The Agony of Defeat

My hopes of winning the championship in my fantasy football league died last night. I lost by 2.5 points in the semifinal playoff game. Two and a half effing points!!

My opponent was my roommate's brother, Brian. All of my players had played on Sunday, while Brian still had Donovan McNabb and the Eagles defense going on Monday night. I had a somewhat comfortable 43.5 point lead. I thought it would MAYBE be enough to squeak by and get a win. I thought wrong.

Monday afternoon, my friend Andy sends me a text saying, "Are you nervous? Between McNabb and their defense against the Browns...he could get 44 points." Thanks for the encouragement. Yeah, I was nervous. I didn't know which Donovan McNabb would show up to play. He's been a complete train wreck a couple times this season. However, he was going against the Cleveland Browns (an absolute joke of a football team), so it wasn't out of the question for him to have a huge game. It's difficult to know what to expect from a quarterback who, up until 4 weeks ago, didn't know that an NFL game could end in a tie.

So the game got underway, and of course the Browns did me absolutely no favors. Donovan lit them up and the Eagles defense basically shut them down all game. Brian needed 44 points...he got 46. Needless to say, I was outraged. Sometimes ESPN adjusts the scores overnight in case there were any scoring errors during the game. So I crossed my fingers and hoped that some sort of miracle would happen overnight and I would get the victory. Riiiiight. I checked ESPN.com this morning and the score still read 112-109.5. I even refreshed the page a few times just to make sure. Still 112-109.5. Shit.

I can't completely blame it on the Monday night game though. Like a dumb ass, I decided to change kickers this week. Why?? Who the hell decides to change kickers?? I replaced David Akers with Nick Folk. Folk got me 2 points, while Akers sat on my bench with 12. That brilliant move cost me the game and a shot at the championship. Smooth...REAL smooth. (Sidebar: It would be nice if Marvin Harrison manned up and stopped playing like the washed up bum that he's become. Only 3.2 points against a winless Lions squad? Really? Even Troy Williamson thinks that's pathetic.)

So go ahead and mourn my loss with me. It's a sad day in the fantasy football community.