Our third fantasy baseball magazine for 2010 has been put to bed, and it seems hard to believe! We’re in the first week of January, spring training isn’t even a thought yet, the football playoffs are just starting, and Fanball has already completed three fantasy baseball magazines! Wow!

Before I expand on the lessens learned from our many magazine drafts, I would like to weigh in on the decision made by Coach Jim Caldwell and the Colts decision to take NFL weeks 15 & 16 off. As Peyton Manning has just won his 4th League MVP award, I can’t help but think of the disappointment he, as well as all the other players, and Colts fans must have, losing the opportunity to do something truly special. I understand that the goal is to win the Super Bowl, to be the NFL Champs, and that the Caldwell thought resting his key players was the best way to achieve that goal.

But after starting the season 14-0, with a home game against the Jets and a road game against the Bills, they had a great chance of going 16-0, and becoming a dynasty team like the Miami Dolphins, something all the players and fans deserve. That Dolphins team is still considered the best of all time because of their perfect record; they did something no other NFL team has ever done. It’s something special to the players and their fans. That opportunity was there for the Colts, and Caldwell gave it away like a Politian making a speech. He gave some solid sounding reasons, but at the end of the day, and the decade, it will be remembered like the Politian’s speech, empty, full of unfulfilled dreams and hopes!

Even if the Colts go on and win the Super Bowl, does it justify giving away the dream, of the emptiness the players and fans will now have to live with forever, knowing they were that close and always wondering if it could have happened? In this world of achievers, of people with ambition, of people striving for perfection, of people doing all they can to be the best, what message does Caldwell give?

Shame on you Jim Caldwell, and your punishment will be you’ll go down in history and making one of the worst decisions ever!!! That’s what you earned this year, that’s what you accomplished, that’s what you deserve! And some sports writers might even make you NFL coach of the year, but deep down inside, you’ll know what could have happened, what you and your tem could have done, what you let get away..Mortality was there and you choose not to accept it!

 Sorry it’s been a while since my last post, I’ll start posting more regularly.

The All Star break is thought to be the middle of the baseball season, and a good chance to look and access how your fantasy baseball team(s) is doing (and start wondering if it’s time to start thinking fantasy football).

I have two teams dominating their league, one the CBS NL Experts League.  Even though I had a nice lead, and was dominating in all the offensive categories, I had made a trade in late May that really improved my season ending chances of staying on top.  In need of another closer, I traded Jason Werth and Emilio Boniface for Ryan Franklin.  I hold a 10 point lead over Roto Wire, and barring some major injury, I should be able to hold them off.   I also got lucky in the faab bidding on Mark DeRosa when he came over to the NL from Cleveland.  I made a big bid on him, $87, only to be outbid by CBS’s Scott White who bid $99.  While DeRosa might turn out to be worth it for him, I like my position of being able to still pick up a top player when someone else comes over from the AL…maybe Roy Halladay.

I’m sitting second in the FSTA expert’s league, 10 points behind Ron Shandler.  With some pitching help in the second half, I hope to catch him.  4 other teams are sitting in the middle of the pack, and at least two of them should contend before it’s over.

My NFBC teams on the other hand continue to be an embarrassment.  In the main event, I’m 10^th in my league and 270 overall….and that’s an improvement!  Two weeks ago I was 14^th and 327 overall, so I’m moving in the right direction.  Having Reyes & Manny out left my offense at the bottom of the offensive categories, so getting them back might get me back to the middle of the pack.  I have to give kudos to Shawn Childs, who has gotten to the top of our league and 12^th overall.  I have to say I wasn’t impressed with his draft, but it’s obvious he knows more about this game than me!  My satellite league team with the CDM/Fanball posters is doing a little better, sitting in 7^th place but only 10 points out of third.  William Devers is trying to hold off

Ken Magner, and it looks like to two of them will battle to the end.  If my 6 or 7 ifs all come through, I could make a run at them, but I’m not counting on it.

Remember, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint, and there’s a lot that can still happen.  Don’t give up yet.  You don’t have to start worrying about football for a couple weeks still (even though I’ve drafted over 10 teams for our magazines already!)

Next week I’ll look at how my “picks” from the start are doing and some second half players to target.

Ball State finished an undefeated season and will probably join undefeated Boise State on the outside of the BCS. We’ve been coping for years with the injustice of the NCAA national football championship, and the ridiculous idea that computer rankings and media polls get to decide which team plays for the national champion. While I don’t always agree with our soon to be president, and he has a lot more important things to worry about than the way the NCAA determines the National football champion, he is right on with his comments and I welcome his involvement. Nobody else can seem to make the NCAA realize what they are doing does not cut it with Americans, and “It’s Time For Change!”

For those of us that believe the outcome should be settled on the field of play, it’s time for Obama’s message to be heard. We like to root for the underdog, and undefeated teams at least need the chance to prove they belong. Plus it could help the recruiting efforts of the less powerful football program, having to the share the wealth attitude Obama is preaching. What is more unfair than the wealthiest and highest earning American paying the least amount of taxes, is the USC’s, Florida’s and Alabama’s getting all the best recruits. How can any of the other programs hope to compete if they can’t offer highly sought talent the chance to play for the gold ring?

How could a playoff system work? Here’s my idea. Currently we have 34 bowl games between December 20th and January 8th, involving 68 teams. Most of them could stay the same and offer some lame teams and their fans one last game for a dismal. Start a weekend earlier, the weekend of December 13th, and take the top 16 ranked teams according the BCS point system, with a provision that if an undefeated team is not part of the top 16, they would replace the 16th (15, 14th, etc.) ranked team. Top 8 seeded teams would get a “home” game and play the bottom 8 in the field.

Based on current rankings, here’s how the games would look this year.
Cincinnati at Alabama, Ball State at Texas, TCU at Oklahoma, Mizzou at Florida, Olk St at USC, Georgia at Utah, Ohio St at Texas Tech and Boise St at Penn St. Looks like one of the great days of watching college football to me. Do you think the networks and ESPN wouldn’t like to have part of that line-up? Do you think the NCAA might be able to add a few shackles to their coffers?
Then the next weekend, December 20th, the Eagle, New Mexico, St. Pete and Pioneer Bowls could host the winners. Yeah, like the NCAA would give them those games, but it would be the biggest college bowl games ever played in Washington, Albuquerque, St. Petersburg and Las Vegas! Even if the fans and Alumni didn’t fill their stadiums, local fans would! They could rotate the teams each year, so once every 4 years one of the cities would have the number 1 (assuming they were not upset by the number 16 team the week before) playing in their city. Actually, if you think about it, cities would compete for these games like ncaa regional basketball games, and 7 cities could host the games. Sorry Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton and Orange bowls, but if you want one of these games, you’ll have to buck up more to the NCAA.

Moving to the 2 games with the four teams left, play them the first weekend of January, giving the teams an extra week to prepare, and play the National Championship game the 3rd weekend of January (or the weekend without NFL playoff games) with an extra week to prepare. Would there be some excitement created?

The biggest downside I see to this idea is the traveling for the fans, which could require 4 weekends of travel over 6 weekends, but the basketball tournament requires close to the same. So what do you think, would this be a better way to determine our national football championship than what we currently use? If so, please write your congressman and encourage him to have President Elect Obama add the Godfather of Fantasy Sports to his sports advisory board, to work for Change!

Sorry for the long delay in between posts!

This has to be a sports fan’s favorite time of year. Baseball is winding down, football is rolling along, hockey is around the corner, and basketball is down the street.

For the fantasy sports player, we’re going into overload! There is just way too much information to process, and not enough time to do it. I sacrifice hockey, and tend to wait too long to catch up on basketball. There’s that daily excitement of watching my fantasy baseball teams, as a couple have a chance to win it all. And the weekly excitement of managing my fantasy football teams, as some are off to good starts, and those that aren’t, I still think can be fixed.

Unfortunately for St. Louis sports fans, the real teams we follow will leave a lot to be desired. My beloved Cardinals will not make the playoffs this year, but I admire the work Tony La Russa did this year. Myself and most baseball people did not have big expectations for them this year. It was one of those “rebuilding” years. But they teased us and Tony was pushing all the right buttons that kept them in contention longer than anyone hoped for. If Tony was a fantasy baseball owner, I would not like to be in the same league with him (alright, I really would!), and he found a way to get a lot more than most people thought was possible. And if (there’s always that if) they could have found a way to close games (30 blown saves, plus numerous late inning failures), we would have at least made it as the wild card. And as the ivy dies in Wrigley just like the Cubs every September, it could have been a division championship

The real hard pill to swallow is our Rams. They could be the worst team in pro football!  As Trent Green takes over for Marc Bulger, I thank my lucky stars for fantasy football. I would have lost all interest in the NFL by now if I didn’t have my fantasy teams to root for. I have very few Rams on my teams, which might be why they are doing alright. And no, I won’t be picking up Trent Green….and you shouldn’t either.

Have a great week!