I guess Sunday is not my fun day.

(Sigh). I woke up in a good mood. I didn't shower. I had made the grown-up, you-can't-tell-me-what-to-do decision of skipping church to watch football all day. I was so excited that I forgot to eat breakfast. I watched all two hours of pre-game. I exercised the expensive NFL Sunday Ticket to watch the Vikings' biggest game of the year, against the resurgent Steelers. I don't really want to talk about the specifics, but the Vikes only managed to score 3 points. That's all that needs to be said. But let's not get carried away. Their season is not over. They're still 8-6 and very much alive in the playoff hunt. Despite Boomer Esiason's comment in today's game, I don't think all Viking fans should become Atlanta fans and hope for them to beat the 9-4 Bears tonight. I realize Minnesota is battling Chicago for the North division crown, but with today's loss, they put themselves in a difficult position. If the Bears lose, the Vikings would still be down one game with two to play. They would need the Bears to lose their final two games (@ GB and @ MIN). (Note: Chicago will likely have the third tie-breaker over Minnesota, record against common opponents). And if the Bears lose, the Falcons would improve to 9-5 and be one game ahead of the Vikes with two to play AND they have the head-to-head tiebreaker over Minnesota. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't know who to root for. I picked Atlanta in my office pool, so maybe I'll root for them. But I benched Mike Vick in my fantasy league, and lost by about 10 points...I don't want to have to second guess my decision to play Brees over Vick...so maybe I'll root for Chicago. Either way, I wish I would've gone to church today.

Office Pool Blues

I shocked myself by correctly picking the Patriots to beat the road-tested Bucs on Saturday, but it went downhill from there. I got over-zealous and picked the Chiefs to defeat the Giants in New York. (What was I thinking?) Of course I picked the Vikings to upset the Steelers and missed that one. I thought for sure the Cardinals would defeat the Reggie Bush-led Texans. I was certain Fitzpatrick and the Rams would rebound at home against the hapless Eagles. And the Cowboys wouldn't lose twice to the Redskins! To make a long list short, I lost a lot of games this week. I was 2^nd in my office (of about 30 people) for the season-running total of correct picks, but I'm sure after this week I'll drop to 3^rd or 4^th. Damn!

Ode to Fantasy Football

I'm a fantasy geek. But so are you, so our discussion here is private. Let me just say that I can handle people who don't watch football calling me a nerd for playing fantasy football. They call me a nerd for following football at all, so their opinion means little to me. What I can't handle is people who claim to be football fans, but not fans of fantasy football. "I just like to watch the games." Yeah, right. How about that Cardinals/Texans game today, did you enjoy watching that? No. Do you know why? Because you don't play fantasy football. If you did, you'd have lost your mind in excitement when Vernand Morency ran for a 25-yard touchdown in the second quarter. You were forced to play him when Domanick Davis was ruled out. Fantasy football takes the average fan's love for the game and multiplies it by 6 (or however many points your league gives for touchdowns). Sure, I used to just watch the games for the pure enjoyment of watching the game. I pride myself on being a great X's and O's guy who will likely lead the next generation of little-leaguers to football supremacy. But nobody enjoys watching a 30-19 game with less than two minutes in the fourth quarter, unless you have a player in that game on your fantasy team. It's in fantasy football, and fantasy football only, where the game is not over until the fat lady sings.

Final Thought

I once had a lizard who liked to watch NASCAR. He was a stupid lizard.

p.s. Harold, if you're reading this...what happened?