Recently I decided to give up playing fantasy football. I had really enjoyed it for a long time, but my enjoyment had decreased significantly. Being a dork, I needed a new hobby. Somehow wine became that new hobby. So with about one year of wine hobbying under my belt, I can see a handful of reasons why I prefer being a wine dork over a fantasy football dork.
Reason #1: Wine is less about luck
Without going into detail - I'll simply state that fantasy football is largely about luck. The person that wins at the end of the year is the person that had the most good things happen for their team and the least bad things. Which means that all of the preparation that one puts into putting together a team can be wasted when one player gets hurt.
The worst piece of bad luck with wine is paying good money for wine that turned out to be corked. Which I guess can be pretty upsetting, but that happens rarely. I'd much rather spend my time on something that doesn't make me have wild mood swings.
#2: Wine stories are not insufferable
Easily the second worst thing about fantasy football are the stories that people tell about their teams and the crazy things that have happened. It goes something like this:
"Oh man it was so nuts, my team was down 30 points going into the Monday night game. The only player that I had starting that night was Antonio Gates - and he came in huge for me! It was awesome!"
These stories are not worth telling, and horrible to listen to - but let me tell you: it's impossible to not get exciting and tell these horrible stories when they happen to you. It cannot be avoided. You get swept up, and tell these boring-ass stories.
A wine story, of any kind, can never be worse.
#3 Wine encourages traveling
Fantasy football encourages people to sit at home, or at best at a sports bar, all Sunday, while continually checking stats on a computer or phone. Friends may come together to watch the games, but even then it's a pretty solitary activity. Crappy food is consumed - day-drinking occurs. Evening hangovers ensue.
Wine encourages exploration. It's fun to check out new wine bars and wine stores in town. Its great to take a weekend trip to a nearby wine region. Exploring wine country is a great time. It's also a good opportunity to kick it with friends. Day-drinking may ensue as well, but the quality is likely going to be better.
So that's that. I've persuaded myself. Perhaps next year I'll be pitting wine against exotic big game hunting, or debating the pros and cons of stamp-collecting. Until then - wine it is.
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