Fantasy football runs many of our lives on the weekends, especially us nerds who sit on our asses every Sunday for 10 straight hours watching the games.

We set up our TVs and our computers in a strategic row for maximum viewing capability, 30 degrees of head turning proving to be too much work on a Sunday, so we move our computer screens that much closer to our faces.

It has been integrated into our American athletic society that fantasy football is the thing to do. According to Fantasy Sports Trade Association, over 33 million people play fantasy football in this country.

This causes immense confusion for me. I love the Packers, and I always will. But when I’m beating the other team by one point in my fantasy matchup and the only player he has left is Randall Cobb, I desperately hope the Pack can figure out another way to win other than throwing it to Cobb.

You find yourself rooting for players and teams you wouldn’t imagine rooting for before fantasy was invented. (I have Matt Forte of the Bears and I constantly cringe when he scores a touchdown because I want to cheer.)

This cannot be different from NFL players either. According to an article posted on Forbes.com, then Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings said fantasy football definitely affects players.

Why wouldn’t it? Extra fans loving you, or hating you based strictly on your stat line? It puts extended pressure on the player to perform, and when something doesn’t go his way, brings him down even more.

Even NFL players play fantasy. What? NFL players play fantasy. This screams investigation to me, making for a potential Pete Rose case in the making. (For those of you who do not know who Pete Rose is, he bet on baseball games that affected the outcome of his team.)

I am not convinced there isn’t any betting going on behind the scenes with fantasy football. They’re living it. Some of those players think they are better than anybody else in the whole league, they are egocentric and are willing to do anything to prove it.

In case you haven’t noticed, NFL players have money. If the stakes got big enough, either on the real gridiron or the fantasy football gridiron, can’t you imagine the potential money totals being on the line for a week of fantasy football? I can.

I think we should nip this in the bud before it grows into a real problem. According to aforementioned article, 2 million more people start playing fantasy every year, it is just a question of time when this gets so popular, betting starts happening on the side.

I, for one, do not want to see my team suffer because some terrible clown like Jermichael Finley decided to lay $500,000 on the opposing team and drops a touchdown for the game winner. Not like he’d catch it anyway, but you get my point.

Coaches should ban fantasy football for their players. Play when you retire and out of the league and focus on the real football game every Sunday.