MLB: All In Or Fold

The other day, I caught a radio interview with Harry Kalas, the voice of the Phillies for my entire life. You've probably heard Harry at some point thanks to his work on NFL Films, those NFL Network TV ads (he's the voice at the end), even some movies. He's got the kind of voice that you could listen to all day, and along with Richie Ashburn and Bill King, he will be the defining sports broadcaster voice of my life. If you can't be at the game, baseball is best on the radio, with a voice that's like a friend taking you through things; it makes everything slow down in a way that's just pleasant.

Anyway, hearing Kalas, and some of his great play by play calls over the years (Harry isn't over the top, but when he gets excited, you know it), along with the unseasonably warm weather this week.... well, hell. Am I really going to give MLB more of my time?

Every few years, it seems, my interest in the game comes to a low ebb. Either my team (the A's since the late '90s, the Phillies from the late '70s to the mid '90s) has no shot, or the MLB+ness of the game just grinds me down. There has to be more to being a baseball fan than habit or a good announcer, right?

I don't have this ambivalence with football or basketball, for the clear and simple purpose that when your favorite football or basketball team has a good player, you don't have to spend your time waiting for him to be sold to some other team. Or, I imagine, feeling the trace amount of guilt at rooting for the fruits of some other team's labor, that you just happened to be able to root for because your team has more money.

(This is a whole 'nother post, but I'm convinced that part of the reason that fans of MLB+ teams are so unpleasant to deal with for the rest of us is that because they know, on some level, that they are thieves by association. Witness how the Yankee fans love Jeter and tolerate A-Rod, despite the fact that the latter is a better player most of the time. You grew Jeter, so you love him like a son. A-Rod is a Hessian mercenary, nothing more, and you will cast him aside as soon as he would you. Good times!)

There's also this... fantasy sports are getting a bit tired. You play with the same people and rules long enough -- and to be fair, it's not all of the same people, it's just the ones that never talk trash or add much to it. If I stay in these leagues long enough, I'm going to become one of the latter. It's like being in a poker game that never ends.

So here's the deal. I could, of course , stop watching the games, the way I did in the mid-90s when the strike happened, the Phillies stopped trying, I didn't follow the A's yet and the world was owned, lock, stock and barrel, by the Yankees and Braves. (A grand era to skip, by the way.) I'm feeling like a Royals or Pirates fan here -- I've got a crap hand, no chips, and the other side not only has more bankroll, it's making its own cards.

Fold. Leave. With speed.

Problem with that is that one suspects this blog would get pretty sparse pretty quickly, and it just means you've got nothing to watch for months on end. It makes the NFL way too important, really.

So Door Number Two... is to go all in, for a game of your own making.

Here's what I want -- a new fantasy game that's not all soulless and sparkless online randomness. A live draft, or maybe even an auction, where nearly all of the owners are in the same room together, to give each other maximum trash for their picks. Heck, maybe even an auction, seeing how I've never done one of those before, and will probably suck at it. Have some keepers from year to year, so that people don't make silly trades or moves for the moment. mild keeper action, maybe even drafting minor league players for your farm system, even though that's the ultimate in Dork. Buy some insulting trophy and/or wrestling-style championship belt for the winner to wear. In any event, Do Something Different.

And if I can't get that, sit out a year. See what MLB looks like when I'm not smoking the fantasy crack pipe. Hell, maybe I'll write another book.

So if you're local to anywhere in the Philadelphia to New York region, or want to go Huge Dork and fly in for a draft and prevent the world from suffering through another of my books, ping me at dmt shooter at gmail dot com.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled timewaste. Go A's! Maybe we can avoid losing 100 games!