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There seems to be two types of fantasy owners when it comes to drafting starting pitchers:

Fantasy Owner #1: Hello Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum or Felix Hernandez in the early rounds. I’m going to draft at least one stud early and wish the dopes that wait to grab pitchers in the middle to late rounds good luck. Hope they like playing Russian Roulette.

Fantasy Owner #2: While the morons are grabbing supposed studs in the first couple of rounds, I’m loading up on offense since it’s more predictable than figuring out what starters won’t have Zack Grienke-type 2010 campaigns. I’ll grab my pitchers in the middle rounds and be just fine.

No matter which fantasy owner you are, the No. 1 factor when it comes to drafting pitchers is understanding how the scoring system is set up in your league. If you play in a rotisserie league, then you’re probably fine employing Fantasy Owner #2’s philosophy and then making adjustments throughout the year depending on what you need (i.e. trading away saves for strikeouts, or speed for wins and ERA).

On the flip side, if you’re in a head-to-head league where you know a pitcher like Halladay can be the difference between winning and losing a couple of categories, then you may want to think about nabbing a starter early. Again, it’s all about understanding how the scoring is set up in your league.

Fantasy Baseball, MLB

It’s a good day to be a college basketball fan

March 5, 2011 / John Paulsen

Check out this lineup of college hoops today (all times ET):

12 PM: #2 Kansas @ #24 Missouri (CBS)
The Jayhawks need a victory in Columbia to win the Big 12 outright. They have a one-game lead over Texas with one game to play and are hoping to secure a #1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament as well. Meanwhile, Missouri is hoping to complete an unbeaten season at home.

2 PM: #7 Notre Dame @ #16 UConn (ESPN)
It’s senior night for the Huskies, who have beaten the Irish seven straight times at Gampel Pavilion. Notre Dame can earn the #1 seed in the Big East tournament with a win today and a Pittsburgh loss to Villanova.

4 PM: #19 Villanova @ #5 Pittsburgh (CBS)
Villanova has faded after a strong start to the season, but could still spoil the Panthers’ bid to be the top seed in the Big East Championship if they’re able to upset Pitt on their home floor. The Panthers need a win to solidify their bid to be a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

6 PM: #14 Florida @ #20 Vanderbilt (ESPN)
These two teams went into overtime the first time they met this season and the Gators can clinch the outright SEC title with a win against the Commodores in Nashville.

8 PM: #4 Duke @ #13 North Carolina (CBS)
The ACC regular season championship is on the line as the Blue Devils face the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. In the first meeting at Cameron, UNC had a 16-point lead before Duke came back to win 79-73. Duke is hoping to be a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and needs a win tonight to round out its resume.

It’s not often that there are five Top 25 matchups lined up every two hours like there are today. And don’t forget, #10 Wisconsin plays #1 Ohio State at 4 PM (on CBS) on Sunday.

College Basketball, External Sports

2010-11 college basketball Connecticut Huskies Duke Blue Devils Kansas Jayhawks North Carolina Tar Heels Notre Dame Fighting Irish Pittsburgh Panthers

Coco Crisp had an armed ‘secret service’ following him the night of DUI

March 5, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

The night A’s outfielder Coco Crisp was pulled over in his 2009 Rolls Royce for suspicion of drunken driving, the police say he was being followed by his personal security guards that Crisp described as his “Secret Service.”

From the Arizona Republic:

The Rolls Royce failed to stay in a single lane of traffic and the officer made a traffic stop, police said. The truck also pulled over.
When the officer asked Crisp if he knew the occupants of the truck, he said “there were some issues with some people so the Secret Service was providing security,” the report said.
Two men in the truck confirmed they were Crisp’s armed private security, police said. The officer wrote that Crisp’s eyes were bloodshot and watery and there was “the odor of an intoxicating beverage emitting from the vehicle.”
Crisp told officers he had been to Ra, a sushi restaurant, and Smashboxx, both in Old Town Scottsdale. He drank wine and champagne, he said. He was on his way to drop off a friend at a hotel in Fountain Hills.
After performing field sobriety tests, Crisp was cited for having a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent or more, driving with an expired California registration, failure to drive in a single lane and no proof of current insurance, police said.

Coco Crisp needs an armed secret service team to follow him around when he goes out? Who is he, Obama?

Actually, hey, if you feel as though your life may be in danger and you have enough money to pay armed guards to protect you then by all means – security guard it up. The bigger question I have is why he didn’t get one of his two security guards to either a) drive him home in his car or b) leave his car at the club and go back to pick it up the next day.

Three guys go out for the night, one guy is drinking. That leaves two drivers and two vehicles. Coco goes with Sober Driver A in his car while Sober Driver B follows them. Once Coco is all tucked in for the night, Sober Driver A and Sober Driver B drive home in Sober Driver B’s car. Done deal.

This isn’t that hard of a concept. I don’t know why Crisp felt it was a good idea to hire two armed guards to follow him around but he didn’t want to spend the money on a designated driver. Seems kind of dumb if you ask me.

External Sports, MLB

Coco Crisp coco crisp arrested coco crisp body guards coco crisp dui coco crisp security guards

Draftmaster mock draft, continued

March 4, 2011 / John Paulsen

If you missed my explanation and the first six picks, click here.

7.06: Danny Woodhead, RB
I needed a third RB and was debating between Woodhead and James Starks. I like Starks, but Ryan Grant is expected to be back in Green Bay and I don’t like a timeshare there, especially without the roles being clearly defined. That’s one thing about Woody — he’s not going to set the world on fire, but as the Pats third-down back, he’s going to catch a number of passes. They used him regularly in the running game too. So while there’s not a lot of upside here, he’s a pretty sure thing for the 7th round.

External Sports, Fantasy Football, NFL

A mock conversation between a NFL fan, Roger Goodell and Jeff Pash

March 4, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

As they continue to work towards signing a new CBA deal, the NFL and NFLPA are in the midst of a media blackout, which basically means that they won’t share any details about how the discussions are going.

In light of this, I’ve decided to compose a mock conversation between a NFL fan (for creative purposes, let’s call him “NFL Fan”), commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Pash using Goodell and Pash’s actual media transcripts from Friday.

Seeing as how they won’t shed any light on what’s actually happening behind closed doors, I figured this would be more entertaining than just posting Goodell and Pash’s highly useless comments.

NFL Fan: Should I cancel my NFL draft party in April, my fantasy football draft in August and my NFL Sunday Ticket subscription? In other words, are we going to have a season next year or what?

Roger Goodell: We are in a media blackout. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to dodge your question. With respect to the process, to George Cohen, to the NFLPA, I think we want to continue to respect that. But we’ve continued to work hard. I think the fact that we are continuing this dialogue is a positive sign.

NFL Fan: You know what else would be a positive sign? If you guys stopped making fans grab their ankles waiting for you to reach an agreement. That would be a pretty positive sign, wouldn’t you say, Jeff? Do you think fans should be optimistic just because you guys have agreed to another extension?

Jeff Pash: I think this is better than the alternative. Should they be optimistic? They know we’re talking. They know we’re working hard. I think that should be a positive.

NFL Fan: Actually, we don’t know that you’re talking or working hard because you a-holes don’t say anything of substance when you do talk to the media. For all we know, your “meetings” consist of smoking cigars, playing Texas Hold’em and watching re-runs of Knight Rider while laughing at how the fans are clinging onto hope that an agreement will be reached soon.

Roger Goodell: We are going to continue to work as hard as we can. I promise.

External Sports, Humor, NFL

2011 NFL lockout jeff pash jeff pash comments NFL CBA NFL lockout Roger Goodell roger goodell cba

Page 408 of 2956

2011 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Starting Pitchers

It’s a good day to be a college basketball fan

Coco Crisp had an armed ‘secret service’ following him the night of DUI

Draftmaster mock draft, continued

A mock conversation between a NFL fan, Roger Goodell and Jeff Pash

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