September 24th, 2008 - Tonight the Mets take on Carlos Zambrano and the Chicago Cubs at Shea. As a Mets fan, I'm hoping for a romp. I want the Mets to beat up on the Cubs so they can maintain their one game lead on the Brewers. I hope they get to Zambrano early and knock him out before the fifth inning....NOT!

Granted I want the Mets to win, but I want them to win by a 1-0 score while Zambrano strikes out 15 Mets. Why you may ask: because I'm fighting to stay in 1st Place this final week of the Fantasy Baseball season, and Zambrano is on my fantasy team. Come to think of it, a 1-0 game won't work for me either. Why you may ask: Because I have D Lee, Soriano, Fukodome, and Soto on my NL Fantasy team and only Brian Schneider from the Mets. So, ideally...for my Fantasy team, I need the Cubs to blow out the Mets. But as a Mets fan, I want them to beat up the Cubs. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Obviously, the Mets take priority over my fantasy team, but losing the chance to win the coveted trophy along with my lofty three-figure winnings would be almost as painful. What do you do when your real life team and Fantasy team have a conflict of interest? I've decided that I can no longer root for my fantasy team during this final week, and I'll just let the chips fall where they may. Then again, that's easier said than done.

I have a 0.5 lead in my NL Fantasy League (12 team VERY competitive league). The race is so tight, that one save and/or one strikeout and/or one homerun could make the difference between 1st and 2nd Place. So, being a Mets fan, do I want the Phillies to lose their remaining games? You bet I do...but I also own Brad Lidge on my fantasy team, and if the Phillies were to lose every game for the remainder of the season, I'd wind up in 2nd place because of a lost save or three. So maybe I don't want that to happen. Okay, maybe I do...unless they lose every game but Pat Burrell, my fantasy leftfielder, goes on a tear and hits five homers this weekend. Wait, if that happens, the Phillies will probably win. I'm so confused.

Sure I can look at the situation and say the glass is half full...after all, if the Mets lose tonight, chances are it means good things for my fantasy team..so I could win either way. On the other hand, I could look at the glass as being half empty and say that there's no way I can have both the Mets and my fantasy team win. Well, I guess I can just wait and see what happens. Luckily the Mets only have two more games with the Cubs, and I won't have to worry about it when the play the Marlins, right? Wrong....I have Nolasco, Ramirez, and Uggla playing for Florida. Damn!



Court Adjourned!