Armchair Thoughts

I apologize my fellow Armchairsmen for the complete lack of weekly recaps. I really have been slacking so far this year, and it is more because of laziness on my part than to what Jack suggests. Funny that he does mention the business venture known as The A-List. Despite the promotion by both our former high school and Brian Salzer on Facebook, myself and Andy both are no longer a part of Matt Norris's organization. In fact, we both haven't been a part of it for a couple of months now, but I don't want to bore you with the details of such things.

Anyways, back to the most pressing matters, the on-goings of our league. As usual, Mr. Johnston sits atop a division, and also almost has as many moves as the Tom Kocon division as a whole. Speaking of good ole TK, my brother Ben has the pleasure of playing for him this year. The team has been highly successful this year with only three losses, including a 30-1 drubbing of Cooper. I highly doubt this has something to do with both Coach Kocon and Mr. Brenk's coaching abilities, even though Kocon still has a great curveball. He has yet to make anyone run around fences, and it doesn't sound like he has someone like Tony Schuler on the team this year. Ah, those were the days...

Surprisingly, Tony Mac is still in the mix, but as Jack has said, it still is quite early. We'll see what happens once we hit Memorial Day. Drunk Hot Girl Scout's manager must still be inebriated from Mifflin, because his team has not exactly performed well so far. Other than those shots, I don't have too much to say about the results of the league so far. Although, there are some things I would like to address from previous posts:

1. Money
I'm fine with everyone giving money to Joe, but I do know that in the past money is never collected because no one ever sees everyone. This is even harder once the season starts because less and less people are willing to pay. I just thought LeagueSafe would be an easy way, but apparently not everyone is ready for that yet. So in that case, everyone needs to get their ten dollars to Joe ASAP so we have that money already.

2. Relegation
Love the idea Jack. I actually think this is something that actual leagues should consider as well. Just think, do you think the Timberwolves would keep tanking if it meant being relegated to the D-League? Even David Kahn isn't that crazy. As far as instituting it in our league, I think this is a great way to get more people involved in the league. The only problems I see with it would be finding people that most of us know that would be interested and maintaining interest if you were in the lower league. This concept is obviously for the diehards and while I do think we have some in this league, I don't think we can say that about everyone.

3. Fines
I do understand that a dollar might be steep and that people may forget once in a while, but when you think about it, wouldn't you be spending the money on bringing something to the football draft anyways? Also, if it is only on one certain day that this fine can be instituted, then wouldn't that be easier to manage. Say if we do it on Monday mornings, that gives you plenty of time to check your lineup. After all, most of us manage this well enough that I don't think it would effect us that much. Maybe I will keep track this year just to see how this proposed fine would impact the league. I also think this is a much more viable thing for fantasy football (with bye weeks) so maybe I will take up the cause again this fall.

4. Your formulas
I do applaud the countless hours you have put into them Jack, but I feel like no one actually understands how they work, so it doesn't create a whole lot of chatter. Is there a way you can fix that, I don't know, but that's just my opinion. One thing I think would be cool to look at is the whole spot starter concept - is it worth it to continue to stream the Brandon Morrows of the baseball world, or does it hurt rate stats like ERA and WHIP too much. That would be interesting to see how a study like that would play out. Keep up the good work.

Well I think that is enough for all of you to chew on for now, but I hope to address and bring up more ideas and issues in future weeks, including switching our draft format to an auction- scary I know, but it might be more fun than you think.

Oly's Rankings
1. Sexual Napalm
2. Joe's Torn Ligament
3. Enter Sandman
4. Make it Rain
5.Maewyn Succat
6. Winston Wolfe
7. The Master Baker
8. La Furia Roja
9. Dmitri Petrovich
10. Drunk Hot Girl Scout

Da Commish's Hot Clicks of the Week
I don't know how I couldn't start out with what happened at the Phillies game last night. Makes me never want to storm a court or field ever.


Fear the Deer! Literally


Our Armchair Fantasy Girl Blake Lively makes an appearance at a gala in the NYC

Don't know how many Notre Dame fans we have in our league, but this is comedy at its highest level.


This is probably a little late, but since I haven't done a post in a while, here's Merton  the Chat Roulette guy.


And last but not least the Song of the Day, let's go a little country with Craig Morgan's  This Ain't Nothing


Until next week fellas, good luck to everyone with their finals

Coming at you from Collegeville, MN, and right smack in the middle of hell finals week, I bring you this week's WIR. Speaking of finals week, I feel like the sailors in the movie Perfect Storm, after they decide to try to still come home through the bad weather and they're all looking in the distance at the weather realize how bad of a time they will be having. Yeah, that's me. However, I've been dutifully distracting myself with Fantasy Baseball.

“Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.”

Yeah, the postman. That's me. Though I don't know what's been keeping Dave from his participation points in his weekly updates. Perhaps this booming business?

Onward to numbers. Let's take a look at last week's numbers.

WeekRank	Batter	Pitcher	Combined
Make It Rain (TFP)	0.796	0.500	0.648
Enter Sandman	0.157	0.407	0.282
Sexual Napalm	0.648	0.444	0.546
Maewyn Succat	0.759	0.694	0.727
La Furia Roja	0.593	0.278	0.435
The Master Baker	0.741	0.750	0.745
Drunk Hot Girl Scout	0.287	0.194	0.241
Winston Wolfe	0.417	0.389	0.403
Dmitri Petrovich	0.269	0.759	0.514
Joe's Torn Ligament	0.333	0.583	0.458

Best week? The Master Baker, who used a solid display both fielding and pitching. Too bad he was playing Make It Rain (TFP), #3 team from last week.
Worst week? Drunk Hot Girl Scout, who can't seem to quite get things on track yet. Luckily, he was matched up against Enter Sandman, and salvaged only a 4-7-1 defeat.

Onward. Now let's look at our Adjusted Standings Report:

Division	WeekCatW%	ActW%	PredW%	DeltaW	MatchupW%
DS	Joe's Torn Ligament	0.573	0.632	-2.8	0.835
TK	Make It Rain (TFP)	0.542	0.611	-3.3	0.783
TK	Sexual Napalm	0.615	0.574	1.9	0.713
DS	Maewyn Succat	0.521	0.552	-1.5	0.647
TK	The Master Baker	0.458	0.512	-2.6	0.531
TK	Dmitri Petrovich	0.417	0.471	-2.6	0.423
DS	La Furia Roja	0.469	0.470	-0.1	0.415
TK	Winston Wolfe	0.500	0.441	2.8	0.334
DS	Enter Sandman	0.521	0.384	6.6	0.200
DS	Drunk Hot Girl Scout	0.385	0.353	1.6	0.139

Joe maintains his league leading ways as we can see. Luckiest team? Enter Sandman. He sits at 5th place in the league, but 9th place in the standings. Perhaps he's winning close categories or has played a weak schedule thusfar. I haven't done SOS yet, so that'll have to wait. Unluckiest team? Make It Rain (TFP), who has been rivaling Joe in my numbers world, but is 3rd place in the league.

And now gentlemen, the moment you have all been waiting for. I have been known to log many hours pondering the ways of Fantasy Baseball, despite other educational tasks that should be getting done otherwise. But after I sent to you all last week my comment about how I hope to install a Playoff Odds sometime in the future, my mind became possessed. Every waking thought I had pondered how this feat could be achievable using my bits-and-pieces knowledge of computers. Well as you may have seen it on our league message board, I will say it again. I am proud to give to you, the 2010 Week 4 Playoff Odds:

	W%	RANK	1	2	3	4	5	6	PLAYOFF
Make It Rain (TFP)	0.554	2.68	29.2%	26.3%	19.0%	10.8%	7.3%	3.6%	96.2%
Enter Sandman	0.462	7.54	0.3%	0.9%	2.0%	4.4%	7.5%	12.2%	27.3%
Sexual Napalm	0.537	3.44	17.1%	19.7%	21.5%	14.9%	11.1%	7.3%	91.5%
Maewyn Succat	0.516	4.59	5.6%	11.0%	15.5%	20.0%	17.2%	11.9%	81.1%
La Furia Roja	0.484	6.33	1.7%	4.0%	6.1%	10.3%	13.5%	14.3%	49.8%
The Master Baker	0.505	5.12	4.2%	9.2%	12.4%	15.4%	16.4%	14.1%	71.7%
Drunk Hot Girl Scout	0.424	9.11	0.0%	0.1%	0.3%	1.0%	1.6%	3.0%	5.9%
Winston Wolfe	0.472	7.06	0.7%	1.4%	3.8%	6.3%	10.2%	14.2%	36.5%
Dmitri Petrovich	0.480	6.53	0.7%	2.8%	5.7%	9.5%	11.5%	15.9%	46.1%
Joe's Torn Ligament	0.567	2.22	42.1%	26.7%	15.0%	7.3%	4.2%	2.3%	97.7%

Now, before you all jump at me. There were many many many considerations that went into this project (Far more than any of you could ever suppose). So, I have decided to leave my rationale for another separate post, when finals are also not consuming my mind. Until then, please hold off your negative comments or questions (though positive comments are always welcome!). Also, I suppose you all will have to try to figure out what each category represents above ...

Onward again. Let's take a look at the season long rivalry that is Kocon/Stuart.

LeagueASS 3.0	ActW%	PredW%	MatchupW%	Batter	Pitcher
Tom Kocon	0.506	0.522	0.553	0.519	0.525
Dan Stuart	0.494	0.478	0.447	0.481	0.475

Again, my fellow Stuartmen, we have not regained our position on top that we had projected to take. Again, it's early. But it IS already past week 4 ...

Lastly, let us look at some matchups for next week.

Best chance of a matchup win? This might seem too obvious, but Joe's Torn Ligament DOES play Drunk Hot Girl Scout two weeks in a row. It looks as if the rich just keep getting richer.

Closest matchup? Dmitri Petrovich (who seems to have bounced back nicely after posting a goose egg a couple weeks ago) vs La Furia Roja. Both are stuck right in the middle of the pack and could use a catapulting league win.

Onward again. Oh wait, that means MEDIA!

I've become quite a fan of the Unnecessary Cenorship segment of Jimmy Kimmel Live:



And we have another video (perhaps not as G rated as ones in the past), but it's been circulating around my (very small) network of friends for the past few days.



Until next week gentlemen, when school will be out for the summer for me, but I will be having to stay up on campus for an extra week due to the playoff bound SJU Johnnie baseball team. Say a prayer for me my fellow Armchairsmen.

Welcome all. We're back to give you what you crave, the Week In Review. We saw some shakeup this past week, as teams are starting to settle into their places. Let's take a look at the current standings:

Division	WeekCatW%	ActW%	PredW%	DeltaW	MatchupW%
DS	Joe's Torn Ligament	0.625	0.690	-2.3	0.931
TK	Make It Rain (TFP)	0.611	0.599	0.4	0.761
TK	Sexual Napalm	0.597	0.583	0.5	0.733
DS	Maewyn Succat	0.417	0.494	-2.8	0.481
DS	La Furia Roja	0.514	0.481	1.2	0.441
TK	Dmitri Petrovich	0.361	0.457	-3.4	0.381
TK	Winston Wolfe	0.611	0.454	5.7	0.372
TK	The Master Baker	0.389	0.434	-1.6	0.306
DS	Enter Sandman	0.486	0.418	2.4	0.275
DS	Drunk Hot Girl Scout	0.389	0.390	-0.1	0.196

DeltaW=Number of difference in Actual Wins vs Predicted Wins. Positive numbers means overrated.
MatchupW%=ComboW% from last week. The percent chance the given team beats a team (wins 7 categories or more) that has a 50% chance of winning every category.

Joe still maintains his top spot in our standings, albeit with authority. Joe had the best hitting week anyone will probably ever see, ever. Joe came in first place in every offensive category this past week. Impressive, indeed. Observe:

Raw	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	BG
Make It Rain (TFP)	35	9	39	9	0.296	0.887	53
Enter Sandman	30	4	22	3	0.282	0.741	56
Sexual Napalm	35	7	32	5	0.271	0.767	59
Maewyn Succat	24	6	18	7	0.277	0.801	51
La Furia Roja	29	6	23	6	0.289	0.821	52
The Master Baker	22	5	33	5	0.23	0.669	55
Drunk Hot Girl Scout	22	2	16	1	0.197	0.538	54
Winston Wolfe	30	6	37	6	0.308	0.916	49
Dmitri Petrovich	34	4	29	2	0.271	0.796	52
Joe's Torn Ligament	39	10	42	11	0.326	0.943	61

Quite a feat. But you may be asking yourself what that far right category is. Any guesses? It is exactly the number of games started for all the batters of each team. So if you have a player in your starting 9 for a night, and he does not start his MLB game, then that is not counted. If a player pinch hits later in the night, it is not counted. It's a crude way of seeing how many total ABs your team got for a week. Joe, as we can see, had almost every spot on his roster filled for every day last week. Basic math says that there are (9 roster spots * 7 days)=63 maximum possible starting games for batters on your team each week (Not including doubleheaders since it usually means usually the day before was a rain out). Joe almost had the maximum possible games, falling 2 short. So if he has the best counting stats, and the most games played, how do the averages compare? Let's look:

Per Game	R/BG	HR/BG	RBI/BG	SB/BG
Make It Rain (TFP)	0.66	0.17	0.74	0.17
Enter Sandman	0.54	0.07	0.39	0.05
Sexual Napalm	0.59	0.12	0.54	0.08
Maewyn Succat	0.47	0.12	0.35	0.14
La Furia Roja	0.56	0.12	0.44	0.12
The Master Baker	0.40	0.09	0.60	0.09
Drunk Hot Girl Scout	0.41	0.04	0.30	0.02
Winston Wolfe	0.61	0.12	0.76	0.12
Dmitri Petrovich	0.65	0.08	0.56	0.04
Joe's Torn Ligament	0.64	0.16	0.69	0.18

As we can see, on a per game basis, Joe put up great numbers. However, he only ranks first in stolen bases if we look at how many games his batters started. Make It Rain (TFP) had almost an equally impressive week on a per game basis. I hope this shows how important it is to make sure you have the right players starting on a given night.

[Note: It's important to understand that if I were to only start my best player and bench everyone else, I would also get very high numbers on a per game basis. The goal of this fantasy game is to get the highest totals, unless the categories are AVG,ERA, etc.]

As for League Strength, the Tom Kocon Division has taken a slight lead. Let's look at their average stats:

LeagueASS 3.0	ActW%	PredW%	MatchupW%	Batter	Pitcher
Tom Kocon	0.514	0.505	0.510	0.500	0.510
Dan Stuart	0.486	0.495	0.490	0.500	0.490

As we can see, it all comes down to the pitching categories where they have the advantage. It'll be interesting to watch this race unfold throughout the year.

Well, with a scary midterm tomorrow and finals week next week, this weeks' WIR must stop here. Soon and very soon I will start throwing out some predictions for the upcoming weeks. I also hope to give "playoff odds"; but that may have to wait until midsummer.

Special shout out to Make It Rain (TFP) for going 11-0-1 against Luke. If only he could have won that Losses category, eh? With that tie on there I feel this is more equivalent to a no hitter than a perfect game. But good work nonetheless.

MEDIA!

Mr. Cafferty wrote to me this past week saying I should have included the FAU vs WKU rain delay in my last week's post. However this information was not received until after my work went to the press. If you haven't seen it yet, you can catch it here.

But this week I'll feature one of my favourite segments, Unnecessary Censorship:



And lastly, in honor of the draft, we have this disturbing gem:



Good night everyone. And hey, how about them Twins?

Welcome back Armchair managers to another Week In Review. My name is Jack and I'll be running you through the stats and news of our fantasy league for this week.

So I think I've got most of the bugs out of my computer. I've realized I should just tell you all at a basic level what my stats do and maybe save a glossary page somewhere for you all to link to. Otherwise, we're all friends, give me a call and I'll do my best to tell you what I'm doing here. You guys have to just rely for now that what I'm doing is beneficial. Let's take a look at some numbers:

Division	WeekCatW%	ActW%	PredW%	ComboW%
TK	Joe's Torn Ligament	0.542	0.602	0.784
TK	Sexual Napalm	0.500	0.600	0.779
TK	I'll Pick Later	0.438	0.537	0.599
DS	Dmitri Petrovich	0.521	0.525	0.579
DS	Maewyn Succat	0.521	0.507	0.513
DS	Sandbaggers	0.625	0.481	0.439
DS	Drunk Hot Girl Scout	0.458	0.458	0.365
TK	The Master Baker	0.458	0.458	0.370
DS	La Furia Roja	0.396	0.424	0.286
TK	Winston Wolfe	0.542	0.407	0.242

Actual W%-A team's actual winning percentage in the league standings
PredW%-A team's predicted winning percentage, based on where they rank each week in each category
ComboWin%-A team's percent chance of winning more categories than an average team. (That is, a team that has a 50% chance of winning each category) This is a new stat that I introduced last week and will be a better predictor of playoff winners.

[I plan to rename these as different acronyms sometime soon. Again, admissions are welcome. "ASS" just wasn't cutting it.]

And so after two weeks, Joe has found himself back on top. (Especially after a tough armchair football finish) What's surprising (or maybe it isn't) is that Joe is followed by two other Tom Kocon representatives. Yes yes I know it's only the second week, and you should be aware of that, too. So there's not a whole lot to conclude as for which division is tougher. We can simply average out PredW% for each team for each division and see whose is higher. Or we can see how our interleague matchups have been faring. Surprisingly, Joe's Torn Ligament has been the only team not to play an opponent in his own division yet. So he is the lone representative of Tom Kocon for all interleague games thusfar (And has edged out both of them 6-5). So we can keep a running tally this season on interleague W-L.

Again, some future things I'll include in my WIRs are each team's Strength of Schedule, which none some of you may be interested in.

So now comes the part of this WIR where I address certain league matters.

1) Divisions
I don't hate the idea of divisions, as long as they are divvied up in some objective manner. Maybe sort them similar to our draft order; First pick in Div1, 2nd and 3rd in Div2, 4th and 5th in Div1, ...

I'm even not opposed to saying that the top 3 winners of each division move on to the playoffs rather than the top 6 overall teams move on. Very MLB-esque.

2) Money
From the looks of it, not many people are too keen on the LeagueSafe idea, since Dave and I are the only ones that have signed up (though I haven't paid yet). I do think it can be a good idea and kudos for Dave for a) Taking the time to do such a thing and b) Trying to resolve and money issues. Maybe it's the small fee ($.30) that people don't like, or that they don't have a debit card (see: The Master Baker). I can do whatever, though.

3) Fines for DL players
I do enjoy a good fine once in awhile. I mean, the East Compton Wombats of old would have had a large tab at the end of the season (that is, before Riley took over), and it was no fun playing a ghost team (and losing). I think the original tariffs Dave proposed were a little steep. But I can be flexible. I'd like to think we're all diehards, but a lot of use may not want to maintain fantasy baseball while relaxing at a cabin, or traveling in another country. Do players all of a sudden go on the DL? Yep. Maybe a 3 strike rule should be in order or something. Or a warning. I don't know. I've been regularly checking my team and I'll bet it happens to me at some point this year, if it hasn't already.

I do like the idea, but personally I'd like to discuss the finer points of the punishment. I also like calling it the TMac Rule. (No offense, bud) And you know me, I'd be all for the fines going toward a buzzed up fantasy football draft. (Though, it's too bad Tom can't participate)

4) Relegation!
I know it hasn't been covered before. But I do love the idea of relegation. I think it would be a good way to include any additional players who wished to join our league. We'd make them sit through a year of battling other hopefuls to come join the fresh air of the top Armchair League. And whoever gets last place from the top league drops down to the second one. I know it's a bit extreme, but maybe we can meet in the middle. Perhaps we can have two divisions as we have now, but they are divided where one is the top league and one is the bottom. It's just extra incentive for a manager to want to do well and win. Though, it would make for a long year if one of us were to get relegated to the bottom league.

Well that's my take for the week. Onward to MEDIA:

Chan Ho Park's excuses for poor pitching:



And I've even got a second one for this week! What a terrible father:




Until next time Armchair Fans.

Welcome back Armchair managers and fans. It's that time of year again; the snow has melted, the Timberwolves are out of playoff contention, and Dick Bremer's voice can be heard in nearly every household throughout the state. Yes indeed, Armchair Baseball is upon us.

And with Armchair Baseball comes Armchair Weeks In Review. I do my best to inform us all on where teams have been, where they are, and perhaps where they'll be going. I've kept a similar format of my advanced standings from our Armchair Football League. Basically, I see where each team ranks up each week against everyone else and give them the proper credit, regardless of if they got a W or not in their actual game. This way, we can see how much scheduling has impacted our regular season wins and losses. I've got another method that's similar but a little more complicated that I'll probably whip out a few weeks into the season. Here's where everyone ranks after week 1:



The numbers for each category is the percent of other teams that they have beaten each week. Since this is week 1, you can do the math easily to see that Maewyn Succat had the most HRs last week and gets a 1.000 rating for beating everyone. If they do it again next week, they'll maintain their 1.000 rating. Likewise, ties count as a half of a win.

ASS 3.0 (which I hope to rename something else later) is not simply the average of each category. Rather, it finds the percent chance that they get an overall win (Winning more than 6 categories = overall win. Also an overall ties are included are are worth half of an overall win.) So for instance, Winston Wolfe has a .123 ASS 3.0 because if he were to play a team, say 10000 times, with .500 in each category and received 1 overall win if he were to win > 6 categories and half a win for tying the number of won categories, this would be his score. It's kind of confusing I know. But it's basically assessing a team's overall winning percentage. This will be very helpful later on when I matchup team vs team to see who is predicted to get an overall win for the following week.

So I'll Pick Later (IPL), as we can see, has a commanding lead. Only 3 categories of his were below the median team's score (SB, SV, K). However, you might be up in arms since they lost overall last week to Joe's Torn Ligament (JTL). Well that's how this system works. When IPL won their categories, they won big. That has an impact when looking at the rest of the league. When they lost to JTL, they lost close. Yes, they lost more categories than won, but JTL is a strong team as well. Also, JTL was one of the few teams that IPL could have played where they would have lost. It's all about matchups, luck, and scheduling folks. I'm here to get rid of all that noise and see how good a team really is.

What else can we take away from this? Maewyn Succat and Joe's Torn Ligament put up a ridiculously strong hitting week by any measure. Maewyn Succat was even more impressive because, after looking at their starting lineup each day, they had a total of 52 games played by their hitters. The average for our league was 53.9. So they're getting a lot of production out of each game for their hitters, rather than making sure every slot in the lineup is filled. Also, I'll Pick Later and the Sandbaggers were the top teams in pitching this past week.

As for our division rivalry, I'll come up with a calculation next week to see where we matchup. But looking at the numbers above, it's quite clear The Stu Crew has the better league thusfar (granted, again, that we've only had one week).

It's a little too early in the year for predictions, but I have a couple of ways of doing it that I'll try to bust out in the future weeks. I've realized that my job is figuring out more about Fantasy Baseball team strategy, rather than looking at individual player strategy. So which types of players should you draft higher: pitchers, hitters, catchers, closers ...? Will David's strategy of not having a closer pay off? Should you draft quality starters or just use the waiver wire to bolster the counting categories? Stay tuned this year and hopefully we'll find out this and more.

Although I haven't been as in tune with viral videos as last fall, I'll supply what funny material I can and leave the rest to Dave. Here's one that my roommate showed me that had me ROFLing:


I'll try to cover the other looming Armchair Topics another time; playoffs, money, etc. I've also got a lot of strategy topics in store that should be interesting (hopefully). I've just been a busy boy here at SJU this semester, which by far has been the busiest, and they profs are not cutting me any slack when I tell them I have an Armchair WIR deadline I need to meet. So apologies if my contributions are a little slow until the summer hits. Man, I can't wait for summer. But at the same time, Man I Love College. HEY!

Howdy fellas! Instead of going to my marketing class today, I decided to do a little preseason blog post to whet your appetites until next week when the real analysis by Mr. Ries will start. I gotta say to start off I'm a little disappointed in the activity within our league. I continue to hope that all members will start contributing to message board posts and the like, but it continues to be the same individuals (myself, Jack, and sometimes Joe). I was really hoping this would be the year where everyone provides input to league matters, and maybe throw in some trash talking too. Alas, I'm probably fighting a losing battle in that regard, so onto more pressing matters for our league.

As far as divisions go, I was looking at more as a new wrinkle to add to the league this year. I assume the divisions were divided up by when you entered the league, because I did not in any way, shape, or form have anything to do with how the divisions ended up. I did look into it now, and it does seem to have unbalanced schedules, and unfortunately, I can't switch that or the whose in which division right now. I do agree that the Dan Stuart is definitely the stronger division. What we can do to possibly alleviate this situation for this year would be to allow 8 teams into the playoffs this year instead of six. This would make it less of a problem if some teams in the Stu division that wouldn't make it in otherwise.

As far as my soccer knowledge goes, I put that down as a slight typo more than anything. Ever since the Confederation's Cup, I have been getting more and more into soccer, and I am looking forward to the World Cup a lot this year, as well as the Champion's League that precedes it. I'm hoping Sam's Army is healthy and ready to go by June 12th because without Guch and Charlie Davies, I don't think we have a shot of doing anything. I assume you like Espana as the favorite, and at this point it's tough not to go with them, but I'm going to root for the underdog Ivory Coast as of right now. Nobody wants to choose Brazil, but I might as well take someone who no one else is going to take. I think of them as the Butler of the World Cup, but not to overwhelm the rest of you with soccer talk, but is there any interest in doing a World Cup fantasy league? Or at least like a bracket pick 'em of some sort?

As usual, Joe continues to throw me under the bus. We discussed the League Safe thing at the draft, and Joe was all in favor of it. As soon as someone who has an important role in the league questions it, of course he flip flops like he's John Kerry around election day. My thinking with League Safe is it's an easy way to collect the money, and no one has to worry about collecting and keeping it, because at the end of the season, i can go in and tell League Safe who to wire the money to so there's also not the hassle of getting it to people either. There are two options to pay for the league that I could have selected, free or standard. Free allows owners to pay by e-check only and there is no convenience fees, and standard allows either e-checks or credit cards, but the 3% convenience fee. The way I saw it was I didn't think people knew how to do e-checks but knew how to pay with credit cards, and I didn't think 30 cents extra for making sure the money is paid and distributed right away would have been a big deal. When I brought up League Safe at the draft, no one said it was a bad idea, and our treasurer Joseph was all in favor of it, even telling me to make the account. If people can't pay like that (in Riley's circumstance), we can certainly have Joe collect that money, but I just felt this was the more convenient option. Let me know what you guys think maybe so you know, we can actually get some input besides me, Joe, and Jack, and occasionally Riley.


I have one more issue also I wanted to address. I mentioned it at the draft and to some of the other members, but I wanted to institute a fine this year as well: Anytime there is a player on a team that is in the starting lineup that is either on the disabled list or in the minors, there would be a $1 fine per player. I was thinking I could check on each team on say, Sunday night, for this circumstance, and so for everytime it happens, you have to pay a buck, with all the money going towards our fantasy football draft this year, as we will all be twenty one, it would be a good fund to use to purchase any adult beverages needed. What do you guys think? I'm particularly interested in what Jack thinks because he wasn't at the draft, and as the pseudo-Deputy Commissioner, I value your opinion. I think we might be able to call it the Tmac Rule for obvious reasons. I will put it as a poll for this week, so please vote.

Well those are all the current issues facing the league that I can think of. I encourage everyone to express their opinion so we can get some real chatter going this year from nearly everyone, and not just the familiar faces. And with that, here are some links for the week! Good luck to all in the first week of what should be an awesome season!


Da Commish's Hot Clicks of the Week
If you haven't seen it yet, here's arguably the best play from Opening Day, even if it is Mark Buerhle

To go along with my increased following of soccer, here's a video tribute to US national team forward Charlie Davies, who was in a serious car accident not too long ago where he broke pretty much every bone in his body. He's looking to come back for the World Cup, which in my opinion would be insane given how recent his injury was.


They don't call them the Cameron Crazies for nothing.

If only Gus Johnson had called the game last night, we could have heard all of these.

And for the Song of the Week, we have Ryan Bingham with The Weary Kind, which is part of the soundtrack to the movie Crazy Heart.