However, It Is Better Than A Carrot Up Your Ass!

[DOUGHBOYS]

I'm going to be a little selfish with this post. I've had this post in mind for a few weeks now. It all started with the talk of carrots. Nothing good comes from talking of carrots. My daughter is a registered dietician, she says if I replace Doritos in my diet with carrots, I could add five years to my life.
My counterpoint is 'Who cares?' It may sound cavalier, but my wife's grandmother turned 102 this year. It's worse than when Willie Mays played for the Mets. She's playing out the string. She's already enjoyed her best years. And she enjoyed those best years. She loved making and eating tortillas. Still does. Never liked carrots. 40 years ago, if a registered dietician told her to substitute carrots, she would tell that dietician the same thing I tell my daughter.....NO.
Now, she's waiting for the final curtain while giving registered dieticians everywhere, the middle finger.

Anybody who screwed with Bugs Bunny and his carrots were dealt with, harshly. Cartoon characters do not know what every person on this planet knows: DON'T F--- WITH BUGS BUNNY!
Bugs Bunny is the best baseball pitcher on earth, and as an outfielder, we know that nobody can go git 'em better than Bugs.
Now, if my daughter or some other dietician were around when I was kid and said I'd play baseball like Bugs Bunny if eating carrots, I may have had a carrot addiction.
Crap. I just thought of something. My daughter may have a point after all. Bugs Bunny, lover of carrots, will live forever.

It was pointed out by some that a bigger carrot would draw more people for NFBC Events. These ideas would have the endorsement of Bugs Bunny who is always in the market for a larger carrot. But, the folks that have these ideas are like the Tasmanian Devil. Like a whirlwind, they suggest raising fees, raising sponsors, but mostly, raising cane.
They think they have the NFBC's best interest at heart. They want new folks and like my daughter, they think carrots are the answer.

If drafters are playing for $100, they want to make it $200.
If drafters are playing for $1,000, they want to make it $2,000
If drafters are hoping to win $100,000, they want to make it $200,000
They think the more the better.
It's not.
For the life of me, I cannot name one winner of a Super, Diamond, Platinum, Plutonium, or any of them precious metal leagues. And I even participated in one last year!
I can't tell you who wins 'experts Leagues' either.
Since the Main Event started, it has become the Big Leagues to me. Everything else, the minors, the Japan, the Dominican, or even Little Leagues.This may be narrow-minded, I agree. At the same time, I don't care.
I can tell you that Semsel and Norred (or is it Norred and Semsel?) won the Main Event last year.
I can also name six or seven past winners.
You know why?
BECAUSE THE MAIN EVENT IS NOT ABOUT MONEY!!!!!!!!!!
And it's not about winning a league of eight, ten, twelve, fifteen, or even 20.
The Main Event goes beyond money.
It goes beyond any singular league.
It is an icon.
To win the Main Event is to be called 'Champ' the rest of your life and NFBC players will know why.
If an auction, or a Diamond Leaguer, or somebody else is called 'Champ', we know that somebody is just being nice.
Winning the Main Event means 'Champ'.

I know that the fellas with the Big Carrots in their pockets have best interests in mind. But the Main Event is about being the best. More important, the best of the best.
The Main Event will grow. It does not have to grow rapidly.
New ideas like slo drafts or cutline drafts can grow quickly. They are like candy bars at the checkout stand. We pick it up, pay for it, eat it, and forget it.

The Main Event is the draft most of us have in mind when drafting in other drafts. When getting Bryce Harper in the third round of a previous draft, we KNOW that won't happen in the Main.
We know, because the bests play in the Main Event.
They won't let that happen.
The Yahoo Kid only wishes he were good enough to enter the Main Event. He's not....and he KNOWS it.
Only folks who are sure of their game enter the Main Event.
Ron Shandler was handed his ass in the Main Event.
He is sure of his game.
One can be sure of one's game....and still get their ass handed to them.
A Main Event league title is a feather in a cap. A significant achievement.
Any other Yahoo or ESPN type title is a feather up your ass. Tickling, amusing, a good feeling, but paling in significance.

The Main Event will grow as fantasy baseball grows. Not whether first prize is $100,000 or $25,000 more, or even $100,000 more.
It'll grow as more drafters realize that the Yahoo Kid in them is gone. They are ready to step up to the plate with the Big Boys. They know their game is feather/cap good, not feather/ass good.
Give the carrots to Bugs Bunny. He likes 'em.
The Main Event doesn't need them.
Whoever wins next years $125,000 first prize will only be $25,000 richer.
To me, he'll be no better than Semsel and Norred (or is it Norred and Semsel?)
At the same time, he'll be the same as those two.
Which is pretty damned good.
He'll be what those two are.
He'll be what we all want to be.
'Champ'.

[fwicker]

Well put. I couldn't agree more.

[Atlas]

I know that the fellas with the Big Carrots in their pockets have best interests in mind. But the Main Event is about being the best. More important, the best of the best.

That's not a carrot in my pocket. I'm just happy to see you.

[Roy's Outlaws]

Dough , I agree with you take 100%. We will see what happens with the new Primetime leagues. Raised the fees and the prize pool. Hoping to get more players for the 12 team format at high stakes.There is a reason the online championship gets over a 1000 entries, and its got a lot to do with price points to enter. It's a lot easier for the average guy to explain to the wife a $350 charge on the credit card than a $1500 charge and he gets hit with the frying pan.

[Outlaw]

Well Said Dough... and Roys Outlaw makes a very valid point. Me personally, I tried following all the discussions the past month about all the "new" leagues, proposed new leagues, new price points, proposed price points and quite frankly gave up trying to follow them all. let alone understand them all. The Main is what Matters IMO.