Amherst Fantasy

I’ve participated in a Fantasy Football league for several years with my friends Chris and Christopher, each of us running two teams (a regular squad and a practice squad) so that there was always plenty of talent and focused on the matchups for a particular week.  My son Jacob joined us last year and did well, so we all decided to get together and hold our draft live instead of trying to getting it done online.  The good natured banter is best face to face, and Jacob has developed a knack for sticking it to us during the picks.  So I took off from work, picked up Christopher and headed over to Amherst Brewing (after a pit stop at Table and Vine for some bottles) to spend some time together.

Amherst Brewing (http://www.amherstbrewing.com) is half way in between our houses so we decided to make camp there for the event.  Amherst Brewing use to be downtown, but they moved out for more space and parking, which would have been great except it was move in day at U-Mass and the traffic was atrocious (even had to cut off an angry Hobbit).  The hostess set us up in the bar area; leather couches, a full view of the brewery selections and an outlet so my computer wouldn’t die.  We all started with their Jack Daniels barrel aged Off Kilter Wee Heavy on cask as we got setup, confirming that we each could get online.  Jacob helped each of us, but in the end he had to borrow my IPad to participate.  We got food (nachos for me of course) and got down to business.  Jacob had the first pick, and to my chagrin drafted Dez Bryant to go along with Doug Martin and Drew Brees.  I needed some spice so I ordered Founder’s Mango Magnifico (a mango beer brewed with Habeneros), while I drafted Peyton Manning to go along with Jamaal Charles (can Andy Reid work wonders with him?) and Megatron.  Chris took the 3 best RBs and picks in the NFL, while Christopher played homer with Brady.  It was great for Jacob to spend time with these male role models, even if I am destined to beat them all this year in the league.

Since we were in Amherst, we had to stop at the Moan and Dove (http://moananddove.com/) on the way home.  Although the selection there isn’t what it used to be, I enjoyed a Stone Enjoy By 9.13.13 IPA on draft while we discussed our teams and bragged how we would do this year.  It was great to spend the day together with my friends, and having my son participate with us for the upcoming season.  I hope I don’t beat him to bad. - 6327/14615

 
“You can’t have a real country unless you have a beer and an airline.  It helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.” – Frank Zappa