Tuesday, August 19, 1997
Fly Foolball Logic
by
TMF Edible (Rick Aristotle
Munarriz)
A football player with a jester cap? Excellent! Another season of Foolball reminds me of how I miss the sport so. The gridiron. The salty snacks. The great plays. Call me a fanatic, I've been called worse, but I just love the game. So much so that I end up in a few fantasy football leagues every year. It's not something that I am proud of. While I was often perplexed at the sight of a bloated elder cheering on the athleticism of a thoroughbred at the racetrack, no better, I have wound up doing the exact same thing with those that master the pigskin.
If you have ever joined a full-fledged fantasy league, not the office water cooler variety, then what I am about to describe has probably happened to you. If you have not, read on and see how it painfully applies to investing as well.
It's fantasy draft day. I am all set with my player rankings. I've toiled for some time to list the athletes at their respective positions in the order I think they should be rated. I have married things I've seen and read with personal hunches and have come up with my master plan. Brett Favre over Dave Brown. You get the picture. Then the rounds begin. Nervously crossing off names that are picked. Excited when a prized player falls into your slot. It's quite the experience. Yet, somewhere along the way, the unthinkable happens. It's your turn. You see your list of available footballers. You look at the name of the highest rated player yet to be selected. You drop down a line or two and pick somebody else.
What? How? So much work to set one's priorities and in a random whim a lesser-ranked player suddenly becomes more valuable than the logical choice. Why? Was your judgment flawed the night before or at present? Which you do you trust? Have you deceived yourself? But this isn't only fantasy football. Nope.
How many times have you picked up the phone or logged onto your online brokerage account, determined to buy or sell a particular stock. You have done your research. You've seen and read. You've hunched. Your mind is set. You see the quote is just where you thought it would be. Perfect. Tick tock. You freeze. You think. You hang up.
It's amazing to think that your mind is whizzing away, perpetually resorting your priorities. Reranking your expectations. Too amazing. Which is why I don't believe that to be the case. Or maybe I will. I blame it all on what I like to call Fly Logic. You commit yourself one way, yet when the moment of truth arrives the difference between what you thought you wanted and what you really want switch pole positions. Or maybe it is the difference between what you thought you wanted and what you ultimately needed. Gray areas in the gray matter.
You know the swimming pool is too cold yet you still put on your bathing suit. You're sure you want to order the steak yet "chicken francese" slips through your lips. Fly Logic. Premeditated common sense is made obsolete by what one sums up on the fly. I didn't want to write this Fribble -- yet I did.