A roundup of recent posts on the FSB News page.

– Grain Belt Beer wants to know if you can Crush Charch in its fantasy football weekly contest.

– Open Sports’ “Tackle the Pros” also asks you to put your fantasy skills on the line, this time against former NFL players. The slate of weekly competitors includes Rodney Peete, Roger Craig, John Elway, O.J. McDuffie, Marshall Faulk, Todd Lyght and Ki-Jana Carter.

– FantasyPostseason.com targets the largely untapped market of fantasy competition during the playoffs.

– Are you ready yet for one guy’s top 100 baseball players for 2009 fantasy drafts?

– Not only do the Cubs head out of the regular season with the National League’s best record, but they’re also baseball’s best rotisserie team (at least heading into the final weekend).

– The hockey experts are gathering for their drafts.

One of the more popular “fun” column ideas for news outlets is to square a couple of writers off in a point-counterpoint on a particular subject. The ever-increasing prominence of fantasy sports and the ever-aging staff of newspapers seems to make fantasy a common and easy target of this genre.

A standard argument from the stodgy opposition to fantasy sports goes something like this: “It’s not real. How much satisfaction can you get from picking a bunch of players to create a fake team? It doesn’t affect the games at all.”

Well, just how much do you tend to affect your team by sitting on the couch, drinking a beer and high-fiving yourself at every home run, touchdown or goal? Even if you’re a vocal season ticketholder, do you really think your cheering affects the outcome of your alma mater’s games?

Although fantasy sports carry the “fake” tag, I would argue that participating in them is a far more active pursuit than merely following your rooting on your favorite team. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a proud member of both groups, and I was a fan long before I’d even heard about fantasy. I’ll still root primarily for the Eagles this year even if I’m facing a Brian Westbrook-led team in the fantasy playoffs. (Of course, in such a situation, I won’t mind at all if Correll Buckhalter steals a goal-line carry or three.)

I have a much more real impact on my fantasy team when I trade for Ryan Braun, though, than I do on the Cubs when I clap for Mark DeRosa. It’s just a fact. Drafting a Cowboy (shudder) or choosing to watch Seattle-Buffalo over a better game because I have Marshawn Lynch doesn’t make me less of a football fan.

Find a new argument, old guard.