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.
© 2022 Michael T. Miyoshi
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