The Leola Hawks

By NAN BROWN
As published Oct. 1, 2008

Ever since I was a little kid I have loved football, so I am in my glory right now. Back in the days of my childhood I was an avid Baltimore Colts fan. I thought the sun rose and set in Johnny Unitas as well as in other players on the team including Raymond Berry and John Mackey. The team was coached by the great Don Shula.

Once the Colts were stolen out from under us in the middle of a winter’s night in 1984 and were moved to Indianapolis, my allegiance to the Washington Redskins began. I reveled in the Redskins era that showcased the talents of Joe Theismann, John (“Riggo”, “The Diesel”) Riggins, Art Monk and Darrell Green.

Back then my love for the Redskins was matched by my hate for the Dallas Cowboys. Now I like the Cowboys, too, so I guess I’ve mellowed with age.

I still love the Redskins and always will, but since I married a guy from Western Pennsylvania and especially since we moved to PA a few years back I have yet another new allegiance to The Pittsburgh Steelers. So we cheer for the Redskins, Steelers and any team who beats the Philadelphia Eagles. For some reason I just don’t like their quarterback, Donovan McNabb (or McScabb as we call him due to his tendency for injuries.)

For the past two seasons I have taken my football fanaticism to a whole new level because I own my own team. I’ll bet you didn’t realize The Messenger paid me so much money that I could acquire a professional football team.

Well, before you start counting the number of zeros it takes to buy a team and decide you want to be my new best friend to share in my wealth (you know, kinda like Gail and Oprah), I have to admit the team I own is online in Fox Sports’ Fantasy Football. It’s called the Leola Hawks, and so far this season the team is doing well with a record of 2-1.

Two years ago the guys Jack works with decided to start a fantasy league, and I was invited to join. I did, and I had a blast running my team. During the course of the season each week I set my line-up before each game, and, on occasion, traded players, and dropped and added players.

I didn’t do so well the first year, but last year I made the play-offs, although I didn’t win the Super Bowl.

This year we almost didn’t form a league because the company where Jack works was involved in a merger in July which resulted in an entirely new set of managers, and they frown on such frivolity during working hours. The guys formed a league anyway and only get online to dabble in it on their lunch hours or on their own time.

Due to the lateness of the formation of our league, we missed the draft during which each owner can try to acquire the players they want for their team. Instead players were assigned to each of us, whether we wanted them or not. So, as a result, there’s been a lot of trading, dropping, and adding going on.

I was really fortunate because my team was stacked with great players in the assignment. I have Peyton Manning (quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts), Tony Romo (quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys), LaDainian Tomlinson (a wide receiver with the San Diego Chargers), and Jason Witten (a tight end with the Cowboys), just to name a few.

Our league has eight teams and their names are: Leola Hawks, Hash Browns (which is Jack’s team), Fighting Whiteys, Fellowship Room Bullies, HowBoutThemCowboys, Boys of Akron, Raiders, and Huck.

I can’t even begin to explain how each guy came up with a name for his team, except for Jack who was nicknamed “Hash Brown” at a company where he used to work.

You’ll notice I keep referring to the “guys in the league.” That’s because I was the only woman invited to participate, and I am quite honored to do so.

It takes quite a bit of planning, strategy and research to set my roster each week. I am sure there are those out there who would use the “eenie-meenie-minie-moe” method to set their roster, or once their roster has been set will leave it the same week to week, but those methods aren’t for me because I WANNA WIN!!

Excuse me for now, but I have to go. I need to compare Peyton and Tony’s stats for last Sunday’s game so I can decide who to play this week.