My life is in your hands, Noah Fant.
Disclaimer: I think it would only be right to explain why I’ve put so much pressure on the Denver Broncos second-year tight end out of Iowa. Fant is the starting tight end on my fantasy football team and if he doesn’t ball out on Monday night against the Titans, I will fall to 0-1 on the season.
Fant and I have never met or been in the same room, but I will be his number one fan tonight.
One of the most fun aspects about the NFL season is playing fantasy football. Which means a lot coming from me since this is the first year I’ve ever played it. I was convinced by some other writer friends to join, and I may be in for a long season.
Currently, I’m down 31.5 points in my first game and to be honest, it’s weird caring about players or teams I’ve never watched. I can understand the rush the players get when betting on sports or playing fantasy football.
Still, it was my choice to attach myself to the outcome of tonight’s game. I can’t be upset if Fant’s performance isn’t good enough for me to pull off a comeback. I can only be appreciative of the effort he’ll give.
Even though I believe my thoughts on the matter to be very mature, I can’t lie, it took my a few days to realize football players couldn’t care less about my fantasy football team.
On Thursday, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman had one catch for six yards in the Chiefs’ season opening win against the Texans. Hardman’s performance earned a whopping 1.6 points for my team.
As you can probably imagine, I was not too impressed with Mr. Hardman’s performance. The words “scrub” and “pointless” might have come out a few times. But in the midst of my frustration I had an epiphany.
Mecole Hardman doesn’t care about my fantasy football team.
For all I know, Hardman is ecstatic because his team won and he made hundreds of thousands of dollars doing it. So what does that make me?
A hater.
Yes, I’ve done it again. You probably thought this was just a column about fantasy football, but no, there is still a lesson to be taught at the end of the day.
In life there will be people who root for and against your success. And sometimes the people who are rooting for you really are only there because they want to use your success to prop up themselves. Had Hardman had a great game, would I have been smarter for picking him?
No. So yeah, I won’t be starting Hardman next week, but no hard feelings.
J.L. Kirven is a senior studying journalism at Ohio University. He also serves as Co-Sports Editor of The Post. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let J.L. know by emailing him at jk810916@ohio.edu.
