The Sunday Ritual

Every Sunday morning for the last 6 years during the NFL season I go through the same ritual. I've grown rather superstitious about this ritual and how it affects my longstanding success in the Fantasy Football community. It's gotten so bad that if I don't follow the ritual a sense of dread comes over me for the majority of the day. Say what you will but most of my money league losses have come on days when I strayed for one reason or another. The fanatical rites go something like this:

6:45 - 7:00 UP and atom kid its time to get movin. This is done regardless of how late I was out the night before. I've even come home so late that I decided just to stay up all night so I wouldn't risk jinxing the whole damn thing.

7:00 - 7:30 Watch The Sports Reporters on ESPN. There are some instances when the show just isn't on for various reasons. In these instances we fall back on CBS Sunday Morning just to keep up on current events. There will also be constant channel flipping just to get the eyes ready for multiple TV watching.

7:30 - 8:00 Shower and hit the computer. This is a chance to clean up and catch up on any late breaking news in the NFL. Somebody didn't practice. This guy didn't make the trip. Others aren't quite as injured as we thought. The weather has taken a dramatic turn.

8:00 - 9:00 Watch NFL Game Day on ESPN and finalize the line-up(s). In truth the line-ups should have been finalized already. Last minute changes to ones starting line-up rarely work out. They work so infrequently that I've adopted a rule to not do it unless the guy I'm replacing isn't going to play or has a much worse injury that was previously let on. This is really just down time to watch Boomer and the gang before...

9:00 - 9:15 Head to The Winchester. It's real name is Sluggers in Kingsgate and it is hands down the best sports bar in the Seattle area. For the past 6 years I've been going there and sitting in the same section. Most days you'll find me in the same chair but there are times when someone dares to beat me there. Last year on opening day was one of those moments. A couple of newbies got there pretty early and the owner actually told them they couldn't sit there and that the seat was reserved. Keep in mind I hadn't been in there for 3 months prior to that.

The Winchester has over 30 tvs (6 of which are big screen) and they show every game. Last year there was a power outage in much of the Seattle area and I was forced to go to a different sports bar. They managed to show less than half of the games being televised and you had to walk all over the bar to see what was happening in any one game. At the Winchester you can sit in several sections and see every game. It simply cannot be beat.

So if you're in town and you happen to stop in there come say hi. Mention this post and I'll even buy you a pint.