JOPLIN, Mo. — When it comes to fantasy football, this will be the third year in a row that I’m thrilled to not play it. I know that sounds strange, because fantasy football and geeks are made for each other.

I used to spend season after season preparing my team. I would agonize over my team name (former team names include Furious Whodats, Black and Gold Apples, Drew Brees’ Birthmarks) for hours. I’d study obscure stats. I’d prepare for fantasy drafts.

I used to think that fantasy football was the next level of football fandom. In reality, it’s a level of geekiness that I outgrew. Sad? Maybe.

Do I regret the loss? Heck, no.

For those who have never played: The game runs alongside the regular NFL season. Before it starts, players act as managers and pick players for their team. Those players’ statistics are measured and scored week after week.

Similar to the NFL season, manager’s teams play each other. Managers score points based on how their players perform in the actual NFL game.

That’s why you hear fantasy players say really weird things such as, “I need Matt Schaub of the Texans to throw three touchdowns, but none of them to Andre Johnson,” or “I’m happy the Chiefs won, but Matt Cassel killed my team.”

Full disclosure: My final season of fantasy football was spent as the commissioner of a league. Things went badly -- it started with the Web site’s draft acting buggy and got worse from there. So that likely contributes to my burnout.

But when I played fantasy football, I watched football much differently. I rooted for individuals, not teams. I focused on stats, not efforts.

And because I’m such a fan of the New Orleans Saints, I was playing with a handicap. Keep in mind that I was playing fantasy football back when Aaron Brooks was the Saints’ starting QB, not Brees. So my fandom led me to stupid trades and bad roster decisions.

There was no way in Hades I’d make any decision that might hurt me rooting for the Saints. For instance, if I had a good running back that was virtually assured of racking up points by playing the Saints’ porous run defense, I wouldn’t play the player that week. DUMB.

So I’m glad to not be playing. If you’re playing this year, I hope you enjoy the season. And you can’t go wrong drafting Brees in the first round. He’s worth the pick.

~ Speaking of fantasy football: Our friends at J Magazine are looking for you if you are a woman who enjoys playing fantasy football. E-mail kmcclintock@joplinglobe.com with your stories about how you dominated leagues with half the effort that the guys “in the know” put in.

~ We love rolling out new features in Enjoy, and we have a new one for you this week: The Lucky Seven. Week after week, this list will feature seven great things about the area, culture, life or whatever grabs our attention.

To start it off, we highlight seven great places to watch a football game. The NFL season is right around the corner, and watching the games every week is one of the great parts of every year.

Also, because of a collective bargaining disagreement between owners and players, this might be the last season of football. So we hope you enjoy our picks -- we hope you get to each of them at least once.

~ One final football irritant directly related to coverage of my beloved Saints: It’s really starting to bug me how TV producers are editing the Saints’ famous chant wrongly.

If you watch coverage of Saints fans, you’ll hear one of them say, “Who dat? Who dat?  Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?” And that’s wrong, wrong, WRONG.

Saints fans have long had a quabble with fans of the Cincinnati Bengals: They have a “Who Dey” chant that sounds similar (and yes, it came AFTER the Saints’ “who dat.” Sorry, Bengals fans, but you’re wrong. The chant is too Southern for Ohio).

However, if you listen to the famous version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” sung by Aaron Neville, you’ll hear the chant is actually, “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?” The long “who dat” line comes before the single “who dats,” not after, as in the Cincy version. Head to my blog to hear how it should be: imgeekedout.wordpress.com.

~ Jason Williams is THE MAN (I think he got tired of me saying this to his face, so I’ll say it once more in print). His sketch of the top 10 money making authors can be found on page 15. I’m keeping the full-sized version.

~ I’m loving all the talk about city councils discussing indoor smoking bans. Not being sarcastic: I think a ban is a good idea, as long as it’s done as few loopholes as possible.

I lived in the Springfield area when that city passed its hole-ridden law. I lived in Nixa and covered the town’s news when that city’s board of aldermen discussed, and eventually passed, a smoking ban.

Because I’ve lived through ban debates, I know all of the moronic, illogical things that change-fearing, ban-wary opponents will say. One of my favorites is how smokers don’t “believe” in the dangers of second-hand smoke. News flash: Second-hand smoke will cause cancer whether smokers believe it or not.

Another myth: The lack of smoking will hurt restaurant business. That’s not even close. It didn’t happen in Nixa, Springfield, Kansas City, Columbia, Indianapolis or countless other cities that have passed bans.

Oh, I take it back: There was one restaurant in Springfield that closed because of smoking. Called Ciggies, it was an all-smoking restaurant built in accordance with Springfield’s weird loopholes. It didn’t last very long -- people just didn’t go.

As for bars: I again point to cities where smoking bans work.

This geek has asthma. This geek would love to hang out and listen to some of the great local bands in the area. But this geek also needs air, so I can’t do it too often.

~ I’m finally catching up on a show that I should have started watching a long time ago: “Heroes.”

I used to dismiss it as a cheap knockoff of “X-Men,” but the show about people dealing with extraordinary abilities is compelling, addicting and much deeper than I thought it would be.

Case in point: I’ve yelled “Yatta!” a few times since diving into season one.

Every character is likable, even the bad guys such as Gabriel Sylar and Noah Bennet (I’m deep in season one, so Bennet is still a bad guy who only recently turned). The writers did a great job mixing and  multiple layers of story. Much like a comic book, the lives of the main characters intersect in many ways.  

The show’s mythology is set up similar to “Lost,” so that’s why it’s probably sticking with me. Unlike “Lost,” “Heroes” gets to the point much more quickly and doesn’t let questions linger, so it feels like things are happening at more of a breakneck pace. “Heroes” also doesn’t spend a lot of time with flashbacks and such.

Also, unlike “Lost,” “Heroes” was canceled by NBC before it got to end its story. I’ve read reports about a mini-series to tie things together, but nothing is finalized yet. Here’s hoping creator Tim Kring gets a chance to write some final chapters.