by Kevin Burton
My mother doesn’t know anything about fantasy football, but she knows a lot about perseverance.
Both truths were evident Monday night.
I was watching Monday Night Football when she called, and she was still on the line with me when the game ended.
To set the scene:
By Sunday night my fantasy team K&J Sonics needed 18 points to win in week 4 and I had two players left. I was certain that the great Patrick Mahomes would deliver 18 points with some to spare. But he had a stinker of a game and scored just 15.
(And here an aside: That my second-favorite team the Chiefs won their game mattered not one whit, it was all about Mahomes failing to deliver. Neither have I suffered any because my favorite Bengals have been so bad, only that wideout Tee Higgins hasn’t been reliable for fantasy. I won’t tune back into team loyalty until after the fantasy season is over.)
Mahomes’ bad game left me with tight end Darren Waller of the Giants, who has seriously underperformed all year. Sure enough Monday, he had scored just one fantasy point and the game was down to four minutes to go.
Mentally I gave up and was explaining to Mom that I can look on a list of available players and maybe get a better tight end for next week.
“You going to turn it off,” she asked.
“Well no, I always keep watching till the clock goes to zeros.”
Mom mentioned that four wins out of five (fantasy teams) is not bad. With the game still on the TV, we moved on to some other topic. Then Waller caught a pass. The game was in what we call garbage time. The game had been decided and I wasn’t sure Waller, as the starting tight end, would even be in the game. But he caught a pass.
His catch was a short one, so I needed one more. The Sonics still trailed by half a point or so. I think it was on third down that Waller caught yet another one. Unbelievable! When the game ended the Sonics were ahead by 0.74 points.
Oh sweet garbage!
With my wife asleep and my mom on the line, I restrained myself from screaming.
When the fantasy app updated, I told my mom we had won after all.
“So you won it?
“By less than one point.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
Mom calls fantasy teams, “fake teams.” They are fake but they bring real happiness, and real consternation every week. But all she wanted was for me to be happy. I heard that in her voice yet again Monday night.
It was a moment. As Mom approaches 90 I’ve begun to collect and savor these moments. She hung out with me in what for her is an unfathomable mathematical and athletic pastime, seeking only my happiness.
The other lesson: little things mean a lot.
Those two catches that took Waller from one fantasy point to 3.6 gave me a win and put me in second place rather than sixth place in the league.
Had Mahomes had his normal great game, my win would not have been memorable. Adversity and explaining it to my mother, made the game unforgettable.
Also, all five of my fantasy teams won. Who knows if I’ll ever get to write that sentence again, but it was true for week four.
I’m not one to seek great life lessons in games played by grown-up boys in pajamas. But I did take notice Monday night. So going forward I will ask God to help me to make good decisions and to never give up.
Page 7 