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		<title>Fantasy Sport-Part I</title>
		<link>http://www.balletteaching.com/2009/04/12/fantasy-sport-part-i/</link>
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				<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[By Vincent INTRODUCTION Fantasy sports started in baseball in 1980, with fantasy players compiling statistics from sources such as The Sporting News (Isidore, 2003). The Internet era and computerized statistical data fueled the explosive growth of fantasy baseball according to Gregg Klayman, the Director of Fantasy and Interactive Games for MLB.com (Lachimia, 2003). Beginning from [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><br />
By Vincent</p>
<p>INTRODUCTION<br />
Fantasy sports started in baseball in 1980, with fantasy players compiling statistics from sources such as The Sporting News (Isidore, 2003). The Internet era and computerized statistical data fueled the explosive growth of fantasy baseball according to Gregg Klayman, the Director of Fantasy and Interactive Games for MLB.com (Lachimia, 2003). Beginning from baseball, football now is the most popular fantasy sports. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (2001), a representative organization of the industry, it is estimated that more than 15 million Americans, or 7.2% of the adult population, participated in fantasy football in 2002.  That figure was an increase from 4 million in 1994 (Flood, 2004). Washington, D.C.-based Ipsos Public Affairs surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. residents in August, 2003, and asked them about their fantasy sports playing habits (Adams, 2000b). Eleven percent of males and four percent of females in the survey reported they had played in at least one fantasy sports league in the past year. Nearly two-thirds of those players were ages 18-39. Table 1 illustrates the favorite fantasy leagues of those players (Adams, 2003b).</p>
<p><span id="more-91"></span></p>
<p>Many sport websites provide fantasy sports in order to attract more web traffic and subscribers. Based on Nielson’s survey, shown in Table 2, 8 out of the top 10 web traffic sport websites feature free and paid membership versions of fantasy games to Internet users (Adams, 2003a). Many websites such as Yahoo! offer participants in free leagues add-on premium services like live scoring, wireless access and division play. As suggested by George Reiss, senior vice president of ESON Internet Ventures, fantasy sports are the leading reason for sports-related Internet use (Flood, 2004). SportsLine.com, Inc., reported $11.9 million in revenue from fantasy sports services in 2002, which included $8.8 million from football, $1.5 million from baseball and the rest from other sports (Hu, 2003) and increased 34% to $15.9 million in 2003 (CBS SportsLine.com, 2004).<br />
According to Copernicus, a marketing consulting agency, NFL fans who participate in fantasy football on average watch two more hours of football broadcasts per week than non-playing fans (Lachimia, 2003). A popular view regarding the influence of fantasy sports on the consumption of “real” sports purports that “while it’s unclear how big online fantasy sports have become, Hu (2004) reports that web sites claim fantasy players usually are willing to spend on subscription of league fees, inside player information, draft magazines, and tickets .<br />
People who play fantasy sports also are more inclined to open their wallets to draft magazines, sports paraphernalia, and tickets to live games. (Hu, 2004). The positive influence of fantasy sports on the consumption of real sports is also approved by staffs in the MLB and the NFL; who generally believe that “fans are more locked into what’s happening in the game on a league-wide basis.” (Lachimia, 2003). In Hu’s news report (2003), Steve Byrd, senior vice president of Stats which is a company that updates player statistics, once said “fantasy players’ thirst for information is the reason why our business has grown. They’re the ones who want to buy books, buy magazines and scour the Web for all the data that media clients get from us.”<br />
The preceding quotes illustrate that there is a perception that participation in fantasy sports can foster increased consumption of media broadcasts of sporting events, usage of media services, and product sales. To ascertain whether the perception is indeed true, it is important to examine whether fantasy sports games are able to foster increased sport consumption, and how fantasy sports games may function to attract and/or retain consumers. Sport consumption refers to all aspects of consumption related to sport including media consumption (live broadcast, media content – books, magazines, or websites), and product consumption (attending events, physical participation, merchandise sales). The current study is a test of the hypothesis that fantasy sports can help increase the level of sport consumption. In this study, the target consumers are international students who had no chance to directly attend major American sports events before arriving in the U.S. The purpose of the study is to examine the influence of fantasy sports games on fostering sport consumption by international students.</p>
<p>THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK<br />
Diffusion of innovations<br />
Rogers (1995, p.11) defined an innovation as “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption.” He saw “innovations that are perceived by receivers as having greater relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, observability, and less complexity will be adopted more rapidly than other innovations.” Ryan and Gross (1943) listed four elements of diffusion: (1) an innovation; (2) communicated through certain channels; (3) over time; and (4) among the members of a social system. The fantasy game in this case is an innovation in the sense that the game is a new product to consumers who do not have prior experience participating in fantasy sports. The channel is the Internet. Communication is done through accessing websites featuring fantasy games. A typical fantasy game usually takes a full regular sport season to be completed. The members of a social system are fantasy game participants within any given fantasy league.<br />
According to Rogers (1995), when facing an innovation, an individual will follow a so called innovation decision process to determine if the innovation will be adopted. Rogers (1996, p. 263-266) listed five types of adopters: (1) innovators – who are eager to try new ideas; (2) early adopters – who have respectable localities; (3) early majority – who interact frequently with their peers; (4) late majority – who are skeptical toward any innovation; and (5) laggards – who are traditionalists resistant to accepting an innovation. Karahanna, Straub, and Chervany (1999) found that the pre-adoption attitude relative to information technology adoption is based on perceptions of usefulness, ease-of-use, result demonstrability, visibility, and trialability.<br />
No matter in what kind of format (bid or rossiterie) and setting (rossiterie, head-to-head, or points-based), the core concept of fantasy sports games is that one can form his/her own team by picking one’s preferred athletes regardless which teams they belong in the real world. Thus one has his/her own “fantasy team” in a “fantasy league.” Players can act as a general manager to pick, drop, or trade their own athletes in the fantasy league. The performance of each athlete on the field in the real world contributes to belonged fantasy teams. Then fantasy teams compete the collective performance of their athletes on the field with each other in every sport category. In fantasy basketball, the competing categories may include points, rebounds, assists, blocks, turnovers, and etc. In fantasy baseball, the categories may as well include runs, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, wins, saves, strikeouts, and etc. The team with highest overall statistical performance wins the game, in other word, wins or losses in the real world are meaningless to players in a fantasy game. Unlike it is the win/loss column mattered for real sports games played on the field. In the fantasy sports games, it is the statistical data of individual athlete that matters. Thus a star athlete in a doormat team on the field can help one’s fantasy team a lot more than a bench player in a championship team on the field. In terms of managing a fantasy team, it is very similar to buy/sell stocks online except the stocks are individual athletes. The stock prices are translated into the statistical categories of sports. Generally speaking, fantasy sports are essentially a game based on information. Players make game decisions based on statistical data and sports news that might influence the future performance of certain athletes.<br />
With most people having no experience how to maneuver the database given by the sport websites, it is expected that players have to be willing to adopt playing a fantasy game as an information technology to begin with, in order for the game serve as a marketing tool. If sport fans have trouble learning how to play fantasy sports games because they feel the games are not useful, not easy to use, or any other reason, they will quit regardless of their interest in a particular sport. Since they are not participating in fantasy sports games, their initial attitude toward sports should not change. The study intends to examine if fantasy sports have any influence as a moderator on fostering sport consumption for those who do not adopt to participate in fantasy sports games.</p>
<p>Escalator concept (Staircase approach)<br />
Mullin et al. (2000, p.36) proposed the escalator concept to explain sport consuming behavior (Figure 1). The escalator is a graphic representation of consumer movement to higher levels of consumption, i.e., the extent of sport consumption. Based on this concept, non-consumers, light users, medium users, and heavy users all may increase their level of consumption because of arising interest in sports. If the participation of fantasy sports can increase the interest in sports, it can also increase the level of consumption based on the escalator concept. Because international students have almost no chance to attend American sport events before arriving in the U.S., they are either nonconsumers or indirect consumers initially. In the setting of this study, international students who do (1) not recognize the National Basketball Association (NBA) brand, (2) recognize the NBA but do not watch any NBA games on television nor read any news related to the NBA, are non consumers.  Those who already watch NBA games or read stories related to the NBA are indirect consumers. It is the main theme of the study to examine the validity of escalator concept to see if the participation of fantasy sports can increase the interest in sports and therefore increase the levels of sport consumption.<br />
Combining with both diffusion of innovations and the escalator concept, the study intends to examine the influence of fantasy sports on fostering sport consumption in two ways. First, for people who adopt an innovative information technology product such as the fantasy sports game, they will increase their levels of sport consumption in terms of media consumption and/or product con consumption. Second, for people who refuse to adopt the fantasy sports game, their levels of spot consumption will remain unchanged. The research question of this study is if fantasy sports can serve as a moderator for creating or stimulating sport consumption in the positive direction.</p>
<p>METHOD<br />
Sampling method<br />
This study applied a qualitative approach in which the author used content analysis to complete interviews at two separate times.  The Time 1 interviews were conducted one month after the NBA 2003-04 season began.  The Time 2 interviews were completed at the conclusion of the same regular season. The population in this study was international students attending a large southeastern university in the U.S. who seldom or never directly consumed American sport products or services before their arrival in the U.S. A convenience sample was used for this study. A group email was sent to members of an international student association who had enrolled in the university. Twenty-five people were invited to participate in the fantasy sports game and the interviews; 14 expressed their willingness to participate. The researcher then emailed the participants instructions for registering their teams in the fantasy sports game. All 14 participants were Asian, eleven males and three females. The average age was 25.9 years. Three of the participants were enrolled in doctoral programs, nine in master degree programs, and two in undergraduate programs. The demographic profile of the participants is presented in Table 3.<br />
Fantasy sports platform<br />
For this study, the author used Yahoo!’s fantasy games as the platform. The reasons for choosing Yahoo! Fantasy NBA were:<br />
1.	The NBA is the most recognized U.S. professional sport organization in Taiwan. It has more live broadcast games than the MLB and the NFL in Taiwan. As a result, it will be natural to begin from playing fantasy NBA for these subjects.<br />
2.	All participants already had at least one Yahoo! email account, a prerequisite for registering Yahoo! fantasy games. For the participants, this meant ease-of-use for adopting information technology.<br />
3.	There was no charge to use the platform.<br />
4.	The web management tools Yahoo! provides for league commissioners helps monitor online activities of each participant managing their respective teams.<br />
Data collection method<br />
Data were collected by telephone and face-to-face interviews as well as monitoring online activities. Through the functions provided by Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, the author can trace how often each participant accessing and managing their teams. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured forma; there was a designed question set with quasi open-ended answers that are like multiple choices questions without informing the answers first. Every participant was asked if they played any sort of fantasy sports games prior to this study, the level of sport consumption before and after the study on behalf of watching live NBA broadcasts, accessing NBA-related media content (print/Internet), attending NBA games, physically playing basketball, purchasing NBA merchandise, playing fantasy sports (NBA or other sports) in the future, the reason for loss of interest playing the game (if any), and individual comments. Based on individual feedback, the researcher then asked follow-up questions with open-ended answers. For example, if a participant answered he did not want to continue his competition with other league members, a follow-up question sought to identify the major reasons for the loss of interest. Interviews ranged from fifteen to sixty minutes and were conducted in Mandarin Chinese, the native language of the participants. Interviews were conducted to ascertain whether participants had increased their levels of consumption and what role fantasy sports may have had in stimulating an escalation in sport consumption. By using content analysis, a translated and coded result of the emerged themes from the data is shown in the next section. </p>
<p>RESULTS<br />
Active status<br />
Based on monitored online activity, subject #9 is the most active participant who manages his team daily. Three other subjects (#6, #11, and #13) almost manage their teams daily. In addition, one participant (subject #3) manages his weekly. At the time of first interview, subject #3 manages his team once in a week. After all-star game, he loses interests in playing the game. As he said, “I only check the ranking of my team twice and the final ranking in the second half season. I really don’t pay much attention on the ranking of my team. Although I forgot to manage my team, I still care the NBA playoff games on the field.” For study purpose, the author labels these six participants as active players while eight other participants who are labeled inactive. In addition to frequency of managing teams, the other criteria between active and inactive players is active players not only manages their teams in more timely fashion, but also take closer look on information related to game outcomes and player news while inactive players usually spend time on managing rosters only. Among eight inactive players, five participants never manage their teams after the registration (subject #1, #2, #5, #8, and #14). Two participants (subject #10 and #12) rarely, i.e., less than five times in whole season, manage their teams. Subject #4 is labeled inactive because she accesses her team about only once in two weeks.</p>
<p>Previous experience<br />
All but one participant (subject #6) have played any sort of fantasy sports games before. Subject #6 not only has several seasons of experience in playing fantasy basketball, but also in fantasy baseball and football as well.</p>
<p>Sport consumption (live broadcasts)<br />
The participants’ responses on watching live broadcasts before and since playing the fantasy game are listed in Table 4. Participants were asked their frequency of watching NBA games on television prior and after this study. They were also asked if they are interested in watching NBA games featuring players in the teams they manage. Before participating in this study, only two out of fourteen participants (subject #6 and #9) constantly watch NBA broadcasts on weekly basis. Other participants either don’t watch games or for a couple of blockbuster games at most in a month. Among fourteen participants, three (subject #3, #9, and #13) expressed positive effect in watching television broadcasts since playing fantasy games. However, half of participants (subject #3, #6, #7, #9, #10, #11, and #13) say that they are more willing to watch NBA broadcasts if the players in their teams shown on television. As subject #3 stated “I watch more NBA games on television than before when I happen to switch channels and find out there is a game in play. I’m now more willing to watch games when my starting players are in the broadcast events, though it’s not always the case.” Two of these seven participants (subject #9 and #13) even said they feel compelled to personally check on the performance of their players on television whenever possible. Subject 2 said “I only watched two games featuring Yao Ming.” Subject #9 also expressed his interests in watching Yao Ming on television, “I always love watching NBA games on television. My personal preference is Yao Ming’s Houston Rockets, the explosive offense of Dallas Cowboys, and Orlando Magic and Miami Heat because they are in the state of Florida.” For a player speaks Mandarin Chinese as his native language, it is no surprise why Yao Ming is so popular among participants. As for personal preference, subject #6 said “I always like watching NBA games when I have time, especially for those featuring Jason Kidd of New Jersey Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves.” The result shows that most inactive players do not feel increased willingness to watch NBA broadcasts due to the participation of fantasy NBA while most active players express they notice their players showing on television even they don’t watch.</p>
<p>Sport consumption (print media/ sports websites)<br />
The responses of participants on their level of consumption in print media like sports magazines, sports column in newspaper, and/or sport websites are listed in Table 5. Subject #13 stated that he spend a lot more time and money on NBA-related information in any sort of media since playing fantasy NBA. He said, “I want to win badly in my league so I need more information to get an edge.” Five more participants (subject #3, #6, #7, #9, #10) expressed they do browse more NBA-related webpages on sports websites since participating the fantasy NBA. The reason why they do not spend more time in print media is they do not want to spend money, especially when free NBA news is very easily accessible on sports websites. Subject #3 stated “I initially browse more sports webpages to check the game outcomes and the performance of his players since participation. But as the season goes by, I do not spend as much time on browse webpages as the beginning, though I still access more NBA-related news than I did before I joined the fantasy league.” Subject #6 stated “I used to spend a lot of time on sport websites no matter I am playing fantasy NBA or not. But now I spend a bit more time on player injury news.” Subject #9 and #13 both expressed they spend significantly more time on sports websites just to see the performance of their players and updated news of player injuries, though subject #13 said he does not spend as much time in the second half of the season as he did in the first month of the season. Overall, active participants reported recognizing more NBA players by playing fantasy NBA, especially athletes in their teams that they cannot recognize before participation. As subject #3 said, “because of playing fantasy NBA, I now know who is AK47 (Andrei Kirilenko) and he is a star player.”</p>
<p>Sport consumption (attending games)<br />
Table 6 shows the responses of the participants on attending the NBA games before and since playing the fantasy game. Eight participants (subject #2, #3, #5, #6, #9, #10, #11, #13) express that they are willing to attend NBA games because of novelty. They do not have the chance to watch NBA games in person before arriving in the U.S. For other six participants who do not want to go to NBA games, mostly they mention that the availability is a big concern since closest cities featuring NBA teams are Orlando and Atlanta where it requires 4 to 5 hours drive. All participants indicate that playing fantasy NBA does not help increase their willingness to attend NBA games. Five participants (subject #6, #7, #9, #10, and #13) mentioned that players in their fantasy NBA teams do not make them more eager to attend certain NBA match-ups. However, they do have other reasons to attend specific match-ups. Four of them want to attend games featuring their idols – Tracy McGrady, Anfernee Hardaway, Boston Celtics, and Yao Ming respectively. Subject #9 showed his willingness to be a spectator given the opportunity even before participates this fantasy game.</p>
<p>Sport consumption (purchasing merchandise)<br />
Table 7 shows the responses of the participants on purchasing the NBA merchandise before and since playing the fantasy game. Only two participants (subject #6 and #7) have the experience purchasing NBA merchandise before the study. All participants responded that playing fantasy NBA does not make them more willing to buy NBA merchandise, not to mention to buy merchandise of players in their own team rosters.</p>
<p>Sport consumption (playing basketball)<br />
Table 8 shows the responses of the participants on being a participant playing basketball before and since playing the fantasy game. Five participants (subject #3, #6, #7, #9, and #11) play basketball consistently on a weekly basis but only one of them (subject #7) expressed that playing fantasy NBA makes him want to compete with other league members on the court as well given the opportunity. However, subject #7 in the second interview stated he does not play more basketball on the court any more than it was before playing fantasy NBA. For other participants who do not play basketball regularly, playing fantasy NBA neither increases nor decreases their willingness to play basketball at all.</p>
<p>Continuous/future participation<br />
Table 9 shows the willingness of the participants on continuing to finish the NBA season or on future participation in various sports. Five participants (subject #1, #2, #4, #8, and #12) responded not willing to finish playing the game until the end of the NBA regular season at all. When they were asked if they want to participate in any fantasy sports game in the future, subject #1 answered he might participate again if his friends invite him; subject #2, #4, #8 and #12 responded that they would not participate any sort of fantasy sports games because they are not sports fans. However, subject #12 changed her mind and wanted to play in the next NBA season in the second interview. Two more participants (subject #5 and 14) answered negative responses to finish up playing the game because they do not have enough time allowed to keep playing. Another four participants (#3, #5, #10, and #11) addressed their time concern for continuous playing throughout the NBA season but mentioned they are more toward to finish the season if they have time. As for future participation, eight participants (subject #3, #5, #6, #7, #9, #10, #11, and #13) stated positive responses but subject #3 in the second interview changed his mind to no future participation in fantasy sports games. Subject #5 stated “I am not a basketball fan but a baseball fan. I would only want to play Fantasy MLB. I’m just not interested in playing other fantasy sports games.” On the contrary, subject #7 stated that he only wants to play fantasy NBA in the future because he is a basketball fan. As the only participant who is veteran fantasy player, subject #6 stated, “I just a plain sports fan. Any kind of fantasy sports game is welcome for me to play. Especially I have played these fantasy games before. However I prefer not to be the commissioner to set up a league and I only want to play fantasy sports for free. I don’t want to pay for playing.” Subject #10 and #11 said they would consider playing in the next NBA season only if their friends invite them to get in a fantasy league. Among all participants, only subject #9 showed interest in only for future participation but also sets up a fantasy league to invite his friends to play together.</p>
<p>Loss of interest<br />
Table 10 shows the responses of nine participants who prefer not to continuously play fantasy sports games. Four participants stated (subject #1, #5, #10, and #14) no reward if they win the competition as a reason why they lost the interest in fantasy NBA. Six of them (subject #1, #2, #4, #5, #8, and #12) did not know how to play the game. They felt confused in managing their teams so they just gave up playing after all. Subject #1 and #3 said they are too busy to play the game. Subject #4 and #12 mentioned they knew nothing about the NBA thus they were not interested in the fantasy NBA. Subject #3 and #10 expressed they do not want to play because their favorite players were not in their teams, while subject #1 responded he is unfamiliar with any of his players. Subject #14 said “I’m just simply not into this thing at all. Forget about this game.” </p>
<p>DISCUSSION<br />
Media consumption<br />
Active participants generally increase their interest in watching live broadcast games. However, most of them are not compelled to watch particular games because they own certain players in the matchup teams. If they do watch games, they will look for their player’s performance, i.e., statistics. On the other hand, inactive participants generally have no effect in terms of frequency in watching live broadcast games. For the frequency of accessing the Internet information, those are aware of competition are more eager to absorb NBA-related information on the Internet to gain advantage.</p>
<p>Sport consumption<br />
Active participants are more likely to attend games even before the participation of the fantasy game because of novelty. Playing fantasy games generally neither increases their interest of spectating games, nor makes the participants look for particular matchup games because of the players they own. Instead, the most important reason for participants looking for specific matchup is because of their favorite players. Playing fantasy games does neither make participants more likely to buy NBA’s merchandise nor help the sale of particular players in their teams. Playing fantasy NBS does not change or increase the interest of playing basketball in terms of participation. However, one participant mentioned about more willingness to play with his league members.<br />
Involvement<br />
Participants who care about the competition and ranking almost check their team at least once a day. Email notification has no relationship with participation status (active/inactive). Most activists care trades only when they are involved. They do not care if they are the third-party.<br />
Willingness<br />
Only participants who are aware of competition show strong interest in playing out the seasons. Many said they will keep playing “if time is allowed,” a polite expression for not playing actively. Personal preference and familiarity of fantasy games decide the level of future participation.<br />
Loss of interest<br />
The most common reasons for participants who are loss of their interest in playing the fantasy game are: no reward, unfamiliar with the NBA, unfamiliar with the operation of fantasy games, short of time for playing, and lack of favorite players in my team. For these non-playing participants who were asked if they still hold the interest in the NBA although they do not participate in the fantasy NBA, all answered they are not willing to consume any NBA-related merchandise or watch any NBA broadcast.</p>
<p>CONCLUSION<br />
The findings from the study are:<br />
1.	The fantasy game is somewhat help increase participants’ knowledge and awareness toward the NBA.  But there is no direct help for consuming sport products or services based on the survey.<br />
2.	Personal preference is the key to predict the level of involvement. People play actively when they are already interested.  No help for sport consuming if the interest is not there.<br />
3.	The factors for actively playing fantasy game derived from the study are: reward, social interaction. Competitiveness and acceptance of new things for participants.<br />
4.	Based on the escalator theory, thirteen of fourteen subjects (93%) in this study are nonconsumers, either nonaware nonconsumers, misinformed nonconsumers, or aware nonconsumers. However, through the participation of the fantasy game, five of the thirteen nonconsumers (38%) become indirect consumers (media consumers) with the evidence of their active participation status. Though none of them show interests in becoming direct sport consumers by far. Based on the result, the author think that fantasy games can somewhat effectively stimulate nonconsumers’ interest in sport to become a stable media consumer, but it needs other factors and longer time of participating to foster the interest in direct sport consumption. The bottom line is that fantasy sports could be an effective marketing tool for sport marketers in attracting nonconsumers to get on the escalating frequency of sport consumption initially.</p>
<p>RECOMMENDATION &#038; LIMITATION<br />
This study only used Taiwanese students for samples, which may lead to selection bias for internal validity. A larger and more representative sample for foreign sport consumers is recommended for future research. Because the interview are done in only a season, a follow-up survey to examine the intention of playing another season and the effects of sport consumption in between seasons caused by fantasy games will be helpful for better understanding of the consumer behavior toward this new electronic media product. The results might be totally different for a longitudinal study given the time factor. For instrumental purpose, it is recommended that future researches can be done in similar format but on different platforms, which means different types of fantasy sports, different services providers, and different game settings. A series of reliability and validity tests are also recommended to improve the quality of the research.</p>
<p>REFERENCES<br />
Adams, R. (2003a). ESPN.com sets mark in September. Street &#038; Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, 6(26), 9.<br />
Adams, R. (2003b). Licensing issue could shake up fantasy market. Street &#038; Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, 6(20), 26.<br />
Adams, R. (2003c). Make-believe games, but real money. Street &#038; Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, 6(20), 23, 26.<br />
CBS SportsLine.com. (2004). SportsLine.com, Inc. reports fourth quarter operating results: Revenue grows by 27%; positive EBITDA of $5.7 million achieved. SportsLine.com, Inc.<br />
Fantasy Sports Trade Association. (2001). Advocacy news. Fantasy Sports Trade Association. Retrieved February 10, 2005 from http://www.fsta.org/advocacy.shtml.<br />
Flood, J. P. (2004). Winners or losers: Fantasy sports becomes a reality in the world of recreation. National Recreation and Park Association. Retrieved February 10, 2005 from http://www.nrpa.org.<br />
Gillentine, A., &#038; Schulz, J. (2001). Marketing the fantasy football league: Utilization of simulation to enhance sport marketing concepts. Journal of Marketing Education, 23(3), 178-186.<br />
Hu, J. (2003, August 8). Sites see big season for fantasy sports. CNET Networks, Inc.<br />
Hu, J. (2004, September 27). Let the fantasy sports games begin – at work. CNET Networks, Inc.<br />
Isidore, C. (2003, September 2). The ultimate fantasy－profits: Sports fantasy games have grown steadily to reach 15M players, but profits are a new game. Cable News Network LP, LLLP. Retrieved November 19, 2003, from http://money.cnn.com/2003/08/29/commentary/column_sportsbiz/sportsbiz/index.htm<br />
Karahanna, E., Straub, D. W., &#038; Chervany, N. L. (1999). Information technology adoption across time: A cross-sectional comparison of pre-adoption and post-adoption beliefs. MIS Quarterly, 23(2), 183-213.<br />
Lachimia, J. (2003). Fantasy league athletes: Virtual competition a marketing boon for pros. Pittsburgh Sports Report. Retrieved February 10, 2005 from http://www.pghsports.com/psr0307/03070114.html.<br />
Mullin, B. J., Hardy, S., &#038; Sutton, W. A. (2000). Sport marketing (2nd ed.). Champaign: Human Kinetics.<br />
Rogers, E. (1995). Diffusion of Innovations, 4th ed. New York: Free Press.<br />
Ryan, B., &#038; Gross, N. (1943). The diffusion of hybrid seed corn in two Iowa communities. Rural Sociology, 8, 15-24.<br />
Sweet, D. (2003). Media pour resources into fantasy coverage. Street &#038; Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, 6(26), 25.</p>
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		<title>MLB 2009 Closer Watch</title>
		<link>http://www.balletteaching.com/2009/04/04/mlb-2009-closer-watch/</link>
		<comments>http://www.balletteaching.com/2009/04/04/mlb-2009-closer-watch/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:57:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MLB]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.balletteaching.com/?p=54</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[MLB 2009 Season Closer Watch (April): AL CLOSER 1ST IN LINE 2ND IN LINE BAL George Sherrill lhp Chris Ray Jim Johnson BOS Jonathan Papelbon Takashi Saito Justin Masterson CHI Bobby Jenks Octavio Dotel Scott Linebrink CLE Kerry Wood Jensen Lewis Rafael Perez lhp DET Fernando Rodney Brandon Lyon Ryan Perry KC Joakim Soria Juan [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p>MLB 2009 Season Closer Watch (April):</p>
<p><span id="more-54"></span></p>
<p>AL	CLOSER	            1ST IN LINE	        2ND IN LINE<br />
BAL	George Sherrill lhp	    Chris Ray	        Jim Johnson<br />
BOS	Jonathan Papelbon   Takashi Saito	        Justin Masterson<br />
CHI	Bobby Jenks	    Octavio Dotel	        Scott Linebrink<br />
CLE	Kerry Wood	            Jensen Lewis	        Rafael Perez lhp<br />
DET	Fernando Rodney	    Brandon Lyon	        Ryan Perry<br />
KC	Joakim Soria	    Juan Cruz	        Kyle Farnsworth<br />
LA	Brian Fuentes lhp	    Jose Arredondo	Scot Shields<br />
MIN	Joe Nathan	            Jesse Crain	        Matt Guerrier<br />
NY	Mariano Rivera	    Joba Chamberlain	Damaso Marte lhp<br />
OAK	Brad Ziegler	            Joey Devine	        Santiago Casilla<br />
SEA	Brandon Morrow	    David Aardsma	        Chad Cordero DL<br />
TB	Troy Percival	    Dan Wheeler	        Jason Isringhausen DL<br />
TEX	Frank Francisco	    C.J. Wilson lhp	Eddie Guardado lhp<br />
TOR	B.J. Ryan lhp	    Scott Downs lhp	Brandon League<br />
NL	CLOSER	            1ST IN LINE	        2ND IN LINE<br />
ARI	Chad Qualls	            Tony Pena	        Jon Rauch<br />
ATL	Mike Gonzalez lhp	    Rafael Soriano	        Blaine Boyer<br />
CHI	Kevin Gregg	            Carlos Marmol	        Aaron Heilman<br />
CIN	Francisco Cordero	    Arthur Rhodes lhp	Jared Burton<br />
COL	Huston Street	    Manny Corpas	        Taylor Buchholz DL<br />
FLO	Matt Lindstrom	    Leo Nunez	        Logan Kensing<br />
HOU	Jose Valverde	    LaTroy Hawkins	Doug Brocail<br />
LA	Jonathan Broxton	    Hong-Chih Kuo lhp	Cory Wade<br />
MIL	Carlos Villanueva	    Seth McClung	        Todd Coffey<br />
NY	Francisco Rodriguez  J.J. Putz	                Bobby Parnell<br />
PHI	Brad Lidge	            Ryan Madson	        Chad Durbin<br />
PIT	Matt Capps	            John Grabow lhp	Craig Hansen<br />
STL	Jason Motte 	    Josh Kinney 	        Chris Perez<br />
SD	Heath Bell	            Cla Meredith	        Duaner Sanchez<br />
SF	Brian Wilson 	    Bob Howry	        Jeremy Affeldt lhp<br />
WAS	Joel Hanrahan	    Garrett Mock	        Steven Shell</p>
<p>Reference: <a href="http://theinsidepitch.com/Closer_Watch.html">http://theinsidepitch.com/Closer_Watch.html</a></p>
<p><br />
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		<title>MLB 09: The Show Hint- Unlockable Trophies</title>
		<link>http://www.balletteaching.com/2009/04/03/mlb-09-the-show-hint-unlockable-trophies/</link>
		<comments>http://www.balletteaching.com/2009/04/03/mlb-09-the-show-hint-unlockable-trophies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:06:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Fantasy Baseball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MLB]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PS3]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.balletteaching.com/?p=51</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Successfully complete one of the following tasks to get a trophy: (Bronze) &#8211; The Salami : Hit a Grand Slam. (Bronze) &#8211; Walk off win : Have a walkoff hit or walk to win a game. (Bronze) &#8211; RttS Power Plays : Hit 2 HR in a single RttS game on All-Star or higher difficulty. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p>
<p>Successfully complete one of the following tasks to get a trophy:</p>
<p><span id="more-51"></span></p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; The Salami : Hit a Grand Slam.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; Walk off win : Have a walkoff hit or walk to win a game.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; RttS Power Plays : Hit 2 HR in a single RttS game on All-Star or higher difficulty.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; RttS In Control : Strike out 10 batters in a single RttS game on All-Star or higher difficulty.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; Make the Call : Get called up to the MLB team.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; RttS Streaker (Batter) : Have a 10 game regular season hitting streak in Road to the Show. Simulating games in which your RttS player appears will restart the streak.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; RttS Streaker (Pitcher) : Have a 5 game regular season win streak in Road to the Show. Simulating games in which your RttS player appears will restart the streak.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; Net works : Win 5 online games.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; It takes time (Hits) : Get 1000 hits in any combination of modes.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; It takes time (Strike Outs) : Strike out 500 batters in any combination of modes.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; It takes time (RBI) : Get 1500 RBI in any combination of modes.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; It takes time (HR) : Hit 300 Homeruns in any combination of modes.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; Managerial : Win a Manager Mode game. Can be completed in Manager Mode, Season and Franchise.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; Shut em’ out : Throw a Shut Out vs. the CPU on All-Star or higher difficulty.</p>
<p>(Silver) &#8211; Walk off in style : Have a walkoff HR to win a game.</p>
<p>(Silver) &#8211; Don’t Hit Me : Throw a No Hitter vs. the CPU on All-Star or higher difficulty.</p>
<p>(Silver) &#8211; Streaker (Team) : Have a 10 game win streak in Season or Franchise mode vs. the CPU. Simulating or Fast Forwarding will restart the streak.</p>
<p>(Silver) &#8211; RttS Streaker (Batter) : Have a 20 game regular season hitting streak in Road to the Show. Simulating games in which your RttS player appears will restart the streak.</p>
<p>(Silver) &#8211; RttS Streaker (Pitcher) : Have a 10 game regular season win streak in Road to the Show. Simulating games in which your RttS player appears will restart the streak.</p>
<p>(Silver) &#8211; RttS Added Value : Win any Award in RttS. (MLB only).</p>
<p>(Silver) &#8211; Major Leaguer : Join and complete (must play 60% or more games) an online league.</p>
<p>(Gold) &#8211; RttS Streaker (Batter) : Have a 50 game regular season hitting streak in Road to the Show. Simulating games in which your RttS player appears will restart the streak.</p>
<p>(Gold) &#8211; RttS Streaker (Pitcher) : Have a 15 game regular season win streak in Road to the Show. Simulating games in which your RttS player appears will restart the streak.</p>
<p>(Gold) &#8211; RttS MVP : Win the MVP award in RttS (MLB only).</p>
<p>(Gold) &#8211; RttS The Cycle : Hit for the Cycle with your RttS player.</p>
<p>(Gold) &#8211; Personal Perfection : Throw a perfect game on All-Star or higher difficulty using your RTTS player.</p>
<p>(Gold) &#8211; Online Legend : Win an online League (must play 60% or more games).</p>
<p>(Platinum) &#8211; 100% Clear : This is the platinum trophy and is unlocked automatically when all the trophies have been unlocked.</p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; Stop Thief!: Steal 3 bases in a single RttS game </p>
<p>(Bronze) &#8211; It happens to everyone: Lose 100 games </p>
<p><br />
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