Making It Special

You know I do all sorts of things with my free time. This includes, but isn't limited to, playing Magic, working on CCGs, working on my own articles for various sites, watching flicks, whatever. We all have these activities which fulfill us beyond our day-to-day routine of get up, work, eat, rest.

One of the things that my buddy D is into is Fantasy Football. (Names changed to protect the innocent...and guilty)

Now, I don't know about you, but until this past week I had no idea what Fantasy Football really was. I thought it had something to do with stats, managing imaginary players or something.

Well, turns out it's all stats. Yeesh. And they call Magic geeky.

Anyway, I've soon learned that the best player to draft is a Running Back (your first two picks better be running backs) and that most newcomers just take the 'big names' and don't recognize that you only score points from players making touchdowns, catching passes, and moving the ball.

"Touches" can make or break a player (where touches is the number of times they touch the football in a game/season).

And all I could do was sit back and wonder why it was so interesting. Sports in general is interesting to me, particularly football, but would the scores and stats really be that satisfying?

Well, of course, to make things interesting you need to bring money into the situation. So $20 a head turns into a mighty fine payday for the winner.

Soon you're actually working for something, so your draft strategy (what players you take at the beginning of the season) can impact if you lose or win money.

Fair enough, that's special, right?

Well, not quite.

My buddy D, being the Fantasy Football freak he claims to be, heard about the possibility of making a trophy for his league.

I say again: A trophy. For his fantasy football league.

"Damn D," I tell him, "at least in Magic they give you a trophy when you win something, they don't force the winner to go buy one..."

But soon after lunch there we were in the trophy shop, looking around at all of the models. D's been on the phone constantly, looking for the name of his uncle's team that won a few years ago.

We found a big wooden base with a silver football player on top in full (frozen) sprint. "I'll take it," D says.

Then he's writing down the names of teams and their years as champion.

It was then it clicked--this is a matter of pride. Just like in Magic, in the grand scheme of things, winning a few thousand or a few hundred dollars is no great feat. However, having something to remember it by, something to be proud of, is.

It takes the best aspects of the 'sport' of Fantasy Football (the ability to beat the numbers) and gives them a lofty goal, beyond mere money.

"You know," I said, "I thought this idea was kinda lame. Now I'm kinda digging it."

D laughed. "So, you wanna join the league?"

I'm still thinking about it.

He was a great balloon maker
Then they outlawed all balloons