Is fantasy football good for the game?

As Tom mentioned in an earlier post we have quite a fantasy football rivalry going. I am a 7-8 year veteran of Tom's league and I believe the only remaining original member.

I love fantasy football. I love it to the point that some would consider it an unhealthy obsession. At the risk of sounding like an arrogant ass to any of my league mates that read this blog, I must say that I also like the fact that I am good at it. In 7 years I have never missed the playoffs or had a losing season. That being said I have only won one league championship....call me the Braves of fantasy football.

Some of the most tense moments of my life have occured on Monday nights with my last remaining defensive player needing 2 more tackles for me to win a game, or trying to put a hex on my opponents tight end who needs to stay out of the endzone for the rest of the 4th quarter. My wife can verify this obsession with stories of me yelling things like "Fuck you Josh Brown you worthless piece of dog shit. Your one fucking purpose in life is to kick a fucking football and you fucked it up". By the way Amanda, if for some reason I forgot to apologize for my crazy rants at underachieving kickers...I am sorry.

Anyway, on to the point of this blog post! Is fantasy football good for the game? The obvious positive is the amount of new fans it brings to football. It has brought in a whole new market of computer nerds and strategy dorks. On top of that it involves people all over the country in every NFL game. Before fantasy football I didn't give a shit what happened in the Chargers/Chiefs game, but since I had LaDainian Tomlinson on my team last year I watched every play from the edge of my seat.

The negative to fantasy football is that fans now focus more on stats and individual players than teams. I have always been a passionate Vikings fan. The 1998 NFC Championship game ranks high on my list of worst days of my life. But the importance of the Vikings game outcome has waned with the waxing of the importance of my fantasy football win. For the first few years it wasn't a big deal. My fantasy team was definately second to the Vikings. As long as the Vikings won anything else was gravy.

Last year is when I realized the balanced had shifted, and I remember the exact moment it hit me. I was watching the Vikings game and the only player of fantasy significance was Dante Culpepper. He was my opponents starting QB. The first hour of the game was uneventful and watching stats online showed that my fantasy matchup was going to be tight...the Vikings game was tight as well. Then late in the second quarter Dante threw an interception and I stood up and cheered...I was mortified. After a long pause and realizing what I had done I knew that I had gone to the dark side. I cared more about my fantasy football team than my beloved Vikings. Even though I was ashamed, my fantasy team did win that key game thanks to Culpepper's blunders and my climb in the standings ebbed those negative feelings.

This is the ever growing problem that is fantasy football. Like Darth Vader I know there is no going back. Tom's league grows in prestige every year and I know I will continue to slip away. I will grow more and more apathetic to the Vikings off-season moves as I start ranking players and printing off mock drafts earlier and earlier.

The Mayor once told me that he didn't care what happened to his fantasy team as long as the Cardinals won. Is it still that way Pat? Maybe you are stronger than I am....

--Doohow

Firday night fights, lights

This summer, I started doing things. It seems like every Friday, the King and I have another wacky adventure.

Friday, July 21
Amy and I were going to do something, I asked if my boys Rich (the King) and Sam could come. Amy was excited to meet my friends. Sam couldn't make it, but I picked up Amy, then we picked up the King, and we went to the Barnstaple county fair. And it blew. My legions of fans (friends) in Minnesota, be pleased with our county fairs. Be very pleased.

Amy wasn't feeling well, so we dropped her off after the fair. Turns out, it would be the last time I would see her before she bolted the state, without saying goodbye, and prior to the semi-breakup myspace message she sent me.....but that's neither here nor there.

The King and I went back to his place....his roommates were having some people over. As usual, it was approximately 11 guys and two girls.

One of the girls, Sally, was kind of a cute, short girl who was sporting some impressive cleavage. Everyone drank, and at one point, Sally, Myself and the guy Sally was going to hook up with that night, were chilling on the palace's porch, when out of no where Sally yelled out, "You don't know me! You don't know me! I'll get naked in the front yard!"

Then she did.

She had very nice boobs.

Anyways, after a moment of her standing naked in the front yard, some guy speaking from the inside of the screen door told her to put her clothes on. She did, and the rest of the night was largely unremarkable.

Friday, July 28
The King and I ventured south, heading to Hyannis to party with another intern, DougDoug.

Doug brought us to an irish girl's birthday party.

There were 20 gorgeous 20-somethings there. It was like a modeling party. They were all SO hot. It was ridiculous. DougDoug started a huge game of flippycup, then he and his girlfriend vanished. The left the King, myself, and DougDoug's two roommates at this party. Then the girl's countrymen showed up.

I've never felt like being American was a disadvantage in any way before.

We talked to some pretty girls, watched a ridiculously tall guy dance, and listened to their interesting selection of music. (This is where the King would be a handy addition to the blog staff, as he could expand where I can only call the selection random)

Eventually, after beer bandits cleaned us dry, we walked back to DougDougs, got my car and went home.

It was this night that I truly learned the value of a bucket. Just a five gallon pale, filled with ice=amazing cooler of beers.

Friday, August 4
The King and I made our way to another sausagefest.

Honestly, there seems to be no balance in this state.

We were chilling at a fire behind the house when there was a commotion inside. I went in with one of the guys who lived there to check it out. A couple of random dudes were shouting at each other, and had to be restrained.

Then, one of those two got into the face of another guy who lived there, and he started shouting for everyone to get the fuck out.

People started to leave, but then another fight broke out. There were about 15 people around the door, then there was shouting and shoving, and it wouldn't break up. I asked one of the roommates if I should call the cops, and he said yes.

I called 911, and SEVEN cars showed up. It was crazy. So many blue flashing lights. It was like the whole force had come.

In the end, no one got hurt, no one got arrested. One funny thing, one of the guys who lived there had a huge cold sore on his lip, and a bunch of cops indiviually asked him if he had gotten the wound in a fight.

I don't do the stories justice. I can assure you, those were three epic Friday nights, and they all occured in a row.