The Bears weren't the only team Rex Grossman torpedoed Monday night. They may have been able to survive his four interceptions and two fumbles, but those fantasy football teams that own him probably were not so lucky. In fact, the faces of his fantasy owners watching Monday Night Football would have made Edvard Munch proud.
Now I dislike the Bears, and therefore did not have much interest in Monday's game, but the fact that I own Neil Rackers and Anquan Boldin in one of my leagues gave me reason to watch (and cringe at the end). Some may say fantasy football is hurting the NFL, but really, it just makes it a lot more interesting. Casual fans can have players to root for, and rabid fans have more stake in games they may not have cared about at all.
However, there is one rule to playing fantasy football. Do not, by any means or stretch of the imagination, root for your own team to lose in favor of your fantasy team, unless the game is completely and utterly out of hand. If your loyalty is that fleeting, perhaps you should find a new team to cheer for.
For example, my Bear-fan roommate was winning by four points heading into Monday night. He had Rex Grossman, Bernard Berrian (Chicago's top receiver) and Robbie Gould (Chicago's kicker) while his opponent only had Neil Rackers (Arizona's kicker) still to play. In fantasy world, that is what we call a slam dunk, a gimme or a Raiders loss. But the Bears had other plans, as Grossman lost points and Rackers got the win.
Some would be despondent over such a grand choke-job, but his Bears ended up winning, so all was right with the world.
If a casual fan were to play in their first fantasy football league this season, they could not have picked a better, more topsy-turvy year to play in. Although Donovan McNabb usually puts up big numbers, nobody could have guessed he would easily have more fantasy points than anyone else. Not to mention the fact that Alex Smith, Rex Grossman and Jon Kitna are all in the top 10 in total points. And while everyone knew the Chicago defense would be fantastic, nobody would predict they'd have the second most points of any player or entity. That is absolutely ridiculous.
And in the future, if the chance comes up to have a live draft, take it. Nothing is better than getting a bunch of friends together, trash talking everyone's picks and discussing the futility of drafting any Oakland players. It is a few hours well spent.
So the next time Houston or Oakland comes up on one of your players' schedules, smile to yourself and realize how great fantasy football is.
If you would like to comfort Zach because he has to play Joey Harrington as his quarterback this week, e-mail him at zlkukkonen@dailycardinal.com. You could also comfort him because the Packers play again this week.
