Last weekend Jerry and I threw a Fantasy Football Draft party. Jerry had this great idea to do a fun offline draft this year. This required nearly everyone to be there and gather around our dining room table. With 10 people in the league this was quite a feat!
Jerry initiated the invitations from everyone in the league via text and we went from there. He picked the Sunday before the season opener to allow everyone to do any necessary research before the first game, which occurred last night. Of course, between working, chasing a one year old, planning his birthday party, and running a household, research of fantasy players fell to the wayside. My research ultimately consisted of 1 phone conversation with my brother, Scott, and 20 minutes of online research before we started drafting. Needless to say, I think I came out pretty good, at least Jerry was impressed. I heard groans every time I picked a good player, so I think that's a good sign.
The draft itself was fun and entertaining. Being the only female in the league I am subjected to some little boy whining (Sid), potty humor, and other juvenile nonsense, which prepares me for my future with my son and his friends (can't wait). Still, I hold my own.
When dealing with a league consisting of 9 men, there isn't a whole lot of organization when it comes to the "party" part of the fantasy draft. With Jerry in charge of the draft itself he was in the zone with organization, but planning on what people should bring was a little more strained.
When I asked Jerry what I needed to cook he said, "Nothing." This news was both shocking and hard to believe. If I had left this alone, the result could have gone one of two ways. Either Jerry planned something by himself, which is not impossible, but certainly not the norm, or the more likely choice, he had asked everyone to bring something, but didn't tell them what or told them the wrong thing. In fact, the second option was true. Jerry instructed his buddies to "bring your own meat." Yes, the humor is intended here.
I asked about side dishes and he said don't worry about it. Of course, I worried about it. That day in the kitchen was spent making marshmallow popcorn balls, cream cheese and sausage croissant squares, and potato salad.
The kicker for me is that I got a text from one of the guy's girlfriends around 5 p.m. asking what to bring... the party started at 6 p.m. Clearly, Jerry communicated with his buddy and not the "planner" of the couple. I told her what to bring and she informed me when she arrived that she was doing nothing that day and could have come and helped me. Why I didn't reach out to her sooner is definitely my mistake.
In addition to the food, I asked Jerry about the board that we were using to write down everyone's players. We initially talked about ordering a board, but it wouldn't arrive on time, so he said his friend had a white board. Rather than wait on that to come through, the night before we wound up at Staples buying a ruler and tri-fold board. On draft day, I created the grid and put tape on the markers to designate the different player positions. The end result looked pretty snazzy.
We all had a great time drafting and catching up. During my "event debrief" with Jerry I let him know that in the future, we should probably just tell everyone that we would supply the burgers, chicken, or steaks and have everyone else bring a side. That's sort of how these parties typically work best. He understood and agreed.
During the party someone asked me if I'm always this stressed during my events and I responded, "I'm not stressed, just running around... and no, but that's because I'm usually solely in charge of the event. I have to share being in charge of this event with Jerry."
Now, I've given Jerry a lot of crap in this post, but let me clarify. Could he have done this event on his own? 100% yes. He is SUPER intelligent and able to plan parties without me. However, when you live with an event planner, you should always take advantage of the talents around you. Also, as an event planner, I have this burden of knowledge and idea of how things should go that I just can't seem to turn off, even for a second. I had this urge to take over the party, which Jerry allowed me to do, even if he was trying not to so that I "wouldn't stress about it."
Good luck to everyone this year in fantasy football! Of course, I think my team is the best, and hope to reign champion at the end of the season!