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21 row(s) meet your search criteria for March , 2004.
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Team SkidMarks - Post Draft Self-Analysis - March 29, 2004
After a late start, and a marathon session of over 6 hours, our draft was complete. (What follows here is an analysis of my draft, more for my own personal historical perspective than interest to anybody else.) I took my theory to "not be afraid to pay for the big names" and garnered 4 top names at their respective positions.
- Javier Vazquez, P NYY, $42 - #2 pitcher for the Yankees. Should be approaching 20 wins and 200 strikeouts.
- Ichiro Suzuki, OF Sea, $35 - Another year of hitting .300+ with 30+ stolen bases on tap.
- GarySheffield, OF NYY, $35 - 30hrs, 100 Rbi's, .300 average - only risk is potential injury (he's 35 now) and switching back to the AL after playing in Atlanta the last few years may result in some struggle.
- Javy Lopez, C BAL, $26 - Question here is injury. Last year was his first in a long time being injury free and he went off for 43 homers. That is the reason of the $9 difference between him and Sheffield.
After that outburst, probably in the first hour, I was bidding, but was not successful on getting players for awhile. My once proud "most dollars available" had now been beaten to a pulp, and I was on a value quest. My next tier of drafted players goes like this:
Show the rest of the story...Roto Baseball Draft Day is Here! - March 26, 2004
Tomorrow marks my favorite day of the baseball season. For most typical baseball fans, that would be Opening Day. While that's a close 2nd for me, the America's Most Wanted Rotisserie Baseball League Draft Day is my favorite. Meeting up with the other 15 owners for the auction draft (our 14th installment) represents the best day of the baseball season, and the best thing about being in a Roto League. It's a day of trash talking, burping, farting, scratching, boasting, gluttony, and the best part, friendly verbal sparring over the merits of self-involved overpaid world class atheletes.
Seattle gets the nod this year in deference to the 7 owners who live there. Next year I'll vote for another trip to Phoenix as we did 3 years ago. Last year, the Vegas location was fun, but while being more expensive, Phoenix offers the most fun in experiencing the joy of Spring Training Baseball.
For my keepers, I went with a value strategy. As I noted back in February, keeping Soriano, Sabathia, and Ibanez were no-brainers. Of the bubble players, I kept Woodward, Contreras, and the Hasegawa and Donnelly middle reliever duo. This consumed only $68 of my $260 budget, and leaves me with $192 to draft 16 players. I violated my value strategy only with, Contreras as he is my only player with a salary above the "projected value" (20 vs 17). 15 or 16 wins for him this year is my personal expectation as he steps out of the shadows to become a dominant pitcher.
With everybody's rosters turned in, it turns out that I have the most money available of all the teams. The only problem with that is that I still have to get 16 players. However, my potential cost per player to draft is slightly above average (16 players with 192 is an average of 12/player - your basic average 260 for 23 players is only ~11 each) and better than other players in the league so I'm comfortable with my position. All it does is put just a little more pressure on me to have a good draft so I can get into one of the money positions again this year.
A smoothe drive to Seattle tommorrow morning, and then let the fun begin. Man, I love this time of year.
Cheddar X Chatter - March 25, 2004
The Cheddar X list came out early this week. There is no theme, but some interesting questions.
- What would you want written on your epitaph?
If I'm only known as a good husband and father - I'm fine with that. But "Won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay" in parentheses under "Wonderful Husband and Dad" might be cool too. But actually, I hate cemetaries, and would rather have my ashes scattered in the ocean. - What do you collect and why?
I don't consciously collect anything. But our house seems to be a collector of kid toys. All the neighborhood kids, as they get older, like to give us toys they've grown out of. This is beginning to make my 3-car garage, a 1-car garage. Somebody I know needs to have children so I can start thinnning the collection. - What's the dumbest legal action you know of?
Three come to mind immediately - 1) the person who spilled hot coffee on themselves and sued McDonalds, 2) the people who are suing the fast food industry for causing their obesity, and 3) (I just saw this today on Good Morning America) A compulsive gambler is suing a casino for not stopping her from gambling. Sheesh! Have these people never heard of "Personal Responsibility?" - What single decision in your life do you wish you could change?
Nothing really significant comes to mind. But in about 1992, I almost bought a GMC Typhoon. I had a new job, a big raise, and a hankerin' for some blazing speed. This was a "performance" sport utility vehicle the likes of which have not been seen since. The Typhoon "had the distinction of being the quickest production trucks ever to roll off the assembly line." Sadly, reasonable financial management prevailed. The cars are pretty rare now, and what really hurt is that it is referenced with a picture in my "Muscle Car" book.... I almost had one! - Some people resemble their dogs, do you know anyone that resembles their name?
My friend Dave Brown has brown hair - does that count? - What's your favourite / most used unit of time?
"later" As in, "I'll do it later." I'm a notorious procrastinator. - What's the best internet time device you've seen so far?
I published a joke a long time ago that linked to this one. It's pretty neat.
Reverse Survivor - March 23, 2004
Back in January, in the midst of my writing class, MisterCrunchy created a writing contest for his readers. Being a fan of MisterCrunchy for awhile, and brimming with confidence from the class, I decided to participate. The contest was called Reverse Survivor: Quest For The April Fool. He will post a writing assignment, the players will submit their entries, and then vote for the one that's best (the definition of best being whatever you want it to be); The player getting the most votes gets off the "island" - - hence the "Reverse" Survivor name.
The reason you want off the island, is that the rules say that the "person left stranded will be assigned a harmless yet embarrassing April Fools Day task and be required to document his/her performance of said task, preferably with pictures, for publication". Having been a reader of MisterCrunchy for some time, I'm sure that said task will be a doosey.
Because the contest was anonymus, I was unable to publish my pseudonym (it was Rowdy Roddy Piper) or my contest entries. Now that a survivor has been... crowned, and all identities revealed I can publish my entries. They are all available in the "Reading/Writing" tab. Feel free to comment on them - if you want to see the actual commentary from the other players, head on over to the contest site - there's actually some really good stuff there.
Tourney Weekend - March 22, 2004
The NCAA Tournament this weekend was pretty tough on me. Three of my Final Four didn't make it out of the 2nd round! In my Pool, I'm 20th out of 21 players. In Smitter's pool, I'm 36th out of 100. In InvisibleRob's pool I'm 9th of 15 players, and in Mister's pool, I'm in the bottom have of about 20 players. Not that this should surprise me. I don't watch NCAA basketball and play in the pools simply for the fun of keeping up with the brackets.
For next year though, I'm really going to have to develop a points per round pick em game and bring some of the pools I play in to my site instead. The code shouldn't be that hard to do - the trick is all the "statistical" reporting some of them do.
Associating Cheddar X - March 18, 2004
I was really late getting around to last week's Cheddar X. So this week I'd thought I get on the ball and get it done quickly. Fortunately, there's not much thought required as we are doing word associations.
| When I say: | You Say? | |
|---|---|---|
| Olympics | = | Summer |
| Politics | = | Compromise |
| John Kerry | = | Big Head |
| George Bush | = | Blank Look |
| Osama | = | Coward |
| Same-sex marriage | = | So What? |
| Todd Bertuzzi | = | Ooops |
| Barry Bonds | = | Cocky |
| The Passion of the Christ | = | Emotional |
| Beach | = | Sunny |
| Britney Spears | = | Cute |
| Paris Hilton | = | Too skinny |
| Microsoft | = | Dominant |
| France | = | I Surrender |
| Hans Blix | = | Frustrated |
| Linux | = | Open |
| MTV | = | Where's the Music? |
| Outsource | = | Cheaper |
| Hummer H2 | = | Ugly |
| Honor | = | Obey |
| Love | = | Hate |
| Courteney Love | = | What the hell Happened? |
Ok Dr Freud, what does that say about me?
US Non-Productivity Days - March 18, 2004
Today is the beginning of March Madness - also known as the day nothing gets done at work by people who have constant internet access. There are 16 college basketball games today, 12 of which will start during normal west coast business hours (8 of them finished before the end of day). Tommorrow there will be another 16 probably along the same lines.
It's a sickness I guess. I don't watch any college basketball during the regular season. I only hear passing references to it when I wait for SportsCenter to give me baseball news. But at this time of year I can't help but participate in several office pools. This year, I'm in 4, including my own. Total cash outlay is $45 bucks this year as 1 of those pools is a freebie. Last year I won about $100, so it falls under the description of "better lucky than good." But I would hazard a guess that most pools are like that.
So I spent my 1st day of Non-Productivity stomping on the 'refresh' button of my browser and comparing CBS Sportsline's scoreboard with Yahoo's so I could get the most up to date scores and final results. They are pretty close, and without access to a live radio or TV feed, I can't tell how "real-time" their scores are. Now that would be a great job - sit courtside at a sporting event, and key in live sports stats while you watch the game. I wonder how you get that kind of job? And I wonder how much effort it takes to keep up online? I wonder what software they use? hmmmmmm. I need a new job.
Learning New Concepts - March 17, 2004
While I consider Garrett pretty well "potty trained," he still likes to run around the house without pants. I'm sure it's more convenient, but we are starting to see evidence that he's getting older, and I'm beginning to think maybe it's time we start making him wear pants.
Case in point: Garrett has discovered that his p3nis, grows.
The other day, he was pantless, and experiencing a "growth" spurt. He looks at Marie and says "Mommy, make it go down." (I'm going to avoid all Freudian material at this point.)
Marie, reaching back in to the early days of our courtship at the lake, replies:
"Think about baseball."
Old Chedder X - March 16, 2004
Thursdays are time for Cheddar chatter. Too bad I didn't get around to it until today!
- What's your favorite form of corporate or governmental irony?
hmmmm. In a pinch, I can't think of one. - What are your favorite acronyms?
FUBAR - (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition) and SNAFU - Situation Normal All Fucked Up - Do you have personal acronyms?
WAFWOT - What A Fucking Waste Of Time and BTHOOM - Beats The Hell Out Of Me - Where do you shop online?
I've bought stuff lots of places - Amazon, Ebay - anytime a vendor has the opportunity to buy online, I often will if I'm familiar with the product. - What do you buy online?
The biggest item was a car on EBay, but I also buy books online. - What would you do if you were falsely accused of shoplifting?
If you are in fact innocent, you have nothing to worry about. So politely acquiese to their request. I've been on the other side of watching shoplifters in action, so I think it would be hard to be "falsly" accused. - What's your take on Feng Shui? Hooey or truey?
Hooey. I've not read much about it's concepts, but I can't see how arranging furniture can impact your life.
TV Blowout - March 12, 2004
Tragedy struck our house the other day - The TV made a funny sound, smoke eminated from it's backside, and then it was powerless - wouldn't turn on. No sound, no picture, nothing. Circuit City told us to bring it in, pay $49, and it might be ready in two weeks. TWO WEEKS without the joy of 32 inches of Sony wonderfulness that we bought BK (before kids). A few more calls in the phone book found this guy:
who would come out to the house for $40, and fix it onsite.
Yesterday, he came out, and fixed it onsite - $40 in parts, $140 in labor. He was very clean, polite, professional, and most important, proficient. Now I have a working TV, and all is well, except for the $180 - but that's what I expected.
So if you need a TV Repairman in Beaverton Oregon, call this guy. And by the way, check out his name and title on the card : Dan Tyler, Nice Guy.
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