Can co-ownership work in fantasy? (and other ramblings)

Written by TiVo on February 01, 2006

As resident lawyer Beagle wraps up the Rotogods' compensation package with our new corporate sponsor, the Rotogods will be rolling out a new position-by-position look at fantasy baseball. Just as soon as those checks start rolling in, our spiffy new look will debut to delight the masses.

Oh snap, our look is so old its current, for spring training and the WBC. Of course there’s no sponsor and no compensation. The Rotogods were busy in January being cockblocked, arrested for drunk driving, hooking up with old high school girlfriends, planning bachelor parties in Montreal, cooking in Dutch Ovens and trading NBA players back and forth like mad. And hey, if there’s two things we’re good at, it’s making trades and wasting the day talking about them.

I’d babble on and on about the smooth moves being pulled off, i.e. getting Duncan for Okur or Artest and Chris Paul for Wade, but you’re not in our league. You probably could care less. But at least we can dig in the crates for the old fast-paced offering style to keep you interested. As I get my blog on, here’s the good ol’ one-main-item-and-a-lightning round:

Obligatory roto-related thought of the day
So for the longest time there have been 13 Rotogods for 12 spots in our baseball league. Xach signed Worm up, then we kicked Worm out to make room for The Fool. Fool then declined to participate, at which point Worm stepped back in and it’s been all love ever since. Well, I figure The Fool’s suffered long enough (it’s been at least two seasons, if not three) and offered him a chance to co-manage my squad, which averages about a 9th place finish.

On the surface, it makes sense. I love drafting and trading, but I usually get bored with baseball by mid-summer. The Fool, meanwhile, has his nose buried in Baseball America. So while we have no idea how we’re going to come to consensus in a league where a trade proposal up for 24 hours is annoyingly long, nor do we have a draft strategy yet, we’re already convinced that FoolVo will wipe the floor with everyone. What other kind of trash would we talk?

Can co-ownership work? Anyone out there done it before, successfully? Advise us on some do’s and don’ts on our Fantasy Advice board. And while you’re there, share some ideas for league setups with my man softball29.

Crazy roto move of the day
I re-joined the 30-team league I wrote about last March. I think I finished about .500 and out of the playoffs, but I :shock: lost interest in most of the five baseball leagues I was in last year. I’ve got it down to two this year, and I’m going to see if I can’t get some of the 30-teamers to share a little advice on competing in leagues with shallow talent pools. Stay tuned.

Best way to suck as commish
From experience, I’d say it’s take a long time mailing off checks. But hey, football season isn’t technically over yet, is it? Just behind me in the “suck as commish” department is The Fool, who was supposed to bring the roundup of Year 1 of the Rotogods’ death pool. (I’m pretty sure Ape’s score with Terri Schiavo propelled him to victory). It’s sick, it’s morbid and I had no balls to play in Year 1, but I’m still waiting for the 2006 draft date to be set. For those of you that need to get right with God before joining a death pool, just be reminded that those people were going to die anyway … and they’re in a better place now.

Three spots worth hitting up

1. If you’re a fan of wimp rock or country ballads, perhaps you can wait for the next Xach or The Fool offering. For fans of the more soulful offerings, I recommend my homeboy DJ Mentos’ blog at OfficeThug.com

2. I was gonna recommend the fellas still fighting the good fight (and slacking a little less) over at CoolFantasyGuys.com … so I stroll on over to their three-man, three-round baseball mock draft, and see the third dude is a new contributor … not to mention a guy I went to college with. I used to get mistaken for Jared Hayes a lot (I guess all light-skinned dudes look alike down south) and once played on the same intramural basketball team … but basically I just remember him dating this fine-ass girl from Texas that you never would have thought dated black dudes. (She was actually cool peoples). Damn, I hope she’s not his wife. Then again, I wouldn’t care if someone called my wife “fine-ass.”

Anyway, random aside aside … Puff & Smoke are still doing their thing over there, trying to keep the people updated from a regular dude’s level. (although I work in mass media with some fantasy cats, and they’re about as regular as they come too)

3. Our peeps at KFBA.net run the craziest NBA fantasy leagues, but if you happen to use regular stats and popular sites like CBSSportsline or Yahoo!, the statistics sometimes don’t break down into terms you can really use. Before you trade for a guy with a 65% free-throw percentage, you want to see where he ranks among centers in terms of attempts? If it’s Shaq, his percentage (in the 40s lately) is going to hurt a lot more than a center who goes to the line two times a game but doesn’t shoot a high percentage. The best sortable NBA stats I’ve found outside of Yahoo! are maintained by Fox Sports.

Link that might only interest me
You know how dudes act like whiny little chickenheads holding out, then pretty much get a sweet deal in the end? (Think J.D. Drew, Eric Lindros and Terrell Owens as soon as he signs with someone new) … A week or so ago, I stumbled upon this old story about a kid, Matt Harrington, who turned down a $4 million deal from the Rockies and is still struggling to get on his feet and into the majors. This story paints his family and agent as foolish, but even though I hate when teams don’t get to sign their draft picks, I’m kinda pulling for the kid now.

Holy crap, I haven’t mentioned the Super Bowl yet
I’m dying to bet 200 big Georges on Seattle. The Pittsburgh-jocking is incessant, but I think the Seahawks have the offensive line to neutralize Pittsburgh’s pass rush and the balance to do enough to beat them elsewhere. A group of friends are going to Vegas, and even offered me a free room … gah! So hard to turn down, but I barely take care of my 1-year-old as it is with my new 3:30-11:30 work schedule. I’m pretending that me staying home will have some effect on the little man’s life down the road. Besides, Vegas ain’t going nowhere. But $200 might be.

I hate you so much right now
Earl Boykins. He is the dude who puts up great numbers whenever he’s on my bench, then shoots 3-13 from the floor when I start him. That’s why God made you so short, chump.

Rotogods Top Five list of the day
Top 5 secondary sitcom characters. If you can beat Larry Dallas, Bull Shannon, Coach, et. al., let's hear it.

Song stuck in my head
I wish I could say it was as cool as some of the songs replaying in my head last week, like MF Doom’s Old School with Talib Kweli or Kweli’s Fly That Knot with Doom. Or even my crate-digs of the week, Cookie Crew’s Born this Way and Royal Flush’s Iced Down Medallions. Instead, on some mix tape my man Furious.MC put together, Paperboy’s Ditty got to looping … and well, even if I tried to stop it, it’s stuck. Except for reminding me of this chick Emily I used to date, I pretty much hate that song. But even songs I hated back in the early 90s, even Vanilla Ice and Kris Kross, I kind of like now because of their nostalgia value.

Piece d’annoyance of the day
Now that I work in a place with lots of elevators, I realize how much I hate the fake chick half-smile. If you want to say ‘Hi,’ say ‘Hi.’ If you want to clutch your purse and fear the large black man, do that. But I don’t even respond to the fake half-smile anymore, which seems to come out when a woman can’t pick between the two.

Random thing that only matters to Philly Fans (VK where you at?)
The Iggles signed NCAA all-time leading passer Timmy Chang! (OK, like two weeks ago, but I really wanted this to be a category).

Hypocrite of the day
Dr. Furious, whose loving prose about Steve Nash a few weeks ago is rendered useless with Nash being dealt to Fadda Time.

Quick poll
How many of you out there watched President Bush’ speech last night? Xach was saying he thinks most people (or most people he knows) watch it. I think most people would rather watch Two and a Half Men, but what do I know?

Guilty pleasure of the day
Julia Bond.

Hey, TiVo is trying to get into Galatians and Baby Einstein and all that, but old habits die hard. At least I had the good sense to know it's NSFW (not suitable for work)

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think my time here is waaaay up.

Berate, belittle or big-up TiVo at Tivo@rotogods.com. Or find him lurking our message boards 24-7. He can’t go to sleep before 4 a.m. to save his life.

-- Written by TiVo on February 01, 2006