Alright, show of hands, how many of you guys actually enjoy Fantasy Football? And when I say enjoy I mean you wake up on Sunday morning and are more excited about that then the actual football games? I know a couple dudes like that and they creep me out. This article isn’t for you kind of dudes, this is for the dudes/duddettes like me who just play because we watch football and are forced to by our buddies.
I went until the age of 22 until I started playing fantasy football and let me be the first one to tell you how much I miss those days. The thing I hate, and I don’t use the word hate often, is that it makes me cheer for players and sometimes teams that I care absolutely nothing about. That reason alone is why I don’t play NBA fantasy, I couldn’t imagine watching my beloved Lakers and rooting for someone they’re playing to have a big game. I don’t have the same passion for the NFL as I do for the NBA so I can subject myself to that kind of torture every Thursday-Monday.
The last couple of years I only played in two leagues per year. This year I have five. Yes, I said five. Granted, I only care about two of them. We have one league where it’s a group of buddies from the Wells Fargo I used to work at. These guys have to be some of the biggest smack talkers I’ve ever met. There’s not a week that goes by where there’s not a group text with some vile words being thrown all over the place, it’s beautiful. Funny story about that league, the first year we ran the league there was this girl. She worked with us, and we were kinda “talking,” I don’t know exactly what we were so I’ll leave it at that. Anyways, I basically drafted her whole team. And when I say basically, I mean I did. About half way through the season this young lady and myself had a falling out. We stopped talking and guess what happens to make matters worse? She wins the league. Yup, even beat me in the semi finals, due to Jamaal Charles scoring 5 TD’s in that game, a player she didn’t want but I insisted because I knew he was going to have an explosive season. I still get reminded of that all the time. “Don’t get burned” is a term that my boys Luis and Leroy came up after this went down. They tell me this every time I leave their house. (It sucks fellas, don’t do it.) Second, we have a league with Luis and his Uncle’s friends. This one isn’t as competitive for me because I only know a couple of the guys but I still take it serious. Unlike the other three I’m in this year. Just checking my lineups for all my leagues make my head spin. I’m still trying to figure out what in the world I was thinking when I agreed to all of this.
Even though I highly dislike having the Iphone, laptop, and the TV all with different games on Sundays, I’ve come to terms with the decisions I have made. I constantly wonder why I put myself through this. I don’t care that Giovanni Bernard had 2 TD’s against Baltimore, or that Marcus Mariota lit up his first NFL start. You know what I really dislike? When one of these guys goes out for the season and people get mad at them. The player is the one having a career setback and all you care about is your Fantasy team might not make the playoffs??? I don’t know, maybe I’m just weird. I hope I’m not the only one who feels this way. I do enjoy the bonds I have built through these leagues, friends that I’ll have for the rest of my life. I also really enjoy the smack talk, if you know me; you know I’m what they call the Roast Master. I can run my mouth with the best of them. I bring heat from all angles and make you wish that you had stayed quiet. I guess there is a silver lining to everything when you think about it.