ESPN: Smith: Why don’t black people play fantasy? Allow me to explain

Stephen A. at his Cheese Doodlin’ best.

Next I dial up ESPN’s senior director of fantasy sports, Matthew Berry, a.k.a. the Talented Mr. Roto. “When you figure out the reason,” he says, “please let me know.”

Will do. But honestly, I’m not surprised to learn that so few blacks are among the 30 million people who participate in fantasy sports. I’ve always thought that a lot of these guys (and 96% of them are guys) are nerds desperately in need of more sociable leisure time activities. Leisure time for black folks historically consists of direct interaction, the kind of experience you get at a family barbecue or hanging out with friends. Sitting in front of a computer screen pretending to be Bill Parcells? Sounds like work to me.

FSTA research shows that only 1.6% of fantasy players are black, 2.3% are Latino and 1.1% are Asian. And the more I learn about the typical fantasy player, the more I think most minorities simply have better things to do. “The people who play fantasy are more into sports, more hard-core than the average fan,” Berry says. “The reason the NFL embraced fantasy in such a big way is that it found that fantasy players watch three hours more football a week than the average football fan.”