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People in Philly take fantasy football far too seriously [1]
['Jason Weisberger']
Date: 2024-09-19
Fantasy football players are known for emotionally overinvesting, but a Philadelphia league's drama has resulted in an international investigation and Federal criminal charges.
Twenty-five-year-old Matthew Gabriel pleaded guilty to phoning in international bomb threats after becoming angry at another player in their league chat. I know there is usually money on the line, but isn't fantasy football really a matter of who got to pick which players and then luck?
Gabriel made the first false threat after an online disagreement with a member of his fantasy football chat group, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a release. After learning the member would be studying abroad in Norway in August 2023, Gabriel submitted an anonymous "tip" to the Norwegian Police Security Service – which investigates threats to the country's national security – claiming the man was planning to carry out a mass shooting in Norway, according to the release. Gabriel wrote that the fellow fantasy football player was "headed around Oslo and has a shooting planned with multiple people on his side involved. They plan to take as many as they can at a concert and then head to a department store," according to prosecutors. CNN
Previously:
• Current chess champion Magnus Carlsen is also one of the top fantasy soccer players in the world
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