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When younger I had athletic talent. I'm betting most of us did. And I'm betting that most of us played baseball and excelled at it. When we chose up sides in P.E. or on the playground, we were the captains or the first selected for a team. I thought about this yesterday when a friend asked who I was going to take in the first round at the Main Event in two weeks.
Any one of us can scan a playground for five minutes and pick out the kids with the most talent. My friend, who doesn't play fantasy baseball, thinks of our game in this way.


He said, "So you don't know ANYBODY that's going to be on your team?!"
I said, "Oh yeah, I know of one." ... and I named the player that I want most to be on my team this year. A player that won't be picked till later in the draft. He walked away a little frustrated in not knowing our game.
But, it all goes back to choosing those kids on the playground. If both teams are even at the top, the game is usually hinged on a play by a lesser picked kid.
Inevitably, some kid will hit a ball to right field where we tried to hide that kid and the game will be decided in whether he makes the catch, blocks the ball, keeping runners from advancing too far, or letting the ball get by him in blowing the game open.

It's the same with us. By now, we know the good kids. Greg posts the top six rounds just about every day. We know the names. And until the injuries begin, we're all going to start off even against each other.
But, like that playground game, our game is going to hinge on who we pick in the bottom half of who's left. We're trying to get the best out of the worst. Last year, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Kris Medlen were playing right field. They all caught the ball.
Allen Craig, DeAza, and Lucroy kept you in the game by not letting the ball get by them in right field.
And the teams that lost had Logan Morrison, Dominick Brown, and Frankie Francisco.

We have a strange hobby in that we hope for the expected in the first half of our draft, while hoping for the unexpected in the second half.

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I don't want to throw a turd in the punch bowl or be Danny Downer, but I'm not liking the countdown on the top subject line this year.
No offense, but it's stupid.I mean, I love the pictures and contributors and everything, but for me, it's a countdown for nothing.
We have College Basketball now and have had it for the last few months.
Now, I know a few NFBC guys are going to get together and have a little party in the room. And that's great for them, but I'd like to think that most of us are looking forward to the draft or Opening Day.
That's why we're here, right?
Basketball is a boredom reliever. To have the clock countdown for the tournament version is stupid.
Fantasy baseball is why we're here, not, yet another basketball game.
It should be backed up two days to the thing we've looked more forward to than anything during the off season.
Our Main Event Draft.

I hear ya Dan. I enjoy looking at the countdown posts every day, but in my mind, am always adding 1 day to represent my 1st auction of the 3 events I'm playing over the weekend.

But since today is 8 on the countdown, it's one of the days where I know at some point before the end of the day Glenn will post some picture of one of our beloved Mets and a better person off the field that left us way too soon. #8 in your programs, HOF Gary "Kid" Carter.

Right?
Today, they should start over with 10 again.
On Friday, they could have your beloved catcher in Carter, a real swell guy and true role model, and they can have the only Major League player that was involved with Normandy, in Yogi Berra.
Bill Dickey would be a great choice too.
And I'll tell a Bill Dickey story here....

During World War II, there was a continuous effort on the part of Americans to raise money for war bonds.
Once, a radio station ran a contest.
'Who was/is the greatest baseball player in history?'
To vote, $25 had to be donated in the form of a war bond. Listeners were kept apprised on who was winning the contest.
In the last day of the contest, Lou Gehrig received 320 votes to vault him to being named 'the greatest ball player in history'.
It was later learned that Bill Dickey had contributed $8,000 to the war bond effort and voted for his departed friend with every vote.

DOUGHBOYS wrote:Right?
Today, they should start over with 10 again.

I'd rather be at number 17 since I don't draft until weekend 2 , but obviously I've just been going with the numbers as Greg started them .

I've posted pictures on about half of the days.I enjoy taking some time each morning and looking through the records of individual players that happen to have worn a particular number corresponding to a particular day.

Some of the days I've posted the obvious player for that day, Willie Mays for 24 for example. Other days I have tried to go with a less obvious choice, Harvey Haddix for 31.

Surprisingly, it's not as easy to find the pictures that I would like.

You mention Bill Dickey for #8, that is a good choice. He is a HOF catcher and a WWII Navy veteran that baseball fans should read about, or at least see a picture of and read his stats (http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... bi01.shtml, but I can't find a picture of Dickey with his number 8 visable

I guess the picture of Dickey doesn't have to have the 8 visable, but it is kind of the point of the countdown

The picture problem isn't just relegated to players of the 40's and 50's though. There have been a couple of players that have played as late as 2000 that I wanted to feature, but I wasn't able to find a picture.

So all in all, I like the countdown. But you are right, next Thursday when the countdown is over, I will feel a little cheated because I will still have 9 days to go.............

Russel, some of those pictures you and others come up with are extraordinary. I know what you mean by the numbers showing. In most cases, if a player is posing, his number will not be visible. Most, have to be through an 'action shot'.

I'll miss Chicago. That was a great experience for me and it was great meeting you and the others.
Keep calling those players out confidently!
I want to desperately see you and Bama Ken in a draft sitting side by side. Polar opposites when drafting.

Here's a sample of the way I think it would go....

Facillitator:
Number 10, you're on the clock!

Russel:
I WANT MIKE STANTON!

Facillitator:
Yes Sir! He is all yours!
Number 11?

Bama:
Hmmm, let's see....you know...Well....No...
How about Carlos Gonzalez?....Is that good?...Yeah Carlos Gonzalez....

It's an illustration that in the end, it's not how we draft, but who we draft.
Both of you are great drafters.
But all in all, I love the amusement provided.