My roommate has been sick for three weeks up in Phoenix. Not just "cough, cough" sick. I mean really ill. Besides being my roommate, he is also the Wildcat's men's basketball reporter. On Monday, he finally felt well enough to come in to work.

His co-workers hadn't talked to him in weeks. They knew of his health problems, but the conversation was not how he was doing. No, when sports reporters get together, the talk immediately turns to fantasy football.

"Sorry to here about your nuerological virus, man. Hey, how did Brett Favre do for you this weekend?"

Sports writers are an odd lot, but this was getting ridiculous.

But we're hooked. And believe it or not, it's not just the sports reporters in on the fun. We've even drawn in the news editor, one of the assistant news editors, a designer and his friend at Columbia University to the dark side.

tmFor five of us, the addiction started last year, when we stumbled upon the game while on the World Wide Web. For most of the season we were playing people we didn't know. This year we all see each other daily. Sometimes, it can get rough. It's funny what games like this can do to otherwise uncompetitive people.

"Hey, I hate to break the news to you, but your team is crap."

Work in the newsroom sometimes threatens to shut down completely while we all crowd around computers and try to grab the free agent who rushed for two touchdowns last weekend or the defense that is playing the Cardinals this week.

So far this season I'm 0-2. Pretty pathetic, considering I have guys like Steve Young, Robert Brooks and Curtis Martin on my team. Our news editor started New York Giants quarterback Dave Brown. Needless to say, he's 0-2 as well.

My team was a bunch of underacheivers last year, too. Actually maybe a better word for them was inconsistent. One week I had 108 points - almost an ESPNET record. The next week I scored two points.

A lot of fantasy sports detractors say the games are bad because it forces you to root for individuals instead of teams. Hey, I still root for the Cowboys, but I wouldn't mind if they beat Green Bay 35-28 and Robert Brooks caught four touchdown passes.

Yes, it's a weird and sometimes cruel game, this fantasy football.

I try not to get sucked into this competitivness thing and I think I've succeeded.

But if I lose again this week, somebody's getting a pink slip.

Sports Editor Craig Degel shares his thoughts on sports and life every Wednesday in the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

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