Drafty

Yesterday was the big draft for my fantasy football league. I have been in it a few years now, and I am only beginning to get the hang of the auction-based draft the league employs. It's a little more complicated than a standard draft where you can have the best available player at any moment. Instead, you have a budget of so much money and must compete for every player you want with a series of bids. The top bid wins each player.

One must remain calm and dispassionate, saving enough money to build a deep team, but not so much money that any is left over. I usually have a little money left on account of being overly caution with my money in between an early splurge and the point at which few good players are left. Like I said though, I have gotten a bit better, appreciating that one wants to have a little money left when others are broke and bargain players are out there to be had.

Deal Done

It's a harrowing experience sometimes to be in a fantasy football league. One of the more challenging things is to negotiate a trade. I tend to be rather risk adverse myself, which costs me all too often. There have been plenty of times in life where I was afraid to accept the risk and ended up losing more than I would have for fear of making a move. Those were really more significant events than a fantasy football trade, but the latter encapsulates things well enough.

It's lovely, of course, when the first offer someone makes is a fantastic one for you, but that is not too common. Sometimes you have to be the one to make the first move, and that is something I do rather seldom, but I appreciate the truth of it. I certainly would like to think that I was the one preying on someone else, rather than fearing that I was being victimized by any particular trade offer made to me. Perhaps that will be my next trade.

Time To Kill Time

As summer fades away, it's time again for fantasy football to get going again. I had played consistently in high school and college, but gave it up after a while. It got resuscitated in me recently, and this marks the third year in a row that I play with friends I have here in Los Angeles. I have had tolerable finishes, but not won. That is in keeping with how I ever did before, when I only ever came as close as third or fourth. Perhaps this year I will do better.

I'm lukewarm on the team I have assembled. The method of drafting players in this league is challenging, as you must bid on each player in the manner of an auction. Not only is it hard because of how you must assign value to each player, it is hard because the best players do not necessarily come up for bid all at the beginning. To draft well, you must be the master of your emotions and nerves, subjugating them both beneath solid reason. I struggle there.

Let's Hope Not

I was idly thinking about life in prison the other day. It had come about when I remembered a recent news story in which inmates were fed meat not graded for human consumption. It occurred to me that worse things might happen to someone in such a place, and off I went on a contemplative tear. I wondered just how I would get along in prison. I can't do more than speculate, given that my knowledge of the place is based on what I assume to be largely inaccurate depictions in media.

People talk of unspeakable things that happen to the men in prison, but I don't know about that. There must be some truth in it, but such things are inevitably exaggerated for the sake of sensationalism. In any case, I doubt whether I would be able to get by on strength or brutality. I think it's also unlikely that I would be able to get along on my wits and general likability, as we've seen in prison films such as "The Shawshank Redemption".

A Fantasy Parsed

I was watching one of those very gadget-oriented films the other night when I was called away to the urgent business of visiting a bar with friends. After closing time, I returned to the movie with a rather altered state of consciousness, and started thinking in practical terms about what I would do with such a gadget. I used to fantasize about having a proton pack, a light saber and all the other things, but somehow the fantasies remained couched in the reality of the film, never becoming integrated into my own reality. It's quite a different thing when you do that.

For the sake of argument, let's say it was a laser gun that I had. The fun fantasy would be brandishing it all over town and firing it willy-nilly at any and all targets of opportunity. I enjoy thinking that it would go that way for a minute or two, then I start getting realistic. Laser gun or not, there are laws. I would probably have to go through a 'cooling off' period before even acquiring one, and then I would probably have to get a concealed carry license, not that this would guarantee my ability to carry the laser into private businesses. Do you see how this is getting less and less fun in practice?