Our Labor Day weekend was a fun mixture of outdoor activities, playing with our puppies and grand puppies, and two huge Fantasy Football Drafts. We were able to enjoy this last weekend before the 2017 NFL season with family and friends doing some of our favorite things.
One of the biggest events of the year in the Youngstown area is the Canfield Fair. It is five days of festivities, rides, 4-H animals and projects, and Fair Food! Ask almost anyone what their favorite part of the fair is and they will tell you it is the food. There is something for everyone from lemon shakes to gyros and sausage sandwiches to every kind of fried food you can think of. This year’s new fried creation is fried corn on the cob! My personal favorite, and the only thing I ever get is cotton candy.
Don goes to the fair every year, usually on Labor Day. This year he went on Sunday due to a scheduling conflict with his nephew’s high school band. He and Nathan met Don’s sister and her family and spent a few hours taking in the fair scene. The kids were ready to leave before the grownups, but at least Don got to eat all of his favorites. While they were exploring the fair, I visited with family and friends at their fairgrounds campsite. Yes, people bring campers out to the fairgrounds and make a vacation out of the fair! Some of these folks have been going for thirty plus years and have out-of-state friends that they only see at the fair. It truly is a big deal around here!
Saturday night was Don’s Hometown Trophy League draft – the sixteen team league he has been in for almost twenty years. This draft is super important to him because this is the league that has the four-foot-tall trophy that he wants to place in our living room. He had the 15th pick and fully intended to pick up Zeke, but when his pick came along Jordy Nelson was still available. Not wanting to miss out on Jordy (taking the advice of Bob Lung, the Consistency King), he let Zeke go, knowing that the guy with the 16th pick wouldn’t take a chance on Zeke. Well, that didn’t work out so well because Steve snatched up Zeke quicker than you can bat your eye.
The rest of the draft went as Don hoped it would. When his pick came back around he took the next best Running Back available, DeMarco Murray. In the third round, 47th pick, he picked up Demaryius Thomas and the 50th pick in the fourth round, DeVante Parker. The fifth and sixth rounds added Robert Kelley and Marcus Mariota to his roster. With only four bench spots in this league, he rounded out his bench with John Brown, Donte Moncrief, Kenny Stills and Jamaal Williams. In addition to drafting an excellent team, Don had a fun evening out with his Hometown League friends at a local pizza and wings joint.
Don has one Fantasy Football draft left this year at 6 pm this evening. He has a team in a FFPC league that has some really impressive prizes. In addition to monetary prizes, he could have a chance to win an entry into next year’s main event. That is what I am hoping for! I want Don to go to Las Vegas next year and play with the big boys of Fantasy Football! He has been studying and listening to the experts in preparation for tonight’s draft so I am sure he will end up with a great team.
We are finishing our weekend with a full day of being outside soaking up the sunshine. Don is playing fetch with our grandpuppy, Phil, who doesn’t know when to quit. We have burgers to grill, lots of iced tea to drink and great neighbors to talk to. It is a perfect way to spend the unofficial end of summer!