Copied and pasted....
I'm so simple, I call myself a simpleton.
My wife quickly agrees.
My wife, my family, and my friends all know that I am a baseball-driven soul.
I have been since I was seven years old. It can't be helped.
I went through life going to school, going to College, marrying, having a job and family, but throughout it all, anybody who met me knew that baseball was foremost on my mind.
Then the NFBC happened.
Now, a lost soul to most....
$1000 to play in a fantasy baseball league!
A THOUSAND DOLLARS?
15 years ago, it was a lot of money for us.
I never was a money-driven guy. Never.
But then, with not much money in the bank, I had to try and convince my wife that playing in a fantasy baseball league for a thousand dollars was a good idea.
After talking, whining, and begging my wife, I got the go-ahead.
I then told her that we had to go to Las Vegas for this league.
Boom.
"WHAT?!"
Yeah, it's in a big hotel there.
"We can leave early in the morning, I can draft, and then we could drive back home. No extra money for a hotel."
"So let me get this straight", she said not wanting to be correct, "You want us to pay $1000 to be in a fantasy baseball league. Then, you want to drive eight hours to Las Vegas, draft your team, then drive eight hours back home."
"Yes. Unless you wanna stay in a hotel. Actually, I would be more fresh for my draft if we left the night before, we stayed at a cheap hotel, then draft and head home.
Making a long story shorter, we stayed at a hotel near Nellis Air Force base.
They flew jets most of the night. It didn't bother me a bit. I was up most of the night 'studying'.
What did bother me was my poor wife trying to sleep. Poor thing.
She would turn over and ask, "Are you still up?"
A jet would fly over and I'd say, "Yeah, it's not like I'd sleep much anyway."
So much for being 'fresh'.
A few things I remember from that first draft was meeting some of the people that had written some of the very articles I had read.
I remember Shawn Childs approaching me with a little smirk on his face, pointing at my bags for the trip up against the draft room wall, saying, "Are those yours? Don't you have a hotel?"
I told him they were mine and that I was driving home with those bags after the draft.
What I didn't tell him was that I had the car parked in a questionable zone in the big hotel and wanted the bags in case the car was towed.
It was not towed.
It would be cool to find out that Shawn and I had the two best drafts in that room.
That first draft was not like draft's are now.
More business-like.
Only the writers and upper crust knew each other.
I was a nobody. And knew it. I kept to myself mostly.
I talked baseball with a few people and left for the long drive home.
On the way home, I had my wife read me the names that were drafted that day.
Over and over.
I judged each name and if they should have been taken in that place or not.
What a trooper my wife is.
I was successful and I've been in a Main Event every year since.
That draft was at a 'smaller hotel' (the Rio) and we didn't have many frills like today.
Now, it is like it has to be the biggest hotel with every beer and food known to man as an accompanyment.
Seriously, I would be just as happy if the draft were held at Nellis Air Force Base.
Damn jets would make it tough for the facilitators though.
Edit- Since then, I've drafted in St Louis, Chicago, and Las Vegas several times.
I don't drink, so I don't go for the beer.
I don't eat fancy food so I don't go for the spread.
And now, I do not stay up all night before the draft studying.
Mostly, I go now for different reasons than that first time.
I go to see friends that I only get to see once a year.
Friends like Kent, Andy, John, Shawn, Roger, Wayne, Bryan, Matt, Todd, Stan, Tim, Lawr, Mark, Steve, Brian, Bill, Rich, Joe, Scott, Dan, Greg, Tom, Mike (plural) and so many other wonderful people I've met since that first event.
The wife knows now that there are other people like me. She is happy for me.
At the same time, I think it is comforting for her that she is not alone.
There are other wives having to go through much of the same thing.
She now knows that April through September is baseball season and October through March is 'drafting season'.
She is now used to my computer 'honking' and makes jokes about 'my fantasy life calling'.
Oh, I forgot to include that five years after that initial draft, we went back to Las Vegas for a Main Event.
For old time's sake, we stayed in the same place by Nellis Air Force Base.
The jets were not flying that night.
Strangely, we got a great night's sleep, but we were both a little disappointed that we did.
