I am on the cusp of embarking into unknown territory. This week, I will be participating in four (that's correct, four) fantasy baseball drafts. If you've never shared the experience of participating in a fantasy draft, there's really nothing quite like it. For the three hours that it's taking place, you are thinking about absolutely nothing else other than what players you are going to take and what players other people are taking. It is its own self-contained universe. While a draft is going on, you might order and eat dinner, talk to family and friends on the telephone, even give birth to a child, and you would not even realize it was happening. I traditionally emerge from a fantasy draft feeling like Rip Van Winkle stumbling down from the hills, completely disoriented and unaware of my surroundings, wondering where the time just went (of course, Rip Van Winkle was asleep for 20 years, while my state of disorientation is generally much shorter). Is this a good thing? No, I'm not talking about sleeping for 20 years, which I think we can all agree is a bad thing, unless you have no friends and no mortgage, in which case it could be quite relaxing. Unlike the 20-year sleep, a fantasy draft has both its great benefits and its clear downfalls. I would not trade the pure fun of those three hours (not to mention the excitement and trash talk leading up to it -- I know, I'm a dork) for anything. However, when the draft is over, there is an immediate sentiment of wondering why the hell you just did what you did. It's kind of like jumping head first into a vat of applesauce. Good fun until you get out and realize that your eyes are stinging and your clothes are ruined.
Still, like I said before, even with my finest suit dripping with the sugary apple paste of disorientation and regret, nothing can outweigh the pure joy of draft day. Of course, it will be interesting to see if my attitude has changed by Sunday night, after I do something I've never done before: two drafts in the same day.
When it's all said and done, I'll probably need a nap.
