Tuesday Live Chat Starts Now

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:04 pm

Dyv, you've got it. For the last two signups I'll get a good autographed piece of memorabilia from Pete Rose, Harmon KIllebrew or someone else. I'm hooking with an Upper Deck guy later tonight for some drinks and will siphon a couple of prizes out of him if you're sick of Pete Rose stuff. YOu've got it. If we can get two guys in yet for the AL Auction League in Vegas, I'll reward them. I hate reward late signups, but I think everyone would accept this one if we can get to 12.

Man, Friday night is going to be fun and Jason Gray and Brady Tinker will be great auctioneers. Both are very good at this. I'm going to be in there the first two hours to make sure everyone is pushing the players out at good levels and maybe even making a beer run for the guys. You know I can't resist watching some of this and chiding the final bids. I'm a geek, I get into this stuff.

So let's get two more entrants and close that auction league out.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:05 pm

Thank goodness I ordered three beers with room service tonight. You guys are keeping this one going.

nnoy · Post by **nnoy** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:05 pm

Good to hear that seefer. You a "pro"?

nnoy · Post by **nnoy** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:06 pm

Kill it any time Greg, so we all can get back to our draft boards.

nnoy · Post by **nnoy** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:07 pm

Any one of us that argues he is not a “geek” is definitely kidding himself.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:09 pm

JackStraw, leave a phone number where I can reach you at [email protected] or on this thread and I'll give you a serious auction lesson. I have a foolproof way of making sure you know what to do and it's legal, too. Seriously, give me a call as I have a good two-page Cheat Sheet for you that will make life very, very easy for a first-timer and you'll never look back.

The beauty of auction leagues is that you feel so drained after it's done. It's like a six-hour SAT. You have to show patience as the top stars go off to other teams because eventually the money will come back to you. You can't always get the top stars, but in the end if you have good depth and get more good players than the rest you can win it all without $35+ players. But that's just me.

seefer · Post by **seefer** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:09 pm

Not a pro, just a fantasy baseball junky.

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:11 pm

Jackstraw, Jump in! Just don't watch me or Dyv. We're the two rookies you wanted. Watch Gene.

And ask him alot of questions while the bidding is going on. Alot of questions.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:12 pm

Jackstraw, we have an FSTA Experts League Auction on Thursday night at the Rio in Pavilion Rooms 5-7 and you can watch that one for good practice. You will have the USA Today Sports Weekly LABR League dollar values, I'll have a two-page Cheat Sheet for you and then you can watch so-called "experts" pick in a 12-team league on Thursday night. It will be like a test run before the test. What better way to learn.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:13 pm

Nathan, we'll let everyone know who went first in each league and my goal is to create 13 spreadsheets with all the picks. It won't happen right away because we are actually writing down each pick, but we'll get that done somehow for everyone to see before OPening Day. That should be invaluable information.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:15 pm

I have to find out when Opening Day is first because this year was kind of late. But MLB has started on March 31 before. I'm hoping it's like March 20-21, 2005, but I need to check that out first. I'm going to meet with the Rio tomorrow to check on those dates as I like this place and it works great for our Trade Conference and the NFBC. They have so much space to expand if we need more room, which is what happened this year.

Football will be Sept. 3-4 in Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and hopefully one more city.

Jackstraw · Post by **Jackstraw** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:16 pm

I fly into Vegas at 11:00 Friday, so I will miss the Thursday night auction... Greg, I will send my number to your e-mail address in a minute.

Cellar Dwellers · Post by **Cellar Dwellers** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:16 pm

ARod will not be first in every league. I say he'll be first pick in 10 or 11 out of the 13 leagues.

nnoy · Post by **nnoy** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:17 pm

Cellar Dwellers what is your prediction for the other two leagues and why?

[ March 16, 2004, 08:18 PM: Message edited by: nnoy ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:17 pm

We will keep the FSTA Draft Board up for all to see on Friday, so even though you're getting in late you can take notes beforehand. I'll check my e-mails right after I get off of here.

BB of the Leaderboard · Post by **BB of the Leaderboard** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:18 pm

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

[QB] JackStraw, leave a phone number where I can reach you at [email protected] or on this thread and I'll give you a serious auction lesson. I have a foolproof way of making sure you know what to do and it's legal, too. /QB]Umm, is that going to be a part of the welcome package for all auction participants? Can't be playing favorites, after all!

Dyv · Post by **Dyv** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:19 pm

Originally posted by Walla Walla:

Jackstraw, Jump in! Just don't watch me or Dyv. We're the two rookies you wanted. Watch Gene.

And ask him alot of questions while the bidding is going on. Alot of questions. Seriously - I've only done 3 auctions in my life and they were all in football.

I'm in it for the experience and to see how I can perform.

I've never done a baseball auction before.

Dave

Cellar Dwellers · Post by **Cellar Dwellers** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:20 pm

nnoy-With all due respect I'd rather not answer that. Don't go by me though, I've got the 15th pick and I'm OK with that.

nnoy · Post by **nnoy** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:20 pm

Hit the tables already Greg. Man if I were in Vegas I would not be chatting with me right now.

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:21 pm

Wheres Patton when you need a player??

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:22 pm

Okay, I feel much better now. I think this thread shows that you guys trust me for these last two leagues and I need to make some phone calls and then get those leagues picked. We are adding this final league because there was interest in it and I was able to add a couple of industry guys who I'm spending advertising money with anyway for baseball and football. So this actually worked out well. Again, it could have been done yesterday if all had gone as planned, but sometimes in life **** happens and you just deal with it. I enjoyed every minute I stayed away from the office last night and I really felt you guys would understand if I was late posting these last leagues. Some guys are a bit peeved at me, but once this is posted it will be fine.

If one or two of the names change in these last two leagues, don't have a panic fit. I'm picking these randomly and assuming two industry guys are in that I haven't confirmed yet. But I'll get them in. I just need to get my feet on the ground and get off this Message Board!!!

nnoy · Post by **nnoy** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:22 pm

No problem Cellar Dwellers. I can see a reasonable justification for any of the other big-4 at #1. Where do you think Sheffield will go on average?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:26 pm

I'll leave you with this one and then I'm going back to Leagues 12 and 13: When I introduced all new signups, I'd always say "welcome to the growing NFBC family" and that sounded kind of cool. But this is a good community and 99% of us have never met each other. I've never met most of you guys. But we've assembled a good group and that's what makes this fun. This weekend we'll have some drinks together, talk baseball and have a lot of fun as a family. Best of luck everyone as your odds of winning $100,000 are now 1:195 and that's final. It's a number I'm pretty sure will grow next year.

Cellar Dwellers · Post by **Cellar Dwellers** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:30 pm

nnoy-If you're picking first, which I think you said you were, then I'm reasonably sure you would be able to get Sheffield with your 2nd round pick, just barely.

seefer · Post by **seefer** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:32 pm

nnoy, I'm interested to here who your big 4 are?