It's just a fantasy (woah-oh-oh-oh)

A weekend with fantasy football friends, plus Links of the Week: people who quit their jobs, RIP to a cool QB, and the tears of a dog

The good news: I drew the first pick in the draft. The bad news: No one with the first pick has ever won our league.

There was a comic-con of some sort in Columbia, South Carolina, last weekend. People dressed up as Harry Potter characters or various Avengers kept strolling through the lobby of our hotel. So it didn’t look that strange when we walked down Lady Street lugging a two-tiered trophy and a championship belt.

It was time for our annual fantasy football draft.

Draft day is the only day of the year I see most of the people in the league. This is the 35th year of the league. Those of us who were in it from the beginning, or near it, started in our 20s. Now a couple of us are bearing down on 60. When we started, you called in your roster to the commissioner every Sunday morning, and you couldn’t be sure of your score until USA Today came out on Monday. Now it’s all in an app. We don’t even have to get together for the draft. But I’m so glad we do.

It’s called the Virgil Ryals Jr. Fantasy Football League, named for our dear friend who died five years ago. Another member, Roger Davis, died last year. Two of our current members are children of members who are still in the league. One of them, Kathleen Bradbury, flew in from Houston for the draft and flew back the next day to start grad school. The other—Brendan Gallagher—won the league last year*. He’s starting at the University of South Carolina this fall. That’s why we met in Columbia. The winner chooses where we draft.

*Brendan’s path to the title included a historic comeback to beat me in last year’s playoffs. I only think about this two or three times a week.

The draft takes about four hours, and most of it is inside jokes. Corey Davis, the wide receiver currently with the Jets, is sort of the mascot of our league because of the year Kevin Gallagher—Brendan’s dad—kept asking if Corey Davis had been drafted yet. Every time somebody pauses to think about their pick, somebody will shout “Corey Davis is still on the board!”

(This is exactly as nerdy as it sounds.)

We draw cards to determine the draft order in a given round. Whoever draws the joker picks last, and also gets regaled with a chant of “joker … joker … JOKER!”, which, as I am 100 percent sure you know, is a reference to the old game show “Joker’s Wild.”

(This is also exactly as nerdy as it sounds.)

I used to be a little embarrassed about this cascade of nerdiness, but over the years I’ve realized that every group has its own language, its own inside jokes, its own rhythm and patter that only makes sense to the people in the group (and sometimes not even then).

Love what you love. Geek out with your friends. Walk proud down the street in your costume. Enjoy your season, whatever it is.

(For true diehards only: I’ll post my roster in the comments. Feel free to mock my picks.)

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10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. My earlier post this week was something from the archives on my editor, mentor and friend, Jay Lovinger.

2. My weekly for WFAE was about the start of school, and missing the climb from one grade to the next.

3. For Charlotte-area readers: I’m doing a Q&A with author Dan Chapman about his great book A ROAD RUNNING SOUTHWARD on Sept. 28 at Park Road Books. For a preview of sorts, here’s my SouthBound episode with Dan from back in June.

4. Joshua Needelman, a young writer I’ve gotten to know a little over the past couple of years, has his first byline in the New York Times, and it’s a good one—a story about several people who quit their jobs and changed their lives. Josh has many more great stories to tell.

5. DOG NEWS: While I work on my book, I’m devoting this slot to dog stories. This week: Are your dog’s tears really for you?

6. My friend Joe on the eternal cool of quarterback Len Dawson, who died this week.

7. I used to think Lindsey Graham was a decent guy, even when I (often) disagreed with him politically. Now I think he’s a feather in the wind, drifting toward whatever gets him votes and affirmation. It might be time for his reckoning.

8. We finished up with GRANTCHESTER this week—of all the British crime dramas we’ve watched, I think this show is my favorite. The final episode of season 7 felt like a finale for the whole show … but apparently season 8 is in the works. Bring it on.

9. My favorite actor on GRANTCHESTER is Robson Green, who plays Geordie, the grizzled but soft-hearted detective. I laughed out loud when I read his Wikipedia page and found out he was part of a ‘90s pop duo that a had a huge hit in the UK with a cover of “Unchained Melody.” If you watch GRANTCHESTER, please enjoy Robson and Jerome, introduced by Bjork (!):
   

   10. Alix and I had a mini-vacation in Asheville this week, and on the way back we listened to a bunch of Tyler Childers. I hadn’t listened to a lot of his music before, but I am fully on the bandwagon now. This is “Shake the Frost”:
   

   See y’all next week, everyone.

   P.S. A quick reminder: I’m going to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) post for paid subscribers only on Sept. 15. Ask anything you like! Any of y’all—free and paid subscribers—are welcome to ask questions. But only paid subscribers will be able to see the AMA post. I’ll be taking questions through Sept. 14. Just leave your question in the comments or reply to this post.