I’m not one to play in a huge number of football leagues. I have my “main” league (in its 10th year) that I play in with old friends and co-workers. I’ll occassionally dabble in a Yahoo league or a neighboorhood league (like this year). I once played in three leagues (a 10 man, 12 man, and yes - a 14 man) and I didn’t know who to root for, so I won’t be doing that again.
The only title I’ve won in fantasy football came back in the 2002 season. Before that, I had led the league in wins one season and made the playoffs a couple other times. The ensuing season, I had a pretty good year. I once again found myself in the championship game. The first round of noon games had completed, and I was in a decent position. A little bit later, the afternoon games were at half time. I had a small lead, but fairly comfortable. I was in prime position to be the first back-to-back champion in our fledgling league.
What happened next will be handed down my children and my children’s children. It has been begrudgingly spoken about to my parents and my in-laws.
It is the primary reason that I will frown upon the majority of females (note that I DID NOT say “all”) that attempt to converse about sports.
Note that I had been married a grand total of one year and eight months to my lovable wife. I mentioned to her, “I’m in a pretty good position, I just might pull this off.”.
She responded, “You don’t need that trophy. You need to share it.”
WHAT!?!?
SHARE IT?!?! ARE YOU F*^%ING KIDDING ME?!?!
The second half of the afternoon games went well, with the exception of Jamal Lewis running over the Browns defense like they were in a that Geico commercial with Matt Hasselbeck. He ended that game with 205 yards and two touchdowns, including a 72 yarder, and I lost by a decent margin. At half-time he had 41 yards and no scores.
Since that time, I have never made the playoffs. I have never even sniffed a .500 winning percentage. I finished 4-10 in 2004, 5-9 in 2005, and 5-9 in 2006. And every year, my wife heard about it.
If I thought I had a bad draft that year (which arguably could be the root of the problem, but I will deny it to my grave), my wife heard about it that night. If I lost a close game, my wife heard about it when I came to bed after Monday Night Football. When I was eliminated from post-season consideration, my wife was informed as soon as the real-time scoring was updated.
This year was different. I actually felt like I had a good draft. Little did I know that my first two picks - Rudi Johnson and Lawrence Maroney - would ride the bench for nearly the entire season after week 3.
Starting 0-4 takes talent. I reminded my wife about that.
Finishing 8-2, which I was fortunate enough to do, takes a different kind of talent. The only two losses came when Addai went nuts against the Patriots (lost by 28) and when McNabb was injured against the Dolphins (lost by 6).
I am now the number four seed with a record 8-6. The other three teams in the playoffs are all 10-4.
I sit in quiet joy as the slight underdog in round one.
I sit in quiet joy knowing that I am the only team in the playoffs to have beaten the #1 seed.
I sit in quiet joy as The Curse is lifted.
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