Kurt Warner and J.J. Arrington owners will be glued to the set Sunday at 4 p.m. ET when Arizona visits the Giants. AP

OK, I've had it. Enough is enough. I have read far too many articles, even on this Web site, explaining why fantasy football is for losers. For all those not in the loop, let me clear my throat and make an announcement: "I am a loser!"

Fantasy football is not only a good thing, but a great thing. Critics of the phenomenon say it cheapens the value of the game. They yammer on and on about the ridiculousness of a fan watching the last few minutes of a meaningless game to see how their third wide receiver is doing. I will use this same argument as an endorsement of fantasy football. I present to you a simple equation:

Interest + Knowledge = Revenue.

The naysayers will have you believe that it just isn't right to watch a game you ordinarily wouldn't give a rat's ass about just to see a player you ordinarily wouldn't follow rack up statistics. To them I laugh. I laugh all the way to my third-place finish.

We all know by now that football, not baseball is the American pastime. Ratings are way up and interest is at an all-time high. How can the critics of Fantasy Football not see the connection between us "losers" devouring insignificant games on DirecTV and the rise in the NFL's popularity?

I grew up in New Jersey as a Jets fan. Until I started playing fantasy football five years ago, my knowledge of rosters outside of the AFC East was bleak. Now I can teach the newest of neophytes the importance of J.J. Arrington and a new-look Arizona ground game, Kurt Warner's health and Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin's next contracts.

Fantasy football makes you look beyond your own team. If you play, you can't afford to be a homer on Sundays. You must force yourself to watch the Cowboys open on the road against the Chargers. Between sips of beer and keeping up with trash talking e-mails from people you have never met, you begin to obsess over how well Drew Bledsoe is playing. Julius Jones' running and receiving yards may be impressive, but you curse Bill Parcells for removing him from goal line situations.

Who you drafted dictates which games you will be scrutinizing come kickoff. Since I drafted Jamal Lewis in the first round (I picked late) I will be hardly blinking when Baltimore has the ball against Indianapolis this weekend. Pre-fantasy, you couldn't have paid me to watch this game.

I have the Jets D, which I drafted in the fourth round (I love the work Donnie Henderson is doing with some aggressive young talent) so my heart will race each time Kansas City has the ball. The guy I'm playing this week -- some jack ass I will call John Moore, who also happens to be our league's commissioner -- drafted Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson. These three transactions make Jets-Chiefs as exciting as football can get for me. I can only hope the Jets D will crush Trent Green and company so the Chiefs will have to pass and play catch up. That will allow me to switch over to the Detroit-Green Bay game. My opponent has Javon Walker so I will be a huge Ahman Green, Donald Driver and Bubba Franks fan come gametime. Hopefully the Pack will build up a huge lead early in the game so Brett Favre doesn't have to throw the pigskin in Walker's direction.

Going back to my original equation of Interest + Knowledge = Revenue, the NFL and commissioner Paul Tagliabue should be dancing in the streets celebrating the creation of Fantasy Football. Because -- and ONLY because -- of fantasy football, I will be watching three games extra games. After the Jets buried the Chiefs I would have turned off the television and done something else like read some scripts or play with my son. Now, because of my undying allegiance to the Ravens running attack and the voodoo whammy I put on Javon Walker, I will be not only watching more games but, more important to the suits at the NFL, three times as many commercials!

And that, my friends, is the bottom line. The more commercials you watch, the more the NFL can charge for airtime between snaps. Everybody wins except John Moore, whose Sunday I hope to ruin. Fantasy football is the best thing to happen to the NFL. It increases fan interest to a new level -- a knowledgeable level. How else would I know that Falcons WR Michael Jenkins will be Michael Vick's second option unless I picked him up in the late rounds of my draft? Why would I ever watch a Buffalo Bills game if I hadn't grabbed Eric Moulds? I would've never heard of half of these guys if I wasn't in a fantasy league, and now I study their every route. Due to the intense study and preparation for a fantasy draft, I can meet anyone from anywhere in the country and talk knowledgeable, intelligent football with them. Unless they're from Cleveland.

I will now take you behind the scenes at how this year's fantasy football champion (me) assembled his team.