The Origins

I still have such vivid memories of my first season playing fantasy football. It was 2011, a heartbreaking year of sports, and I was 14 years old. Interestingly enough, I believe I decided to try out fantasy because of a commercial I saw on TV. I joined a random NFL.com league and I was instantly hooked. The year prior, me and my brother would make predictions on who would win each NFL game every week. Fantasy football took this to the next level and I loved it. The aspect of having a personal connection to the players that you draft and believe in is what has always made fantasy so engaging for me. In my first ever fantasy draft I drafted Peyton Manning, who was my favourite player at the time. I was hyped until I realized he wasn't going to play at all that season due to neck surgery he had back in May 2011. Classic rookie mistake right. The beautiful thing about this mistake was that it lead to me picking up rookie Cam Newton before the season started. This became the pickup of the year for me all thanks to my poor draft mistake. Cam ran for 706 rushing yards and 14 TDs along with 4051 passing yards and another 21 TDs through the air as a rookie QB. Because of the incredible rushing production, that season currently ranks as the 24th greatest fantasy season ever by a QB. Just a friendly reminder that a rushing QB can sooth a fantasy soul like nothing else as Cam did throw for 17 INTs that year.

The reason I bring up this Cam Newton story is because it perfectly illustrates how invested you can suddenly become in a player and the beautiful journey they can take you on throughout the season. Unfortunately this fairytale story didn't have a typical fairytale ending.

Cam helped lead my team to my first finals appearance with of course many more to come. However, I made two crucial start/sit mistakes that led to my demise. The opportunity to experience the euphoria of winning a championship slipped through my fingers. I started Plaxico Burress and Nate Washington while subsequently benching Julio Jones and Victor Cruz. 10 years later and it still stings. I do know that I started Plaxico because he was playing his former team The New York Football Giants which created the revenge game narrative that I fed into. I still remember watching this game and experiencing the pain of watching Victor Cruz, who I benched, score a 99 yard TD. Absolute pain. Burress finished with a mere 3 receptions for 34 yards and I was heartbroken. In the two games prior to this one, Burress had a combined 1 reception for 9 yards and a TD. Yet, I allowed a narrative to influence my decision to start him over Cruz who was having a breakout season. In 2011, Nate Washington recorded his only 1000 yard season. At the time he felt more trustworthy than the breakout rookie Julio Jones. However, Julio finished that week with 128 yards and 1 TD while Washington had just 71 yards.

The beautiful thing about fantasy is that it is a constant learning process where mistakes and unlucky situations motivate you to get better every year. Cruz and Julio were very young and new names that I wasn't used to. I quickly learned the hard way that rookies can be volatile while also possessing the ability to go off and win you a championship. It's a good time reminiscing about the old fantasy days and realizing how quickly names come and go. It forces you to appreciate talent while it's here.

Being able to create a league with all my friends, who I grew up with, and battle it out year after year is the core reason why fantasy means so much to me. My league of record has been going strong for 9 years with the big 10 year anniversary coming up. Fantasy is a yearly tradition that creates a competitive atmosphere between friends where supreme bragging rights are coveted by all. Throughout the years people who are subject to hearing myself and others talk about fantasy non-stop don't understand that it is simply more than a game. Everyone has their own life yet fantasy is that constant pastime that creates such a unique bond between a group of friends. I remember watching NFL Network one day and on the show they had members of a very old fantasy league come and talk about the history of their league and fantasy. I can't quite remember the details but their league had been around for at least 40 years with some of the members being 60+ years old. I remember when they showed how many championships each guy had won. One would have 10 and another would have 8. I was blown away by the thought of how long these guys had been competing against one another year after year. I immediately wanted the same thing for our league and I could envision us battling it out when we were old and retired. I wonder if the guys in that league would still be that close after all those years if not for fantasy. I tend to think not.

You better believe The Big O is coming for the crown this season.

Yours Truly,

The Big O