Football Just Isn't My Game

In so many ways.

I was a scrawny youth and was typically picked on by the football players in high school. And the hockey players.  And the wrestlers.  Some members of the tennis team.  As I got older, I would attend my alma mater's home games (JMU won the Div I-AA championship in 2004, an event I watched on ESPN2 while in Phoenix) and watch the pros on TV Sundays and Mondays, mostly for the social aspect (i.e. recovering from hangovers with my college friends).

My choice of pro teams to root for varied.  My first favorite team was the Pittsburgh Steelers, mostly because they had won the most Super Bowls at the time.  Being a front runner fan doesn't take a lot of sophistication.  Growing up in Connecticut, I had a choice of the Patriots, Jets, and Giants.  My Dad liked Phil Simms and Bill Parcells of the Giants, so I followed his lead.  I started cheering for the Saints when they had their top linebacker core.  After college, I didn't spend much time following football.  I was living in Boston when the Patriots got Drew Bledsoe, but moved to Minnesota a few months later; and where I've been living for 17 years as of next month.  I think of the Vikings as the football equivalent to the pre-2004 Red Sox; mostly bad to mediocre seasons with some good ones mixed in, and constantly shooting themselves in the foot when they are good enough to get to the championship.

My lack of attention didn't stop me from participating in various football pools at work and I've been part of a family one (the Wifey's family) for the last four years.  I was the top dog for one season in that pool, but haven't been tearing it up otherwise.  I was eager to try Fantasy Football in my buddy's league and the family pool was re-upped for the 2013-14 season.

I got off to a cold start for the first week.  The Seahawks didn't play very well that week and my top Running Back and Wide Receiver are from this team.  My Tight End got more fantasy points than the two of them combined.  I lost the first game of the season 166-127.  In the process, I lost a couple players due to injury and there weren't a lot of options available for replacement.

As for the football pool, I made a bold prediction in the Smack Talk section, saying I was going to know so much about football because of my Fantasy team that I would need to start a regimen of squat thrusts considering the constant view of my behind everyone else was going to have.  The range of correct picks in the pool ranged from 13 to 4.  I got 6, so I was toward the bottom of the standings.

I will use the sports cliche that there is still a lot of football to play yet.