Fantasy Football Is Teaching Us To Dehumanize Players In Pain

Le'Veon Bell. Jamaal Charles. Arian Foster. Keenan Allen. All four were top football players for their teams -- and for millions of fantasy football players. All four are also out for the season after suffering major injuries. 

On this week's episode of "The Second Half" podcast, Bleacher Report NFL columnist Mike Freeman joins hosts Travis Waldron and Donté Stallworth to discuss whether fantasy football has changed the way we view NFL players and their injuries -- and allowed us to commoditize their bodies and their pain :

It's not just Bell, Charles, Foster and Allen. This at least feels like it's been a particularly brutal year for NFL players, even in this sport, where nearly 1,300 players will suffer some sort of injury during a typical season. This week, Julian Edelman and Peyton Manning, two more fantasy stalwarts, went down with injuries that will sideline them for weeks.

Millions of fans enjoy playing fantasy sports each week. But is the hobby having a negative effect on how we view the bodies and the line of work of players whose injuries can lead us to discard them with a quick look at a smartphone app? Freeman, who wrote a column on the subject earlier this season, believes it is.

In addition to fantasy sports, the hosts discuss the Patriots finally getting past the New York Giants; the Packers' recent slide and Aaron Rodgers calling out a fan for a derogatory comment during a moment of silence for the Paris attacks; and the battle between Cam Newton's Carolina Panthers and Carson Palmer's Arizona Cardinals for NFC supremacy.

This podcast was produced, edited and engineered by Peter James Callahan and Adriana Usero, with assistance from Christine Conetta.

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