Wednesday, 4/16/97 Live out your fantasies through baseball
Unique ‘league’ allows you to love the Giants but root against
Barry Bonds
By Vytas Mazeika Daily Bruin Contributor I love baseball. I love
the crack of the bat, the pitcher’s windup, the green fields, and
especially the peanuts and Cracker Jacks. And this year, in
particular, it’s great. There are no labor disputes – just
arguments as to whether or not spitting on umpires should be
allowed. It feels like everything is all right with the world once
again. But I love baseball for more than just simply the sport.
Sure I love to watch Roger Clemens effortlessly strike out 20
hitters, Kenny Lofton steal second, third and home on the same
pitch, and Mark McGwire hit three towering 500-foot homers. But you
see, I am a fantasy league manager. For those of you who do not
know what a fantasy/rotisserie league is, here is a quick
explanation: based on players’ statistics throughout the actual
major league games, people who have selected these players in a
draft will get points for such things as batting average, home
runs, RBIs, stolen bases, etc. So when I watch baseball, I do more
than just cheer for a team. At heart, I am a San Francisco Giants
fan. I love that team and will stick with them through both the
good and the bad times. But as a fantasy league manager, I hope
that it is Jose Vizcaino who hits 40 homers instead of Barry Bonds.
I do not enjoy the privilege of having a superstar of Bonds’
caliber on my team – I have Frank Thomas instead. Basically, all of
my alliances are screwed up now. I can’t wait to watch McGwire come
to bat and hit a monstrous grand slam. But then I start to think of
how many points my opposing manager would receive as a result of
that homer, and begin hoping for a McGwire strike out. In the
Yankees’ Mariano Rivera, I have one of the best young closers in
the game. In the majority of the games, he will close out opponents
in dominating fashion. But, if he ever falters, I hope he does it
when David Cone is pitching rather than when David Wells is
pitching. Reason: Wells plays for me. Although a fantasy league
adds stress to my life, there is a bright side. Obviously whenever
the Giants and the Dodgers play, I will be excited to watch the
game. But by now you should start to notice how a baseball game
between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds can also
seem important to me. Regularly I would never find this game
exciting. Yet although neither team will contend for the pennant, I
do have Jason Kendall (the Pirates’ catcher) and Willie Greene (the
Reds’ third baseman). So I will turn on the tube, change the
channel to ESPN Sunday night baseball and actually enjoy watching
these two teams slug it out – at least when my players are batting.
Sure, checking box scores every day may take time. But hey, study
time is the only thing I am sacrificing. Therefore for the six
exciting months I closely monitor the progress of my players, I
will gladly forfeit a few nights of sleep later on so that I can
cram all those missed Shakespeare readings and communication
lectures into my head. Some people may say that I am crazy. They
are right. I know I am crazy. But like I said before, I love
baseball. Now I just love baseball selectively. I love it when
Frank Thomas gets a walk, when Darryl Kile strikes out eight and
only walks two, when Rod Beck is leading the league in saves after
two weeks and when an average hitter like Tim Naehring has four
home runs this early in the season. On the other hand, I hate
baseball when Larry Walker leads the league with seven home runs,
when Deion Sanders steals four bases in one night and when Tim
Wakefield throws seven shutout innings. In real life I am only
loyal to the San Francisco Giants (who at 8-3 lead the National
League West and are a sure bet to make the playoffs – maybe). But
in my own fantasy world I am loyal to 25 players – 15 hitters and
10 pitchers. You see, although it is illegal to bet, I conveniently
found $220 on the ground. So I told my friends that whoever wins
the league will be awarded with $145 ($50 for second and $25 for
third). I was ninth after the first week. But that means little
because I still have roughly 27 weeks to catch up. Twenty-seven
weeks in which I will love the Giants, root against Bonds and hope
that I come out on top in the fantasy league. I will lose sleep. I
will become cranky. I may scare away a few of my friends. But in
the end it will all be worth it. You see, I am crazy. But that is
OK, because right now I am living in my own fantasy world, with my
own fantasy league and I would not have it any other way. Mazeika
is a Daily Bruin sports columnist and is in the process of creating
a fantasy league for the ladies professional bowling tour. If
interested, e-mail him at vmazeika@media.ucla.edu.