asam2k2

So it's mid October and I am in complete foreign obsolete territory. In some swanky upscale apartment in the City and my buddy invited me to join his Fantasy Hockey League. I am both excited and nervous. Excited in which I could delve my personal experience of Fantasy domination to complete strangers, Nervous because there is 200 dollars riding on this and the winner will walk away with about 2 Grand and change.

Upon meeting everyone I've noticed that their are different species of fantasy players. They are as follows:

The Master - someone like me who religiously will check up on their stats and probably do more than the average number of waiver transactions throughout the course of the season (i'm up to 68 this season). someone who brought their own draft cheat sheets and hockey magazines with them. also sporting the jersey of their favorite team (NY Rangers - Brian Leetch throwback). 

The Noobie - this person is completely impervious to fantasy sports, even hockey in general. he just sought it as a good time to hang out and drink beers.  he is often asking for guidance about who to select next, which players are good, who are the hot rookies, when he should draft a goalie, etc. etc. his questioning gets progressively worse with each Heineken he engulfs through the ongoing rounds.

The Jerk - this guys talks louder than his this fantasy team will project him to be. after every pick he moans "aw man what a steal", or "aw man i can't believe you guys didn't see him". needless to say his team is flirting in the middle of the table, and since we are in a points league he will religiously complain about the settings.

The Casual Fan - these are the worst. they promptly show up to the draft, anticipating a new fresh start for fantasy salvation. after a week into the season it was like he was never there at the live draft. his team remains unchanged and red bold text of IR is everywhere on his teams page. Either he forgot he put his hard earned money into it, forgot his ID and PW for Yahoo!, or just simply jumped off a cliff remains a mystery. But you can thank him for collecting his money at the end.

Needless to say after a dozen beers and hours later the battle is over with. I am content with my team and am in shock of some of the moves made (Chris Drury taken SECOND overall?!) So in conclusion if you are a diehard fantasy fan and want to have a good time while you draft instead of sitting in your dark room with  the light of the tv glowing in your face, listening to depressing music while drinking warm beer, I highly recommend live drafting with your buddies. Just bring ample Beer and Pretzels with you and have a good time!