BOYS NIGHT OUT

Yes, while the St. Louis Cardinals and other baseball squads go thru their preparation for the 2008 season in Florida (wish I was there) and Arizona and baseball "Hot Stove Leagues" indicate their "wish lists" the "BOYS NIGHT OUT" fantasy baseball league of South St. Louis County and other nooks and crannies looms on the horizon.

On April 5th, the various owners and their associates, will congregate to draft their players.
This is a day, fantasy owners revere. Starting with the first pick at 9:00 AM, baseball players from every roster in the National League are "fair game" for these "eager beavers." This draft day continues until, well in the P.M. before each team has selected its 23 players.

The way is works is teams like our Blue Darts, Marauders, IBM Cards, Outlaws etc etc. etc will have $260 as their cap and will have to select 23 players at various positions, to make up their team. To be an owner, you really need to be well versed on the stats of great players, mediocre players and even some "bench warmers" While one player may garnish $50 or more (a stud, e.g.
Albert Pujols) many will go for $1. In order to win, you must project their stats in such catagories as Steals,RBI's, HR, Wins, ERA, etc.

So you prepare and buy every magazine on fantasy baseball (many many) and in early year, you start projecting your desired teams. Trades are offered in and out of season and the league is on-line and much information is provided which translates into many night and days of study. Its already started: Today received an E Mail from the MO Tigers, wanted to send Ryan Howard our way for Eric Byrnes (lots of SBs and HRs), Brandon Phillips (HR's and SBs) and Shane Victorino (Good avge and SB's). Well the answer was a resounding NO! Is it fun and must you know the territory, you bet! After all you just turned down a trade for the most prolific HR hitter out there today but to take him, you would have traded away SB, HR, and Avge. NO WAY!

Fantasy sports are huge, Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, Racing, Golf, yes you can find a league to compete and once one becomes hooked, you are guaranteed to slavishly prepare your team for a winning season.

But beware, do not enter this hallowed ground before you know you will have to spend a goodly amount of your day, preparing to do battle with the enemy! One really neat outcome: You learn about the many players in the game you might not care about ordinarily and you become one hellova knowledgable fan of the game.

The Bear heartily endorses and can't wait for "Draft Day" to come around again this year. But you better be ready for the brilliant minds of the Hardways and Homeboys and a new entry The Tigers or else you could have a sad summer! THE BLUE DARTS FOREVER!