Why do I do this to myself?

I am part of a fantasy football league with a handful of people from various parts of the world. We all work for the same company so it can be fun to have a little rivalry amongst us. In addition to that, I have begun hosting Tuesday Morning Football, where, due to the time zones between here and the US, between 7 and roughly 10 am on Tuesdays we get together and watch the Monday Night Football game live. It is intended to be a bonding experience for us boys as we sit and watch the game and eat breakfast together, etc.

This week I have begun asking myself whether this is such a good idea or not. You see, I am *somewhat* competitive and if I or my opponents have players from our fantasy league playing in the Monday Night game, it is hard for me to be calm, cool and collected about it. As they do well, my stress level decreases, but when those players are not doing well, I get amped up like nobody’s business.

This week was a perfect example. My chosen QB was coming back after a 4 week injury-induced break, and was expected to do mostly well. Better than my other QBs in fact, which is why I chose him. One of my benched QBs scored an amazing 36 points this weekend, equaling a franchise record of 5 TDs thrown in one game, so I knew my chosen guy had better do well so I did not regret choosing him. In the first roughly 2 minutes he had thrown and interception and the opposing team had scored a touchdown shortly thereafter. Not a good way to begin.

It did not get any better before half time. He had thrown three interceptions and fumbled once, resulting in a negative 7 points. The real clincher was that I had a 3 point lead going into that game, and had he done nothing at all I would have won. Now, he was losing my matchup for me. Aaargh!!

The second half got much better when he threw 3 TDs and racked up some more yardage, giving me in the end a respectable 15 points to the positive and ensuring my win in my matchup.

But why do I torment myself this way? Maybe the best thing is to simply let the games go on and only check the scores later. That way my blood pressure need not go up for 3 hours at a time, and I don’t get so amped up about it. But that would not be nearly as much fun, would it? So I guess the key is to find a way to enjoy the game and the fellowship with the guys, but not take the fantasy part so seriously. Yeah, right. Like that is going to work. Good thing the season is only so long. My struggle will be over in a few weeks, and life will go back to normal.