Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Football...to like or not to like?

Last year, I made the mistake of passing up the opportunity to join a fantasy football league. An all-girls, very hip & trendy league started by a great friend that she proudly named the Vagina Mono-League. I had various reasons for not joining, a few of which are:

1. I don't watch football.

2. Even if forced, I don't really enjoy watching football.

3. Only if adequately intoxicated at a pre-game tailgate party will I go to a football game, and even then, I can only take about 30 minutes.

As a psychiatrist, I always have to wonder why I like or dislike things so vehemently. After intense psychoanalytic investigation, here are a few reasons why I think I may not like football:

1. Growing up in Denver, Colorado, I was thoroughly disappointed when the Broncos made it to, count them, THREE Super Bowls in a span of 4 years (1987, 1988, 1990) and were absolutely CREAMED. So embarrassing! (You might want to remind me that they redeemed themselves in 1998 & 1999 when they won the Super Bowl both years, but I say, "Too little, too late!")

2. Though I always enjoyed going to the annual Harvard-Yale "Game" (the yearly battle between the schools' mediocre football teams), albeit for the tailgates (see #3 above), I never really had the chance to cheer for my school team since, well, they SUCKED!

So, you can probably understand why I declined my great friend's invitation to join the league. But, as time went by, I realized I was missing out on a great opportunity to learn more about the game, understand what she was talking about on her blog (http://www.leagueofourown.blogspot.com/), and well, she kind of guilt-tripped me into it this year.

So far, I have no regrets! I even got into football for a millisecond at the beginning of the season. I watched a few minutes of a couple of games on TV, tried to keep up with how my players were doing (when I remembered who my players were...doh!), and thought I may have a chance at doing well at this new hobby of mine.

Oh, how wrong I was about doing well, though! Sure, I now understand that when a player is listed as "Bye" on my roster, that I won't be racking up any points on them cuz they won't be playing that week (thank you to la Commish & her sis for pointing that out!). And I don't feel guilty anymore for dropping a player after only one sucky week (at first, I'd have given him a 2nd, maybe 3rd, chance). But, frankly, despite my climbing the football learning curve pretty quickly, my team has consistently ranked in the bottom 3 out of 12. I keep asking myself, "what am I doing wrong? what more can I do?" I'm stumped.

Suffice it to say, I am a sore loser. Always have been, always will be. Yes, it's just a silly little competition. Yes, it's all just fun & games with friends. But WHY, WHY, WHY can't I at least be in the top half??? Well, I think the chances of that are slim at this point (only 6 more weeks to go, and my team is 3-7-0). So, my new goal, you ask?

I JUST DON'T WANNA BE IN LAST PLACE!

I'll keep you posted.

No comments: