To uphold what is now an annual tradition, here are some images of Spring Training 2008

Okay, as promised here are my reviews of all the fantasy baseball podcasts I listen to each week (averaging about 2 listening hours for me each day)...

CBS Sportsline

Hosts: Eric Mack and David Gonos

I’m not sure why a big time network like CBS is overlooking this, but recently there has been a ton of background noise and some buzzing sound that tends to drown out the hosts’ voices. It’s distracting and annoying. Anyway, I can’t say enough of how old it gets with their man-love of players turning the “mystical age 27.” Most of the chatter is useless knowledge and most times I tend to shut them off before it’s too late. Grade: D-

Fantasy Baseball Mafia Wire Tap

Hosts: Evan Dickens and Tony Cincotta

You have to give the Wire Tap some credit for trying. I love how they post at least 2 shows each week (typically Sundays and Thursdays). However, most shows consist of them participating in a mock draft and giving feedback over the podcast. So in effect, it’s 2 hours of them analyzing other peoples’ picks. I can’t remember the last time they talked about anything other than the comings and goings of a mock draft. Grade: B-

Fantasy Baseball Empire

Host: Jeff Boggis

Jeff, better known as the Sultan of Stats, usually talks about recent news and different rankings for each position. The first 10-15 minutes he spends promoting his site and asking people for money to keep the site running. He’ll sell anything from his draft kit ($5) to asking listeners to join and pay for one of his leagues using Yahoo!. Hey, at least he’s trying. Overall his content is average and basically talks about stuff the average fantasy baseball enthusiast already knows or cares to know. Grade: C-

ESPN Fantasy Focus

Hosts: Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz

I used to call into Berry’s fantasy radio show on ESPN radio back in the day. Now the former screenwriter is a big shot at ESPN. Nate is a refreshing voice for the podcast because he actually talks about more pertinent issues of the day/week. Matthew just wants to see if he can score with one of Nate’s single sisters. Grade: C

Baseball HQ Radio

Host: Patrick Davitt

This is one show that I actually anticipate each Friday. When it comes to new insight and analysis, no one can beat Baseball HQ. Davitt will bring in guests who specialize in both leagues, breaking down stats and certain trends. This method gives a clearer picture and leaves little doubt as to why a player is performing the way he is. Also, at the end, the great Ron Shandler offers his master notes, which are always enlightening and revealing. I sometimes get sad when the show ends. Grade: A+

Fantasy Baseball Express

Host: Mike Kuchera

Mike, The Fantasy Man, is just like Jeff when it comes to self-promotion, but he actually takes it to a lower level. He’ll spend the first 10 minutes begging people to leave positive feedback on his itunes page as well as promoting his eBay sites so that he can pay off bills. His style is more unconventional in that he picks players not based on stats, but more so on how he “feels” about them. Which is fine, but more times than not, you’re going to be sorely wrong and then look like a dumba**. Grade: D-

MLB.com Fantasy 411

Hosts: Mike Sciano and Corey Schwartz

Mike and Corey’s is the only daily show (not including weekends). They’re both very entertaining and insightful when it comes to player news and answering phone calls and email messages for an hour or so. I love how they try to break down drafts based on different league set-ups and settings. Those two are well worth my time. Grade: A

Rotowire.com

Host: Chris Liss

Sometimes I don’t understand this site because we’re in the midst of Spring Training and Liss ends up talking about college hoops (which has no fantasy baseball relevance whatsoever). Every now and then, there will be a beat writer from a given team, which is always good to listen to for injury status and player developments. Grade: C+

The best thing about Netflix is that you get to watch the most obscure movies that no one in their right mind would rent in the first place. I typically rent documentaries and baseball theme movies. Anyway, I saw Wordplay (2006) and Word Wars (2004) this past week and those 2 films have made me a crossword puzzle and Scrabble addict. I've been trying my hand at the NY Times Crossword Puzzle, but I'm only good at the Monday edition. You can forget about the Sunday edition, it's nearly impossible (the crossword gets exponentially harder as the week goes by). It's so interesting that there is a unique underground following behind this "sport." Worldplay profiles such fans like Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart, Mike Mussina (nerd, passed-his-prime baseball pitcher who went to Stanford), and the Indigo Girls.

Scrabble is just as fun. I'm happy whenever I score 300 points. But the pros get like 75-90 points per turn. It's nuts. I'm playing Literati on Yahoo! Games at work now, since it's the next best thing. I also realized that I'm missing an "X" piece from my Deluxe Scrabble board. I can't find a website where they sell replacement tiles. Hasbro only sells entire replacement sets.

So the Fantasy Baseball Season is in full effect now. All the major websites are up and running (thank you ESPN for lagging). Also, some of the independent sites are up and about as well. I've signed up for quite a few, trying to grasp which style/format I like or don't like. Here is a quick review of some of the more popular sites.

CBS Sportsline- CBS didn't change a thing from last year. The front page is still jumbled and confusing for the average manager. However, they do include free live scoring and stat updates. I love how you can upload a picture as your team logo. Online drafting was slow and laborious, especially for those managers who didn't show up and we had to wait an entire minute and a half for their turn to pass. A nice addition is that fact that you can hold an auction-style draft through fantasyauctioneer.com. You can't customize public leagues so therefore you're stuck with only 10 managers per league. I'm giving this 3 out of 5 stars.

Fox Sports- Fox essentially copied Yahoo!'s format. Fox also has free live scoring and stat updates. They are a little behind the times with the first leagues able to draft starting next week. Why the long wait? 2 out of 5 stars.

ESPN- ESPN joined the party late last week after promising to launch their draft kit and leagues 2 weeks ago. They had issues last year as well with the first few weeks of the season wiped out due to technical difficulties. I'm not sure if many people will be coming back, but they did give everyone a free 1 year extension on their Insider membership. I'm not complaining. This year, ESPN let's you customize the roster the way you like it, in terms of determining roster size, which stat categories to use, how many managers per league, etc. 3 out of 5 stars.

Yahoo!- Yahoo! still reigns supreme over the other sites. Of course the only drawback is the fact that you have to pay $10 for live scores and updates (but it's well worth it). Nothing much has changed in terms of the layout. Very easy to read and follow, and you've got to love the drag and drop option for changing your daily team lineups. I give them 4 out of 5 stars.

MLB.com- MLB has their own thing going on where it's basically a points league and you play other random people to see who can amass the most stats in a given week. The season ends in like August. You don't get to draft pitchers, but pitching staffs. It's gay and I hate it. 1 out of 5 stars.

The Sporting News- This site has gone to crap over the years. They make you pay to breathe or blow your nose. Everything is an add-on now for a fee. I hope they crash and burn, and someone walks by and kicks them even still. 0 out of 5 stars.

NFBC- The official site of the National Fantasy Baseball Championships, this is my first year participating so I can't really comment on how it's operated. I find out my draft placement tomorrow. But from what I can tell, the site is similar to Yahoo! with a few less colors and graphics. Drafting is done through mockdraftcentral.com, which is the preeminent site for live online drafts. I'm reserving judgement for now.

Maybe next time I'll review the various Podcasts devoted to Fantasy Baseball. I know, the suspense is killing you.

Ah, Spring is finally upon us...

I was driving by a Walgreens Pharmacy the other day and noticed that their "W" looks eerily similar to the "W" logo of the Washington Nationals. Coincidence? Or maybe not.

I know I complain about it being so slow here and that I haven't seen my boss in 2 months, but seriously, you can only do so much browsing the Internet and chewing on various Starburst flavors. This old man keeps calling me every day about how his hips are hurting, but he needs to know that he's like 98 years old and things like that happen to old people who don't take care of themselves. I'm always inviting him to come on in for check-ups, but he prefers to tell me about his problems over the phone.

One of the few patients who do come in is very nice, generous, and quirky to say the least. His name is John and he owns a plastic production company which specializes in water bottles for water coolers. He'll bring in different miniature bottles that resembles the big bottles but with handles (probably 1 liter) each week for the office staff. He even gave me several 3 and 5 gallon drums/bottles, which forced me to buy a dispenser of my own at Costco. John is also an amateur inventor and he likes improving products and enhancing existing ideas. One of his "big things" that he's working on is a specialized handle for the toilet seat for men to use when lifting the seat up and down, especially in public restrooms where guys miss the targets badly.

This led me to think why do men have to bring the seat up AND down before and after they pee? Why can't women just bring it down when they have to go? It's a two way street people. It's annoying and ridiculous because now that I'm married, the wife gets mad when I leave the seat up. Now I'm trained like a damn seal to bring it both up and down. What's so hard about bringing it down? Isn't it easier bringing it down then up, like walking downhill compared to uphill.

Anyway, John sharing about his invention idea led me to wonder why an invention I ran across at a San Diego swap meet years ago never caught on. There was a man in a booth hawking something called a Banana Seal. It's basically a chip-clip that seals air out better and is pretty simple to use. I bought a pack for about $7 and it's the best thing. I was expecting to see them in stores years ago because that what the guy was trying to do, but apparently all he has now is his website to promote the stuff.

• 4 first round players you should probably avoid
• 6 stable bullpens that could have new closers by June
• 9 players who may be hiding injuries
• 15 undrafted minor leaguers who'll end up with positive value
• 16 players who will earn at least $5 less than their draft price
• and dozens more predictions for the upcoming season!

Happy people enjoying a good time.

Next on tap from March 14-16 will be the annual National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) in Las Vegas.
There are actually 4 sites (Las Vegas, Chicago, New York, and Orlando) for this event, with the draft and its satellites simultaneously going on at the same time. I signed up this year to help run an auction or traditional draft, and I got the gig! I'll be running a few drafts on that Friday, and maybe one on that Saturday. And perhaps Sunday I'll be participating in my own real draft.

Each entry costs $1,300 for the big drafts (grand prize of $100,000), $650, $250, and $125 for the lesser leagues.