Vagus! Vagus, baby. Vaguuuuus… Not the city with swerve, this vagus is your central nerve, baby! When you’re up by 6 late on a Monday night and your opponent’s WR3 grabs a 70 yard bomb and dances into the end zone like flippin’ Baryshnikov (that’s Baryshnikov, not Biletnikoff), that’s your nervous system going full fight-or-flight sympathetic mode. That’s your vagus nerve wailing for mercy. Stress. Cortisol. Why we hate losing.
Despite not being able to control a single thing our team does on the field, the same parts of our brains light up when something good happens as when we are personally involved in real-life competition. Bad outcomes cause actual personal stress responses. And hey, it is personal. I know you hate losing to your league rival as much as I do. These are your wins, your losses, and they’re on display for the entire league to witness. No wonder we get emotionally invested.
Our emotions and their biological responses are tied into everything we do and managing a fantasy team is no exception.
The Dopamine Rush of Fantasy
Pass me another hit of that dopamine, son. Dopamine is our brain’s neurotransmitter associated with reward anticipation. Whether Kamara scores his sixth TD of the day for your squad on Christmas day, or you’re going all in on fartcoin(™), it’s all the same to your brain chemistry.
As managers, we talk ourselves into starting that Thursday night player not just because “then I’ll know what I need going into the weekend,” but also because we want that dopamine hit, now!
Cognitive Biases
These addictive qualities of fantasy football contribute to all sorts of cognitive biases, too. Something to be aware of! Just like when you buy a stock and it tanks for a month straight but you still can’t sell it, that 3rd round pick who hasn’t had a double digit week in over a month is tough to bench. That’s the sunk cost fallacy.
Looking for justification that the dude you said you’d never draft again is indeed having a bad season, even though some of his stats are fine? You are guilty of confirmation bias.
How does recency bias show up? On waiver wire day, oftentimes. That receiver who scored 2 TDs last week and never had any before that is definitely going to do it again if I can get him, right?? right?? wrong.
Speaking of waiver wire day, does it feel like Christmas morning to anybody else? I swear I sleep worse Tuesday nights. And I can’t wait to get up Wednesday morning and check which player Waiver Santa left under my tree. When another manager outbids me by 1 FAAB dollar on a claim, well that just puts the “mean” in dopamine, knowhatimean, jelly bean? VAGUS! …sorry.
To tilt or not to tilt?
What a silly question, of course we’re all going to tilt our faces off every draft, waiver bid, start/sit, and matchup. We are warm, human meatbags after all, not cold, quantified statistical robots. What I’m trying to say is don’t ignore your emotions. It won’t do you any good anyway. Even if a decision is backed by all the data in the world, it doesn’t feel as good as getting your “my guy” in the draft. Embrace those feels, ride the rollercoaster, and, once in a while, you’re going to come out on top (be sure to gloat). It ain’t a bad thing when our emotions run hotter than James Brown after an 11-minute vamp in a 3rd encore… that’s just humans being, man!
…when my RB1 finally punches it in on 4th and goal at the 1 after being stood up thrice👇
Social animals
Good and bad, these physical responses are what makes fantasy football great, memorable. That we’re experiencing them alongside or conversely with our friends and family makes it even more impactful. Even if your week is over, it’s entertaining to watch a close matchup play out between leaguemates. It’s a social game, our league is our tribe, and we rise and fall with the tides of power. We scrape and claw weekly, oscillating between supreme confidence and humbled embarrassment until finally the tribe crowns a new chief, if only for an offseason. And it feels grrrrreat!
❤️ 🏈