A scant 48 hours ago I was laid up in bed with a 100.5 degree fever and the worst headache that I have ever had in my life thanks to a sinus infection. I spent the entire day in a fever/medication induced haze, woke up only to eat crackers and soup and listen to my kids drive my wife crazy, then laid back in my sweaty sheets to pass out again. At the time, I thought this was a bad day. Little did I know.
Just 24 hours ago I was still laid up in bed, but I realized that I had to get up and get my taxes sent off. Doing taxes is never fun, but it's even less so when working with a light sensitivity and a temperature so screwed up that you walk around sweating while feeling cold at the same time. But, Uncle Sam must get his, so I diligently went through and did my darn taxes. Finished just in time for the start of the NBA games last night on what would be the final day of the 2009 regular season.
Let me step back for a minute and point out that I entered last night with a chance to win both of my big fantasy leagues. One of them was a head-to-head league in which I had led the league in total points and was winning my playoff matchup by 47 points going into the last day, and the other was a rotisserie league where I was tied for first place overall.
Now, back to last night. In my head-to-head league, two of my players sat out entirely because their team had already locked their postseason position. One of those two players was named LeBron James, only my best player. Also, the team that I was playing against had a whole bevy of guys fighting for playoff position who all came through with big efforts...Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, and Yao Ming, to name a few. But despite my opponent having 3 more games than me and getting great efforts from his guys, my team was STILL in it. My own guys came through valiantly, bringing it down to the wire. At halftime of the 10:30 games my team trailed by ONE POINT, 3099 to 3098, with each of us having 2 players left. So what happens? My hot player, Kevin Durant, sits the entire 4th quarter because the Clippers have given up and are getting blown out by the Thunder. Meanwhile, of course, his guy Kalenna friggin Azubuike goes nuts in the second half and secures him a victory. Game over, I lose.
So of course I'm mad, but these things happen. I'll get over it, right? So I go to bed, and wake up this morning to my 2-year old having a tantrum because she wants beads in her hair. BEADS in her hair??? I don't know how to put beads in her hair, my wife is in a coma after having gone 48 hours without sleeping to deal with two kids and an invalid husband, and I've got a 2-year old jumping up and down and screaming. Loudly. Did I mention it was 6 am?
So I drag the 2-year old and the baby downstairs, move the playpen and play kitchen to block the stairs so the 2-year old has to keep screaming at me instead of going upstairs and waking up my wife, and proceed to double-check last night's basketball results. Yup, I still lost my head-to-head league. But what about my roto league? At this point, with the way things are going, I already know the answer (just like I'm sure you do), but just for giggles I click on the league and...yup! I lose by 1 roto point! To turn the knife, I check out the final detailed standings and...drum roll...I lost by three TOTAL points (12,923 to 12,920), I lost by 1/10 of a field goal percentage (47.1|PERCENT| to 47.0|PERCENT|), and I lost by 18 treys (876 to 858). Any one of those three things happen for me and I at least tie for the win, and any two and I'm the outright champ. Gotta love it.
Fast-forward a few hours. I'm still bummed about losing both my leagues, my newborn is fussing at me because I have no milk and my chest isn't comfortable to sleep on, my 2-year old is still snapping out every few minutes about beads, my wife is still unconscious, and I'm sitting at my computer desk when I decide to click on Celtics Blog. And what, to my wondering eyes, should appear? Doc: Kevin Garnett likely out for playoffs.
So to recap, in the last 24 hours I have dealt with fever, infection, taxes, tantrums, two excruciating fantasy losses, and now the news that my favorite athlete ever will likely not get the chance to defend his title, taking all of the luster off what had previously looked like one of the most interesting playoffs of my lifetime. I will now end with a quote from a poster named Banks2Pierce on RealGM that summed up how he felt about the Garnett news, and also nicely summarizes my feelings right now:
"Full on swearing should be allowed on our (blog) today. I feel like I have no soul."