Fantasy and The Ties that Bind

Well at least I made you look. Fantasy refers to fantasy baseball of course. It’s a term which makes me very uncomfortable but we’ll get to that later. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Fantasy baseball, well, I envy you. Fantasy baseball (“Fantasy”) is an opportunity for a group of 8-12 regular people to draft real major league baseball players and create a team. Your team competes against your league mates’ teams and the outcomes are based on the stats of the real baseball players--and this is supposed to be fun.

As the real baseball season kicks off this week, so do countless Fantasy leagues, including one that was conceived at The Park School 10 years ago. The group, which originally consisted of students and faculty, is still going strong a decade later after the students graduated from Park, and graduated from college, and moved on to graduate school and professional lives. (The faculty members are still stuck here.) In speaking to two of the founding members of this Park league, history teachers Peter Warren and John Kessinger, I learned some important stuff (and never mind about the unimportant stuff). The important stuff was that the following folks have participated in this league: Adam Dunn ’02, Dan Flamholz ’02, Robbie Gross ’02, Brian London ’02, Zac Milner ’03, Tyler Rorison ’03, Ben Hyman ’06, Dan McGill ’10, science teacher Elliott Huntsman, Upper School principal Mike McGill, and, who it seems is Commissioner for Life, Ben Jacobs ’02.

No matter how you feel about Fantasy, how great is it that these teachers and students (now alumni) are still at it? Most schools promote the significance of the teacher-student relationship for obvious reasons. This league is one tangible example that speaks to friendship and real connections. I’m sure for all of them it is also a great time, well except maybe for Ben. Being the Commissioner is a non-stop headache. More about that in a moment. Peter and John were quick to point out that Ben was perfect for this role in that he was masterful in dispute resolution. So I wish the league Happy Tenth Anniversary, and Ben a dispute-free year or at least one day without trouble.

I must confess that Fantasy has played a sordid role in my life as well. I am so old that to me this habit is known as Rotisserie baseball. Like poor Ben, I served as Commissioner of my league, but Commissioner only. When I did have a team for a few brief weeks, the conflict it caused when my Fantasy players competed with the Orioles was too much to bear. I ran the league for many years with law school pals. Talk about disputes! But these Fantasy ties do bind us, and now I am the silent co-owner of a team with longtime Park friend, Michael Stiller ’85. He’s the brains, and I run the in-stadium promotions.

So this season is just beginning for Fantasy baseball, Major League Baseball, and Park baseball. Fantasies about Fantasy abound. Whether your life is empty enough that you play or full enough that you don’t, take a look around at the ties that bind you to friends and mentors, Park or otherwise, and celebrate them.