Obsessed Chargers fan spurs Rotoworld to record traffic day

LA JOLLA, CA — The staff of popular fantasy sports website Rotoworld is rejoicing today, as 19-year-old San Diego suburbanite Jason Dawson single-handedly spurred the site to a record traffic day Thursday.

Dawson, a self-proclaimed “Bolts FREAK,” allegedly hit “refresh” on his work laptop no less than 31,174 times Thursday, anxiously anticipating news on the injury status of Phillip Rivers, Ladainian Tomlinson, and Antonio Gates in anticipation of this weekend’s AFC championship game against the New England Patriots.

“They said on their first update of the day that I should check back to see about Rivers’ status,” Dawson said. “So I did. And there was no update. So I did it again. Eventually I just sort of gave up when my arm cramped up, but then after an hour rest, I came back and clicked refresh 11,207 more times.”

The proprietors of the website were thrilled at the record traffic volume, though they are not sure that it will provide them any long-term value.

“Look, we love traffic,” said Matthew Pouliout, the site’s editor and main baseball writer. “We love the idea that fantasy sports fans around the country are really coming to us for their news, and we like to serve them. But we also like the idea that there are some nutjobs in California who are a bit too obsessed with Phillip Rivers. So we’re going to try and serve both populations.”

As of late Thursday, Rotoworld could account for 31,189 visits from the IP address associated with Dawson’s computer. It is believed that the extra traffic comes from one visit in which Dawson read a brief update on the Troy Glaus-Scott Rolen baseball trade, and also a brief sojourn to check on Tracy McGrady’s injury status.

Rotoworld staff indicated that they’d be providing Rivers, Tomlinson and Gates updates throughout the weekend, irrespective of whether Dawson continues his frenetic clicking. As of the writing of this story, Dawson appears to have moved on to other pursuits, with the celebrity website TMZ.com reporting tens of thousands of clicks on an article that promises some forthcoming “MAJOR BRITNEY NEWS.”

It’s going to be tough for this sport to sweep any nations, but it’s still pretty frickin’ cool!