DFFL, HHFFL, ??FFL

This will be the first year I haven't played fantasy football since 1993. (You may well ask how I can remember when I started playing fantasy football. We stopped at an outlet mall somewhere around Mammoth Cave, KY, on the way home from a youth choir tour... and in the Book Warehouse was a couple of out-of-date books on fantasy football. One of my youth, Todd "Webcatchers" Lewis, & I glommed onto those books and started what we called the DFFL - Dalewood Fantasy Football League - with 7 teams in the fall of '93.)

I ran the league myself, using newspaper box scores and a spreadsheet I'd cobbled together in ClarisWorks for a couple of years. I even published a weekly league newsletter. And we had the Ironman Trophy... made out of a defunct clothes iron and the base from a Sunday School attendance trophy I "borrowed" from the church's trophy case.

My team was named the Myx'd Nuts... the "Myx" part was a tribute to a record label I particularly enjoyed (Scott Blackwell's Myx Records... which put out some funky early 90's dance grooves). Everyone should check out their Myx'd Christmas record - I played it to death every Christmas at tc@hh.

And speaking of tc@hh, around the time we started the church @ hickory hollow, Jeff "Knicknacks" Smith took over running the league... and the name changed to HHFFL (Hickory Hollow blah blah blah). Jeff has done a far better job of running the thing than I ever did... my helmet's off to him.

They're considering a new name this year - which is as it should be. With only Todd & Jeff left from the original seven teams, it's a whole new ball game (so to speak).

Somewhere along the way I managed to win three league Super Bowls... including one year where I squeaked into the playoffs yet managed to beat the (on-paper) better team. Ah, good memories.

The transition here to Fresno was tough on the Myx'd Nuts... we've had two lousy seasons, due in part to getting used to watching NFL football on West Coast time. On Central time, the first game starts at noon (right as church lets out), with halftime of the second game happening just in time for me to watch the highlights before heading back to church or whatever. The ESPN Sunday night game comes on late enough to watch after your Sunday evening activities. But here on the Left Coast, the first game starts at 10 am (while I'm still putting the finishing touches on my message) and the second game is at 1 pm, cutting into time with the boys. We don't get cable here, so no ESPN games for me.

But that's not really what's closing the books on the Myx'd Nuts. My time is becoming more precious this year, what having a second son, hiring a worship & youth pastor at NewLife, running a capital campaign, and just being a husband, pastor & dad. I don't have the time to do the appropriate research or keep up with the teams the way I used to... and it's not much fun to play if you don't work to be competitive.

So this year I'll be watching NFL games without trying to read the passing & rushing leader ticker at the bottom of the screen - and I can go back to rooting for teams I like (go, Titans!) without secretly wishing they wouldn't score again against my fantasy defense.

And I'll be rooting for Jeff & Todd, my long-time nemesis', to show what the "old men" in the league (whatever it's named) are made of!