Rather than respond to my good pals from the NFBC each individually on this thread (except for you, Mr. Hernan-Cortes Batista aka Powerslave, better late than never, Marcel clone that you are...

I thought I would just say this:
I have been very fortunate in this my 7th season of competing in the NFBC to have made such great friends with so many amazing people who I have had the sincere pleasure of getting to know because of this competition, many of whom I have yet to meet in person or even speak to on the phone for that matter. Despite this, I can honestly say that it has become like a brotherhood or fraternity for me in my relationship to all of you sharing in this crazy obsession that is fantasy baseball. Yes, we all do like to mercilessly bust each others balls, rip on each others knowledge, skill, and drafting acumen, and talk trash about and to each other at every possible opportunity. But at the end the day, there isn't a thing I wouldn't do for you guys having gotten to know the kind of people that you are and your level of character as individuals (well at least most of you

). It is a rare thing for sure to be able to create such strong bonds and friendships so late in life, and all because we just love to play this game with a passion. Maybe it just brings out the best in all of us when we get to escape real life for a while and just play as we did as kids so many years ago when it didn't matter who you were, where you were from, or what kind of toys you had. You were just happy to go outside and hang out with your buds and talk and do stuff with kids that liked the same kind of things that you did. And that was enough to say that you were friends and that you'd see each tomorrow when it got dark and your mom was yelling out the window for you to come home for dinner...It was pure and simple and you remember those days and the names and faces of those kids like it was yesterday. And if you ran into one of them 20 years later, you could just pick up the conversation where you'd left off and just get back to being buds again like old times, kind of like we all do when we reconvene in the draft rooms and live events each year to play again together.
Just thought I'd share that now just about a week out from when I will actually get to meet so many of you guys for the first time. While I am very much excited to be going out to Vegas to compete and play with the best of the best there is in this game, I'm actually most looking forward to meeting so many of you guys out there for the first time to perhaps spend a few hours hanging out with my buds again this year, only this time in person. I'm sure it will be a be a memorable experience for us all.

"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base." ~Dave Barry