Are You Ready for Some Foosball?

I was torn whether I was going to title this "Fantasy Foosball" or "Are You Ready for Some Foosball", so I talked to Bruce about it via chat and the conclusion I came to was this: it doesn't really matter because Bruce thought I was going to write about the actual game of foosball (table soccer guys that are spun around to kick a ball) opposed to writing about football (NFL, not soccer) and Bruce's lack of knowledge (until recently) of the game. Fantasy football and "are you ready for some football?" are two of the most popular phrases associated with the sport and Bruce failed to realize the connection. Game. Set. Match. Or should I say "touchdown"!

So Bruce and I were very different when we were growing up. I played Little League, cheered my Minnesota Twins, and played pickup hockey on the pond, while Bruce, well had his head in a book, as he puts it. Video games and eating were our common interests (still are), so when we were at a house, we were fine, but when we were at church, the choices were to either play football or hang out with the girls. It was a no-brainer for me, but a much more difficult decision for him. I liked sports, Bruce did not. I was okay at sports, Bruce was not, and no one likes to do anything that they conciously know they're terrible at. No one wants to be the last kid picked and looked at as the team handicap. This is why kids are evil.

Bruce was given the job of "all-time rusher", which is pretty much like giving a kid a job as "waterboy". You feel like you're participating, but you're being kept out of everyone else's way. Bruce knew it, I knew it, and I'm sure he didn't grow a love for football from it, which is why I was surprised that he was watching the 2005 Super Bowl. Sure he was in college at Carnegie Melon (in Pittsburgh) watching the Pittsburgh Steelers play, while living in a Frat House, but it was still a shock, and it wasn't like a pleasant surprise. It kind of bothered me that he was watching sports, like something was wrong with the cosmos.

This wasn't a freak, one time ordeall. Last year, we were playing a game of Halo 3 online and we were chatting over the headsets (we are über nerds, I even know how to add an umlaut). I was confident we were going to win the round in which Bruce replied "17-0 man, 17-0", referring to the New York Giants upsetting the New England Patriots in the most recent Super Bowl. I know he basically lives in New York and it's pretty much a pop culture thing, but it was still really bizarre. I couldn't stop laughing and I don't think he could either.

A couple of weeks ago, I had my fantasy football draft. I told him about it the next day just as a conversation starter, but to my surprise, he wanted to know who I had on my team, because he also had a fantasy football team. His office is having a league and he's decided to be part of it, hoping to make some cash from it. He told me who was on his team, and I wondered if he picked his players based on stats from the previous years or for reasons like cool names (Frank Gore), cultural affiliations (Hines Ward - half-korean), and hometown affiliation (Vikings defense). I didn't really ask because I'm pretty sure his team is doing better than mine. Perhaps I haven't embraced his interest in sports because it threatens my superiority in something over him. If his fantasy football team is better than mine, what use do I have in this friendship at all? Nope, that's not it. All this shows is with all the other things we have in common, there's no place to squeeze football into our everyday conversations, not as long as we still love food and video games.