Omega Editorial #8 - Sept. 17, 2008

I HAVE A PROBLEM
Hi. I’m Dave and I’m addicted to sports gambling.
OK, maybe not sports gambling. It’s more like I’m addicted to football gambling.
And by football, I mean the NFL. The CFL can hardly be considered football.
My addiction started innocently enough. One fall, some friends and I decided to try doing a “football pool”, similar to the hockey pool that had already become a regular October occurrence.
We had no money on the line (thankfully, since the rules were set up terribly), but just that initial taste left me hungry for more.
I’ve played fantasy football on and off since then. But I never play for money, so I don’t really consider that a problem. Though it does take up roughly half my waking hours as I scour the waiver wire and free agent list, desperately looking to improve my (rather abysmal) team.
My addiction became a problem a few years ago when I was living in Calgary. My roommate and I began buying weekly Sports Action tickets every Sunday morning.
If I thought I loved watching football before gambling, oh baby! Gambling made the games 100 times better. Now, not only was I glued to the TV for Buccaneers games, I loved watching every game. It was as if my life (or, more accurately, my rent) was on the line every weekend.
But I’m happy to report that I’ve conquered my problem.
Sure, I still gamble on football. I have two fantasy teams this year (Go Flux Capacitors!) and I still buy my tickets every weekend.
But last weekend I won $100. If that’s not a victory, I don’t know what is.
Wish me luck