I guess it's my job

I think I finally did my last draft of the baseball season with the auction for the long-running NL-only league that actually had its roots with a couple of guys from Pittsburgh I met at a summer program in Massachusetts when I was in high school -- in 1991. I found my way into it since those guys were friends with one of my eventual college roommates. And now the league now has an interesting mix of people who have known each other since high school, two of my college roommates and some work colleagues of someone else in the league. So while the fantasy baseball part was obviously fun, catching up with old friends was as much of the reason for keeping the league going -- heck, a good portion of the league membership is linked on the sidebar. And considering this was the first time I'd been at the draft live in about 4-5 years, it was good to match names with faces again. (Unfortunately, Easter-related stuff prevented me from joining the post-draft Atlantic City action.)

As much as I write stuff about how to win at this stuff, I'll admit that it's sometimes to tough to replicate the "draft experience" via columns, advice, etc. And the online experience, while good and usually more efficient, can lack the spice of staring down a guy fumbling through pages of notes figuring out whether to go the extra buck on Shawn Green.

As for the actual draft, I guess I stuck to some of my traditions: spending practically nothing on pitching yet somehow falling into a so-so Mets starter in the $10 range who eventually gets dealt away next year (Kris Benson in 2005, Steve Trachsel last year, Oliver Perez this year); picking up a bunch of expensive bats; and getting Chipper Jones -- again. For someone who just left Atlanta, I picked up a bunch of Braves, called up a bunch more in auction, and was in the running for a few more. Can't seem to shake the city (and it'll be even tougher now with the Thrashers in the playoffs -- facing the Rangers, no less).

One other fun bit about the auction, I decided to have fun with the proceedings and bringing this out when I called up said singer. However, I did not give away the CD to the highest bidder.