So, I joined my first Fantasy Football league and I am the only girl out of 12 people. The draft was pretty exciting as I had the 4th pick – and I picked up Joseph Addai. Great pick, right? Well, that’s what I thought until last night when he got me less than 5 points! I know, it’s Week 1 and I’m sure things will turn around – but come on, 5 points! I had Jerious Norwood on the bench and he racked up close to 16 points! I should have gone with my intuition and started him. I’m sure if I start him next week and put Laurence Maroney on the bench he’ll play miserably. It’s a good thing I have Tony Romo – at least he’s a sure thing. Well, that’s what my husband thought about Tom Brady too – but we all know how that went down! I think it’s safe to say that there are thousands of people who aren’t real thrilled with their #1 overall QB pick right now!

Anyway, enough complaining because I still have the Minnesota Vikings on defense tonight and Javon Walker who could miraculously help me out (I’m not holding my breath for that one though). Next week should be better because Brandon Marshall is back from his suspension. Who knows, I might even have to give Felix Jones a shot – he did get 12 points on my bench last night!

Watching football is an entirely different experience for me now that I’m in a Fantasy League. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching football but I can’t say that I’ve ever started out with the first game at 1:15pm and watched every game that was available! On top of that, I was checking scores and play-by-plays on the computer of games that weren’t available. I never understood why people started researching players months in advance and why there were so many Fantasy Football magazines available in August – well, now I get it. Fantasy Football is for my husband what shoe shopping is for me. They look good in the store but you just never know how they’re going to be until you wear them out one night and stand on your feet for 6 hours straight.  Same thing with Fantasy Football – the players look good on paper or in magazines but you just never know what they’re going to do for you until you start them and see what happens. It’s just out of your control. No matter how good they look, if they don’t perform they aren’t worth it. So, with Week 1 under my belt I have to admit that I’ll be pulling out all of those Fantasy Football magazines my husband bought in the last month and spending some quality time checking out the stats of my line-up. Even if their performance is out of my control, at least I’ll be able to make much more educated decisions on who to start for Week 2.

The whole experience has me wondering if it really matters what pick you have in your draft because there just isn’t a guaranteed pick in this game. All it takes is a wrong hit in Week 1 and you’re star player is out for the season. It’s still early in the season and it’s tough to say whether J. Norwood and F. Jones will continue to put up high numbers but I think I just might have to give them a shot next week. I think what’s important is having some players on your bench who are consistent because you just never know when you’re “Tom Brady” takes a hit and shakes up your entire line-up!