Here is my take on the online fantasy sports sites:

People who use them are gamblers, not sports fans.

Real fans do not need the lure of winning money by defeating strangers in daily fantasy competitions sponsored by rapacious, apparently-not-quite-ethical companies.

The companies operate like any other operation in the world of gambling — they are set up to take in more money than they pay out.

The “rake” for fantasy sports is, apparently, is from 6 percent to 15 percent. That is, if you give a site $1, only 85 to 94 cents is going to be paid out. To anyone. And probably not you.

These sites are the antithesis of pure fantasy ball — which ought to be a dozen or so people, presumably friends, relatives or coworkers who just like to follow the “team” they have created in a fantasy draft.

For whom “winning” is enough. No need to take someone’s money, too.

I wish the professional sites ill. I do. Because they are taking money from the little guy, who cannot compete with the predatory “sharks” who do their own statistical analysis and enter hundreds of teams in each available contest — further tipping the odds against a regular guy.

I am plenty disappointed that my 2016 baseball team started the season with a 37-7 record and is 27-72 since.

It would be even more unbearable if I had given money to some faceless people at the other end of a url.

Our league doesn’t even have internal rewards for winning.

Winning is its own reward. Losing is its own punishment.

Neither needs to be monetized, and I pity those who go down that path, with the professionals, and lose their souls as well as their shirts.