Moldy Peaches

Office workers combing the league waiver wire for running backs or back-up quarterbacks are part of a growing number of fantasy football owners costing employers as much as $1.1 billion a week in lost productivity, according to a study released Wednesday.

During the National Football League regular season, nearly 37 million people spend an average of 50 minutes a week at work managing their fantasy teams comprised of real-life players tallying points based on statistical performance, according to outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas. CGI's estimate was based on an estimated 36.8 million fantasy football participants, multiplied by $6, gauged to be their average earnings every 10 minutes.

Fantasy sports ranks with shopping on eBay's Web auction site and online poker as the biggest waste of productivity at the workplace, said John Challenger, CEO of the consulting firm

The study also cited a survey saying average fantasy sports owners spend 34 minutes a day just thinking about their teams and spend close to $500 a year on fantasy sports.

FYI - CGI is the same firm that ran lost productivity costs at $3.8 billion for March Madness. In fact, for every 13.5 minutes workers spent on the Internet watching March Madness games, which begin on March 16, the cost to employers in lost wages alone exceeded $237 million. Over the 16 days of the tournament the figure was slated to reach as high as $3.8 billion

FYI part deux - Moldy sits in a lousy 7th in his baseball draft after two previous stints in the money.