Incidents and Injuries

My UCFL fantasy football season was humming along beautifully. After a few magical trades the other guys crowned me league champ by week 10. Humbly I must say, my team was a powerhouse.

Mahomes

Kamara

Hunt

Mixon

DeVante Adams

Keenan Allen

Olsen

Bears D

A dream team. I was proud of it. It was a product of diligence and hard work. Some men play golf or hunt. I play pretend games. But for real cash and a gold belt.

Yes. A gold belt.

Then incidents and injuries.

Hunt got caught being naughty. Shame on him. He may never play in the NFL again and it would serve him right. But as a wise fantasy player I had his backup who filled in sufficiently.

I finished the season at 9-4 and headed to the playoffs. In the first round I throttled Kyle (my daughter’s boyfriend). Welcome to the UCFL, Kyle. On to the semifinals!

Well, Ware, my backup for Hunt goes down with an injury and I didn’t have the foresight to get the backup’s backup. Then Allen gets injured during the Chiefs game on Thursday and leaves with 0. It’s hard to overcome a goose egg, but I hold onto a flicker of hope. I’m significantly down going into the weekend games and I don’t have a decent replacement for my RB Spencer Ware. As fate would have it, Buffalo’s RB McCoy is injured in practice along with his backup. That leaves the field wide open for their third string ball carrier Murphy who is available. There’s my miracle! A third string RB.

The flame of hope burns ever brighter.

11 carries into the game, Murphy goes down with an injury and can’t return.

Of course. Murphy’s Law and everything.

At that point Buffalo has blown through 3 running backs and has to suit up the coach’s grandmother. Unfortunately, it’s too late to add her to my team.

I turn off the TV and clean my bedroom.

No, there wasn’t a Christmas miracle. I write this through tear-filled eyes and crushed dreams. I was at the very top once. Not just IMHO, but it was a league wide consensus. Now I’m just a bystander.

King of the hill one day. A sad little man the next. A dynasty one day, a dumpster fire the next. Now it looks like my friend, Daniel, might cruise to his 4th championship and 8th or 9th championship appearance in 12 years.

Such is life. Success can be fleeting no matter how well you plan. As someone said, “man plans, God laughs”.

It’s good to keep this in mind and to always be humble. God gives and He takes away. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. What you brag on today can be in shambles tomorrow. Yes, you worked hard for it, but God allowed it. Be grateful. Be humble. And when it all blows up, praise God that He gives you the ability and another day to rebuild and hopefully learn from your mistakes.

Next year I’ll have my backup’s backup.