Prove It

I just absolutely love the retort Rodney Harrison had for Joey Porter a couple days ago. After a bunch of smack talk from Porter, now a member of the Dolphins, claiming he and the fins were going to take apart the Patriots on Sunday, Harrison had the following to say:

“The great thing about football, about sports is, you get an opportunity to prove it. It doesn’t matter what I say, he says, or what anyone else says. You have your opportunity to prove it. Just prove it on Sunday. Talk is talk. Just prove it.”

This is a classic statement, in my opinion. It speaks volumes about the NFL and its relationship to fantasy football. As I emphasize in my new book, The Art of Fantasy Football: Mastering the Metagame, true mastery involves mirroring the emotion and the intensity of the NFL. Professional football – more than most, if not all sports – is a highly emotional endeavor. The speed and ferocity of the game forces its players to call upon any technique to ratchet up the adrenaline. Human beings thrive on emotion and that’s what it means to get “fired up”. Emotion is like a fuel that ignites our will and intensity. It is a focusing technique.

Rodney Harrison is the type of player you want to be aligned with in the world of fantasy football. No matter which way it goes on Sunday, he cares. He has something to prove. Same with Joey Porter. I want to be involved with players like Porter and Harrison . This is what I am always striving to do in fantasy; align myself with outstanding players who are dedicated to the same thing I am: proving it on the field.

I win so many trophies and create league dynasties because I tune in to what is really happening in the world of the NFL. This is the “fantasy” part of the football, me tuning into it. I utilize all of my research, number crunching, schedule preparation and all the different techniques I discuss in my book, to achieve a state of oneness with my dudes.

This is how I prove it on Sunday and beat my opponents. I don’t just talk about it. I do all this insane research and preparation and then I pick and nurture players who want it more than the other ones. They want it more, just like I do. I want doers, not talkers. I want a Rodney Harrison, a Joey Porter.

More to the point, I am Joey Porter and Rodney Harrison.