Irrational League

There are certain times of year when it is ridiculous to try and get me to concentrate (and they seem to be expanding every year). One of them is late March, because I am focusing on the upcoming fantasy baseball league draft for the Irrational League. Our league, which had humble origins years ago as a crazy spark of an idea at a Subway shop up next to the University of Cincinnati when I was up visiting from Atlanta, is getting ready to launch it's sixteenth year. Gary Beatrice, Glenn Rice (who comes and goes in the league) and I were having lunch when I proposed that it might be cool to put together a fantasy baseball league, and I think we drafted two days later. There were only four of us so we restricted the pool of players to the NL West (the old National League West) because we didn't want to have too much talent available and because Cincinnati was in that division.

The membership has shifted over the years, but it has always been a great group of folks. We've had a steady core, pictured below, for several years now - from top to bottom: David Kelley (Springfield Isotopes), Jack Schultz (Indy Griffiths), Gary Beatrice (Boston Bums), Daryl Evans (Kentucky Cubs), Bob Sawma (Red Dogs), Kelly Hamad (Killers) and Mike Bergman Bombers). A lot of folks mock the fantasy leagues, and, like most things, some people do take it to an illogical extreme, but I've always enjoyed our league immensely. It's allowed me to keep connected to some great friends, and get reconnected to people like Jack, who was my best friend in high school. Plus, it's forced me to know a lot more about baseball, especially the minor leagues, than I ever thought possible.

One of these days I should put together a blog posting centered around my favorite Irrational league moments, but no time for that today. The draft itself is always my Christmas and I look forward to it way too much, especially if it includes a trip into Cincinnati. The draft itself takes around six hours, and then we normally retire to a local Skyline Chili parlor to break our fast and to begin sand-bagging and trading. Sadly, I'm trapped in Abu Dhabi this year so we're going to try and carry on the draft online (insh'allah). Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have no chance at all to win this year so I'm not too worried about the technology. Normally by this time I would be awash in preparation and have pages and pages of notes, but I haven't even thought about it yet. The Atlanta Crackers went all in last year in a mad attempt to win their sixth title and ended up finishing second, which I consider last, so the cupboard is bare, which means I can just focus all of my attention of destroying other team's dreams. Go Crackers!!