GAABoard Fantasy Premiership 2007/2008 Season

[Norf Tyrone]

I see the GAA board mini league is the 901st rank league out of over 100,000!!

That's not bad........

[The Real Laoislad]

The Guardian October 5, 2007 1:08 PM

There is a reason most men don't like being asked the question "what
are you thinking about?" It is because the answer is almost never the
right one. Instead of "how much I love watching Dirty Dancing with
you, my angel" or "when we could next go shoe shopping" it tends to be
more "what your sister would look like in a bikini" or "who would win
a fight between Mr T and Arnold Schwarzenegger". The problem is, we're
quite sad creatures. At least, I am.

One day a couple of weeks back, the missus asked what I was thinking.
Twice. This wasn't a wistful, romantic, dreamy, "let me see the
inner-you" question (thank God) but rather more one based on the fact
that I'd frozen, a forkful of pizza inches from my mouth, and started
to stare into the middle distance, perhaps drooling absentmindedly.
The problem was, I had to admit I was wondering if Leighton Baines had
been named man of the match on Saturday. She was deeply impressed.

Hours later, on a train, she asked why I'd been staring at the luggage
rack for several minutes. It's quite interesting to discover just how
irritated a woman can become by the seemingly innocuous phrase "I was
just thinking about whether Gareth Barry will create any goals this
afternoon, or whether he'll be exhausted after his England games."

So here we go. In an effort to ensure that my unborn child does not
grow up fatherless, I need to tackle my demons: my name is Benjie
Goodhart, and I'm addicted to fantasy football.

I first discovered fantasy football when I was 22, young, naïve and
foolish. I'm not proud of what it made me do: I ended up buying a
newspaper whose political stance made Enoch Powell look like Clare
Short, just so I could play its shiny new football game. Indeed, I
actually appeared to be quite good at it. In my second year, I
finished the season 81st. OK, that hardly makes me Carl Lewis, but I
was happy.

For a while. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, fantasy football has
taken more out of me than I have out of it. The games changed, were
refined, improved. They became cheaper and easier to play, more
involving, more exciting and more time-consuming. The Premier League
brought out its own, official, free online version. You no longer had
two transfers a season, but one or two every week. And before I knew
it, I was hooked, drowning in a flood of transfers amid an ocean of
statistics.

It has changed me, changed the way I watch my beloved football. I no
longer live for the moments when athleticism and genius combine in a
moment of sublime aesthetics: the 30-yard strike, the balletic,
weaving dribble. Of far more importance is whether the ball hit the
arse of one of my attackers on its way into the net. If someone were
to pick up the ball in their own area, beat 11 players and slot it
home for the greatest goal ever, my only concern would be that it was
one of my defenders who had initially passed them the ball.

And when you get involved in a mini-league - that's where things
really start to get out of hand. Winning is everything: fantasy
football is more important than life and death. And it doesn't matter
what principles are sacrificed along the way.

At the start of every season, I pick a team devoid of Chelsea players:
as a QPR fan, it is a matter of principle. Except that, sooner or
later, you notice that Frank Lampard is scoring regularly, or Shaun
Wright-Phillips looks a bit tasty. And suddenly they're in, because
beating your friends, grinding them into the dust, means more to you
than any tribal loyalty. To my shame, I have cheered Chelsea goals. If
not wanting them to win, necessarily, I have wanted them to lose 7-6,
with a Lampard double hat-trick.

And I'm not even the worst offender. I spoke to a friend recently who
said he'd had a bad weekend, football-wise. He's a Gooner, and they'd
just beaten Spurs 3-1 away, yet he was traumatised by his fantasy
team's poor performance. This is the same man who has been known,
towards the end of the season, to sit at home with the team line-ups
of his rivals and a pen and paper, listening to the radio and keeping
a running tally of scores.

Most tragically of all, this is the man who spent a large chunk of New
Year's Eve in an internet cafe in King's Cross, planning his
transfers. Why? Because he and I had a £10 bet riding on that season.
At the end of the season, he won. He won £10. His total internet cafe
expenditure was £30 for the season. And the saddest thing of all? He
considered it money well spent. Then again, I'm hardly in a position
to pass judgement. If it had cost me three times that to beat him, I'd
have jumped at the chance.

Benjie Goodhart is a journalist and fantasy football expert. He is
currently rock bottom of the GU Sport Pick the Score league.

[ExiledGael]

 

Good stuff, great banter through the leagues

[ExiledGael]

Jesus lads this has fallen badly by the wayside, last post in October. Looks like Slim Pickins has ran away with the whole thing. At least Fermanagh put in a credible performance! Can anyone with a decent computer post the league standings.

[ONeill]

1     Rock Ridge Utd     Slim Pickins          2156
2    The Tears of Neville    R J    2092
3    Shantemon Stones    Mull Cat    2090
4    The Roccats!    Galvin Early        2082
5    Murphys Law    E Murphy    2071
6    DatsunDonagy Donkeys    Eric "The King" Cantona        2062
7    Fermanagh for Ulster    Exiled Gael        2053
8    Farney Army    Adrian McEntee        2047
9    Docs XI    S Doherty        2040
10    Glenravel FC    Mr NICSSA       2028
11    Frightnin'&Beautiful    Ciaran McRory   2028
12    The Apostles    ric ken        2003
13    Finulagh Harps    Ryan McGurk    1988
14    kellys heros    patrick kelly    1983
15    Unsuitable Name    aidan mcgarvey    1981
16    Ruthless Rossies    Rossie 11       1979
17    paddy's pahals    Paddy Thraan        1963
18    CELTIC TIGERS    Michael Finn       1961
19    The Douchebags    Jack Murphy        1959
20    Armagh    Poker KINGS       1954
21    Odhran's 11    Odhran Corvan       1949
22    Martin O'Neill OBE    Stephen Maguire       1945
23    athletico machinery    Mac Hinery    60    1940
24    Can't Crack Rock    eoin .    44    1939
25    Portglenone Forest    Joe McCloskey    67    1933
26    Red Rovers    Red greenery    61    1932
27    Fr. Romeo Sensini FC    Ciarán Ó Muirithe    52    1932
28    Pedros Rear Beaters    Ai dan    73    1930
29    Real Magaluf CF    Super Hans    50    1929
30    Septic Celtic    Larry Guinan    51    1925
31    notts county    d mcd    70    1912
32    Frosty Jacks    Hank Everlast    53    1909
33    Mardybums    Decy Mimnagh    71    1901
34    squeaky bum time    Connor McStay    60    1899
35    Annalee Rovers    S Words    74    1897
36    Jolly green giants..    John Brady    60    1891
37    SquareBalls Utd    Square Balls    74    1888
38    Teddy Pickers    Fintan Hurl    52    1886
39    The Crows    El Cuervo    50    1886
40    Drumman Utd    D MacEochaidh    44    1884
41    broncos harps    root them    57    1881
42    Roogah Rovers    Odo Skimodo    47    1878
43    aUp Slovakia !    Gerard McErlean    62    1876
44    Fenian Bhoys    Errigal Mountain    25    1867
45    Glorious Green & Red    DARREN O'MALLEY    34    1856
46    Bredagh    Kealan Devlin    67    1854
47    abbey town    m mayo    59    1851
48    Laois Kopites    laois lad    52    1846
49    I love my Tony    J Y    59    1845
50    thewobbler    Anthony McNamee    83    1843

[The Real Laoislad]

Laois Kopites 48th not bad...How many were in it?
My laptop has been broken for past month so only for that i be much higher   

[SLIGONIAN]

Jees didnt know GAABOARD had a league in it. Would be joined 9th 2040. Will keep an eye out for next yr.

[lurganblue]

with one set of matches left, it looks like i have it won. i didnt even expect to be in the top ten when i joined!!