Fantasy Baseball

Dale Doback: I manage a baseball team.Nancy Huff: Oh, little league? Dale Doback: Fantasy league. -    Stepbrothers

In the United States today, it has become more and more popular to involved oneself in professional sports, not only watching but participating in ways our grandfathers would have never conceived.  I am of course talking about the sacred world of Fantasy Sports.  Ranging from CBS to Yahoo to ESPN, Football to Golf, the Fantasy Sports phenomenon is sweeping the nation.   Besides Fantasy Football, the most popular Fantasy Sport is Fantasy Baseball.  Some say it takes the most time and attention to detail, also it is the often the most complex form of Fantasy Sports. Fantasy Baseball has been referred to in movies such as Stepbrothers (above), as well as Knocked Up (the scene where they sneak up on Paul Rudd because they think he’s cheating but, he is actually having a live fantasy baseball draft, and he is elated because he drafted Hideki Matsui in the 6th round, a steal if you ask me).   Participating in a fantasy baseball league has its pros as well as its cons and they are quite apparent. Pros -    Get to Know the Players Because an active roster in the Major Leagues consists of 24 players one must have exceptional knowledge of many players.  If you want to create a dominant team you better know the top 10 players in categories from batting average all the way to WHIP (the total number of hits and walks allowed by pitchers divided by total innings pitched, lower is better).  To do this successfully it takes a bit of research. -    Fun and Bragging Rights Anyone who enjoys professional sports loves competitions as well as bragging rights for succeeding in competitions.  Not only does fantasy baseball instigate massive amounts of trash talk but its amusing and entertaining to compete and talk smack to your good friends about sports , especially if you have money riding on it.

Cons -    Time Waster To be affective when managing a fantasy baseball team, one needs to but in massive amounts of hours.  As previously stated the stats and players you need to be aware of are countless.  Not to mentions that you need to be checking your roster daily to make sure who is playing as well as looking out for the infamous injuries. -    Overall it’s Meaningless Although in fantasy baseball there is a point system and object, draft and manage a team who had excellent results.  However, on the whole fanasy baseball is completely meaningless.  It is an evaluation of random players in separate games so there is really no element of team whatsoever besides being each player residing under the name “The Abusement Park”.  Fantasy baseball is an extremely fun experience if you are willing to put in the time and effort, you might just be able to remind your friends of your winning league every chance you get until next season.

Schooler’s BOLD PREDICTIONS

Look for the Orlando Magic to do some damage if Rashard Lewis and Rafer Alston stay hot, and Dwight keeps his elbows to himself.

Greg Oden proved to be a non factor in the Blazer-Rockets series, averaging 5.4 points, 4 rebounds and 4.6 personal fouls a game, he drops out of the NBA and with no dignity left challenges Jose Canseco to an MMA fight.