"...there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"--(Hamlet II,ii)
I had an interesting experience this week with my two IDP teams. My Flagship team, the Longfaced Jackals, is pretty lousy this year. It’s a dynasty/keeper team that has gone through several years of picking last or late in every round and its premier player, Shaun Alexander, has finally hit the wall. The team I manage in honor of my son, the NattyWeldos, is a redraft team that is very good—second in the league.
Both teams played against the most indifferent members of their leagues. The Jackals opponent didn’t field a QB and had either three or four players on bye-weeks in his lineup. But this guy had Viking, Adrian Peterson, who broke the single game rushing record. The Jackals had their single worst day in Fantasy Football and only managed to score fifteen points more combined than the rookie from OU did on his own. Needless to say I had my butt handed to me. The NattyWeldos scored slightly below their low average but still scored enough to trounce their nonplussed opponent.
Probably the most important lesson I’ve learned in my years as an actor is that when someone else in a cast is getting to me due to their lack of interest or ability in the work, the first place I need to look is at myself. I have been in truly awful productions and had a pretty good time. The reason being was that I was focused in on my job. Even if I didn’t feel that I had a grasp on my character yet, I knew I had the tools, passion and ability to continue to pursue that objective. It was in those moments when I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing that I began to look around and gripe about slackers. The main thing I learned is that such issues aren’t even remotely my responsibility. They are the responsibility of the director. If I truly feel that the below par actor’s work is a detriment to my work then the only person I should tell is the director.
That being said I can only think of a couple of occasions out of the 100+ productions in which I’ve been where anyone else’s work was a detriment to mine. Every other time I was able to or could have gotten out of my snit if I had just focused in on my job.
Even so, like an addict in a weak moment, I find myself wanting to blame when things aren’t going well. The sin isn’t the urge. The sin is recognizing the urge and giving into it when the solution is already obvious.
The same could be said for fantasy football except that instead of the director it is the commissioner of your league who holds the responsibility.
While it would be my preference to kick both these guys out of the league and replace them with more active members, it’s not my call. My personal philosophy is that you get out of something what you put into it. My other personal philosophy is that even if I don’t have a burning passion for something I’m involved in, I recognize that somebody else might.
During the years I was an actor in New York, I was a mild-mannered temp at a major magazine publisher by day. I often found myself working jobs I didn’t particularly care about but I recognized that the people I was working for or with had chosen their jobs as a career. I took satisfaction when my boss and co-worker in one particular department got promoted to very illustrious positions at other magazines within the company. I wasn’t satisfied because I ever believed my work helped them to get the promotion. I was a temp. I was just happy that I was a drag on their ambitions.
The fantasy counterpart to this for me would be fantasy baseball. I don’t even come close to having the same passion for it but I still draft a team and check in to quickly adjust lineups almost every day. The reason being that I know someone in the league loves it as much as I love football. So even though my moves may not be as well researched I’m still keeping things competitive.
Even so, like an addict, I find myself on the league message boards in fantasy football griping about opponents such as the ones I played this week. In fact I commented about my Jackals opponent. I thought I was being matter of fact. If the guy isn’t participating, get rid of him. He was clearly bothering other members of the league judging from other comments. But the truth was I didn’t care that much because I couldn’t control it. The Commish seemed to have made up his mind on the matter. And I’m sure my comments probably only came across as yet another gripe. It’s a tough job being a commissioner of a fantasy league. I’m sure if you polled them they would mostly feel like their members are a bunch of malcontents.
Sorry guys. I mean well.
As for the non-participants, I would prefer that you at least made an effort. But if you don’t, it’s not my problem.
Both teams played against the most indifferent members of their leagues. The Jackals opponent didn’t field a QB and had either three or four players on bye-weeks in his lineup. But this guy had Viking, Adrian Peterson, who broke the single game rushing record. The Jackals had their single worst day in Fantasy Football and only managed to score fifteen points more combined than the rookie from OU did on his own. Needless to say I had my butt handed to me. The NattyWeldos scored slightly below their low average but still scored enough to trounce their nonplussed opponent.
Probably the most important lesson I’ve learned in my years as an actor is that when someone else in a cast is getting to me due to their lack of interest or ability in the work, the first place I need to look is at myself. I have been in truly awful productions and had a pretty good time. The reason being was that I was focused in on my job. Even if I didn’t feel that I had a grasp on my character yet, I knew I had the tools, passion and ability to continue to pursue that objective. It was in those moments when I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing that I began to look around and gripe about slackers. The main thing I learned is that such issues aren’t even remotely my responsibility. They are the responsibility of the director. If I truly feel that the below par actor’s work is a detriment to my work then the only person I should tell is the director.
That being said I can only think of a couple of occasions out of the 100+ productions in which I’ve been where anyone else’s work was a detriment to mine. Every other time I was able to or could have gotten out of my snit if I had just focused in on my job.
Even so, like an addict in a weak moment, I find myself wanting to blame when things aren’t going well. The sin isn’t the urge. The sin is recognizing the urge and giving into it when the solution is already obvious.
The same could be said for fantasy football except that instead of the director it is the commissioner of your league who holds the responsibility.
While it would be my preference to kick both these guys out of the league and replace them with more active members, it’s not my call. My personal philosophy is that you get out of something what you put into it. My other personal philosophy is that even if I don’t have a burning passion for something I’m involved in, I recognize that somebody else might.
During the years I was an actor in New York, I was a mild-mannered temp at a major magazine publisher by day. I often found myself working jobs I didn’t particularly care about but I recognized that the people I was working for or with had chosen their jobs as a career. I took satisfaction when my boss and co-worker in one particular department got promoted to very illustrious positions at other magazines within the company. I wasn’t satisfied because I ever believed my work helped them to get the promotion. I was a temp. I was just happy that I was a drag on their ambitions.
The fantasy counterpart to this for me would be fantasy baseball. I don’t even come close to having the same passion for it but I still draft a team and check in to quickly adjust lineups almost every day. The reason being that I know someone in the league loves it as much as I love football. So even though my moves may not be as well researched I’m still keeping things competitive.
Even so, like an addict, I find myself on the league message boards in fantasy football griping about opponents such as the ones I played this week. In fact I commented about my Jackals opponent. I thought I was being matter of fact. If the guy isn’t participating, get rid of him. He was clearly bothering other members of the league judging from other comments. But the truth was I didn’t care that much because I couldn’t control it. The Commish seemed to have made up his mind on the matter. And I’m sure my comments probably only came across as yet another gripe. It’s a tough job being a commissioner of a fantasy league. I’m sure if you polled them they would mostly feel like their members are a bunch of malcontents.
Sorry guys. I mean well.
As for the non-participants, I would prefer that you at least made an effort. But if you don’t, it’s not my problem.
1 comment:
I think people who aren't active should be stoned
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