When Your Fantasy Football Team Fails
I've been playing fantasy football for more than 20 years. I've had good years, and I've had bad years. According to my Yahoo profile, I've lifted that fantasy trophy up over my shoulder four times out of 20. The "dynasty" word isn't being thrown around, but four championships are nothing to sneeze at, either.
Fantasy baseball used to be my real jam. Back in the day, before kids, I'd dedicate an embarrassing amount of time to baseball research. I'd scout West Coast players using my MLB package. I'd spend hundreds of dollars at a chance to win $500. It was all about pride.
Then, after the kids were born, I realized that fantasy baseball was too much of a commitment, but football was very manageable. I dropped the baseball and focused on the sport that offered the chance to be competitive while not causing friction in my marriage.
When I made the transition, I played in multiple leagues. I was in a league with my college friends, a league at work, a league at the gym. With so many leagues, sometimes it was hard to keep track of what players to cheer for while watching a game.
I slowly started to cut back the number of leagues. I've been at two leagues for the past several years – my original league and my league at CrossFit Dartmouth.
This year, I peeled back even more and only played the one league at CrossFit.
This is going to be great, I thought. Only one draft to worry about. Only one team to think about picking up free agents and starting or benching players. It was a great plan – until it wasn't.
I didn't think about what it would be like to go 0-5 to open the season. I didn't think about not having another team to turn to if my team turned into a dumpster fire because of COVID and an array of ridiculously early season-ending injuries (I'm looking at you, Saquon Barkley).
There's a moment in every fantasy player's season that they realize the season is over. It's a tough pill to swallow, especially when I haven't even bought a pumpkin yet.
Next year, I'll be back to juggling multiple teams.