Why Real Football Fans Should NOT Play Fantasy...

Alright, well maybe some can and get away with it, maybe I'm just a jinx, but from my experience (1st of my young life) with fantasy, the only lesson I have learned is to never try and apply real world sports knowledge.

As an example, let me just offer what happened to me in week 6 of my fantasy league:
Going into Monday Night, I was beating my opponent (the leading player in my league no less) by about 39 points with only Rex Grossman and Muhsin Muhammed left to play, while he had the Bears Defense, Bears TE Desmond Clark and Cardinals Kicker Neil Rackers. So one would think this was pretty much a lock for me.

Not so fast my friends, not so fast. We all know what happened in that Monday Night game, so I will spare myself the additional trauma (although I have to mention that watching the game that night I was literally throwing things around my apartment in disgust) and not go into detail. However, here's how my game ended up playing out - I lost 118-100, Rex Grossman had -11 fantasy points, Muhammed had a solid 1 point and on the flip side Bears D/Special Teams had 25 points(remember those two TDs they scored?), Desmond Clark had 10 points and Rackers had 15.

But that's not all, no. Here's where it gets even more ironic and humorous. While the game was going on, the guy I was playing against (again, ranked first in our league) and his brother, rather than watching the game were discussing some oh-so-important role playing game called "War Hammer 2000". War Hammer 2000 ladies and gents! This is obviously the face of a fantasy guru.

And THAT is why anyone who attempts to apply practical football knowledge to fantasy football will inevitably fail. It is not a game of wisdom and intelligence my friends, but rather sheer luck. So pick whichever players name's you like the best, or whichever team jersey you think looks the sharpest, because at the end of the day, it's going to be those guys who produce. Certainly not a proven guy like Muhsin Muhammed.

Oh, and by the way (just to add insult to injury), I was also on top of my football pool that week with 10 correct picks. All I needed was for the Bears to win/cover the spread OR lose/not cover the spread and have the total points scored for the two teams combined be 42 or less. What was the point total you ask? 47. Yep, that last kick return for a TD suckered me out of $400. Thanks a lot Devin Hester!

- Cotter