Keeping It Fun

I play fantasy sports. But even for someone who loves to play, it can get boring. I have taken the past two years off of fantasy football because it is dull. I did not do fantasy basketball last year because I have lost some interest in the NBA (i'm back this year and my interest in the NBA is growing again). I will never quit fantasy baseball because I love it so much.

But I now have a new favorite fantasy game. Fantasy hockey. Why? Because I don't understand hockey in the least bit, but I enjoy the game. I love to follow it, but I have no idea (after about the top 30 guys) as to who is good and who is bad. The drafts I did were a blast because after six rounds, I had no idea who I was drafting. It is so much more fun when you only have a vauge idea of what you are doing. If I lose, I don't care. Where in baseball if I lose I get frustrated.

What makes it so fun? Fanasy sports are about stats, and I don't understand many hockey stats outside of goals, assists and penalty minutes. One of the fantasy stats is plus/minus rating. What is that? No idea. I know it is the differential of goals scored while a player is on the ice vs. goals allowed when a player is on the ice (Ex: A player's team scores two goals and gives up three while he is out there skating, then he is minus one for the night). But how do I determine if a player is "good" at plus/minus? I don't know. Good team? Maybe, but it seems more of a random thing. A team could just have a really bad group of guys who give up a lot of goals, while another group do well on the ice. I don't know. It is strange. But a ton of fun.

Another stat I don't get is goals allowed average. This one if for goalies and seems simple enough. But I think it is divided by minutes played because I have seen a lot of goofy numbers in the GAA column of my netminders. They give up three goals in a night, but their GAA is like 3.59 or something. It's just wacky.

All in all it is just a fun thing for me. If you are a fantasy sports player and become tired with the games you play, maybe give one of the other ones a shot. I might try fantasy golf next year. Because I doubt I will understand that at all.