There's No Crying In Baseball

I started another season of fantasy baseball yesterday. I've gotta tell you, I'm feeling pretty damn good about my team this year. Each round I found guys that I felt were sleepers. Guys like Juan Uribe, Victor Martinez, and Cliff Lee. Guys like David Newhan, Brian Lawrence, and Wily Mo Pena. It's these types of players that bring you championships. The role players, not the stars, are what really get you there.

I watched the other guys pick their first 10 and then start picking whoever was left based on last year's stats because they didn't know too much about the rest of the field. And to be honest, I didn't know that much about them either. But I had a gut feeling who would spring forward this year.

Now I'm not going to lie and say working at ESPN doesn't help. It sure does. Hell, not many people have the opportunity to have Harold Reynolds tell you Cliff Lee is going to be awesome.
So for the 2005 season that will certainly be watched under every kind of microscope, I've already started off on the right foot. Coming off a year where the Sox ended the misery and prolonged the Yanks' (year two thou-sand, year two thou-sand!), I've got plenty to look forward to. The Sox are in position to be even better than last year. They picked up Wade Miller and Edgar Renteria for starters.

And the Braves picked up Tim Hudson and Danny Kolb bringing John Smoltz back to the starting rotation. (Who by the way, looked nasty in a let's-just-screw-around half inning of work after their game against the Mets was cancelled on Saturday.) I won't mention their acquisitions of Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan. I think Atlanta's worse with them. Hopefully they'll still be able to capture a 14th straight division title.

And to top all this good news off, Barry Bonds ain't playing. At least for a while...possibly indefinitely. I know, I know. I've bitched about Barry numerous times before but he really is someone I root against. I'll give you a personal account as to why.

In the year 2000 (stop thinking of Conan), I went to the All-Star game in Atlanta with my father. We went to the gala after the homerun derby that Monday night and they had a variety of games and booths to go to. One of the games was a baserunning test - see how fast you could run the 90 feet to first while racing the person next to you. Guess who was behind me in line. Barry's son. I didn't realize this until after I ran however. When I turned around and saw Barry just standing there next to my dad. My dad walks over to me and says, "I asked Barry for an autograph for you and he said 'No, I'm watching my kid race'." What an F-in' prick. It's All-Star freakin week, the most fan friendly couple of days of the year, and you're blowing me off to watch your son run for four and a half seconds. I can see you're way too busy to take 10 seconds out of your family time to sign an autograph for a kid that'll never get the chance again.

Anyone watch part 1 of the ESPN series on Barry last night? Yea, this guy has had a media problem from the start. Well, it's more than that. He has a people problem. He doesn't know how to relate. Maybe his daddy didn't hug him enough when he was younger. I don't know. What I do know is that Barry and his huge forehead not playing this year and possibly retiring while being oh-so-close to breaking Hank Aaron's record makes this season of baseball my most anticipated since 1996.

The Braves should be good, the Sox should be great, there should be a lot less if not zero steroids in the game, the Yankees haven't won with their inflated salary in 4.5 years (and Mariano's arm is going to fall off fairly soon), there's a team back in Washington, I've got a killer fantasy team this year, and Barry freakin' Bonds is whining and bitching about the media "bringing him down" causing him to possibly retire.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Barry, here's a nice damp washcloth...(you know the rest).