Are Your Ready for Some Football?

As much as I have always loved football, I never really got into the whole "fantasy football" thing. Why? I think maybe it seemed too much work, and watching football has always been a major form of Gerry Relaxation. Plus the fact players and coaches get paid millions of dollars to plan, draft, train and play the games. In fantasy football, you get zilch.

This year, that changed. My son, Brandon -- the second year law student at the "U" (University of Miami) formed a fantasy league and asked me to join. I couldn't very well say no, right?

So here I am, Mr. Fantasy Football, managing a team I've dubbed the "Palm Beach Roughnecks," one of eight teams in the "Hurricane Law League" on Yahoo Sports. And I have to admit, it's both fun and exasperating. Fun of course when I win; exasperating when I lose.

Draft day was exciting, let me tell you. I had the first pick! So I grabbed running back Chris Johnson, the league-leading rusher from a season ago with the Titans. My pick for quarterback was Aaron Rodgers, the Packers wunderkind . Other big names followed: Donald Driver, Wes Welker, Larry Fitzgerald, Marion Barber, Eli Manning. The Roughnecks were definitely ready for some football!

I had a great start -- two wins in a row. I was leading the league! Hey, how hard can it be, right?

But it's all gone downhill since then (kind of like the Cowboys' season). My first loss came in week three against, wouldn't you know it, Brandon's team, "Tattooed Barristers." Then came week four, which was a major heart-breaker. I was up against Team Ray Finkle. Team Ray beat me -- get this -- by .52 points! My guys put up 83.04 against their 83.56. Does anybody really know how they score these games? I demand a recount!

This week my guys were all down from week four fiasco and we got blown out by the Flacco Seagulls, 111.04 to 83.04. So  had to kick some serious butt in the locker room, ripping off the "win one for the Gipper" speech.

Even my eternally supportive spouse, Moolie, is taking some shots at me in her blog, Barker Howl:


"Listen, Gaz is all about his Fantasy Football team. Um, I think his team may be tanking, but don't tell him I said so."
 
Et tu, Moolie??

Sunday we face the only female-managed team in our league, the fearsomely-named "Down Set HUGS." We are both coming in at 2-3 so I see this as a "must win." Not because I'm worried about falling to 2-4. If I seriously lose to "Down Set Hugs" I won't be able to take all the heat I''ll get from those guys at ESPN.

But I will admit I'm having fun. Just one thing seems to be missing from making it a total football experience: The cheerleaders.