Page 48 | MediocreMan

Fantasy Football Lesson · 31 December 2022

I am not somebody who thinks that there is a sign in everything, but I do believe that I can learn from anything. Including fantasy football.

Fantasy football is a fun thing to do with colleagues. We play our league just for bragging rights. Which does not mean that we are not serious about it. Quite the contrary. We like to trash talk and give each other digs about the latest win or loss. Or about the over- or under-performance of this or that player. Or about the playing or not playing of any given player on any given Sunday. (Which is the worst dig of all.)

Okay. We do not really do that much jibing or trash talking. We all have been working together and playing fantasy football together for so long that we just like to have something purely recreational to talk about. Something that does not really matter in the large scheme of things. Oh. And we like to have the bragging rights of the trophy at the end of the season.

To be sure, we all would like our names to be on that trophy at some point. Some of us are a little greedy and would like our names to be on it multiple times. Because in the end, winning it all and seeing your name on the trophy is what it is all about. Nobody remembers who won the regular season. Nobody remembers who came in second place. It is all about the trophy.

But that winning is not the lesson that I was thinking about when I started writing this piece. No. I am a little more cerebral than that. (At least sometimes.)

We tend to think that we cannot learn from history. But we can. At least individuals can. At least I can. (Even though recent fantasy roster changes seem to indicate the contrary.) And the lesson from fantasy football is that you need to look at the past to predict the future. You need to play that reliable player who is questionable for the week instead of the player who is unpredictable any week. Yes. Play the players with the hot hand. Yes. Play the reliable players. But do not bet on the unpredictable player. Look at the past to predict the future.

That is the fantasy lesson. Past performance is not a sure bet of future performance, but it is certainly an indicator. It is really the only indicator you can use. Even though it is not prophetic.

But there are past performances that can be true indicators and might even be considered prophetic. (Here comes the lesson.)

Consider the rise and fall of nations and regimes. Or even of individuals. Shakespeare and the Bible have said it over and over again. Pride goes before the fall. Pride goes before the fall. Over and over and over again we hear that pride goes before the fall. And yet we cannot see it in ourselves or in our world. The more we value self, the less we value others. The less we value others, the less we value civilization itself. And so we spiral down, down, down.

Yes. We should have a healthy self-esteem. But we should not go overboard. We should not make ourselves our own gods. For then we are doomed. Doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Doomed to bet on the spotty performance of an individual football player when the fantasy game (and season) is on the line. Doomed to write the same line again.

I hope that I do not value myself too much. I hope that I am not doomed to repeat the mistakes I have made before.

On the positive side, I hope that this new year brings a new perspective. I hope that it brings hope. And I hope that I remember my fantasy football mistakes. I hope that I will continue to look at the past to help me predict the future. And I hope that I put the players in the game that give me the best chance for a win. After all, a reliable player who is questionable for a certain game is certainly a better bet than an unreliable player who is certain to play. Usually.

I hope you have a Happy New Year full of less mistakes than the year before. And may your fantasy football team do better next fall. Just hopefully not better than mine.

Share on facebook

Comment

Amidst the Christmas Mirth · 24 December 2022

As we sit amidst the Christmas mirth
Let us not forget the dear Savior’s birth
The day when God the Son was born
The day we celebrate as Christmas morn.
Though the gifts we give are not like the gold
Or the frankincense or myrrh of old
We should still give like the wise men three
Everything we have to Thee.

We know we cannot out give You
Whether our gifts are many or few.
But we can love God and love others
We can call all, our sisters and brothers
Yes, we can answer the call from You
To keep the greatest commandments two.
And we can spread that Christmas cheer
Every day of the entire year.

For love is what this day is about
Like the angels, we should sing and shout
They came upon the Christmas morn
To the place where the King was born
They told the shepherds to go and see
What God had sent for you and me
They went to the place of Christ’s humble birth
On the day we cherish with Christmas mirth.

So the gifts we give to one another
To our dear sisters and our dear brothers
Should be the gift of love that only God brings
Should be the gift of which the angels sing
So let us not forget the day Christ was born
The day we celebrate as Christmas morn.
As we sit amidst all the Christmas mirth
Let us not forget the dear Savior’s birth.

Share on facebook

Comment

Saying, “Thanks” · 17 December 2022

Sometimes we just need to say, “Thank you.”

I started writing this blog post with the thought of needing a new reply to the greeting: “Have a nice day.” I used to always say, “Thanks. I will.” Which is a force of will thing. A choice. I choose to have a nice day. I will make it a nice day. The problem with that response is not the thought behind it though. The problem is that I have used it for too long.

Now, there is nothing wrong with having a set routine. We all have set routines in life. Or most of us do. And there is nothing wrong with them. Usually. But sometimes, you just need to shake things up a bit. Or tone them down. I am not sure which thing I have been trying to do with changing my response.

My new response to “Have a nice day,” has just been, “Thanks.” Oh sure, sometimes I say to myself, “I will,” but usually I just let the single word do its job. And that is good. Thanking people for greeting you is a good thing. One of the best and most polite things to do. Which is reason enough to just leave it at that. And so I do. Or at least I have been.

I think it is one of the most useful lessons on manners to just say thank you. We often think that demurring or deflecting is the thing to do when people compliment us, but just saying, “Thanks” or “Thank you” is always a great response. There is no need to say anything else. Not even a return compliment.

In fact, I can imagine a strange conversation of dueling compliments.

“That is such a beautiful sweater.”
“Why thank you. Yours is beautiful too. Just the perfect color.”
“Thanks. Now that you mention it, your whole outfit is just perfect.”
“Thanks. I love your new hairdo.”
“Thank you for noticing. I love those new shoes of yours too.”

And so on and so on. I know. Silly. But as silly as the fictional conversation sounds, we can sometimes go overboard on return compliments. You do not always need to return the compliment. You can just say, “Thank you.”

Now, I know it is a little different when greeting people. We do not always expect a hello, but we usually expect them to at least grunt back.

“Have a nice day.”
…
“What? Not even a grunt?”

Oh wait. I think that grunting thing is for responses for texts and other communications from your kids. Which by the way, sometimes you need to ask them for that minimum grunt. And it is funny when they actually give you just a grunt. Of course, spelling “grunt” on a phone as a reply text does take some work. Five whole letters.

Oops. I think I may have strayed from the topic at hand. Thanks for reminding me.

At any rate.

I hope that clears things up about greetings and thanks. Yes. You should respond when somebody greets you. No. You do not need to give return compliments. Yes. You should say thank you when somebody wishes you a great day. No. You do not need to say that yes, you will indeed choose to have a wonderful, fantastic, outstanding, great day. Yes. You should stay on topic when you write. No. I do not always do so.

I hope you have a great day. I know I will.