Fantasy Draft Gone Wild

Last night was the most bizarre fantasy draft I've ever been a part of. I'm in two fantasy football leagues this year. The first draft was scheduled for 10:00 last night. So at 9:45 I get on the computer (an Apple) to log on at the league home page and to launch the draft room. As that window opens I see that some of the guys are already chatting it up. As I type a brief hello my spinning disc starts spinning on the Mac and then a message comes up that basically tells me that my computer doesn't like the software that the chat room requires.

Minor setback. I'll just pull out my trusty Dell notebook pc and use it. Problem is it won't log onto to my wireless. So I go into the other room and try to hardwire it into the modem. Won't work that way either. Now I'm starting to panic. 9:53. Seven minutes until the draft starts.

What to do? Aha! My neighbor's wireless is unprotected so I can piggy-back on his wireless for a couple of hours to get this draft knocked out.

Great, I'm in. Whew! Close call. 9:57. Time to greet everyone. I type in my greeting. Hit enter. Wait...wait...wait...no greeting pops us in the chat room with the guys....WHAT ON EARTH? My neighbor's signal has gone weak! Oh, no! Now I'm toast! No back up! 9:59.

I spring back into the living room to the Mac. I can still see the chat room, I just can't chat or make my picks. Because we chose to live in a half Mac / half pc world, I'm destined to just watch the draft without being able to participate. The draft has started.

Larry Johnson goes first. Figures. Next goes Shawn Alexander. Then LT...followed by Tiki Barber, Stephen Jackson, (man these guys aren't wasting any clock, I've never seen everyone pick so fast!)... Peyton Manning...my pick is up next...good thing I pre-ranked them...Clinton Portis. Portis, don't remember having him that high, but it's not like I had the third pick...Whoaa, I'm up again...R. Droughns...this draft is flying...these guys mean business. What am I doing in this league? These guys are pros! Look how fast they are picking!

Wait a minute...What is this? Suddenly the chat room is coming alive with, "I didn't mean to pick him!" and "What's going on here?!!" and "This thing's messed up!"

LOL. The picks keep flying..."Vlad the Impaler: Reggie Bush (RB-NO)"..."G Force: S. Moss (WR-WAS)....Mayhem! It's the totally automated draft by MSN! LOL! Everyone's in the same boat as me...all they can do is watch the draft go by...make that, fly by! Curses are flying also, but quickly get translated into accceptable curse words in the chat room, like "Darn" and "Rats" and "stinks" ...I'm laughing so loud I'm afraid I'm going to wake my whole family. Laughing because it's funny to watch it unfold in a chat room, and my screwed up computer situation is now moot.

Fortunately, anger quickly is overtaken by humor. Someone says that they just drafted Dan Marino. Tony's Tigers offers Tiger Woods for a QB.

What to do now? Restart it? Is that possible? Switch to a Yahoo league?

Thus begins the inaugural season of the Tim Ellsworth Fantasy Football League.

Bye Bye Fox...hello Yahoo!

And in bed by 11:00. Sweet.