Computer Science has touched virtually every field of human endeavor. Yet, silly stereortypes remain. When people think "computer programmer" they may conjure up an image of some socially inept computer nerd. But this is not 1975. Computer skills are no longer kept as dark secrets by those lacking social grace. Computer programming can now be found everywhere that there is information people care about.
As a society, we probably collect, discuss, and distribute more data about athletes and sports teams than the financial markets. And if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that the grown men that play fantasy football are no different from the Dungeon and Dragons playing geeks of the 1980s. Both exist in a fantasy world where players make decisions informed by probability with the goal of making better decisions than their opponents. The value of those decisions is determined by events beyond the players control, like the random outcome of a 20 sided die or the unexpected injury of a star quarterback.
So where does all that Fantasy Football data come from? Professional sports teams have experienced IT professionals on their payroll, but high school sports data is left on the clip boards and filing cabinets of coaches. Taking that data off the clip-board and onto the computer screen requires skill, time, determination, and creativity. For instance, look at our Marine Fitness Data Tracker, built by two competitive athletes that happen to know Java.