I believe fantasy sports has completely changed the way both fans and the media interpret sports. The overwhelming amount of fans, as pointed out in the Fortunato article, that participate in fantasy sports care less about a team's overall character and more about the successes/failures of individuals. Media now cater to this individualized sports world, where stories often are centered around one player's game rather than the team's. In today's fantasy, Lebron James and the Miami Heat are glorified and the San Antonio Spurs are forgotten.
The Nyland article makes another very good point: that not only is fantasy changing the way fans and media perceive the game, its changing the very nature by which sports are covered by journalists. How Matthew Berry has a job at ESPN is something I have a very hard time understanding, but there is a high demand for an analyst like him because some people only want to hear about sports in the context of their fantasy teams. This has an effect on beat writers and typical game coverage as well. Journalists who feel more pressure to talk about how an individual does will focus more of his/her story on that person's game. This leads journalists to talk more about how Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-3 rather than the bench player who went 4-for-4.
Fantasy sports is individualizing professional competition and altering the way sports fans and journalists alike are perceiving sports.
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