Fantasy and Team Loyalty

I was recently out at a sports bar with my buddy "Stan the Packer Fan," when a couple things happened that made me realize the loyalties we have in sports and fantasy sports and how they sometimes relate to life.

Stan was depressed and elated watching Brett Favre look sharp for the Jets. After a few shots he proclaimed "Screw the Pack, I'm a Jets fan now!" This really alarmed me as a lifelong Raiders fan that could never root for another team.

I explained to him that when Marcus Allen became a Chief my loyalties stayed with my team—even though I wore 32 when I played, and Marcus was my favorite player. I still loved Marcus, but he was now the enemy.

The night ended and I really didn't give it much thought, until I found out I had somehow been lucky enough to get the first pick in my main fantasy league. I was lucky enough to have L.T. in 2006 and A.P. in 2007, so I have a lot of love for both of those guys as far as fantasy goes.

The rub is, being a Raiders fan I would much rather see AP light it up than to see L.T. run for his usual 200 against my Raiders. So you know who I'm taking? I'm taking LT!

AP is the younger sexier version of L.T. but can you really count on him for the long haul? He reminds he of the hottest girl at the bar who you know you're going to be buying drinks all night with no guarantee of anything. It could be your best night ever or it could be your worst, while L.T. is that 2:00 am booty call you can always count on!

I told this to my buddy Kelly who has the second pick in our draft and he smiled and said I'm ready to start buying some drinks! Of course, if you saw Kelly's wife you would know he's rolled the dice on the hot chick and won before so he probably likes his chances.

The moral of the story though is love your team in reality, but don't be afraid to go against it in fantasy. If you lose one or the other at least you'll have something to pick you up, but if you won't take a guy because he plays against your team you will have nothing but misery when he goes out there Sunday and kills you twice!