Fantasy Baseball Season

Tomorrow I'll ring the auction bell and begin my 11th season of fantasy baseball. I am the commissioner of the Iowa Farm League, an assorted lot of Cedar Rapids' finest that share in common a peculiar interest in baseball.

We'll gather around a conference room like the United Nations and for five hours bid (auction style) on the services of players in the National League -- boys of summer that used to all be older than me but now are almost exclusively younger. We'll fill our roster with guys named Biggio, Bonds, and Barmes, searching for the perfect mix of power, speed, and pitching savvy. We'll haggle over rookies who could have a breakout seasons, or be colossal busts. We'll gaze into the crystal ball and guess whether Kerry Woods will return to the mound with strikeout potential. And then, every morning around 6 o'clock, we'll stare into our computer screens, shake out heads, and wonder why we wasted good draft dollars on a bum who broke his leg and is out for the season.

Last year I finished near the bottom of the league, my roster pockmarked with injuries and disappointing performances. The year before I just missed placing "in the money." It's been five years since my last championship. Other managers have gone from first, to worst, to first in that time.

As I'm drafting tomorrow, I'll have a strategy that includes buying dependable players. I don't gamble much on the unproven commodities. The National League has many upstart swingers this year, so I may walk home with a guy that in previous years I wouldn't have messed with. I'll try to buy a team with balanced offensive abilities and the potential to post pitching victories. I'd tell you who's on my A list, but other devious team owners may sneak onto this site and use it against me (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.)

The Hawgs are ready to rumble --baseball season is upon us!