For those who spend sufficient time in Las Vegas, you’ll ultimately stumble upon someone well-known, however I didn’t count on it to occur throughout a high-roller fantasy soccer draft. That’s the place I met Michael Aday, a.okay.a. Meat Loaf, in 2004.
Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” was a staple of the traditional rock stations I listened to whereas rising up, however many years later, I used to be rather more impressed with the musician’s flip as Bob Paulson in David Fincher’s movie “Struggle Membership.”
Fantasy sports activities mix just a little ability with numerous luck. House owners draft groups of precise gamers. The statistics these gamers accumulate throughout the season are transformed into factors that depend towards your staff. One level per catch, six factors for a landing, and so on. The staff with essentially the most factors wins.
My brother, Emmett, is a fantasy sports activities guru who has cashed extra checks enjoying fantasy sports activities than I ever will as a author. (Nevertheless, in 1999 I gained $5,000 in a fantasy basketball playoff problem and that was all ability, child.) When my brother and I break up the price of a staff, I'm a co-manager in title solely. He’s the brains of the operation and I’m the educated cheerleader.
The Predominant Occasion in Las Vegas value $1,250 to enter, with a grand prize of $100,000. In fantasy sports activities, as in playing, you need to danger cash to generate profits. There have been 224 groups divided into 16 leagues. As luck would have it, our staff was in the identical league as Meat Loaf’s staff, which was the primary and solely time that assertion was true.
There’s all the time a buzz within the Bellagio, but it surely went up a notch when Meat Loaf entered the draft corridor. He was an enormous, hulking man in a black soccer jersey. He appeared like Meat Loaf, however Meat Loaf matches the profile of numerous fantasy sports activities geeks.
This was not, the organizer warned us, Meat Loaf’s first foray into fantasy sports activities. He had entered the Predominant Occasion earlier than and held his personal. The legend sat alone and he drafted his personal staff.
That night time our staff names had been posted on the web site. Our title was Yiz Fancy Pants, a line of dialog from the film “Miller’s Crossing.” Meat Loaf’s was Spin Cycle Agitators.
Through the fantasy season, we engaged in just a little trash speaking through the league’s chat perform, however Meat Loaf didn’t take the bait. On the finish of the competition it got here all the way down to the Spin Cycle Agitators vs. Yiz Fancy Pants in a head-to-head, win-or-go-home battle. The winner would advance to the playoffs, and the loser wouldn't.
Issues weren't trying good for Yiz Fancy Pants. We limped into the final sport of the fantasy season — a “Monday Evening Soccer” contest between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks. Meat Loaf had Jason Witten, the tight finish, in his second season with the Cowboys. We had an injury-depleted large receiver corps. So my brother picked up Jerry Rice from the waiver wire. Sure, that Jerry Rice.
After an unimaginable profession with the San Francisco 49ers wherein he gained three Tremendous Bowls, Rice did the unthinkable and went to the Raiders. By 2004, the bloom was off the rose, and 6 video games into the season he was traded to Seattle, the place he had a reasonably depressing 12 months. However my brother had observed that within the earlier two weeks his targets had gone up and he’d caught a landing cross. So we bought him.
It was a superb transfer. Going into the fourth quarter, Rice had 5 catches, 77 yards and a landing on which he additionally set the NFL file for mixed web yards. However Witten had six catches, and we had been nonetheless shedding.
Then the inconceivable occurred. Down 12 factors, Seattle scored three touchdowns to take the lead with 2:45 to go. However in some way Dallas managed to attain two touchdowns. With lower than 30 seconds left, Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck hit Rice for 28 yards, a play that was value 3.8 factors for our fantasy staff, sufficient to allow us to squeak previous Meat Loaf and advance to the playoffs.
The Seahawks misplaced, however Jerry Rice completed the night time with eight catches, 145 yards and a landing. He was 42 years previous.
Alas, that was it for Yiz Fancy Pants. Though we completed within the black, we didn’t money any huge checks. Meat Loaf had the multiplatinum data and the film profession. We had just a little little bit of soccer glory. Because the sensible man as soon as mentioned, “Two out of three ain’t unhealthy.”
Jim Ruland is the writer of “Company Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Data,” which will probably be printed in April.
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