Fantasy Sports

This year my wonderful husband talked me into joining his Fantasy Baseball League. My team is named The Pink Sox. I was going to name them the Triumphant Tulips (after one of my favorite flowers) but my sister said that was just too much. Thanks Steph. Anyway, my husband sent me an email to see if I knew who was in first place. No I replied. Then I went and checked and of course HE IS!!!! I think he cheats. Don't ask me how because I can't even figure out how to run my team, but believe me he cheats!!

All joking aside, this is a side of sports that I didn't know even existed until after I got married. This was my introduction:

"Jill, I want to start a Fantasy Football League" he said.
"What the heck is a Fantasy Football League?" I asked.
He laughed.
I got angry.
Then he explained what a fantasy league was.
"That is the stupidest thing I've every heard. You need to get out more, or see a therapist." I said.
He started his league anyway, and is still at it.

Over the years I have to say that I have become "one of the crowd". I'm not any good at it. Except I have won once or twice. This really irritates my husband (and his buddies). The funny thing is, when I didn't care about sports (yes it's true at one point in my life I really didn't care -- but I did watch for Mets scores) I did a much better job with fantasy leagues. Now I care and it drives me crazy, that now I know more about sports but my fantasy league teams are always tanking. I really don't get it. Greg seems to go through cycles. For a year or two his teams are awful, and then as if it was a gift from the Gods of Fantasy Leagues, he'll do really well. Why can't that happen to me?

If you were to ask me if I preferred basketball, baseball, football which would I choose? Baseball hands down! But in the fantasy leagues football is much more fun. I think. Baseball season is too long and way to complicated for me to really understand how to run a baseball team. Football season is short and sweet, what is it 16 weeks? Baseball plays from the begining of April through September, 162 games give or take.

I read Mike Greenbergs book called "Why My Wife Thinks I'm An Idiot" (great read -- very funny), and he says that he knows more about sports than any "fantasy geek". I think he's lying. I'm married to a "fantasy geek" and I think Greenie missed the boat with this one. My husband can tell me stats about sports, that I didn't even know exsisted!! And that's just from being a "fantasy geek". Granted, Greenie makes his living talking about sports. But he also has a research department to help him. I'm not saying that my husband knows everything, but the stuff he knows blows me away!!!

I must admit, sometimes I still tease my husband about his fantasy teams, but he has a good time. This year he'll have a great time teasing me about how bad my team is but it's all in good fun.

I have decided why I like sports so much. It lets me escape for a little while. I can watch men throw a baseball faster and hit it farther than I ever could. But while I watch I can forget for an hour or two about the bills that are due, the laundry that needs to be washed, and work the next morning. I don't have to be anywhere else, or thinking about anything else. And when those few hours are done, I can go back to my little life and start worrying.