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I have a friend who works with me at the local softball park. He is amused by my addiction to fantasy baseball and the NFBC. Each night, I bring my XM radio and some stats to pore over during idle times.

My friend gets a kick out of asking softball players their favorite MLB teams and having me recite their lineup to them. Childs play for most of us.

A "wow" from normal folks.



"How much do you think about baseball", he asked.

"Remember when you were 16 and, as a male, had one prevailing thought process in your head?"

"That much", I answered.



Normal folks don't get us. I started my fantasy life before the internet. It was football. One year,we were preparing to have our draft. Our league commish got a phone call from the wife of one of the drafters the night before the draft. She explained that her husband had had a heart attack. After the commish offered condolensces and asked if he was ok, she yelled, "You guys are all bastards!"

"He kept on repeating to me, tell Ray (the commish) that I'll still be able to draft, I might have to use the telephone though, please call him, Honey!"

At the draft, phone in hand, Ray relayed the story to us. A bit of laughter, mostly nodding. It was, afterall, what we would have done.



We are a different breed.

My wife likes to, out of the blue, ask me what I'm thinking. Last night I answered, "I was wondering why a manager would bring in his closer in the ninth inning when they're losing by four runs.

Stupid Manager!"

Exasperated, she said, "Why don't you think about the news of the day, like the oil spill?"

I answered, "It's out of my control."

"So is your closer!", she retorted.

She was right, of course.

But, pondering the relevance of using Heath Bell in a non-save situation deserves more time in my mind, than an everlasting oil spill.

We really are a different breed.

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

I have a friend who works with me at the local softball park. He is amused by my addiction to fantasy baseball and the NFBC. Each night, I bring my XM radio and some stats to pore over during idle times.

My friend gets a kick out of asking softball players their favorite MLB teams and having me recite their lineup to them. Childs play for most of us.

A "wow" from normal folks.



"How much do you think about baseball", he asked.

"Remember when you were 16 and, as a male, had one prevailing thought process in your head?"

"That much", I answered.



Normal folks don't get us. I started my fantasy life before the internet. It was football. One year,we were preparing to have our draft. Our league commish got a phone call from the wife of one of the drafters the night before the draft. She explained that her husband had had a heart attack. After the commish offered condolensces and asked if he was ok, she yelled, "You guys are all bastards!"

"He kept on repeating to me, tell Ray (the commish) that I'll still be able to draft, I might have to use the telephone though, please call him, Honey!"

At the draft, phone in hand, Ray relayed the story to us. A bit of laughter, mostly nodding. It was, afterall, what we would have done.



We are a different breed.

My wife likes to, out of the blue, ask me what I'm thinking. Last night I answered, "I was wondering why a manager would bring in his closer in the ninth inning when they're losing by four runs.

Stupid Manager!"

Exasperated, she said, "Why don't you think about the news of the day, like the oil spill?"

I answered, "It's out of my control."

"So is your closer!", she retorted.

She was right, of course.

But, pondering the relevance of using Heath Bell in a non-save situation deserves more time in my mind, than an everlasting oil spill.

We really are a different breed. Very true Doughy! Mine always asks me why I do this, I look tortured during the games, I'm always complaining and yelling at the TV. She dreads any night when I have a pitcher going, as I'm apparently unbearable those nights. I tell her it's like golf for me, it's normally four hours of aggravation, but one good shot makes me want to do it again!

doughboys do you find yourself thinking about baseball or fantasy baseball more often? i find the former is more my style, though i do plenty of the latter too. my most common thoughts revolve around my team's (nationals) seeming blindness to how awful cristian guzman is as a leadoff hitter. yet they keep trotting him out there day after day. that said i have spent plenty of time lamenting about sitting baker this week. :/

Beautiful post by Doughboys. It makes me feel more normal.

Originally posted by whipsaw:

doughboys do you find yourself thinking about baseball or fantasy baseball more often? i find the former is more my style, though i do plenty of the latter too. my most common thoughts revolve around my team's (nationals) seeming blindness to how awful cristian guzman is as a leadoff hitter. yet they keep trotting him out there day after day. that said i have spent plenty of time lamenting about sitting baker this week. :/ Guzman and his kind are what help make smaller market teams, bad teams. When small market teams pay players more than what they're worth, they worsen the problem by force-feeding them into the lineup. In 'Stuff' I tried to illustrate how empty a .300 average can be when hitting like Guzman or Ryan Sweeney.

Guzman, Pedro Feliz, R Hernandez now, Suppan and Iwamura then, all have or had playing time driven by salaries in my opinion.



Tough luck on Baker, it happens to us all, I had Floyd on the bench as he flirted with a no-no.



As for baseball or fantasy, I'll look or think of things in a baseball perspective and then ponder how those things affect fantasy.

We're all tainted once we play fantasy.

Great post and yes perhaps we are a different breed. I often go to bed going thinking of my lineup and wondering how am I going to catch up and hold off Glenn, Dobies and Shawn Johnson's squad. I go through their lineups too. I think the only thing that can derail Shawn's team would be injuries. His pitching is just starting to hit stride now with Strasburg in his lineup and his offense is showing no signs of slowing down. Aubrey Huff be damned!



I watch my competitions results and know their lineups as well as my own. I am not sure if that is going too far. Sometimes I think it is. I get my highs and lows from my team and others.



I have a million other things including my seafood business which will probably be wiped out by the oil spill to worry about, but there is something about my 14th rounder Colby Rasmus when he hits a homer that makes me think life is good.



I can't imagine not playing this game. It is not about the money but rather the chance to be king for a season. Life is good.

And the lows...I sat Scott Baker as well Whipsaw and I desperately needed the k's, whip and era. You can probably be forgiven. I however started Joel Hanrahran in his stead which is truly unforgivable. I just thought here is Scott "HR/9" Baker serving up BP to Cargo and company. I could not have been more surprised. On a positive note, perhaps Baker can regain his second half form before the All Star break.

Doughy,

I had to read your post to my wife. She got quite a chuckle



I will say back in 1999, my girlfriend at the time asked me, "if you like Fantasy baseball so much, why don't you trade stocks online?". This tidbit got me learing about stocks. I made over $250k trading for myself in 6 months (then lost $170k of it), but changed industries and now I am in the leadership team of a new online brokerage offering from Merrill Lynch!!



GL to you, enjoy the posts always