Agony of Defeat

Last night I tasted the agony of defeat on FanDuel – and found it bittersweet.

BITTER

It was bitter because I wound up losing $2 on the night after being ahead by $15,135 halfway through the slate of games. Realistically, I knew my chances of winning the full amount were slim because I didn’t have any players in the last game of the night. But I thought I’d be able to rack up enough points to cash in somewhere between $500 and $1,000.

And that’s pretty way the night went – fluctuating between $200 and $700 for most of the night. But in the end, everybody and their brothers started passing me and I wound up cashing only $31 of my $33 investment.

Which, admittedly, is better than losing out. But it still came as a kick in the teeth after such lofty expectations.

SWEET

It was sweet because this was the first time I found myself competing with the big boys of NBA fantasy basketball – and I liked the taste. It was like a young team making it to the playoffs for the first time, getting its feet wet, and profiting from the experience.

You can’t imagine the adrenaline rush when you see your winnings piling up . . . $500 . . . $1,500 . . . $6,000 . . . $15,135.

And my winnings remained above $15,000 halfway through the slate. Which leads me to believe I’m learning the game.

It was also sweet because I:

saw where I went wrong
identified the mistakes
learned valuable lessons
Gary Harris killed me and I’ll never play him again.
Brook Lopez – someone I could’ve played and should’ve played – is definitely in my sights.
Rajon Rondo also killed me. I think he was nicked. I have to pay more attention to possibly-debilitating injuries that retard players from reaching their peaks.

In any case, looking into a crystal ball, I see myself competing and winning some big money somewhere in the near future.

I’ll let you know when it happens.

In addition to being the official Eagles Outsider for BlameMyFather.com, Barry Bowe is also the author of: