Beckham, Tecnology, Mastersball, My Mother-In- Law
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 7:54 am
There was a guy on my College team that was not liked by most. He was a catcher. I was a pitcher.
He came from Washington and supposedly had the talent to get in division 1 schools, just not the brains.
So, he came to our little College. His name was Tom Slater.
Tom gave me the impression that we should be lucky to be playing with him. His favorite subject was his past exploits. There was hardly a game he re-told in which he didn't come out the hero.
Some of us locals would give him advice about where to go and who to see for needs, but he would have nothing to do with our suggestions.
His way was always better.
To make a long story short, I was so fed up with Tom, even before the season began, that I asked that he not catch me. As another pitcher did. and as another pitcher did. This was before Colleges had DH rules. So, Tom rode the bench behind a weaker hitting catcher for the majority of the year.
I tell this story because Gordon Beckham has always reminded me of Tom Slater. Beckham was a College stud. A can't miss Major League star.
When he came to the Major Leagues, he proclaimed to the press that he wanted to be for the White Sox as his hero, Derek Jeter was to the Yankees. And he had a good rookie year. But, he was like Tom Slater.
He did not want to take advice from veterans. He thought that he had baseball figured out.
He didn't. At least, not Major League baseball.
For the next few years, White Sox fans and Beckham's fantasy owners were continually disappointed. He never came close to Jeter.
Heck, he never came close to Alexie Ramirez.
Beckham was released by the Angels. He'll sign on somewhere else and probably stay in the Bigs. Most players that had 'promise' usually do. But like Tom Slater, Beckham could have been so much more.
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I got a cell phone this year. I think me and Fred Flintstone were the last two hold outs to get one.
Anyway, I went on vacation this past week and tried to use it to draft.
What a pain in the ass!
The queue disappears and trying to navigate the draft room with that little screen is meant for a cell pro, not a novice like me.
In some instances, I had draft mates wait a few minutes so that I could draft more comfortably from a computer.
And worse, if putting my pick on auto and checking in by cell, it took my team off auto.
Argghh!
And these damned placeholders...
Wouldn't it be nice if upon picking a placeholder, we had the ability to write the players name in a box, so that the draft room had an immediate record of who was picked?
As it is now, we record these placeholders on our league page or by e-mail, putting the burden of remembering who got who on us players, not STATS.
The NFBC is a GREAT organization.
You KNOW how much I love the NFBC.
But technically, sometimes, I get the feeling that they are sitting in the backseat, while I ride shotgun in Fred Flintstone's car.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
A few of you have e-mailed asking for what sites to use as an NFBC'er.
Mastersball.
I used to name others. But, to tell you the truth, most sites cater to Yahoo Kids and leagues other than the NFBC.
I receive e-mails from sites giving me a 'thumbs up' to start Jarvis Landry and a 'thumbs down' to not start RG III this week in fantasy football.
Gee, thanks!
We can get help like this anywhere.
Mastersball is built by folks who play NFBC leagues. Their line of thinking runs parallel to ours.
Last year, the Main Event winner wrote for Mastersball. Past winners have had subscriptions.
That should be enough alone, but it isn't.
We can always learn more in our hobby. These folks speak Numerish. They sleep on numbered beds ( explained later).
They know that words hurt, but numbers can give excrutiating pain.... and pleasure.
And I guarantee that they will never send an advisory message to play Hunter Pence over Ryan Ludwick.
They recognize that we're smart enough to know that on our own.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I have been involved in five drafts. It's a sickness. I know.
My wife understands, but my mother-in-law is a different story. We took her on our vacation last week.
A word of advice, never take your mother-in-law on a vacation.
Never.
She questioned my need to be tethered to a computer while indoors.
In my mind, I threw that laptop at her a dozen times.
My wife tried to explain my fantasy addiction to her, but she never got it.
One morning, in trying to be friendly, she asked me if I had won my fantasy game the prior night. I tried telling her that we were drafting a team and that winners would not be known till September of next year.
She asked how many other men were wasting their time with such foolishness.
I answered "Millions".
"Men are so stupid".
And again, mentally, my laptop went careening off her noggin.
Later in the day, she was working on a crossword puzzle.
Giving it one last shot, I told her that fantasy sports was somewhat like a crossword puzzle.
Players give us clues on the field as to how good they are. We try to make those clues fit into a rostered puzzle format.
I told her that fantasy makes us think and ponder even more than her crossword puzzle.
She replied, "I'm building my vocabulary, your fantasy sports will never do that!"
This gave me pause.
I asked her if she knew an eight letter word for fantasy folks living in a numbers society.
She said there was no such place or word.
I told her she was wrong.
I told her that the 'Numerish' lived in a fantasy village. They speak in a numbered or digital language. That they are a gifted people that can apply numbers to something as compliacted as rocket science or as mundane as a simple crossword puzzle.
They sleep in beds that is numbered a '1' for straight sleepers or a '6' for those that like to curl up as they sleep.
Poor Numerish sleep two to a bed in the shape of a '3'.
I told her that while we see animals in our clouds, they see pi and equations in theirs.
She stopped me.
"Is that all from some kind of movie?"
I told her "No".
I told her that it was from an open mind. Something we need in fantasy, something that is not needed in crossword puzzles.
I told her that mentally, we can think about fantasy moves throughout the day, another thing that crosswords could not do.
I told her that fantasy sports would stimulate my mind far after she closes her crossword puzzle book.
And I told her, as for vocabulary, I could think of a few choice words that she had never heard before, but that they probably would not help her in solving crossword puzzles.
She looked at me, shook her head, and said, "Men!"....and no doubt, mentally threw her crossword puzzle book at me.
He came from Washington and supposedly had the talent to get in division 1 schools, just not the brains.
So, he came to our little College. His name was Tom Slater.
Tom gave me the impression that we should be lucky to be playing with him. His favorite subject was his past exploits. There was hardly a game he re-told in which he didn't come out the hero.
Some of us locals would give him advice about where to go and who to see for needs, but he would have nothing to do with our suggestions.
His way was always better.
To make a long story short, I was so fed up with Tom, even before the season began, that I asked that he not catch me. As another pitcher did. and as another pitcher did. This was before Colleges had DH rules. So, Tom rode the bench behind a weaker hitting catcher for the majority of the year.
I tell this story because Gordon Beckham has always reminded me of Tom Slater. Beckham was a College stud. A can't miss Major League star.
When he came to the Major Leagues, he proclaimed to the press that he wanted to be for the White Sox as his hero, Derek Jeter was to the Yankees. And he had a good rookie year. But, he was like Tom Slater.
He did not want to take advice from veterans. He thought that he had baseball figured out.
He didn't. At least, not Major League baseball.
For the next few years, White Sox fans and Beckham's fantasy owners were continually disappointed. He never came close to Jeter.
Heck, he never came close to Alexie Ramirez.
Beckham was released by the Angels. He'll sign on somewhere else and probably stay in the Bigs. Most players that had 'promise' usually do. But like Tom Slater, Beckham could have been so much more.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I got a cell phone this year. I think me and Fred Flintstone were the last two hold outs to get one.
Anyway, I went on vacation this past week and tried to use it to draft.
What a pain in the ass!
The queue disappears and trying to navigate the draft room with that little screen is meant for a cell pro, not a novice like me.
In some instances, I had draft mates wait a few minutes so that I could draft more comfortably from a computer.
And worse, if putting my pick on auto and checking in by cell, it took my team off auto.
Argghh!
And these damned placeholders...
Wouldn't it be nice if upon picking a placeholder, we had the ability to write the players name in a box, so that the draft room had an immediate record of who was picked?
As it is now, we record these placeholders on our league page or by e-mail, putting the burden of remembering who got who on us players, not STATS.
The NFBC is a GREAT organization.
You KNOW how much I love the NFBC.
But technically, sometimes, I get the feeling that they are sitting in the backseat, while I ride shotgun in Fred Flintstone's car.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
A few of you have e-mailed asking for what sites to use as an NFBC'er.
Mastersball.
I used to name others. But, to tell you the truth, most sites cater to Yahoo Kids and leagues other than the NFBC.
I receive e-mails from sites giving me a 'thumbs up' to start Jarvis Landry and a 'thumbs down' to not start RG III this week in fantasy football.
Gee, thanks!
We can get help like this anywhere.
Mastersball is built by folks who play NFBC leagues. Their line of thinking runs parallel to ours.
Last year, the Main Event winner wrote for Mastersball. Past winners have had subscriptions.
That should be enough alone, but it isn't.
We can always learn more in our hobby. These folks speak Numerish. They sleep on numbered beds ( explained later).
They know that words hurt, but numbers can give excrutiating pain.... and pleasure.
And I guarantee that they will never send an advisory message to play Hunter Pence over Ryan Ludwick.
They recognize that we're smart enough to know that on our own.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I have been involved in five drafts. It's a sickness. I know.
My wife understands, but my mother-in-law is a different story. We took her on our vacation last week.
A word of advice, never take your mother-in-law on a vacation.
Never.
She questioned my need to be tethered to a computer while indoors.
In my mind, I threw that laptop at her a dozen times.
My wife tried to explain my fantasy addiction to her, but she never got it.
One morning, in trying to be friendly, she asked me if I had won my fantasy game the prior night. I tried telling her that we were drafting a team and that winners would not be known till September of next year.
She asked how many other men were wasting their time with such foolishness.
I answered "Millions".
"Men are so stupid".
And again, mentally, my laptop went careening off her noggin.
Later in the day, she was working on a crossword puzzle.
Giving it one last shot, I told her that fantasy sports was somewhat like a crossword puzzle.
Players give us clues on the field as to how good they are. We try to make those clues fit into a rostered puzzle format.
I told her that fantasy makes us think and ponder even more than her crossword puzzle.
She replied, "I'm building my vocabulary, your fantasy sports will never do that!"
This gave me pause.
I asked her if she knew an eight letter word for fantasy folks living in a numbers society.
She said there was no such place or word.
I told her she was wrong.
I told her that the 'Numerish' lived in a fantasy village. They speak in a numbered or digital language. That they are a gifted people that can apply numbers to something as compliacted as rocket science or as mundane as a simple crossword puzzle.
They sleep in beds that is numbered a '1' for straight sleepers or a '6' for those that like to curl up as they sleep.
Poor Numerish sleep two to a bed in the shape of a '3'.
I told her that while we see animals in our clouds, they see pi and equations in theirs.
She stopped me.
"Is that all from some kind of movie?"
I told her "No".
I told her that it was from an open mind. Something we need in fantasy, something that is not needed in crossword puzzles.
I told her that mentally, we can think about fantasy moves throughout the day, another thing that crosswords could not do.
I told her that fantasy sports would stimulate my mind far after she closes her crossword puzzle book.
And I told her, as for vocabulary, I could think of a few choice words that she had never heard before, but that they probably would not help her in solving crossword puzzles.
She looked at me, shook her head, and said, "Men!"....and no doubt, mentally threw her crossword puzzle book at me.