Nightmare Football

I have mentioned before that I entered into the crazy world of fantasy football this season, and 3 weeks in I'm about ready to rename it to "nightmare football". To say the least, I don't plan to play fantasy football again. But - I don't ever leave it at JUST saying the least...so here I go.

I love football. I love watching games, learning more and more about strategies, plays, following players, etc. Being an analytical person and a football fan, I thought fantasy football was perfect for me. You follow players' stats, watch games, keep up with injuries and opponents...what would I not like?

Plenty.

My main complaint is that, overall, playing fantasy football has taken the fun out of watching games. For instance, last night Dallas played Carolina - a game in which generally I would be rooting for Dallas to win. In one of my leagues (yes, I was brilliant and joined two) I have Felix Jones, who is the second running back for Dallas, and my opponent had Tashard Choice, Dallas's third running back. Their first back was out with an injury, so when the game began and I was already leading by 9 points I thought I was a shoe-in to win, because Felix Jones would be playing the majority of the time. However, once Dallas got their running game going in the third quarter, Jones went down with a knee injury (he was being a baby if you ask me) and Choice played the remainder of the game. So, where I'd usually just continue rooting for the cowboys to win in whichever way worked, which at this point was using their running game, I now found myself hoping that Carolina could stop the run - even if that meant the Cowboys would lose. But I don't want the Cowboys to lose. This struggle happened in nearly every game this weekend, and it made the games less entertaining because I was constantly thinking about stupid fantasy teams that mean nothing rather than just rooting for whichever team I wanted.

In the end last night the cowboys won AND I won, so that one happened to work out well for me. Week one when the Jets killed the Texans - not so much. I had the Jets defense on my fantasy team, so yippee there, but how could I root against the Texans? That's just wrong.

There is an aspect of one of my fantasy leagues that I enjoy, and that is the "pools" that we play in. There are 2 pools, each pays out your initial entry fee so I'd be glad to win one and get my money back. The first pool is the "survivor pool" in which you choose one game each week to predict the winner. You can't use a team more than once, so in week one when I chose New Orleans to win I eliminated New Orleans from my options for future weeks. The league has 12 teams, and the survivor pool is now down to 4 teams still playing - ours being one of them! Yippee - just need 3 more teams to pick wrong and I broke even in this disaster that is fantasy football. The second pool lasts the entire season, and it is similar to a "pick 'em" betting pool. Each week you predict the winner for each game, and you rank the games based on your confidence in your choice. You give 16 points to the game you are most confident in and go down to 1 point for the game you are least sure of. For every game you predicted right, you receive that point value that you designated for that game. It's a little early to begin a celebratory dance, but right now our team is far ahead in the lead with 320 points. If we could win BOTH pools - how fun would that be?

In conclusion, fantasy football is another one of those things in life that sounds like a GREAT plan on paper...but in practice it is just not my thing. Next year I'll enjoy rooting for teams, following players, maybe even predicting games...but I won't be opting to go against myself by engaging in this fantasy sport. Or any other fantasy sport. Count me out :)