Thinking about quitting fantasy sports

On my way home from Waupaca the other day with Will and Charlie, I was listening to ESPN Radio, where the host was discussing with his guest whether or not people who play fantasy football are dorks. I don't think they are, obviously, but as the fantasy guy was arguing about all the merits of fantasy sports, which I have enjoyed playing for many years, I found myself thinking that it just isn't that fun for me anymore.

I'm thinking about quitting fantasy sports.

Which is hard to say. I've been playing fantasy sports for close to 20 years. Back in the day, my dad, brother and I played a primitive early form of fantasy football - Christian Okoye and Haywood Jeffires were studs on my first teams. Then I played with Burch, where we'd draft in Froehlich's basement and keep score by tabulating points from the box scores in Monday's paper. While in Fremont, with nothing better to do, I got into fantasy baseball, which emerged as my favorite fantasy sport to play. I've also dabbled in fantasy basketball and hockey, but don't play them any more.

Back in the day few things got me as excited as fantasy sports. I loved preparing for the draft, formulating a strategy, trying to find sleepers, etc. The drafts themselves were -- and still are -- so much fun, trash talking with your buddies, trying to beat them from the start. When my leagues started introducing a keeper component, even better -- you got to follow the same core group of guys from year to year, like a real team.

But the thrill isn't there for me anymore.

One obvious reason is that my performance has been mediocre at best. In the past few years I've managed to win a couple leagues, but just as often I've finished near the bottom (where two of my three baseball teams are soon to end up) or, worse yet, middle of the pack. The proliferation of fantasy magazines and websites eliminated what was my main advantage -- voracious reading and knowledge of the players.

Without drafting a superior team at the start of the season, you need to stay ahead of the curve with in-season adjustments, and I have not done particularly well there. I just don't have the drive needed to stay on top of things day after day like the best players do. With two kids, a wife, a more demanding job, and now two or three blogs that I enjoy writing, there's not much time for poring over Roto Times before bed. Other fantasy competitors are in similar situations, and they choose to stay on top of things; these guys finish ahead of me because they're working harder at it. Case in point: when I got back from Comic-Con, I noticed that Fernando Rodney had been picked up in all my leagues, and that one of my closers, Todd Jones, was placed on the DL several days before. Huh, would have been nice to find that out sooner.

Plus, it seems like every time I make a crucial decision, it's the wrong one, and whenever I forget to adjust my lineup I get burned. Case in point: in Schwab's keeper baseball league, an excellent competition, we get to keep eight guys from one year to the next, and after finishing a satisfying second last year I had 12-13 candidates. In several head-to-head decisions, I kept Travis Hafner, Aaron Harang, and Erik Bedard instead of Adrian Gonzalez, Ben Sheets, and Tim Lincecum.

Awful decisions, no? How about this one: Frank offered me Ryan Braun for Harang, and I turned it down. Another guy offered me Geovany Soto for Bedard, and I turned it down. And in Bedard's one good start this year, he was on my bench since he had missed his previous start with a mysterious ailment. Now when guys offer me trades I'm paralyzed, certain whether I accept or decline, the decision will make me look like an ass.

So about a month ago Corbett emailed me to sign up for fantasy football, and it took me a long time to do it because I am so freaking terrible at fantasy sports that I'd rather just buy my friends $50 worth of beer than giving a pro-rated portion of it to whoever ends up winning the league.

Even with all this self-loathing, it's still going to be hard to give up fantasy sports altogether. I love the drafts. Especially living where I do, and my child-imposed limited social life, getting together for drafts, either in-person or online, is a great way to keep friendships going.

So we'll see. Maybe in a few weeks I'll draft a killer football team and run the table. The thought of the year I drafted Peyton Manning in the second round, or when free agent pickup Dontrelle Willis lifted me to a title, remains fresh in my mind. The thrill of the chase and that one or two awesome moves are what keeps me coming back. Whether or not that thrill remains for me in 2009 is up in the air.