This being Super Bowl Sunday and all it seems an appropriate time for a discussion of fantasy football and what it means. I’ll tell you what it means. It means the concept of loyalty is pretty much a bygone thing in this country. You see it everywhere. With all the fantasy sports leagues fans no longer care about their home team. They’ll root for their erstwhile favorite to do badly if they’ve started the opposing quarterback on their fantasy team. The players don’t stay with a team. If they think they’ll get more money or more playing time they’ll hop to another team in a heartbeat if they can. The coaches do the same. The owners don’t care. To them it’s just a business. They don’t even care about winning. They get a cut of the total revenue now whether they deserve it or not, so they make more by keeping payroll down, i.e. letting the good players go. This applies in other sports and even in college. Top prospects leave their school if another one promises a starting slot.

It’s not just sports. Companies no longer have any loyalty to their employees. Pensions are a thing of the past. The “HP way” is no more. Employees hop from one company to another as soon as their options vest in the last one. It’s everyone for himself. That’s today’s mentality. People don’t even get married, or if they do, they consider it just a convenience until they decide to get a divorce.

Of course I am only talking about trends. It’s a real trend, and getting worse every year, but I’m sure you know many exceptions. Maybe you and your company are loyal and true and blue. But I’m sure you also know plenty of examples that prove the trend. It’s a sad thing in my opinion.