On July 23rd, 1983, a camp friend said he and his dad had an extra ticket to the Yankees-Royals game the following night. Seats just behind the Royals' dugout. "Do you want to go?" he asked. I begged my parents that night. It was a quick "no." They didn't know him or his dad. Heck, I barely knew him.
A couple days later, he ran up to me at the start of camp, excited to recount what would become one of baseball's most iconic events of the decade: the Pine Tar Incident. He and his dad watched it live -- were only about 20 feet from George Brett when the famed still-in-his-prime hitter charged out of the dugout with the rage of a lion chasing down an animal that tried to eat his cub.
This is why many of us watch sports -- to witness history. To spend a lifetime thinking back on those memories, knowing that they helped shape how we see the world, and maybe a little bit of ourselves.
Today, it's a near certainty that something memorable will happen on the field. So if you're struggling (as I am) to find two half-decent running backs to start, or if you're projected to lose by 40+ points, keep things in perspective. Lean into the possibility that you'll remember today not because of how you fared in fantasy, but because of how you witnessed history.
Shifting gears to DraftKings DFS 50/50 contests, my last four lineups have hit. Let's see if the momentum will continue, starting with the 1:00pm Eastern slate: Baker Mayfield, Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Diontae Johnson, T.J. Hockenson, George Pickens, and the Bengals DST. Rachaad White has scored in only one of his last six games, and the Titans have surrendered only five rushing scores. If the Bucs reach the red zone, I expect them to hit paydirt through the air.
And while Tyler Boyd is one of several cheap, high-upside options, I'd rather play it safe in 50/50. That means hedging with the Steelers' two top wideouts against a depleted Packers secondary, and it means going with volume at RB, zeroing in on two bellcows.
For the 4:00pm Eastern games, I made significant changes between writing "games" and "I." No joke. The only "player" I kept intact was the Cowboys DST. The other guys are Geno Smith, Brian Robinson, Antonio Gibson, CeeDee Lamb, Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnston, Daniel Bellinger, and Jahan Dotson. The Commanders RB hedge is the key to this lineup. Given their cheap prices, if that duo can muster 15+ combined points, there's enough pop elsewhere to hit big.
Remember to set your lineups early because of the Patriots-Colts morning matchup, and good luck.