It’s not entirely likely that I’ll ever earn enough money to own an NFL franchise. A few hundred million dollars is tough for a newspaper guy to come by, and NFL teams rarely sell for much less.

Still, it’s a dream I’ve always had. For the last several years, I’ve had to settle for the next best thing: Owning an NFL Fantasy Team. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s as close as I’ll probably ever come.

The premise is the same: At the beginning of the year, you draft players you think will help you win, or in this case, score the most points. The added fun of my league is that it is comprised of employees of the company I work for, including Times sports editor Jeremy Smith.

Despite moderate success in years past, I’m off to a poor 1-2 start. Jeremy, on the other hand, is an undefeated 3-0. It’s funny how all-consuming this silly game can be. I find myself on Sundays analyzing the crawlers of games I was unable to watch with hopes the players I “own” had a big game.

Nothing is worse than the feeling you get on Tuesday morning when all the scores are settled and you lost your weekend matchup by just a few points. Then you realize that you had players on your bench that easily would have turned the tide and changed the outcome of the game.

That’s happened to me twice. I saw yesterday where the lowly Detroit Lions finally fired embattled team president Matt Millen. So, in an open letter to the Ford family – who own the Lions – I think I’ll express my interest in the vacancy. I have five years of fantasy football experience on my resume and my references will include Jeremy Smith.