Yep, it is now that season: fantasy football time. As my fantasy baseball team continues to humble the rest of its league, I turn now to my personal Waterloo. It's not that I haven't been successful in fantasy football. However, I have only won one league championship, which in my organization makes it an underperformer. Last year, I led the league all season, but flamed out badly in the playoffs.
We had the league draft yesterday. I had perhaps my most "conventional" draft ever: two running backs before the quarterback; kicker, defense and backup QB in the last rounds. No more picking QBs in the first round, as I have done every year in the past. Of course, this means I'm likely to have a poor season. Conventional wisdom, in drafting fantasy sports teams as with so many other endeavors, often leads to mediocrity by excising the bold strokes of genius that inevitability creates the opportunity for success in a highly competitive environment.
Especially among this crew. We have quite a league, which gets more intimidating as the years pass and we proceed in our careers. When we started a few years ago as a way to keep the college "house" guys in touch, it was "house" guys, which included graduate students, two lawyers and a Microsoft millionaire, plus a bunch of other young lawyers. Now, we have a doctor, a lawyer, a former lawyer turned state department diplomat, a university professor, and a guy with a Ph.D. who does something scary with chemical and biological weapons, in addition to the usual mix of computer geniuses who make up the rest of the league's owners. The best thing about this league, which is the best thing about any fantasy league, is the comeraderie that characterizes our interactions. It's a silly activity, to be sure, but anything that allows me to remain in contact with old friends in a way that recalls the freedom and jocular, friendly competition of university days is well worth the effort.
Stay tuned for season updates ... if I'm doing well. If I'm failing miserably, we'll just forget this whole thing ever happened.
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