The Stages of Grief - Losing a Fantasy Match-Up by Less Than 1 Point

If you've been playing Fantasy Football long enough, it's likely you have experienced the pain of a brutally close loss. Watching Monday Night Football and praying your opponent's WR doesn't make any more catches, hoping their Defense allows another Touchdown to subtract points, wishing injury on their QB to give yourself a chance (you should never root for injuries, don't be that guy). But sometimes, you come up just short, and are forced to think of the what if's -- what if I started this bench guy, what if the ref didn't throw that flag, what if I never started playing this game that brings me nothing but sorrow?

I've been in this position many times over my Fantasy Football Career, but suffered one of the most heart-breaking losses to date this past week. Refer to the graffic (Your Friends and Nabers) -- I lost by a measly 0.8 points -- while scoring the 3rd most points in the whole league at 140+. It was an agonizing defeat, I can't lie. But I've since come to terms with it, knowing the season's still young and there are plenty of opportunities ahead -- but I, like anyone who's experienced a close loss like this -- had to go through the grieving process. You're not alone, we've all been there before, and it can always get better.**

**notice I did not says it will always get better -- because it certainly will not. More likely things will get worse and worse until you get last place and your friends shoot you with paintballs or you sit in a Waffle House for 24 hours.

Stage 1: Denial

"There's Gonna be a Stat Correction"

I stayed up until 1 a.m. on Sunday night after the Bills/Patriots game sending DM's, customer support emails, and clipping game tape trying to get a stat correction for a sack they gave the Bills on a play Drake Maye made it back to/past the line of scrimmage. And in my heart of hearts, I knew there was a 0% chance anything I sent would be seen by another human being's eyes. And even if someone did happen to see it -- what the fuck are they gonna do? The Social Media manager for Yahoo Sports is going to get me a stat correction with the NFL? The Elias Sports Twitter account is going to see my video and say, "Oh my God! How did we miss this? This must be changed immediately!" No one gives a fuck except for me, and a stat correction will never be the Savior you need after a crushing loss.

Stage 2: Anger

"I'm fucking done playing Fantasy Football"

"Why did I sub out Tony Pollard for Chase Brown? You Idiot"

Next comes the Grumpies. This was all of Monday for me -- as if Monday's aren't bad enough, I felt the need to wallow in an all-encompassing fury about my fictional football team. The amount of, "You dumb motherfuckers," I muttered every time an email came in at work from people asking completely reasonable and understandable questions, because I'm still mad the Patriots linebackers had no answer for Dalton Kincaid. I went to the gym at lunch and punched the heavy bag for 15 minutes pretending it was Kyren Williams. Started following up on my unanswered DM's to SleeperNFL telling them to at least buy me dinner first if their gonna fuck me. Did it make me feel better? Marginally. Do I still have the urge to create a burner Twitter account to tweet them death threats? You betcha. But it's Week 5, I'll put that in my back-pocket for a Week 12-14 devastating loss.

Stage 3: Bargaining

"I'll start going to Church every Sunday for a stat correction"

"I'll donate to Charity for a winning streak"

Just because the anger settled out by Tuesday didn't mean I was magically okay with these events. I'd go to bed each night saying all the outrageous things I'd do for a stat correction, or for the ability to always make the right start/sit decision. What started as "I'll do my league-mates shotguns" if the score was changed (in our league if you score the least amount of points in a Week, or if you start a position-player who scores 0 points, you have to send a shotgun video by TNF -- there were 3 shotguns in play that I was willing to take) on Sunday Night had become "I'll be better son to my family and a better child of God" by Monday Night. You have to put it into the universe just in case, but it won't change anything.

Stage 4: Depression

"I'm never gonna win again"

"I never catch a break in this stupid game"

We've made it to Depression Tuesday -- where all hope of getting a lucky stat correction has gone away, the record is updated, and the standings reflect your devastation. Solemnly staring at the Waiver Wire contemplating a FAAB bid on Hassan Haskins -- but in the back of your mind knowing if you had picked up Michael Carter the week before you wouldn't be here in the first place. Avoiding your favorite sports podcasts because they might mention Rachaad White's 2 TD's that will send you into a post-traumatic episode. All the while having to deal with the responsibilities of your actual work and home life because no one knows nor cares that a 4th sack from the Bills defense made you want to take a nap on train tracks.

Stage 5: Acceptance

"Things will get better"

"We can turn this season around"

And as of Wednesday morning as I write this blog, I have finally reached the final stage of Fantasy-Football-Grief: acceptance. No more hoping for a stat correction, no more wallowing in defeat -- it's time to move forward. I woke up this morning, went for a walk, listened to some Taylor Swift to get the vibes back up, ate some breakfast, made a trade with the 0-5 manager to shake up the locker room (sent Deandre Swift and Matthew Golden for Chris Olave and Zach Charbonnet -- a true swap-of-Mid), and got back to the drawing board. Admittedly, while I was furious about the loss, the blow was lightened by winning in my other two leagues, winning my Pick 'Em league for the week (11 for 14 picking against the spread, no big deal), and not actually dropping in the standings despite the loss (6th place before the week, 6th place after -- could be worse).

At the end of the day, it's too early in the season to hyper-fixate on one week -- 5 weeks into a 14-week season, all we can do is motivate the guys to bounce back. We're Going against the 5-0 1st place team in Week 6 -- lets put it in the rearview and try to get back in the win column.

And if we lose this week, we just repeat the cycle and move on to Week 7. Surely things will get better, but if they don't, there's always option 3 -- set a reminder for August 15th 2026 to not join Fantasy Leagues this year because they bring nothing but pain and misery.