Fantasy Hoops

Dwyane Wade scares the hell out of me.

I am in two fantasy basketball leagues this season. One is what we call the "RDV" league, as in RDV Sports, the parent company of the Orlando Magic. For the better part of 15 years, Magic employees and selected friends of the organization (I used to be the former, now I am the latter) have competed in an NBA rotisserie league. It dates back to the pre-internet days, when weekly scores had to be computed by hand. This league is so old, I once finished 3rd in a field of ten teams with a lineup that included Nick Anderson, Clarence Weatherspoon, and Loy Vaught. They were studs, too.

The other league is one that was set up by the producers of "Jeep Midnight Magic," a weekly magazine show that airs Sundays at midnight on WKMG Local 6 in Orlando, and Mondays at 6pm on Sun Sports (hence, my connection). The idea, much like the fantasy football league on Sports Talk Live, was to provide ammunition for the panelists to mock one another. Paul Kennedy and I, holding the sixth pick in the first round, were able to land Tracy McGrady and Dwyane Wade with our first two selections.

T-Mac, of course, played one game in the first week of the season before spraining his ego, leaving Sun Sports with four players against the five of Orlando sports radio station 740 The Team. Fortunately, Wade carried the Sun Sports banner proudly, scoring a bazillion fantasy points in the absence of the also-injured Shaq Daddy, and we won the week. My selections of Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer will soon merit another blog entry - sheer genius, in both cases - but for now, Wade scares the hell out of me.

Have you seen the Converse ad, the one with footage of Wade getting the crap knocked out of him in high school, college, and the NBA? The tag line reads something like "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight." It illustrates an irreversable aspect of Dwyane Wade, and fuels my concern - the man is utterly fearless, the type of player who shoots a higher percentage after contact than before. He spends more time on his back than he does on his feet, and for this, he is beloved in Miami. And for this, I am terrified.

Wade is clearly one of the five best players in the league today. I just wonder how much punishment he can take. His Heat teammates were taken aback by his appearance at training camp this fall - Wade, generously listed at 6-4 and 212, has noticeably bulked up from last season. The extra time in the weight room is serving him well in the first month of the season, because he can't go five minutes without someone clobbering him. Fall down seven times, get up eight. I've interviewed him many times, by the way, and if he's 6-4 and 212, I must be 6-1 and 190.

Point being - if he fails to get up the ninth time, my Midnight Magic fantasy team could be down the tubes. Luckily, I have Bosh, Boozer, Andre Iguodala, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Bobby Simmons, and Manu Ginobili to back him up - plus, eventually, a healthy Tracy McGrady. Needless to say, I'm counting on Wade.