Today was our big Fantasy Football Draft Day—for the 37th year! It’s a little hard to believe we have been playing that long!

When we started doing this, we were young guys keeping track of players with newspapers, box scores, pencils, and calculators. Today our league has an online auction draft, multi-year contracts, waiver wires, salary considerations, and no free-agent signings once the season starts.

Everything has to be anticipated and planned for on draft day. Somehow, we’ve turned a silly hobby into something remarkably complicated!

I know people who reach their 50s and 60s and have give up on professional sports for political and other reasons. I understand that. But I’m 60 now, and I still love this stuff.

My brother and his sons are in our big league of 16 teams, and that makes it more than just football. It’s a family tradition. There’s competition, trash talking, questionable decisions, lucky breaks, and plenty of laughs.

And after 37 years, there are a lot of memories attached to it.

One thing I’ve learned in retirement is that you don’t need to outgrow the things you enjoy just because you’re getting older. In fact, retirement gives us more freedom to spend time on things that have absolutely no practical purpose whatsoever.

Fantasy football certainly qualifies.

Life is short. Keep finding games to play!

What silly games do you still look forward to?

Image: Pixabay