Remember those kids in high school who were really into Dungeons & Dragons? They would be at the lunch table huddled around and speaking in what sounded like a foreign language, their pockets brimming with funny-sided dice. Occasionally you would see a few more of them take this a step further and get into role-playing games with swords and shields, etc. We made fun of these kids. You did too. Now I am one - only it is considered more socially acceptable among men. It is Fantasy Football. Here I am pretending to manage a team, watching stats, reading reports, interpreting the pundits- all so I can best friends and strangers at something that requires even less exercise than swinging a sword made of padded PVC piping.
I do not understand why I like or play Fantasy Football. I am too lazy to pick every mind-numbing position out of the ever-growing list of names I do not know, yet I get mad at myself when I do the auto-draft and get stuck with lemons. What I do know is that I hate saying the word "fantasy." There is no good way for it to roll off of my tongue - and just because I put $50 down, does not make it feel ok. But I play it, and I get a rush when I win, and feel the heartache when I lose (mostly from the anticipation of being taunted by opponents). And I wonder is this how the D&D kids did it? Did I miss out on something fun? I am also willing to bet that those kids learned how to strategize both long and short term way before I ever did. It would not suprise me at all if the upper echelon of Fantasy Football geeks were in fact D&D geniuses too. And they are sitting there in my leagues, quietly waiting to take my $50.
I am off to buy funny-sided dice.