I find nothing wrong with fantasy sports amongst friends. It's harmless and isn't taken too seriously. Plus there is meaningless bragging rights that only your group gives a shit about. It means nothing more, nothing less. Anyone that takes it beyond that is where Czech is right. You don't cheer for other players on other teams over your own team, and most don't. Well unless your team is terrible like the White Sox this season. I agree you do become more informed overall about the game from it too. For me it's baseball as I barely watched it for years and lost track of teams and players. But the last couple years getting into fantasy leagues brought me back to it. I still enjoy basketball leagues the most though.