Fantasy Conclave?

So this whole Pope thing has me kinda intrigued. This is the first time in my life that a Pope has passed away. The last conclave was something like October of 1978, way before my time. JP the Deuce is the only Pope my generation has known (I love that Pollack).

In 1978, there was no internet, there were no cell phones, and there certainly was no fantasy baseball. This sucker’s going to be totally different from anything previous. I guess the last few days they’ve been sweeping St. Peter’s Basilica for bugs. I find that humorous. You’re telling me that not a single one of those cardinals has a T-Mobile account and an itch for gossip?

Anyway, the most interesting part of all of this is the buzz about who the cardinal college will select. Choosing an archbishop from communist Poland was a pretty big step; wonder if they’ll keep it in stride and pick a South American or even African Pope, play it safe and elect the Pontiff’s right hand man from Germany, or even step backward and draft an Italian.

Here’s what I don’t get though. If we can set up fantasy baseball leagues online and do the same with basketball, auto racing, and even The Apprentice, then surely it can be done with papal elections. You could amass points based upon the number of votes your candidate picks up per round of voting. There could be some sort of jackpot for whoever actually gets elected Pope. All it takes is just a single cardinal willing to pass along some info to the outside. Heck the Vatican could run the show themselves. Yahoo makes plenty of cash off of this sort of thing; I’m sure they could too. Regardless, I think it’s an idea whose time has come…