![]() ![]() When Aaron Rodgers still has two working collarbones. When the smack talk is safely divorced from reality. You know when everyone loves fantasy football? August. Winning is more about endurance than enthusiasm. So build bridges, form alliances, try not to be an ass, and – as an example – hook Kent up with your backup Tight End when he comes with a late-season olive branch shaped like Ted Ginn Jr. (aka: me) Once people have you pegged, it can take years of good behavior to re-write the script. The guy whose game doesn’t live up to his mouth. The guy who doesn’t check his lineup after Columbus Day. The guy who doesn’t respond to trade requests. Within any established league – this will be my 12th season in the same league – it doesn’t take long for reputations to be established. The smaller the industry, the more important your reputation.Įach fantasy league is essentially a self-contained industry vertical. If the best reason you have for doing what you’re doing is “the money’s pretty good,” you need to find a better reason. ![]() literate people with internet access), there are lots of different ways to earn a living these days. (Where’s my livable wage, Bernie?!) Fact is, there are way easier ways to win money than fantasy football. If we were to calculate my lifetime winnings against hours invested, my hourly wage would be somewhere in the low $0.10s at this point. If you’re only in it for the money, it probably won’t be worth it.Īfter fifteen seasons of fantasy football, I’ve learned an important lesson about myself: I’m not very good at fantasy football. As easy as it is to hurl invective at your pigheaded sparring partner when he rejects your eminently reasonable offer, you’ll be better served acknowledging that you’re as emotionally compromised as he is and to focus instead on shipping Tom Brady to the token Patriots fan in your league for 200 cents on the dollar. Whether it’s a partnership agreement, a salary increase, or an obviously equitable trade involving Tyreek Hill and $15 of next season’s auction money for a banged up Julio Jones, everything is emotional. Especially when negotiations are involved. Fairness/reasonability is in the eye of the beholder. But what happens when the concussions mount, the funding falls through, and the Seahawks decide to start a different running back every weekend? You curse Pete Carroll’s name to the unfeeling sky and figure out how to get it done anyway. And then what? Any schmuck can build a lineup or present a slide deck in a vacuum. That pristine roster (or unassailable business plan) you gazed at so lovingly when you built it? You’ll be lucky if it survives a week out in the wild. Especially if those people are pass-catching running backs who can’t shake an open field tackle to save their lives. ![]() (Preferably three of four.)īad things happen to good people. Or at least that’s the story I’m telling myself (and my wife) as I prepare to pour hundreds of dollars and hours into another pretend football team that lives on my computer.Īs supporting evidence of this claim, here are just a few of the business principles I’ve picked up from fantasy football over the years: 1. While a strong argument could be made that this multi-decade investment represents an unconscionable waste of time, energy, and youth, I favor an alternate view: fantasy football has made me the proudly competent professional I am today. I’ve been the proud owner of at least one fantasy team every NFL season since 2005, and this year will be no different. It’s man-child Christmas, just with more spreadsheets and paid subscriptions to dubious “fantasy insider” websites. That’s right: it’s Fantasy Football Draft month. Which means all across the country, men of all ages are ignoring their families and neglecting their jobs to study the Tennessee Titans’ depth chart. ![]()
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