Just a quick follow up to a previous post on my fantasy baseball team. At that time I was a miserable 2-8. Little did I know that was the worst I would be. (Actually the worst was at 1-7) Soon after I basically assembled a team of unknown but high-performing players and finished the second part of the season 8-4 for a final record of 10-12. Not good enough for the playoffs, but it got me out of the basement and many other owners didn't like seeing me on the opposing lineup.
I had fun and hopefully they'll have me back next year.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Anniversary
Congratulations to me for 5+ years of unspectacular but steady work at my job. Apparently no one else is going to remember or choose to acknowledge it, so I guess I will.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Fantasy baseball
Is there any other pastime that better represents how the internet has altered our lifestyles than the rise of fantasy sports leagues? (Probably, but that's not the point).
The simple fact is fantasy teams are something that would have been nearly impossible 15, even 10 year ago. I'm sure there were a few obsessive souls around, following stats religiously as they came out in their newspapers, feverishly jotting them down on graph paper and comparing the results. But I myself am unable to recall hearing anything about any sort of fantasy sports much before 2000, probably later than that. It just wouldn't have been worth the all the torturous number crunching for your average Joe to keep track of a few batters over the course of a week, much less a whole team. And what if your 3rd baseman went on the DL? How would you know who else was available, who was a good two-week replacement? Just not worth the time. But now ESPN will do all that for free, and I'm a member of a 10-team league with members spread all over the country.
Fact is, I'm rather surprised I am participating in a fantasy sports league at all; I'm always such a Luddite in doing things of this like this. For a few years I actively resisted repeated offers to join people's leagues. Some of it was resistance to new things, but also there was the fear of not having any idea of what I was doing. While I'm am something of a sports junkie, I've never really been a numbers person. Really, math in general just turns me off. Knowing what this batter has done against thats pitcher when there are men on 1st and two outs is fine for creating tension on the radio, but really mean very little to me personally. I glance only briefly at the box scores, if at all. Going to the games is a great fun for me, but the joy is seeing how things play out visually, the individual efforts of the athletes. I still remain woefully ignorant on silly things like rules and strategy.
Still, this season I finally caved into pressure from two of my workmates this year and joined a league. And at first, I was even worse than might be expected. Not knowing what the hell I was doing, I did nothing, and my scores from the early weeks show. Even now, when I ostensibly know what I'm doing, I have a grand record of 2-8. Ah well, it gives me something to do during shows and I'm looking on this as a training year. And at this rate, my final record could still be better than the one held by the Nats.
The simple fact is fantasy teams are something that would have been nearly impossible 15, even 10 year ago. I'm sure there were a few obsessive souls around, following stats religiously as they came out in their newspapers, feverishly jotting them down on graph paper and comparing the results. But I myself am unable to recall hearing anything about any sort of fantasy sports much before 2000, probably later than that. It just wouldn't have been worth the all the torturous number crunching for your average Joe to keep track of a few batters over the course of a week, much less a whole team. And what if your 3rd baseman went on the DL? How would you know who else was available, who was a good two-week replacement? Just not worth the time. But now ESPN will do all that for free, and I'm a member of a 10-team league with members spread all over the country.
Fact is, I'm rather surprised I am participating in a fantasy sports league at all; I'm always such a Luddite in doing things of this like this. For a few years I actively resisted repeated offers to join people's leagues. Some of it was resistance to new things, but also there was the fear of not having any idea of what I was doing. While I'm am something of a sports junkie, I've never really been a numbers person. Really, math in general just turns me off. Knowing what this batter has done against thats pitcher when there are men on 1st and two outs is fine for creating tension on the radio, but really mean very little to me personally. I glance only briefly at the box scores, if at all. Going to the games is a great fun for me, but the joy is seeing how things play out visually, the individual efforts of the athletes. I still remain woefully ignorant on silly things like rules and strategy.
Still, this season I finally caved into pressure from two of my workmates this year and joined a league. And at first, I was even worse than might be expected. Not knowing what the hell I was doing, I did nothing, and my scores from the early weeks show. Even now, when I ostensibly know what I'm doing, I have a grand record of 2-8. Ah well, it gives me something to do during shows and I'm looking on this as a training year. And at this rate, my final record could still be better than the one held by the Nats.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Initial Thoughts
The whole point of this journal shall be it's relative anonymity. I'm not planning on telling anyone of it's existence but it should be interesting to see who stumbles upon it and who comments on it. It will not focus on any one subject but will be a general repository of the things that pop into my mind and my thoughts on them. I'm sure areas that will have frequent entries are posts on politics, book reviews, sports (mostly baseball, college basketball, and football, but also anything else I might like), movies and television reviews, Doctor Who, family, and work. I'm not planning on using this journal to discuss topics of a personal nature, but more my observations on things. I'm sure, however, that the occasional anecdote will sneak in.
People who have read Patrick O'Brian's wonderful Master and Commander series about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars will have no doubt guessed the source of this journal's title. The introspective, somewhat absentminded Dr. Stephen Maturin, forever scribbling away in his journal is a character I readily identify with and was an inspiration for the style of this blog. While I'm not nearly as philisophical as the good doctor (in those regards I'm much more like the bellicose Captain Aubrey), I certain share his occasional feelings of isolation and loneliness. I'm sure, however, that I'm not nearly as good a spy. Also, not being as good a writer, I'm not as likely to go on for pages at a time. Expect entries to be short and a little underdeveloped, at least at the beginning.
Enough with the intro. On with the motley.
Enough with the intro. On with the motley.
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