Those of you who are regular readers of the column are probably aware of my sometimes scary addiction to fantasy sports. And, you are also probably well aware that if life were like fantasy sports I’d be in charge. Yeah, I am that good.

But let me stop myself before I start bragging too much because I’ve come to a bit of a fantasy sports crossroads in my life. You see, I think fantasy sports are starting to ruin regular sports for me.

It’s not that I don’t watch regular sports any more. In fact, I probably watch them more than I ever did before. The problem is that now, instead of rooting for a particular team I tend to root for the individual players on my fantasy team, sometimes to the detriment of teams I’ve spent a lifetime rooting for.

Case in point, Monday I got home in time to catch the end of the Red Sox-Yankees game. As I turned the game on I saw the face of New York, Derek Jeter, stand in against Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon in a 2-1 game in the ninth inning. And I rooted for “Jetes” (as I affectionately call him) who is also the starting shortstop for my fantasy baseball team to get a hit. It’s not that I wanted the Yankees to win, it’s just that I wanted Jeter to generate points for my fantasy baseball team which is currently in the hunt for the playoffs. Eventually Jeter walked and stole second and Papelbon got Nick Swisher out to end the game and everyone was happy. But this brought to mind what is quickly becoming a flaw in my sports-fan character – as long as my fantasy team is winning, do I really care what happens to the actual teams I am supposedly a fan of?

Another great example comes during football season. Again, as you should know, I’m a huge Houston Texans fan. However, if the Texans are playing against a team with one of my fantasy players on it then you better believe I want that guy to score 10 touchdowns against the Texans’ sometimes pourous defense. Of course I still want Houston to win, just by a score of 77-70, instead of 24-0.

And so I ask you dear reader, where does it end? How can I ever again enjoy a game the way I used to? How can I simply root for the Red Sox or Texans or Bruins to simply win and not concern myself with the statistics that are being put up in the box score?

So I came up with the idea to end it all. To put a lock on my virtual trophy case, issue myself a cease and desist order and just sit back and enjoy a game for the sake of the game. The question now becomes, can I actually do it? After opening Pandora’s box and finding myself in love with what’s inside, can I close it? The answer, honestly, is I don’t know and I’m not really sure I even want to try. How do you give up that which you love the most, competing and (usually) winning?

If you have any idea you really should let me know, otherwise I’m certainly facing another season of football where the ultimate outcome of the game takes the backseat to the boxscore.