NFBC Message Boards

Another great drafting weekend is in the books.
I want to start by thanking Greg, Tom and Stats for providing us with the opportunity to do what we all love, play fantasy baseball at the highest level with the best competition.

I especially want to thank Dean Peterson and his crew from Stats for running a great weekend. Dean has been our guy here in Chicago since the NFBC teamed up with Stats.
Dean knows the players and the game, and he does whatever he can to make the event perfect for us fantasy owners. Thanks Dean!
I also want to single out Al from Stats. Al was our auctioneer on Friday night and he did a great job of keeping the auction moving while at the same time giving everyone time to keep up with the picks and prices.

I thought the digital draft boards were great.

For the Main Event, we finished in our fastest time ever here in Chicago. Not that I felt overly rushed, but there is just very little down time between picks and you have to be ready to pick.
The digital board for the auction was a great addition. I know others have already sent improvements into Greg and I know Dean is already aware of some things that could be better, but the board was great and it really made it easier to track the players sold and money still available.

As for my personal weekend, I had a great time.

I entered the Auction Championship for the first time since 2010, and I'm glad I did, I forgot how much I enjoy auctions.
My skills for the auction were a little rusty and it definitely showed up in the pitching staff I ended up buying, but I think I have a team that can compete if I get some luck.

It was fun being in the auction. Obviously, there is more interaction among the owners, but every name thrown out creates an option to play.

As for my fellow owners in the league........great group of guys!
I got to sit next to Rob Nolter and we had a running conversation most of the night. Really a nice guy.
I had a chance to say hello to really good guys and great players like John Pausma, Jack Haan, David Van der Stuyf, and Dave Geisinger.
Ken Magner made the trip out to Chicago again this year and it was nice seeing him.
I also got a chance to meet the current Main Event Champ Greg Morgan. Greg had a nearly perfect team last year and he is a deserving champ, along with his father Dale, who I got to meet on Saturday.
Of course I got to say hello to my friend Rich Kulaski. Rich is a usual suspect for the Chicago Main Event, but this year he was trying his hand at the auction for the first time.

This year I did something different. I booked a room at the hotel where we were drafting and stayed the night. It was my best buy of the night. Not only was I able to enjoy the draft and several beers throughout the evening, but the best part was after the draft.

After the draft I was able to enjoy several more beers until late into the night with a few of my competitors.
I always enjoy talking with Chris Cosley, the guy is really sharp and always has something interesting to say.
I also had a chance to sit down and speak with Doug Gruber. In all the years we have been in Chicago together, including the same ME league several times, we have never really talked. That was a mistake on my part because the guy has some interesting stories.
I also had a good chance to talk to Mike Diedrich. Mike and I had some message board disagreement a few years back, but like always, the real man is always different from the message board and I'm glad we had plenty of time to talk.
I also got to meet Jay Lyons for the first time. Jay is a great guy and he had me laughing until 1 in the morning. Jay was also the guy that kept our beer flowing. When the hotel staff came in and tried to put the beer away for the night, Jay talked them into bringing more beer out.

So as I said, after a late night of drinking, I'm glad I stayed the night.
I got up early for breakfast and I was in the restaurant at 7:45. I was the only one down there, but Vince Clemente did come in later. We got some time to talk about the draft and our kids. Vince and his partner also sat next to me in the ME. They took turns making picks. I don't know if I could do that, I'll be interested to see how that plays out.

As for the Main Event, once again Dean Peterson and his crew did a great job.

I had a chance to see a couple of guys that weren't there Friday night.
I had a chance to congratulate Mike Makula. Mike won my league last year and finished second in the overall.

I also had a good chance to talk to Kim Dettman. We have both been in Chicago for a long time and every year we get a chance to say hello, but this year we drafted next to each other and had a little extra time to talk.

I'm happy with my team, but I'll know better how good it is in six months.

I wanted to post this sooner, but I've been sick the last couple of days and just haven't felt good enough to type it out.
My wife says it's just a very bad cold, but I think it could be a case of Uromysitisis I got Sunday night at the Cubs-Cards Opener.

Anyway, Thanks again NFBC.
I'll see you next year.

Nice post, Russell. I agree with your thoughts regarding Chicago, it was a good time as usual. A very workman-like atmosphere and group. Dean did yeoman's work and is always focused on making sure we have the best possible experience and that the focus is always on us and facilitating the draft. His efforts are much appreciated. Always a pleasure to see you, Russell and some others that regularly appear in Chicago: John Pausma, Vander, Dave Geisinger, Doug Gruber, Mike Diedrich, Derek Kaleta, Gary Galesh, Mike Makula and Jay Lyons, amongst others. I always enjoy shooting the shit with a beer after the drafts and looking at the draft boards, but never feel like there is enough time to talk to everyone. Was also fun to have Ken Magner in the auction as well as the same Main Event as me to provide a little East Coast flavor-flav and always interested to see which guys he has strong opinions on. Wish I had more of an opportunity to talk with him as he seemed more focused on the task at hand than socializing. I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Christie who introduced himself to me. Always good to put face to names that ya do slow drafts against and read on the message boards, but wished I had more time to talk with him. Also, had the pleasure of drafting next to the Morgans in the Main Event and it was a nice touch to have the NFBC recognize them with a plaque before the Main Event drafts. Overall a great experience and probably my favorite weekend of the year and one I eagerly look forward to every year. While I would really love to experience drafting in Vegas one of these years, it would be hard to abandon this group. Best of luck boys, looking forward to doing battle throughout the year.

COZ

Russell,

Great post. Always a pleasure to see you and some of the other guys and just talk some baseball and draft our teams. I really enjoyed my first live auction. Thank you Jack and Mike over the years for encouraging me to join on of these! I had a great spot between Vander and the Morgans. Vander is a great guy and we definitively liked some of the same players. I told him we're either both going to be happy this year or we're both really going to need to rethink how we evaluate players ! I had never met the Morgans (father or son) before but it was a pleasure talking to them during the auction and then again after the main event. We compared teams in the main as we each drafted from the 12 spot. I hope one day my son (any or all 3 of them!) will want to join me at the draft table and we can form a strong team like the Morgans. Diedrich and Christie drafted on each side of me during the main. I had never met Jim before and all I can say is he is as friendly and amicable as can be. You could tell he just loved every moment of the draft and really enjoyed himself. I've known Mike ever since he introduced himself to me at my first main event about 6 or 7 years ago. All I can say is he's one of my favorite guys to see each year and I wish him the best this year in our league . Finally, thank you to Greg and Tom and the STATS team for keeping the Nfbc alive in Chicago. The weekend did not disappoint as usual. Final shoutout to my nephew, Chris, who drafted his first ever main event team solo last weekend. He's in a very tough Chicago 1 league. Good luck.

love you too, rich. gotta laugh at how happy christie seemed. real nice guy.