i used to love h.i.m. i used to love fantasy football. i was one of the first kids i knew who played fantasy sports. my mondays were often spent in the school library perusing the box scores from the night before. that's right, i played fantasy sports before the internet. shocking, i know. i even took the stats of every team in the league by hand. and then i compiled reports for each week. pen and paper baby.

but now, now i've been outfoxed and over-flummoxed by this new era of fantasy sports. i feel like doyle brunson or johnny chan. i know i'm the best fantasy sports guy in my area -- logically and knowledgeably speaking.but somehow people who'd been doing this for just a year or two are kicking my ass. fantasy football has gone the way of texas hold'em poker: any joker can -- and will -- win. it's disgusting.

i like games that have, at most, a smidgen bit of luck involved. chess and go are games of tactics and pure skill. it's hard to "luck" your way into consistently winning at chess. a game with perfect information on both sides and no random element is a great game indeed. that's why chess remains my favorite game.

on the other hand, it's exciting to play games like poker, blackjack, and fantasy football because of the gambling element. you can reduce your risk but there's always some hope that even when the odds are down, you can still pull through in the clutch. eternal hope, that's the way poker, blackjack, and fantasy football reel you in. you can tell that this is the addiction point, when you hear the improbable war stories that participants regale each other with on a daily basis. "one year, i was down forty pts and then sterling sharpe had four touchdowns on monday night and i won by one!"

nowadays, fantasy football is a total crapshoot. it's normal for 50% of the top players from one season to the next fall out of the top ranks, but lately, it's getting ridiculous. there are no superstars anymore. even the old standbys can suck it up big time. when your carefully crafted team is getting beat by a benchful of rookies and waiver wire wonders, it's frustrating. the real nfl is all about parity and apparently that trickle down economy is now affecting me at my place of work. anyone with a computer, an internet connection, and a two sided coin can win at fantasy football. anyone except a true master of the art, apparently.

this is ridiculous. i hate this game.