The Draft

After last year's uncharacteristic journey to the dark side, you might find it interesting to discover that, yet again, I'll be playing Fantasy Football.

I'll pause while that sinks in.

This year's league is mainly family with a few good friends thrown in to make sure we can still have a friendly family dinner. I hate to admit it - I really do - but I actually talked Chad into putting together a league.

This just keeps getting stranger and stranger.

The thing is, our TV is tuned into football all season long. Our computer is monopolized by Chad's stats pages. His phone is tuned into games. It's madness. Last year was the first year that I didn't feel homicide might be justified by the end of the season. That alone is worth the dinero I'm going to pay.

Side note: Interestingly enough, even though I played fairly well, I didn't watch a game the whole season. Why bother when my Guru shared his knowledge via stats pages?

Tomorrow is our draft and I think I've come up with a strategy to ensure that last year's fledgling success isn't beginner's luck:

1. Pick guys with weird names. You may laugh, but it really worked.

2. Pick brothers. Or guys who could be related. Johnson and Jones seem to be popular names.

3. Steal Chad's notes. C'mon! It's not cheating when your husband is so competitive that you have to call his father to make sure he's not trying to swindle you when he offers a trade.

4. Remember to have no emotional attachment to last year's players. This is going to be tough. I have such fond memories of my guys. But fond memories aside, I didn't win. I obviously needed a better team.

So, tonight I need to print out a list of who's available, who's good and exactly how many of each position I need. Tomorrow, let the games begin.

Well, actually Chad just told me the first game isn't until Thursday.