I Don't Know Why But I Feel Like Today Is Gonna Be A Great Day!!

If I was George Costanza, I would stop after the title and picture and go out on a high note, but today I don’t know any better. The aforementioned title and picture provide a microwindow into my state of being for the next ten or so days. After last year’s live draft, beautiful weather, football, food, and drinks, this year’s party has a lot to live up to. The festivities actually went so well last year that until recently I pretty much forgot that shortly after the draft, my house’s water supply mysteriously cut out for about two hours. That would have ruined most good social events, but it barely affected our jovial get together. I really appreciate Neptune’s efforts to get everyone in a great mindset for the post-draft party, and I’m definitely on-board with preparing multiple batches of margaritas. A few notes:

· UK and UofL play early Saturday afternoon. Most of us will want to watch at least part of that game, so plan accordingly to ensure that you will be able to get to Louisville in time for kickoff. For the western Kentucky folks, you may even want to check your route and make sure you won’t have to deal with stadium traffic depending on when you’ll be arriving to town. I haven’t checked the remaining slate for football games, but there should be a ton of great action to check out after the Cats and Cards.

· Because the draft will already be complete, I am planning on starting the day out at my family’s farm. We’ll set up out there for swimming, football, snacks, corn hole, etc. The tentative weather forecast looks good, and hopefully we’re treated to another glorious Labor Day weekend full of outdoor activities. Mandy began preparing her grocery list last night, and we’re accepting any and all suggestions, even from Ben.

· We’re going to play things by ear for the early part of the evening. My guess is that after a few hours of adrenaline-loaded excitement we may need to dial it down a notch or two and get ready for the evening. Or, if Brandon remotely inspires us, we may concur that the “night is young” and keep that pedal to the metal. I’m thinking at some point, we’ll head to my place and either cook out or order a butt load of pizzas. Papa John’s has been running a special on their butt load of pizza deal, so that may be the choice.

· We’ll leave the evening options open-ended. As great as last year was, we kind of faded into the night, so let’s try to pace ourselves better, and not settle for falling asleep while playing Trivial Pursuit or Scene It. There are a couple of watering holes nearby, or we can just pop in a movie/play Rock Band/start a fight club.

· We are an elite, but not exclusive, fantasy football league. Significant others and good friends are welcome to attend. Just disclose in advance that there will be an embarrassing amount of fantasy football talk…they deserve to know that. I think a couple of Mandy’s friends from high school are going to come over, and I may invite some ringers for sod field football (I actually already tried, but he’s going to be out of town).

· We should be able to accommodate just about anyone who wants to spend the night.
· I think we’ll tentatively plan on tipping off around noon or so, but I’m just throwing that out there to give a guidepost. If anyone wants to come earlier, that’s great, just keep me updated on your plans. For everyone coming later, we’ll be excited to see you when you arrive.

· I’ll e-mail directions to the farm in the coming days

· The party will be a week after the draft, so we’ll all be a little settled down from the draft high. Come ready with trade proposals. I love the idea of all of us sitting at a table in a dimly lit room, orchestrating gentlemen’s trades with handshake agreements.

· Taking it a step further than trades, let’s try to put something at stake. A couple of years ago I bet Ben a gallon of Horchata that Vernon Davis would outpoint Alge Crumpler. Even though I won, this was a horrible bet. Vernon finished with like 50 points on the season. Pathetic. But the wager was still fun. We keep money out of this, because we’re not material like that, so think of some wagers you could bring to the table. Somebody needs to finish the season with a mustache or shaved head.

As a parting note, I spoke to Everett recently, and he informed me that his other league changed the format to add a QB/WR/RB/TE flex. There was no vote. A bloodthirsty commissioner simply made the call and subjected the rest of the league to his preferences. That served as a touching reminder that we’re doing something great—nay, transcendental—by participating in this league. When we spill our blood defending our fantasy football ideals and refuse to make changes without giving each man an opportunity to be heard, well, that’s a privilege that I imagine we all take for granted. I respect each of you more than you’ll ever know, and I’m proud to share this foxhole fantasy football league with you. (In my mind, there was an air force fly by at the end of this paragraph)

Bring the input, if this party doesn’t rock, Tyler will go ham on all of you.