You know what I do precious little of? Watch sports.
Here’s what I do watch, somewhat regularly: A game 7 in any sport here and there, baseball when the Mets are officially exciting — not just regular exciting — and NFL football when I can, mostly the night games, rarely a full Sunday afternoon.
As for everything else? Pretty much never.
I don’t believe I’ve watched a single consecutive minute of the NBA since Michael Jordan played. The first time. Which is interesting, because I’ve bet on the NBA pretty much every single day it’s been in action for the last 10 years.
Same with baseball. Same with football.
You know what else I’ve never watched? NASCAR or MMA. Bet on both of those every weekend they’re running.
Golf? I mean, who can watch golf? But sure, I’m betting there as well.
Bottom line? I don’t really like sports. I mean, sure, I loved — loved, loved, loved, loved — sports when I was a kid. Basically, from age 7 to age 14, all I cared about was sports.
I was that kid, and I mean it. I had an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and football, and a … well, somewhat-lesser encyclopedic knowledge of basketball and hockey. I also would have told you who the top 10 middleweight contenders were. I was all-in, all-day, all-the-time sports.
Then I discovered booze, weed, and women, and that was that. (I was wildly successful in two of those three pursuits.)
And that was it. I was pretty much done as a sports fan, outside of the NFL, and that was only because of my hometown fantasy football league. That, I kept up with.
But ask me about anything that happened in sports from about 1987 to 2014, and I’m blanking.
Then I discovered DFS, and I started with the NFL, and then the season was over and … well, look at that! NBA DFS!
I could not have named three players in the NBA in 2015. This is not hyperbole. But I googled around, found some people who were doing projections and articles, joined a site, and before you could say “LaMarcus Aldridge” I was considering myself an expert.
And it continues to this day. Between other people’s projections, my gut instincts, and a little bit of luck, I continue to play DFS in almost every sport. It’s all numbers to me, and it’s about as much fun as I’ve ever had when it comes to sports.
Sure, there are times when I miss my old fandom — I mean, I wish I’d been following the Mets closely over the years, would’ve made their near-miracle run this year that much sweeter — but, well, whatever. I’d sell them out for a min-cash in a $5 single entry tournament.
