Thursday, October 29, 2015

Fantasy football becomes point of contention at GOP debate

The dog-and-pony show disguised as a GOP debate in Boulder, Colorado Wednesday night turned into a full-fledged joke after the CNBC moderators' line of questioning turned to that all important issue on everybody's mind — fantasy football.

Claims of media bias were already a major theme of the night, with Ted Cruz launching the night's first volley against the blatantly slanted moderators Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood — accusing them all of being Democrats intent on damaging the GOP field. 


That was even before an incredulous New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie laid into the trio for asking a question about whether the federal government should regulate pay-for-play fantasy football competitions online.

"Wait a second," the Jersey guy fired back at the moderators. "We have $19 trillion in debt, people out of work, ISIS and al Qaeda attacking us – and we're talking about fantasy football? 

"How about we get the government to do what they’re supposed to be doing?" an agitated Christie shouted. "Enough on fantasy football. Let people play! Who cares?" 
Yes, fantasy sports is popular and the industry's two biggest startups, DraftKings and FanDuel, are facing allegations that improper use of data gave employees an unfair advantage when playing on competing sites. A controversy which has given rise to questions over whether the billion dollar business of fantasy sports should be considered illegal gambling.

But was it relevant at the debate? At least Jeb Bush thought so.

Bush said the burgeoning daily fantasy industry needs to face "some regulation" before Christie went off on the CNBC trio.

"This is something that needs to be looked into," Bush said. "When you have insider information which apparently has been the case... there has to be some regulation."

And it gave ol' Jeb a chance to tout his undefeated fantasy football team.




Hey Jeb, nobody likes a braggart. Just ask Donald Trump.
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