The Fantasy is Real

Never been a huge basketball fan. I watched Jordan play in his last season in '99 and I've enjoyed having a home team (even though it is the Blazers), but I haven't ever really connected to the game. Things started to change when I noticed a lot of foreign people in the game. In April of '03 Josh told me about the hot new foreign born players, and for some reason this sparked my interest.

This Sunday I am entering a Fantasy Basketball League with a bold and probably disastrous plan. I will only draft foreign born players. Yeah, I know I will probably lose, but watching the US Olympic Team lose to both Argentina and Italy got me pumped on all the NBA players that played for other countries. It's a long list. "As of March 15, 2004, NBA team rosters featured 67 international players from 33 countries and territories."

Fans named Pau Gasol the "Baller of the Year". Tim Duncan is a two-time MVP and there is a slew of foreign born All-Stars. The problem with my foreign born team is not the talent, but the availability. Who isn't going to try and get Tim Duncun, Dirk Nowitzki, Predrag Stojakovic, or Yao Ming? These are great players and anyone in the UHX Fantastic Basket Challenge League is going to want them. Even my second tier choices are good with Steve Nash, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Tony Parker, or Pau Gasol. The real fear is further down the list, where limiting my draft choices forces me to pick the 220th ranked Raja Bell or 144th ranked Hidayet Turkoglu. And once I have my team, even my trades will be limited to a shorter list of players as I try to finagle Samuel Dalembert or Carlos Arroyo away from another team.

Keeping this plan a secret would no doubt help my chances immensely, but where is the fun, nay, the sport in that? My strong conceptual team, the Cameroon Robustos have a schtick, they have sex appeal, they have pizzaz. And while they may not top the league charts they will have fans who love them and I have no doubt they will be the most popular team in the UHX Fantastic Basket Challenge League.