Draining the Pool

I've been playing in a hockey pool this winter, and so far things are not going terribly well. I'm not sure exactly why since on paper, my team really isn't that bad, but when it comes to the format of the pool, I keep getting destroyed. Sure, my goalies are weak and my big name players are not performing, but these are minor details.

I woke up on Wednesday horrified to find that one of my stronger players (Zigmund Palffy) was retiring. I treated this much in the same way a stockowner who discovers that the CEO of a company has hidden millions in foreign banks and has fled the country. I decided to deal Palffy if I could.

Granted, I knew that this was unlikely to happen, since the only one in the pool foolish enough to trade for a retired player is me. There's a saying in poker that if you can't see the sucker at the table, then it's probably you.

After a tongue lashing from the commissioner for my generous offer of Palffy for Samuelsson, I felt badly about the whole thing. Remember that Seinfeld episode when Kramer fixes Elaine's sore neck in exchange for her bike? When she renegs on the deal he bawls her out: "I would have expected this from George, even Jerry, but not you Elaine. I always held you up here (hand above head). Now you're aww aawwllll the way down."

So I picked up the stupendous Dainius Zubrus of the spectacular Washington Capitals. I'd like to think that I wouldn't have gone through with the trade, or made it right in the end, but that's the way things have been going with the pool. Unless something happens soon, I'm going to finish 8th in a pool of 8.