National Fantasy League (NFL) Season Kicks Off

The National Football League kicks off with its first game of the regular season this evening when the Baltimore Ravens visit the Denver Broncos in a much anticipated rematch of last year’s penultimate game, the AFC championship. It could well be a preview of a coming postseason match this year as well, but to myself and millions of fantasy football team owners the outcome of the game has little meaning. It’s not how the teams fare do but how many fantasy points our individual players can rack up along the way.

Tonight I won’t be routing for either team, I’ll be routing for Ray Rice, a running back who carried me to my league’s championship last year and I was fortunate enough to draft late in the first round two weeks ago.  I don’t care how the Ravens do, I just want them to get Ray the ball, have him rack up the yards and hopefully score a touchdown or two or even three. Hey, why not, it's fantasy after all?

Speaking of touchdowns, I’ve also got Demaryius Thomas on my roster, the prolific wide receiver for the Broncos who had a breakout season last year with Peyton Manning throwing him the ball, scoring 10 touchdowns among his 94 catches along the way to amassing a whopping 1434 yards. So tonight is one of those rare games where it doesn’t matter which team has the ball, I’ve got very good opportunities to score fantasy points.  This doesn’t make me a football fan it makes me a fantasy fan and I could easily be glued to every snap.

Tonight really is a big game for the National Football League, but admittedly I’m more a fan of the other NFL, the fantasy one. However when it comes to my own hometown San Francisco 49er team I always draw the line. This weekend is a perfect example, when the 49ers are playing Green Bay and I could play my first string quarterback Aaron Rodgers against my Niners.  Rodgers happens to be the highest rated QB in the fantasy league. Instead I’m playing my second stringer Andrew Luck who is taking on a typically porous Oakland Raider defense. If Luck were playing against the 49ers and Rodgers against the Raiders the call of playing Luck vs. Rodgers would be absolutely agonizing for me, but as it stands I feel good about choosing Luck so I can route for my fantasy QB and my favorite actual team, the 49ers who I grew up watching.

Therein lies the ultimate struggle ahead for every NFL team owner. When to play someone against your favorite actual team(s)? To whom do you owe your alliance? Make no mistake, the players and the other NFL don’t care how your NLF team does, so why should you care about theirs?

When I was 7 years old Santa gave me a 49er helmet and shoulder pads for Christmas. Growing up I was a member of the Berkeley Farms Junior Minor 49er Club, and used to get game tickets for free. We sat in a section of Candlestick that years later was closed because the view obstruction was so bad. It didn’t matter because we had the run of the stadium in the mid to late 70’s when the team stunk. There were more empty seats than full, at least by half time, and we snuck over to just about any seat we wanted including a memorable game in a luxury box. To a 12 year old boy that was the ultimate score, watching your favorite team from the best seats in the house. The next weekend my best friends and I tried to gain access to the same box and were denied.

With those memories ingrained in my DNA I’m as qualified as anyone to call myself a member of the Forty Niner Faithful. While being Fantasy Faithful has a certain ring to it, there is a certain hollow, gong-like quality to that Fantasy ring. Would I have traded my Fantasy championship last season for another 49er Super Bowl victory? In a heartbeat.