It’s go time

My team’s mascot

I was giving strong consideration to skipping the fantasy football thing this coming season and just watching NFL games as a casual fan - albeit The Worst Sports Fan in St. Louis™, as has been noted here before. Why? Well, as the iconic Geico gecko once said of his ad work for the insurance company, you can’t even imagine the pressure. The endless research of player performance, team matchups, strengths and weaknesses. The difficult choices in drafting, starting or benching players. And game day - God help us, game day. The thrill of seeing player choices validated pales before the bone-deep agony of seeing those choices proved horribly wrong.

Last year, I described the kinds of emotion involved in the fantasy game. It’s just as true today.

There’s a funny NFL commercial in which a fantasy owner is watching a pre-game show with his buddies. The announcer says, “Julius Jones is useless against the 3-4 defense! Take my advice and bench him!” The owner’s buddies all prod him to make Jones inactive, which he does. Two hours later, the TV displays scenes of Jones making touchdown after touchdown. “Hope you started him!” exclaims the announcer. The owner is reduced to lying on his couch and chewing on the corner of a pillow.

So as I say, I was strongly considering taking a pass on the whole sturm und drang of FF this season…and then bigtime blogger and inveterate Redskins fan Oliver Willis sent out the call.

I answered, of course. Thus, my fighting Purple Stallions prepare to take the virtual field once more.

I tell you, fantasy football is as addictive as crack.

Looking to add another gold trophy to the display case.

In the meantime: pray for me.

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