Posted by
Steve on Friday, December 22, 2006 1:54:46 PM
My sons and I started a fantasy football league a few years ago. My oldest son's wife joined to make 5 owners. We each manage two teams.
Each year the competition is fierce between all of us. We compare scores during games and call each other when we get ahead. We do have an established pattern of victories at the end of the season. I always have the first place team. I usually have one of the other three teams in the playoffs. My middle son always has two of the three lowest teams. My youngest son always has one team near the top and one near the bottom. My oldest son has his two teams near the top. His wife usually doesn't make the playoffs. I always lose in the first round of the playoffs.
Last year, the playoffs were my two teams playing my oldest son and his wife. I did my usual playoff swoon. My son's wife was the eventual winner. She has not let us live that down for the last year. Every time we get together for the last year, she somehow seems to mention that she won our fantasy league last year and is going to win i this year.
This year things were different. My middle son ended up just missing the playoffs. My youngest son and my oldest son's wife are playing for last place. The playoffs looked like usual. I had my two teams in the playoffs against my youngest son and my oldest son's wife (remember, we each have two teams). But, a miracle occurred, I won both games. My two teams are now playing for the championship.
I told the family that the Revie League trophy will now be where it belongs, in my den. It is home from its one year exile to my oldest son's house. The competition is all in good fun. Nobody gets angry. Nobody gets their feelings hurt. In my opinion, that is the way competition should be. Competition should be fun and exciting. But, competition should also be friendly.
Now, we just have to teach that to the NBA and NFL. Tempers have flared a little too much this past year. They should remember that it is a game.