Fantasy sports: never really got them. I could never figure out the fascination that some people have poring over stats and names, obsessively watching as many games as they could, it all seemed a little crazy. Then I thought about how I watch television and movies and then it struck me as not so crazy. This crazed state usually came into sharp focus at the start of the football season, but that is obviously not the case now. I am starting to understand a little bit of the mania that takes over these people.
A few weeks back I got an invitation from a co-worker to join a fantasy baseball league he was starting at Yahoo. Baseball is the only sport that I even remotely follow, my team being the "other" New York team, the Mets. This year they look to be fielding a pretty good team, on paper anyway. It seems like I've said that for the past three or four years. Anyway, I figured why not, I'd do it. Who knows, it could turn out to be fun.
As Draft Day drew closer, I had this gnawing anxiety at the back of my brain. While I follow the Mets, my following of the sport is only peripheral, it has deteriorated over the years as I started following more directors and actors. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, who I was going to pick, no idea.
The pre-Draft Day came and I ventured, with much fear to the draft pre-ranking page. Here I was faced with a list of players, some names I recognized, and many more I didn't. Worse still, I didn't know how good these guys are, I was blindly relying on the built-in Yahoo rankings. I took a few of the names I recognized and ordered them for myself, in the hope, that, impossible dream, that they would still be available by the time my picks came around. I gave up, the effort was sure to prove futile.
Draft Day arrived, I still had no idea what I was going to do. As the end of the work day approached, a couple of the other guys were talking about their teams. The league organizer boasted that he had never lost one, another guy said he had the perfect strategy for selections and how he had been pre-ranking for the past few weeks. Great, no doubt in my mind, I'm going to lose, I'm going to end up with the dregs of the league.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
It's always hard to view a fantasy team preseason. It also depends on how many other teams are out there.
I've personally stopped playing traditional rotisserie fantasy baseball, but I think there are some other neat games out like there, like Beat DiMaggio's Streak where you pick a player each day, any player, and see if you can pick a player who gets a hit 56 days in a row.
2 - Paul Kim
Not a bad draft at all.
I just feel bad for you that you got stuck with Noah Lowry. Clemens might not even play this season, but he's worth the gamble... I really like your lineup, but yea you are weak on saves... not bad at all for your first live draft. I always miss my live drafts and get screwed, but I always makeup for it with pickups from the FA.