FANTASY SCOPE: THE DOUBLE EDGED SWORD

by Stan, Ghosts of Wayne Fontes

I'd like to consider myself a marginal to fringe expert when it comes to Fantasy Football, but doesn't everybody? Seriously though, what's the difference between me telling you it's a good idea to start Randy Moss each week or hearing it from Eric Karabell or Brandon Funston. Well, I guess the difference is, I'm not a featured or published Fantasy columnist for a major news aggregate. However, unlike Karabell or Funston I can rest easy that my lady is an actual human being and doesn't cost $4.95 a month on the Bang-Bros network for a slam-cam.

Sorry for that little jab to the legions of fans who support those experts. Maybe I'm just jealous, because they write for Yahoo and ESPN and I write for The Ghosts and Epic Carnival (both hardly stink of Fantasy Expert). Moving on though, none of this means that I am not accredited enough to dole out a few Fantasy tips from time to time. And all things considered, disregard The Ghosts 0-3 mark in our own Bloggers Invitational League, we are 2-1 in the Epic Carnies League. So, with all that out of the way, I am ready to dissect a few major Fantasy dilemma's that most of us face today.

If you want to follow along, please do so. If you don't see where I'm going with this, go ahead and hang up the phone now. We all aboard? Good. There are several vital elements that go into setting your Fantasy roster. You know like what does Funston think? Or holy shit, I'm starting Brian Griese this week against the Lions, they have the worst secondary EVER. Or Yahoo and NFL.com won't give me a straight answer on whether or not Brian Westbrook is going to play this week.

Argh, it can be exhausting just getting things in order and then you've still got to deal with the actual games and watch your star "partially" tear his groin. Yet, the real dilemma occurs when the lines between Fantasy and Reality becomes blurred. In recent years I've been faced or challenged by friends who may not be as into Fantasy as I am, with a couple interesting topics.

1. Let's say you have your star RB going against your favorite team...who do you root for? How do you pull it off? Can you root simply for your RB to gain yards and score a TD, but what if it changes the outcome of the game? Do you want to be responsible for negative rooting and ultimately changing the course of the game?

Tough points all around.

2. Let's say you have money on the Patriots and they are playing the Bengals this week. However, you have Chad Johnson and Carson Palmer on your Fantasy team. Hmm, how do you work out those rooting allegiances? Does gambling take precedence over Fantasy Football?

I'll let you answer both questions. No comment from me.

Anyhow, both dilemmas are stiff and challenging, they can bring your morals under suspicion. However, there is a far greater dilemma that we as Fantasy Owners face each week. And it has nothing to do with rooting for your team or your wagers. It's the DOUBLE EDGED SWORD THEORY. And yes, I just made that up or stole it from something the catch phrase we've all probably heard before.

If you are like me, you manage close to 5 Fantasy Teams each week. It's a tough job, but I've gotta have hobbies that differentiate from my degenerate gambling ways. And because, I manage so many different teams, sometimes it's hard to align similar rosters. I try as best I can, but every now and then there is one player or match-up that messes everything up. Let me explain.

This past weekend the player of topic was Randy Moss. I was starting Randy Moss in what turned out to be a nail biter in a specific league. However, my opposition in another league was also starting Randy Moss. Shit, what do I do? I needed Moss to have a great game on the one hand, but on the other not so much. Do I root for the best, but expect the worst?

The end result as you could imagine was the split. And to be honest, this is a fairly common practice/problem. Let's hear it from the proponents for owning only one Fantasy team...come on let's hear it. Regardless, if you own numerous teams this is generally your #1 problem on a weekly basis. On the bright side, it's usually not always a feature player that is going to make or break your weekend.

It's usually a TE, Kicker, maybe a Defense or something minimal that won't haunt your dreams. Either way, when it comes down to a breakout game from one player that you own and face, it's a double-edged sword. Your powers of rooting are rendered useless, because you have no choice. Ah yes, but that is the life of owning multiple teams. And so, live and learn each week.

The decision is always in your hands. That's the life of Fantasy Football, it ain't exactly solving a nuclear crisis, but it can be a maddening and challenging proposition each week.