other people in the league on this too, I think we spend far too much time trying to get into the personal life. There\u2019s like a disappointment in the player simply because of the fantasy outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rigby recalled a recent season when another participant was down on San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle because his receiving production had waned even though the offense was thriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sitting there thinking, \u2018I love watching Kittle right now, because he\u2019s contributing to the game. That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean he\u2019s got a stat line to show for it, but what is football at some point?\u201d Rigby said. \u201cIs it just fantasy football? Or are we watching the game as the game?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Chris Moore has struggled with the push and pull of social media, whether to stay on or get off, as he\u2019s progressed through his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy biggest thing is if I could just tell fans directly, \u2018We\u2019re people like you. I have a wife and a daughter, another one on the way. I go home to them,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI just want to provide for them, see them, and this is just an avenue for me to do that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) \u2014 Alexander Mattison and the Minnesota Vikings had boarded the flight home after a tough loss earlier this season, when the fifth-year running back found dozens of hateful and racist messages directed toward him on social media. Criticism for the fumble he lost or his lack of rushing yards in the game? Fine. That comes with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5782],"tags":[25186,25185,2063,5465,2230,23951,4454,3306],"class_list":["post-21656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ep","tag-betting","tag-digital-age","tag-facing","tag-fantasy","tag-nfl","tag-players","tag-pressure","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21658,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21656\/revisions\/21658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}