The Curse of the First Pick

I admit it I enjoy playing fantasy sports, it is one of the few meaningless distractions I have kept around since having children. It gives me an excuse to watch sportscenter at night and it is just plain fun. For the most part I have been pretty successful. I often finish in the top three of any league that I join.

One thing that I have noticed is that I have the uncanny knack of winning the right to the first pick in the draft. For example in the years since 2005 I have had the number one pick 3 years in a row in fantasy football. Additionally, I have had the first pick the past two seasons in fantasy baseball.

Each year my 1st pick is a major disappointment. This year I drafted Ladanian Tomlinson in fantasy football and so far he is rated behind such powerhouse backs as Ronnie Brown and Lamont Jordan. In fantasy baseball I drafted Albert Pujols (after a disappointing season out of A-Rod last year) and all I got was a 21st ranked player. This trend follows every other time I have had the first pick. Each time my guy has an "off year" and doesn't perform like he should. Throw A-Rod, Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson, and Marshall Faulk on that list. Each one of them had a sub-par (or just injury plagued) season.

So the moral of the story is that next year I am willing to trade my first pick, it just isn't worth the disappointment.