This coming Monday night is my Fantasy Football draft, the single most important, intense, and flat out best night of the year for me. But this year is going to be different. This year I'm going in with heavy heart after reading the piece Stephen A. Smith wrote in ESPN the Magazine about Fantasy Football and its inherent racism. Among the thought-provoking points he makes:

• "According to a study by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, approximately 93% of armchair general managers are white."
• "I've always thought that a lot of these 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... I think most minorities simply have better things to do. "
• "[P]eople who have well-paying jobs with fast Internet connections are more likely to play fantasy sports...Up to now, that has mostly occurred in the white workplace."

So there you have it. It hadn't occured to me until now that my FF league comes entirely from the white, male demographic and is, by its nature, racist. I thought we were just a bunch of dickheads who grew up together, love football, gambling and winning money off each other. That fact that we were actually committing hate crimes had eluded me entirely. But Stephen A. Smith is probably one of, if not THE best sociologists in America, and if he says it's true, it's true. I feel so much more enlightened now.