The unthinkable is upon us: a season without fantasy football!

In 2010, Super Bowl XLV once again broke the record for the amount of viewers for an American television broadcast with an estimated 111 million, nearly 5 million more than 2009. That’s a fact! How they gather these totals, I will never truly understand. The Royal Wedding didn’t even get half of that. Even better, the most watched play of Super Bowl XLV was Ben Roethlisberger’s errant pass to Mike Wallace with a little over a minute to go that fell incomplete. Sounds like even the casual fans stopped what they were doing just to tune in to the Steelers last hoorah.

Consider this though. Nobody really watches the Super Bowl alone. Numerous events, parties, and family gatherings center around Super Bowl Sunday. So, let’s say each party consists of at least 4 viewers. Jack and Jill invited Steve and Marsha over to catch the big game. If there is 4 people in every household, that means 27.75 million people threw a gameday bash. That’s a whole lotta of people putting their party pants on. What’s even crazier? One out of every 4 of those people play fantasy football. In fact, that number is said to be upwards of 29 million as of 2010.

Fantasy Football has turned the casual viewer, into a die-hard fan. It has built a fan base for cities who don’t have a team or a consensus rooting interest and caused plenty of office pool banter along the way. Some say the obsession has even destroyed the hardcore football fan, but then again, the NFL is coming off its most successful season yet.

You’d think that would only mean better things to come.

Thus far, I have had this nagging feeling in my soul. Can the NFL actually holdout on a 2011 season? It’s like a heavy weight that you wake up with every morning, worse than a collection agency trying to get through to your phone five times a day. Ok, I know what you’re thinking, but try not to judge.

There will always be fans. Whether a team changes cities, or trades its star player, there will still be fans. I mean, baseball has seemingly recovered in full from the unmentionable ‘strike’ of the 1994-95 season. But what will it do to the world of Fantasy Football? Has a billion dollar industry ever just folded over night? There’s so many questions to ask.

Whatever it is, there are two sides that must start to act and come to some sort of an agreement if we are going to be able to enjoy America’s favorite pastime. As this looms further, the thought becomes more real. The NFL is in jeopardy in 2011. Not only does it kill your ten year old dynasty league, it makes you wonder if everything else is going to end with it. It will break the very bridge that fantasy football has created.

Every year, I like to jump on the research wagon early on. Call me a dork, but there’s nothing better to get in the way of your everyday routine than checking the latest rankings or tuning in to what is going on at training camps around the nation. This year it remains the same, but with a monkey on my back.

I mean, do you even prepare for your draft? Do you even want to spend the time sifting through player projections and mock drafts?

When will we find out what free agents are going where?

What if there is no preseason to scout your guys?

How do they fill the spot of NFL Live on ESPN when it’s already on 22 hours a day?

You better believe it will have a resounding effect on how players perform and stay in game shape. Should I even invest my time?

I write this article because I am hopeful, because I am already invested in it. I can’t help but be. Football is America’s sport of choice in this 21st century and even in a Fantasy world you can become your own boss, your very own commissioner. The possibilities of a lockout are very real as we approach these summer months and while it’s not in our hands, hope springs eternal. So, to answer the questions above. Yes, yes I will. It’s engraved in my very fabric. The passion, the fight, and the love for the game.

Fantasy Football is now more important than ever, because it gives us a release from the thought of D-Day and removes it from our minds. It lets us focus on brighter days, specifically the thought of returning to glory and chasing after that wooden Lombardi or whatever it is you use for your league trophy. Keep hope alive and don’t come unprepared, because we must believe that Draft Day is only a few weeks away!