The internet has a way of making losers out of all of us. From obsessive Facebook use to hours a day spent monitoring one’s fantasy sports team to whatever the hell Mark Foley was e-mailing about, no one is immune. I thought I was, but then I had a realization about my own weakness: Division III athletics message boards. I know this sounds weird—because it is—but I am not alone.

On Feb. 23 of this year, the website d3hoops.com was visited by over 74,000 people. And d3hoops is only one of my regularly visited sites. D3kicks.com and laxpower.com are my two other seasonal favorites, during the fall and spring respectively. Why do I, and many others, visit these sites? I have no idea. I don’t even post. I am a proverbial Division III sports voyeur. I think it’s because I’m a Division III athlete with a Division I fan’s mentality. When teams excel, such as Wesleyan’s success in men’s soccer and lacrosse recently, it is fun to get excited about their success. Reading these message boards is an entertaining way to get some more insight on the team and their competition.

A strong case can also be made that the growing popularity of Division III sports websites is a reflection of the increased seriousness of Division III sports. The level of commitment by athletes at the Division III level is higher now than it has ever been, and probably on par with the commitment of athletes at mid-major Division I schools a few decades ago.

With more kids entering college now than ever before, students who would have been scholarship level athletes in previous years are now playing sports in Division III. Our own lacrosse team has four freshmen who were all-Americans in high school last year.

This convergence of improving technology and improving Division III athletics has crossed over to other mediums as well. Webcasts are now regularly broadcast live over the internet and a number of cable television stations broadcast Division III national championships. Just like webcasts have filled the void left by selective television coverage of major college athletics, these Division III websites have replaced print media coverage. Laxpower and d3hoops each release their own weekly polls that carry credibility similar to the USA Today poll in Division I college football.

Despite the increasing seriousness and competitiveness going on in Division III athletics, I think the most endearing part of these websites is the upfront stupidity and silliness of the individuals who post in the forums. On d3hoops, one of the posters annually posts his all-NESCAC “crazy” team, which includes a sport for sport information director. It’s as if Dick Vitale got drunk, created a stupid anonymous posting name, and typed whatever first came into his head. It’s great. I mean what better way to support your school than by anonymously mocking the facial hair of your rival team’s head coach on a random message board? (If any of my friends are reading this, now might be a time for an intervention.)