Fantasy Football and Why It Stinks
You are sitting at your laptop, eyes glazed over from countless hours — no, days — studying fantasy advice columns, watching highlight videos of the New York Giants and convincing yourself that Daniel Jones is the next big thing.
I will never understand the appeal of fantasy sports. OK fine, I understand the appeal. The chance to pull one over on your friends, make yourself appear smart and perhaps even win a substantial sum of money. But how does one maintain that same intensity and commitment all season long?
The truth is fantasy teams take way too much work for way too little of a reward.
Don’t even get me started on fantasy football. Please. Football, aside from being insanely unpredictable, is insanely unpredictable. From bye weeks to freak injuries (Sam Darnold’s mononucleosis, anyone?), it can be hard to keep up, let alone name a perfect starting lineup every week. That’s not to mention players sitting out contracts, seemingly ever-changing rosters and inconsistent play.
Baseball Makes Me so Nostalgic and I Don’t Know Why
Alright, let me explain. In my history class recently, we’ve been watching a lot of baseball documentaries and movies like “Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio” and “The National.” Every time I leave class to walk home, I get this insane wave of nostalgia and a yearning for the good old days, a time when all that mattered was whether the home team won.
Of course, the World Series is also going on right now and I’ve been seeing coverage about that everywhere. How unfortunate it is that I am getting really into baseball right as the season is coming to an end? Tragic, I know.
I can’t help but feel the urge to recreate the plot of “The Sandlot.”
I even tried — and definitely failed — to illustrate this feeling in a recent tweet (no, this is not a plug for my Twitter, but feel free to hit that follow button nonetheless).
I’ve never been a huge baseball fan — soccer and basketball are much more my speed — but when I was younger I did attend the occasional Mets game back at the historic Shea Stadium. I remember the sweet smell of caramel popcorn, the ice cream sundaes served in those little plastic helmets, the sound of the ball cracking against the bat. Sign me up!
Oh, the Knicks
Insert “ah sh-t, here we go again” meme.
Yes, it’s me, your resident delusional Knicks fan. Even after we failed to win the draft lottery back in May and missed out on all the top free agents this summer, I had still not completely given up on this season. I mean, we started this season with a solid young squad — RJ Barrett is a stud, Frank Ntilikina had a promising FIBA World Cup and man, can Allonzo Trier score the ball.
But then the season started and we suffered three straight losses. We’re yet to get our first win this year. We still don’t have a locked-down rotation, our defense is among the worst in the league and we’ve already seen some players fall to injuries
It’s not all bad, though. I will stan Mitchell Robinson until the day I die. The man is a future All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year, mark my words. The aforementioned rookie sensation Barrett has been showing out. He’s only the second-youngest player to score over 21 points in his NBA debut (the first to do it was LeBron James). And Kevin Knox clearly has his shooting kicks on this year — the kid’s shooting 64% from deep so far this season!
Ha, you thought this was going to be a rant about the Knicks. Never.
Sure, they might make my heart hurt on the nights when Fizdale keeps our best perimeter chained to the bench while Kyrie Irving or Kemba Walker go wild for our Atlantic division rivals. But I will always root for these guys, and hey, even if we tank this season there’s a good chance we’ll win the lottery next year and draft LaMelo Ball! Dare I say it — but I think the worst days are over?
The Sports Girl is a weekly sports column that will feature a girl’s take on sports. Yes, a girl. Yes, on sports.
A version of this article appears in the Monday, Oct. 28, 2019, print edition. Email Bela Kirpalani at [email protected].
