NFBC Message Boards

1. How did it feel to win the league title?

Winning the $1,300 AL Auction was beyond what I hoped for. Just cashing in this league would have been a big deal to me. There are so many players in this league that I lookup to and have followed that I was just happy to be in the league.



2. What were the keys to your championship season?

Oh Lady Luck, how I love you so. Quickly on players, Jason Giambi for $2. Cliff Lee for $2 and Dustin Pedroia for a decent price.



3. Was there a point in the season when you began to realistically believe you could win the title?

No. That’s the true answer.



4. What draft day strategies worked out the best?

I tried to draft a balanced team and not overpay for players. For the most part I came within a couple of dollars for each player until the end game. I actually had a couple of more dollars more than I needed on the last player. Not a good thing.



5. Did any not work out the way you planned?

I didn’t get ARod for $20? A lot. But that’s the auctions.



6. How did FAAB work for you?

I picked up Armando Galarraga early. My best pickup of the season. Good thing because the rest were total busts. My real weak spot is FAAB. I need to really work on it.



7. How was the competition in your league and the overall event?

The competition in this league is as good as they come. I wish I could pick out a couple as the best but I’d be insulting the rest. The league is that good. As always the overall event is THE EVENT. If you play fantasy baseball and you haven’t been to the NFBC your missing out.



8. How long have you been playing fantasy baseball/fantasy sports?

I started in 1997 on ESPN. I always wanted to do an auction but couldn’t find any leagues. My first was the NFBC AL Auction the first year. Talk about leading the sheep to the wolves. But I was hooked after that.



9. Personal info - married/single, where do you live, what do you do for a living?

Married and living in WALLA WALLA. I work at the local airport. I tell pilots where to go.

I tell pilots where to go.



Sounds like something off one of my old PATCO t-shirts John. Congrats and Good luck on defending your crown this year.



Dickie V

Congrats John. Winning this $1300 AL Auction League is certainly an accomplishment of note and one title you can hang your hat on forever. I know the rest of the folks in this league are more geared this year than ever before to avenge that loss to you. This is a great group and each year this is the FIRST event to sell out. You're with the right competitors and I trust you'll have fun with them, with Brady and the Gustafson's making sure this one finishes on top for everyone to have a good dinner on Friday night. Be on your toes because I know Brady is going to keep this one moving!!!

You forgot to mention your newest and most successful auction strategy you let slip out during the KJ Duke Salary league!!!



~Lance

Thanks Greg. I have no doubt I'll get blown away this year. Unlike the main event, in auctions you have to be able to think quick! Gekko would have a hard time in any auction. I ahhhhhhhhhhh pick ahhhhhhhh Arod ahhhh First pick.

Originally posted by Walla Walla:

Thanks Greg. I have no doubt I'll get blown away this year. Unlike the main event, in auctions you have to be able to think quick! Gekko would have a hard time in any auction. I ahhhhhhhhhhh pick ahhhhhhhh Arod ahhhh First pick. crane - your lifetime ranking tells us all we need to know about ya

Walla great job taking down the best league in fantasy bar none.Like Greg said they can never take this one away from you.I heard Shawn and yourself were stealing sign's from the Gillis team so we will be watching our body language this year.lol

Good luck this year as im coming back to take my title back. BANG !!!!!!!!

4 miles from silex, turn left heading 110, maintain 40 until established cleared ILS ry 16R approach, caution wake turbulance preceded by a b747 6 miles ahead, reduce speed to, 170 knots or less, CONGRATS MY BROTHER

Originally posted by uncle charlie:

4 miles from silex, turn left heading 110, maintain 40 until established cleared ILS ry 16R approach, caution wake turbulence preceded by a b747 6 miles ahead, reduce speed to, 170 knots or less, CONGRATS MY BROTHER Let me get this straight.



Walla Walla is an Air Traffic Controller???



One of the most stressful jobs on this planet? (I recall Rob Benetti also being one, and he won the NFFC main once!)



A quote from a stressful jobs survey...



Posted by: pete Location: NY on Jan 29, 2009 at 10:49 PM

I'm an air traffic controller in the NY area and it is by far the most stressful, and the most difficult thing that I've done in my entire life. Think of a surgeon having one patient at a time for the most part. Now a controller has up to thousands of them at a single time, in a confined area. Now not only do they have to just miss each other, they have a certain amount of mileage they need to be separated by, or the controller has a chance of getting fired if it happens a certain amount of times in a specified amount of months."



Wow...Firefighters and police and doctors may save/have 10 people to save at a time...ATC's have many, many more!



Kudos!





~Lance



[ February 26, 2009, 11:56 PM: Message edited by: sportsbettingman ]

I’m also a controller. I like to use this analogy;

Air traffic control is like Level 1 of Pac Man. Some twist and turns, sometimes exciting but fairly easy once you know how to do it. Now the trick is to play the same level with full concentration for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 25 years without ever making a mistake.



And one more thing, the controller that worked the US Air flight out of NY last month that went into the Hudson did a great job. In the end, the pilot and the crew are flying. But as a controller you feel every bit as responsible for the people on the plane as the crew and that controller did everything in his power to help those people.

As a controller, you never want to hear a pilot on your frequency declare an emergency. But it is something that you train and work for and when the time comes you hope that you are able to provide every level of service and confidence that the pilot needs so that they can do what they need to do to land safely.

Originally posted by rucrew2:

I’m also a controller. I like to use this analogy;

Air traffic control is like Level 1 of Pac Man. Some twist and turns, sometimes exciting but fairly easy once you know how to do it. Now the trick is to play the same level with full concentration for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 25 years without ever making a mistake.



And one more thing, the controller that worked the US Air flight out of NY last month that went into the Hudson did a great job. In the end, the pilot and the crew are flying. But as a controller you feel every bit as responsible for the people on the plane as the crew and that controller did everything in his power to help those people.

As a controller, you never want to hear a pilot on your frequency declare an emergency. But it is something that you train and work for and when the time comes you hope that you are able to provide every level of service and confidence that the pilot needs so that they can do what they need to do to land safely. Great post Russel. I saw the story on the controller who was with the crew who landed on the Hudson and he still hasn't gotten over that experience. He deserves some of the attention that the crew is getting, too, because he was part of the whole Miracle on the Hudson. I'm sure years from now he will still be scarred by this experience.



Keep us safe controllers. It looks like a busy highway in the sky and I just want to land safely when I arrive in the Valley of the Sun next weekend and in Sin City three weeks from now.

Originally posted by rucrew2:

I’m also a controller. I like to use this analogy;

Air traffic control is like Level 1 of Pac Man. Some twist and turns, sometimes exciting but fairly easy once you know how to do it. Now the trick is to play the same level with full concentration for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 25 years without ever making a mistake.



And one more thing, the controller that worked the US Air flight out of NY last month that went into the Hudson did a great job. In the end, the pilot and the crew are flying. But as a controller you feel every bit as responsible for the people on the plane as the crew and that controller did everything in his power to help those people.

As a controller, you never want to hear a pilot on your frequency declare an emergency. But it is something that you train and work for and when the time comes you hope that you are able to provide every level of service and confidence that the pilot needs so that they can do what they need to do to land safely. A friend of mine is an ATC at O'Hare. He took me up in the tower last time I was in town. VERY cool stuff, and I can definitely see how you have to be sharp 100% of the time. Of course, don't you get a lot of breaks to assure you are sharp? Not saying I disagree (I am all for it as long as I continue to land safely! ), but what is the average day like (breaks in an 8 hour shift where you are an ATC), rucrew2?

Originally posted by billywaz:

quote:Originally posted by rucrew2:

I’m also a controller. I like to use this analogy;

Air traffic control is like Level 1 of Pac Man. Some twist and turns, sometimes exciting but fairly easy once you know how to do it. Now the trick is to play the same level with full concentration for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 25 years without ever making a mistake.



And one more thing, the controller that worked the US Air flight out of NY last month that went into the Hudson did a great job. In the end, the pilot and the crew are flying. But as a controller you feel every bit as responsible for the people on the plane as the crew and that controller did everything in his power to help those people.

As a controller, you never want to hear a pilot on your frequency declare an emergency. But it is something that you train and work for and when the time comes you hope that you are able to provide every level of service and confidence that the pilot needs so that they can do what they need to do to land safely. A friend of mine is an ATC at O'Hare. He took me up in the tower last time I was in town. VERY cool stuff, and I can definitely see how you have to be sharp 100% of the time. Of course, don't you get a lot of breaks to assure you are sharp? Not saying I disagree (I am all for it as long as I continue to land safely! ), but what is the average day like (breaks in an 8 hour shift where you are an ATC), rucrew2? [/QUOTE]Yes we get breaks. I eat lunch and go to the bathroom like everyone else. Break time is usually traffic volume and staffing level sensitive. I didn’t mean to imply that I actually sit in front of the radar for 8 straight hours.

I worked LAX and now Burbank/Van Nuys approach(SCT). We here are extremely short staffed, we work live traffic 5 to 6 hours a day on position and recently had mandatory 6 day work weeks. After Reagan fired the work force back in '81 there was a mass hiring and now most are retiring and the new people coming in have no experiance and don't make the program. That said WE ARE THE BEST AT WHAT WE DO, so you are safe with us.

Congrats again on the AL Auction win last year John





PVH

Thank you Perry. I thought you had it going into the last day.

One more congratulations here...good job John!