The Student Voice

For those who don’t know, fantasy baseball is a growing multimillion-dollar industry. Basic fantasy baseball consists of a group of people “drafting” individual Major League Baseball players to make a team. Each team gains points based on the real players statistics in that season’s MLB season. Just like  

Five best things about fantasy baseball

5. You're not looking at Porn
      ‘Nuff said. 

4. It's acceptable to know too much about sports
      Many may chide those who know how many saves Francisco Rodriguez had last year (62) or to go further what Rickie Weeks’ batting average was (.234). Outsiders may ask about these people’s social and sex lives (some are doing just fine, thank you). But in fantasy baseball circles these stats - along with the facts that Rodriguez will certainly have less saves this year and Week’s batting average will very likely be higher - are known to all who are competitive. 

3. Knowledge
      Serious fantasy baseball players follow the game closer than many serious fans and remember essential statistics that can end Saturday afternoon couch arguments over whether Jose Reyes or Hanley Ramirez is an all around better shortstop with the player the emphatic winner and his challenger drowning his sorrows in his Bud Light.  
 
2. Smack Talk
     After your sleeper starting pitcher who your buddy has been hating on all season (for this year let’s say someone like Chris Carpenter) gets a seven inning win allowing one run and striking out eight on Sunday, giving you a narrow win over the buddy for the week you get to throw it in his face. “Carpenter nailed the win for me, scumbag. Gotcha!” you might say and throw in some expletives for good measure. 

1. Winning
      Getting the money (if you play for money) is one thing, but bragging rights over your buddies for the entire off-season are glorious. 
 
Five worst things about fantasy baseball

5. People lump you in with other nerds
      Fantasy baseball is based in reality and accompanies an obsession with sports. It is an outlet for those whose claim they know more about sports than their friends to prove it. Fantasy baseball is a social activity that is more real than “Magic” or role-playing games (not that kind pervert, we’re talking about people who re-enact battles and things of this nature, like in “Role Models”). 

4. It can be addicting
      Spending an hour and a half looking at stats and trying to decide whether or not to drop Matt Cain to pick up Randy Wolf is over the top. Spending five minutes doing this is okay, but then you need to write that five-page psychology paper that’s due tomorrow. 

3. Rooting against your team
      I would never do this in the stretch-run in September if the playoff race is close, but I have found myself in June rooting for Orioles closer George Sherrill to get a save against my Yankees because he is on my fantasy team.  

2. Smack talk
      If someone beats me with Nate McClouth, Lance Berkman, Kevin Youkilis, Matt Holiday, Adam Dunn, Cliff Lee, or Troy Percival achieving the same stats or better stats than last year I’ll have to eat my now printed words stating that all of these guys will fall off significantly from last year. 

1. Losing
      Any ultra-competitive person knows losing sucks. 

Bonus
Some of my favorite sleepers for this season:
1. Chris Carpenter SP St.L 
2. Nelson Cruz OF Tex 
3. Joey Votto 1B Cin 
4. Justin Upton OF Ari 
5. Clayton Kershaw SP LAD 
6. Cameron Maybin OF Fla 
7. Xavier Nady OF NYY 
8. Chris Iannetta C Col 
9. Randy Johnson SP SF 
10. Shin-Soo Choo OF Cle 
11. Chad Qualls RP Ari 
12. Jorge Cantu 2B Fla 
13. Travis Hafner DH Cle 
14. Hank Blalock 1B/3B Tex 
15. Clint Barmes 2B/SS Col

-Andrew Sagarin

Let it be known that this is the last time I will discuss steroids in baseball. 

The tired subject was raised again last week when Selena Roberts, a reporter for Sports Illustrated, unearthed evidence that Alex Rodriguez used steroids in 2003.

To his credit, Rodriguez responded quickly to the allegations, admitting he did use banned substances between 2001 and 2003 with the Texas Rangers. 

Some thoughts: 

1. Admitting use has been productive for Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte and others. Rodriguez and his posse handled the confession well. 

2. There are reported to be 103 other names on the list (which was turned over to the Federal Government and was supposed to be confidential) that revealed Rodriguez’s use. Why did only the name of arguably the best player in the game today become public? 

3. How Rodriguez progresses will be interesting. He is the first high-profile player to be exposed while he is still in the middle of his career. 

4. Rodriguez admitted use only between 2001 and 2003 in Texas. If this is the truth – great. If he used in Seattle, after he came to the Yankees, or even back in high school and indisputable evidence of it is found, he will be a villain in the same category as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. 

5. Between the Mitchell Report and this sealed document there is proof that roughly 200 players in the “Steroid Era” used. These are the ones we know about – so you have to figure others used and did not get caught. At any given time there are 750 players on Major League rosters. From that we can estimate that somewhere between 33%-50% of players were using in the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

6. That being said, I am not okay with A-Rod’s use, but I do not judge him as harshly as Mark McGwire, Bonds, Clemens, and Miguel Tejada (who has had his own steroid trouble recently and is facing jail time). Let’s say – for argument’s sake – that 50% of players were using. Let’s set aside the fact that using steroids is morally wrong and look at it objectively. Let’s remember that this is these guys’ job, their livelihood. Yes, they are overcompensated, but baseball is how they support their families. Baseball players have shorter careers in their industry than almost any other. (How many other jobs can you think of where people retire in their late 30s or early 40s?) To stay on top of their games and compete many, including A-Rod, used performance-enhancing substances. 

7. Going all the way back to Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa (who has not yet been proven to have used banned substances) owners knew about steroid use among players and said nothing while records were broken and attendance soared for the first time since the lockout in 1994.  

8. Journalists further proved that we are the 4th branch of the government by exposing steroid use in baseball and other sports. 

9. Will ESPN and the rest of the sports media please get off A-Rod’s jockstrap already? 

10. And can we drop the subject of steroids and move on? There will always be unethical chemists working on the next designer drug (genetic doping might be the next trend). There will always be athletes looking for that extra edge. But for now baseball, and most other sports, seem to be on top of things regarding performance-enhancing substances.

      Spring Training is under way…

-- Andrew Sagarin