Dickens was right a.k.a. the feelings before the draft

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..."


I never read "A Tale of Two Cities" but i'm sure that Dickens had a prophetic voice towards how i feel about the final days leading up to one of my favorite holidays each year: WBI Draft Day.


I say holiday because it stems from the idea of a holy-day. And holy means "set apart." 


This day is so set aside for me that once while in church the pastor asked us to look to the person next to us and tell them something we were looking forward to. I looked at my fiance at the time Lindsay and said "the fantasy baseball draft" and at the SAME exact time she said "the wedding."


In my defense, he asked the question on the day of the draft.


But these final days leading up to the draft are always "the best of times and the worst of times."


It is the best of times because i really do look forward to draft day so much. A winter's worth of anticipation all leading up to three hours of pure anxiety. Decisions made during those three hours that (arguably at least) determine how my fantasy team will perform for the next six months. I'll admit, i used to put endless hours of preparation into this draft, even once locking myself in an office for an entire weekend and doing nothing but eating and studying (i won that year of 2002). There are few things that are more fun to me than placing so much time and preparation into picking my 24 new favorite baseball players.

It is the best of times because i feel as though i can't really say anything to my best of friends. "Hey, how you feeling about the draft?" "Good!" "Good." And that's about it. There's the conversation of "Where would you draft so-and-so?" that you treat like a middle school slow dance... tread carefully in an awkward way but in NO way am i stepping on toes. And in NO way am i going to let you in on my draft strategy... as much as i want to talk about EVERYTHING. 


And Dickens' words will ring true immediately after the draft as well. "It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity." There will be moments where i'm so stoked to have the players i have, and then i'll look at others' teams (namely Mahlon's) and realize i probably have no chance this year. Tons of belief, tons of disbelief. 


But hopefully at the end of the day Sunday you all can say that you are embarking on a spring of hope, and not so much another winter of despair.


Best of luck, God's blessings, good fortune, and many a bounceback player, promising prospect, 4th starting pitcher turned ace in your future... 


Ok, well more in my future but you get the point! 


Go get 'em!