My name is Matt Vensel, and I have a problem.
Like a lot of people, I’m pretty serious about fantasy football. But during a 36-hour span from Sunday afternoon to the wee hours of Tuesday morning, I took that obsession over the line. It dominated my thoughts so much that I was frantically checking my fantasy matchup all weekend, even as I sat in the press box during the Ravens-Steelers game (hey, I wasn’t the only one). It kept me awake on multiple nights.
My semifinal matchup was so intense, so excruciatingly close that when Domenik Hixon hauled in a pair of passes in garbage time Sunday night, my opponent and I finished in an 84-84 tie. I had the tiebreaker — most TDs by starters — but I was worried an overnight scoring correction would cause me to miss out on a shot at the title — and a pretty sizable chunk of change.
When I woke up Monday morning, we were still tied, but the score was 86-86. My heart skipped a beat. Apparently, both Jay Cutler (my guy) and Adrian Peterson (his) had fumbles reversed Sunday, causing the changes. What are the odds?
After another restless night, I awoke Tuesday to see that I was indeed heading the finals. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t embarrassed at how much a fake football team was able to shake up my life. Not too embarrassed to celebrate, though. Read the rest of this entry »






















