Miles from Fenway: Cursing Ryan Howard

Technically, I am not a fantasy sports virgin. I've played fantasy baseball twice, fantasy football a handful of times. But every time I've participated in a league I've wound up losing interest. Or not having the time. Suddenly it's been a week since I've checked on my roster and I'm hovering around the bottom of the standings.

This year, I vowed it would be different. Playing in a sixteen, mixed league field, winning was and is clearly going to take a lot more than a casual interaction. With so many teams, depth is key. And not something I've typically been great at. I'm taking it as a challenge. I'm also partially motivated that I'm the only female in the league that's half-filled with some of my best guy friends. If I tank, I'll be hearing about this for a while. I'm still hearing about my football team months later.

There was a problem though. I missed the draft. I was left with a team that could be called mediocre at best. With the computer picking for me, I had to live with what I was given. My new goal became not finishing last. Howard was my one pick up I was genuinely excited about.

But then something funny happened. I won the first week. Tied the second. Won the third. And Fourth. Suddenly, I'm checking my team multiple times a day. Reading up on my players. Who'll be sitting out that night. What my pitching match-ups are. I've become one of those people.

It didn't really hit me until today when, after seeing a report that Ryan Howard was going to be benched until at least Friday due to an injury, I benched him. What happens? He goes 1 for 2, with 1R, 1H, 1HR, and 4RBIs. And I had him on the bench. As I sat here and cursed towards my computer, I realized, just maybe, I have a problem.

One I'm going to embrace until I wipe the table with these guys. Ryan Howard be damned.

Labels: baseball

posted by FINY @ Wednesday, May 09, 2007

3 Comments:

At 5/10/2007, Roxy said…

The guy I'm dating is participating in 5 fantasy baseball leagues. Talk about having a problem...
At 5/11/2007, kate.d. said…

i'm slowly steeping myself in this fantasy baseball thing - i'm in my first league this year. i've only made one roster move so far, and that's putting a guy on the DL - ha! but i'm in second place overall, so i must be doing something right!

however, i benched youk the yesterday, because of the weird leg stuff, and he goes 2-5 with 2 RBI. his replacement in my lineup went 0-for. argh!!
At 5/15/2007, Unknown said…

Hah! I did exactly the same thing, and my co-workers took some glee in telling me about the pinch-hit grand slam. (I like pointing out that it was a pinch hit, as it for some reason makes me feel slightly better about my coaching decision. Although it doesn't mean I get any of the points back. Grr.)