I was tired of running projections for the past two weeks, so I decided to take a break and go down to a Fantasy Baseball event at a library in York, PA to accomplish two things…(1) observe the talent level of fantasy baseball owners in York, PA; AND (2) observe this Ron Shandler character.
While the event didn’t start until 1pm, I got there around noon and wolfed down a chicken wrap at the on-site deli. After that, I bopped upstairs to the conference room. The room had a table at the far end of the room and around 100 chairs neatly lined up in front of it. The number of attendees at this point was three (including myself) with 45 minutes till “go time”. Being the star student that I am, I took a seat in the front row, with my pocket protector and taped-down-the-middle-glasses in full effect.
Within 45 minutes, the room was packed and the event began. Shandler and a fella from USAToday (I think) were the guest speakers. For whatever reason, I had always thought Shandler was a tall and daunting figure. Somehow I got that from his picture on the back of the Baseball Forecaster. When he walked out, I was quite surprised. He wasn’t tall, and he certainly wasn’t daunting.
For the remaining three hours, the moderator and the general public pinged question after question to Shandler and the USAToday guy. Questions ranged from “How much would you bid on Barry Bonds?” to “Hey Ron, this morning I got a keeper trade offer. Would you trade Player X at $2 for Player Y at $10?” Ron would usually consult his book or his printed-out depth charts prior to answering any player evaluation questions. The USAToday guy was almost the total opposite. Shandler went on “numbers”. USAToday went on “gut” and player interviews.
So, to get back to the two things I hoped to accomplish:
1 - observe the talent level of fantasy baseball owners in York, PA – Most people I talked to and observed, struck me as novices playing for very low stakes. I mean when multiple people ask Ron for his opinion on “Would you trade Player X at $2 for Player Y at $10?”, you know they are folks that need someone else to make the decision for them.
2 - observe this Ron Shandler character – Ron struck me as someone who continually goes back to “the numbers” and “historical data”. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, that’s kinda the way I am as well.
As for my questions (and answers received), they will remain in the GG Vault until I need to use them at a later date. Shandler and I did pose for a few pics. I believe they will be used once I win the 100K this year.
[ February 06, 2007, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: Gordon Gekko ]