Quick Sox notes

That was rookie Brian Anderson, a 2003 first-round draft pick, who hit those two home runs off uber prospect Felix Hernandez in the Sox' 5-3 Friday-night win. Orlando Hernandez, who started for the Sox, may be double Felix's age. Maybe triple.

Consecutive series wins at Minnesota and Seattle give me hope. I'd like a 3-1 series win at Texas but I'd take a 2-2.

Every day that Griffey trade looks better and better. Then again I'm not sure what the playoff lineup would be. One guy between Podsednik, Rowand (can't bench his defense), Dye, Everett, or Kong would have to sit. I expect the Sox to stand pat. Right now their pitching would have to be spectacular to advance in the playoffs. Podsednik is done resting his strained adductor muscle (I have no idea what that is) and should help energize the sleepy offense. Brandon McCarthy is up for the doubleheader tomorrow against the Rangers. Jeff Bajenaru is up from Charlotte. He's a better option than most of the AAAA guys who've been up this year.

Joe Crede injured his right middle finger when he took a pitch there during a bunt attempt last week. Watch for Pablo Ozuna to start at third for the time being. I'd like to see Josh Fields, a 2004 draft pick who's been pretty solid for AA Birmingham, get a start or two when rosters expand on September 1.

Pre-whatever

The Titans were horrible in a Friday night preseason game at San Francisco. Should fans be worried? No, fans should be confused.

The preseason is like getting a date from a hot girl that you've liked from afar for a long time. But, before the date commences you are forced to watch that girl take 'practice' dates with other guys for an entire month. Not only that, on every date she dresses differently, talks differently, sometimes she pays, sometimes she waits for the guy to pay, and on the final one she just stares into space and grunts responses to everything the guy says. It's a total confusing mess. And you have no idea what to expect when the 'real' date begins.

The Titans could have played a vanilla scheme because the 49ers run a 3-4 defense, which is what the Steelers run. The only similarity between the 49ers' D and the Steelers' D is the 3-4 formation. The Steelers have much better players, although I'd test that secondary. Also the Titans played their starting center at left tackle. Why? Well, Brad Hopkins is injured so the Titans may start two rookie tackles in the opener. Justin Hartwig at tackle just gives the Titans more options, and creates confusion when the Steelers coordinators look at the game film. According to the box score I read, backup center Eugene Amano had six carries in the game. Talk about versatility.

The same confusion goes to the college fantasy league. Week one is the toughest week of the year, and here's why. It's hard to keep track of the twenty plus schools on my roster, let alone all 119. Unlike the NFL, most college teams run some kind of RBBC, so the 'named' starter may get six carries. That's why, in a league with a roster of 45 players that I might end up with 20 running backs, just to be sure I get a week one starter. It's a tough choice between an iffy big-program guy going against a scrub opponent (like any of the Missouri guys against Arkansas State) or Garrett Wolfe of Northern Illinois, who had 1,685 rushing yards last year but might not start and his team plays at Michigan.

These are the things I worry about as my friend Mark stands on the roof of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He's a reporter at the paper. His wife is a photographer. I think the Four Horsemen just galloped by the Superdome.

Joining a fan(tasy) club

How does one get involved in a college fantasy football league? Well, it all started when I joined the revered Zealots Field last year. I noticed that they had one college league and were adding two. Reading the rules, I noticed that one stipulation was that you got to pick a 'home school' and had the right to take ten players from that school before the initial draft. I was hooked, and stupidly I believed the hype about Missouri and took them. I could have taken one of the big Florida schools or Texas, or even freaking Bowling Green and my results would have been better.

It's a more challenging type of league than fantasy NFL. It's almost like fantasy NFL in the 80s, in that each owner has to keep his own stats and there aren't dozens of sites that can host such a league. Simply keeping track of which owner has which player is borderline insanity.

There are 18 teams in this league. This means that the initial 35-round draft was a little slice of hell. Luckily it was conducted (mostly) through e-mail. Owners dropped in and out like crazy. I'd say at least half the league changed home schools over the offseason. Naturally the new owners took schools like Florida and Nebraska instead of Temple and Akron. Our 2004 champion was UAB so homeschoolers aren't a matter of life and death.

There are 45 roster spots. Since you start two QBs, three RBs, four WR/TE, one D/ST and one kicker, there's a lot of room for error. Bye weeks are a little tricky because most schools play 11 games in 13 weeks. The 'playoffs' start early and each team plays a 'bowl' game. These games are like the college bowls in that only one really matters. The rest are for draft positioning in future years. The trick to the bowl schedule is that you can only use players on teams that qualify for bowls. Since half my team was Missouri Tigers and the team went 5-6 I had to scour the waiver wire to fill out my active roster.

The waiver wire is a bit crazy. Since there are 119 teams there aren't a few players who fall through the cracks, there are a few dozen. No one knew who JJ Arrington was at this time last year. That means a weekly scouring of box scores. Because the team can always get better.

Building a roster takes on a whole new dimension. I feel like my quarterbacks are solid. The only problem is that the top three guys are seniors, so I need to draft accordingly. New stars rise and fall every year.

One thing I like about this league is I know that I'm not 'that guy'. There are two types of 'that guy' in fantasy leagues. One is the guy who shows up on draft day with a magazine and no clue. Those guys are welcome in any of my leagues, although they tend to disappear like an extra in the Sopranos. The other one is the guy who knows more than everyone else and lets you know it every minute. I'm afraid that defines me in the AUFL. When a guy in this league justified his pick of a young running back for the University of Cincinnati by quoting his spring game statistics, I knew that I had found 'that guy'.

Fantasy update

Here's how I'm doing in my various fantasy leagues:

AUBL (Yahoo friends baseball league): The Buckhead Green Sox are in second place after a 6-5 defeat this week. The Sox gradually moved from fourth to first place, but this week's mediocre performance opened up the lead to rival (and father) OBL's Wombats. The recent showdown between the Sox and the Wombats ended in a 6-6 tie. A first-round playoff bye is almost assured.

Yahoo public league: The Buckhead Blue Sox lead the league by 12 games. There's not much else to say.

KCFA3 (college league): The annual draft started this weekend as the Missouri Tigers drafted four people that 99.9% of Americans have never heard of and neither have 95% of college football fans. The hard part about a college draft is that research is a bear (119 teams) and even the 'stars' last for three years at most. You're constantly reworking the team.
AUFL (local NFL league): After last weekend's draft all I've done is reject a potential trade of backup kickers. The season starts two weeks from Thursday.

Zealots 17 (NFL dynasty league): I have to cut my roster down to 53 players by two weeks from today. My probable cuts are Maurice Hicks, Todd France, Teyo Johnson, Craphonso Thorpe, and Kelly Washington.

Z34 (Commish of this league): Two owners haven't 'signed in' yet, and other than that I have to cut seven guys in two weeks. You know you have a fantasy sports problem when it's hard to cut the 54th guy on a team where you only start 17.

Look at that, ma, the White Sox won! They scored six runs in an inning yesterday. In the month of August the Sox have scored six runs in a game twice. This 7-11 month has not been pretty. A win in the upcoming Twins series should get them on track to clinching the division in mid-September.

Live draft time

I need to discuss the total draft experience that I had this weekend. By Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., our draft’s start time, most of us had been at it since Thursday night. One of our owners courageously hosted our motley crew. Each owner had a batch of papers and/or magazines. Many also carried bottles of liquor.

To determine draft order our host put stickers on the bottom of 12 paper cups. Each sticker had a number from one to twelve and was covered by another sticker to discourage draft slot cheating. All owners concocted a beverage within said cup and there was a toast to get things started. I pulled the six slot. Due to my amazing drafting prowess, or my league mates lack thereof, I generally have picked toward the end of the first round. The previous year’s champion usually drafts on the ‘turn’ at the end of the first round, but we started from scratch so we did the random order. We drafted serpentine, so the last pick in the first round earned the first pick in the second.

I burned a CD full of entrance music for each owner. The owners of the first pick started with Madonna. Tell me how many fantasy drafts started with Madonna.

Naturally I have to give a blow-by-blow of my draft picks. It’s an indulgence, but this is my space and I can fill it how I choose. So here goes.

1.06: Edgerrin James: By this time I had finished one very large buttery nipple (the drink), one shot of vodka and I had a full Mimosa in front of me. The two picks in front of me were Stephen Jackson and Willis McGahee. James was number three on my list. He’s going to get some of those touchdowns that Manning doesn’t throw.

2.07: Julius Jones: Let’s see, I’m probably up to two shots of vodka and everything I mentioned in the previous pick. Someone drunker than me took Ricky Williams in this round. I probably have Jones in too many leagues but I had to take him over the likes of Clinton Portis and Ahman Green.

3.06: JJ Arrington: There’s another shot on the board and I’ve opened my first beer. There’s probably no good reason to take a running back here, but the top three quarterbacks are long gone and the next 15 wide receivers are very similar. He could be trade bait. I get a penalty shot for drafting a Cardinal. I deserve it.

4.07: Joe Horn: He was a top scorer last year so naturally he’ll tank this year. I’m still on that first beer.

5.06: Trent Green: Since this is a keeper league Green may be slightly less valuable. With those receivers it’s hard to believe that he threw for 4600 yards last year, but it’s true.

6.07: Ashley Lelie: Talk about a boom or bust pick. He’ll catch some deep balls but will he go across the middle?

7.06: Ravens D: Will I suffer in fantasy-football purgatory for this pick? First of all, I hate the Ravens. Second of all, drafting the first team defense is never a value pick. Third of all, I hate the Ravens.

7.10: LJ Smith: I like this pick more every day. Owens will come back, but there isn’t much else in Philly.

8.07: Jake Plummer: He’ll throw three touchdowns and three picks one week. He’s younger in case Trent Green retires. Plus those AFC West pass defenses blow.

9.06: Travis Henry: I really like this pick. Henry will get a ton of carries this year. Drink update: I’ve had a few shots, a couple of beers, and my pal next to me has discovered the Absolut Raspberry.

10.07: Charles Rogers: This is the ultimate boom or bust pick in my draft. I needed someone to take over in case Lelie doesn’t improve this year and I take a guy who’s played five games in two years. I’d love to blame the alcohol but I targeted Rogers from the start.

11.06: J.P. Losman: Here’s my young QB. There’s a .001% chance that he becomes Daunte Culpepper. The weapons are there.

12.07: Eddie Kennison: Talk about an unsexy pick. Kennison put up solid numbers in KC, although this isn’t exactly a wide receiver hotbed. By the way, my Absolut buddy is sprawled out in the driveway by now.

13.06: Ben Troupe: My second Titan! He may or may not start the year on the active roster. I see him as the best bet for a Jason Witten/Antonio Gates rise to the top this year.

14.07: Josh Brown: Yep, I went for a kicker.

15.06: Eric Shelton: We only roster four running backs so it’s likely that I drop Shelton by the season opener. No one has much faith in DeShaun Foster’s health.

16.07: Cardinals D: They’ll be OK this year. I know, second Cardinals player.

17.06: Neil Rackers: The draft room is utter chaos at this point. Ok, most everyone is either drunk, tired, or bored. I’ve probably consumed a dozen beverages. Once I arrive at home I sleep for nearly four hours and barely notice. My tally for drinks at the party that night? Zero.

Getting to know you

I tried an unusual getting-to-know-you tactic this week. As I've repeated ad nauseam, I am in a local fantasy-football league. This year will be the fifth year that we've had a live draft here in Hotlanta. Some of the owners are close friends and others are more on the periphery. I decided to aid myself in two different ways by sending a questionnaire of sorts.

Most of the questions were fluff, like what kind of stadium does your 'team' play in, what's your corporate sponsor, and who is your chief rival in the AUFL. I'll use this information when I write my weekly 'game stories'. For some reason Sports Illustrated hasn't called begging for my services.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and ask one or two 'personal' questions per owner and got some quality information. I thought that the football-related questions would relax everyone and the personal questions might throw them off guard. I accepted the possibility that no one would answer them.

The best responses came from the quasi-question "Name one non-football-related accomplishment from last year." Two owners became dads this year, one for the second time. Other responses varied from getting in shape to mountain biking to fulfilling a long-standing dream of getting a job as a teacher. One owner had surgery on his ACL. Ouch.

Then there's my dad, who entered the Catholic Church. As for me, I performed a stand-up routine (although I'm in desperate need of a follow-up to that) and used this blog to get a writing gig. While I expect to have plenty of fantasy-football glory this fall, I'd like to complement it with real-life success.