Training Camp - "The Joker"

A shenanigan is a deceitful confidence trick, or mischief causing discomfort or annoyance.

Ahh, yes… it’s that time of year again. Get excited. Get very excited. With the start of training camp comes the month of August and this is when we football enthusiasts get fired up. Right now is when the fantasy leagues are forming. This is when your draft is being set and league settings are being finalized. This is the infancy of the new season. Everything is fragile and new. Yet even now at this early stage you want to be taking action to ensure your eventual victory.

But what kind of action should you take? Heath Ledger, in his tremendous performance as The Joker in the new Batman movie, gives a wonderful demonstration of the kind of spirit to embody when you play the strategically rich – and often misunderstood – game of fantasy football. Notice, we love The Joker as much for his creativity and dogged determination as anything. This guy has a wicked sense of planning and execution (no pun intended.) Aside from all of his antics, The Joker matches Batman’s intensity and ability to get the job done. He is very effective at what he does.

Fantasy football is a game much suited to the maniacal approach that The Joker demonstrates. In a virtual fantasy realm, it serves you well to think about things on a level of psychological manipulation akin to what a villain like The Joker is doing in a comic book. I go into this subject in detail in my new book, “The Art of Fantasy Football: Mastering the Metagame”, in my discussion on fantasy role playing games and their similarities and contribution to the game of fantasy football. Much as the way you utilize witches and sorcerers in Dungeons & Dragons, you seek to utilize your Chad Johnson or Ladainian Tomlinson in an attempt to destroy your opponent.

Now is the time… now, in the early stages of your fantasy football league, to begin infecting your league with the psychological qualities that will set the tone for things to come. As I detail in my book, there are specific actions you can be taking right now to make sure things unfold in your favor. You should be utilizing all of the psychological tools at your disposal to tilt the outcome in your favor.

This isn’t an esoteric or ephemeral concept. Just ask The Joker. Like Batman, this guy doesn’t just show up. The Joker comes prepared. Both he and Batman conduct spectacular planning sessions. They take their craft seriously. What we see in the end result is the artistry unfolding. But make no mistake. Nothing comes easy. As Sun Tzu pointed out, victory is insured long before the battle. This is actually the crux of The Art of War: who wins and loses is determined early on in the planning stages.

So just as the entire NFL is warming up and strategizing and preparing for the season to come, you too should be operating on a grand master-plan type of level. Focus on what you aim to accomplish and determine a plan to attain that goal. (You’re goal, by the way, should be to scoop the cash and nothing less.) My book will show you exactly how to accomplish this. And don’t be afraid to emulate the carefully plotted shenanigans of The Joker. His brand of psychological manipulation over his opponents, combined with careful planning and deliberate action, is the mindset of the master in this crazy world of fantasy football.