Thoughts of Punxsutawney Phil

It’s February 10, the AT&T, nee The Crosby, is going full bore, and it is gorgeous outside. Mid ‘70’s, with the sky as clear as a prepubescent face. Our old pal and inveterate prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow last week, thereby predicting six more weeks of winter. Well, maybe in western PA, but certainly not here in the blue Bay Area.

I hope wherever he’s playing this week that Tiger Woods is seeing nothing but drizzle. He should be out at Pebble with they corporate guys who make that tour possible, the selfish little punk. Some guys get it and some guys don’t. Tiger definitely doesn’t get this one.

If you haven’t seen it, last year Ray Romano and Kevin James made a documentary of their week at the AT&T, where they both barely missed the cut. It ran last year on HBO, and it was fantastic, interesting, funny and very real. See it if you can.

Before I write a little (very little) about baseball, let me put in writing here the big news about football. No, not the Steelers. THE ROBBER BARRONS, 2005 PEFA CHAMPIONS! It’s been a long time since I won that league (1991), and even longer since I won it without mon frere (1985). How did I win it (actually, my partner, Shemp Howard and I), you ask? Four words: 7th round – Larry Johnson. If you play fantasy football, you’ll get that right away. If you don’t, well, God help you.

I got the renewal yesterday for The Talented Mr. Roto site. I like it, because the writers are funny. Not as funny as me, but they give me ideas for this blog. Matthew Berry, who owns the site, writes his daily “TRUM”, Thoughts, Ramblings and Useless Info and Musings, which pretty much sums up this blog as well. This season I’m going to write a little less about fantasy baseball and a little more about, well, whatever. I promise – not too many comments about the Diebold company’s voting machines.

Today I noticed in the paper a very strange deal involving ABC and Disney (same thing) and Al Michaels and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. I didn’t exactly understand what the hell went on, but Matthew Berry cleared it up in his TRUM today, which I quote from:

Chock full of Trumminess today, as two trades rocked the sports world. First,
the Bobcats get rid of that problem Keith Bogans to add the magical elixir that
is Lonny Baxter. And with Baxter no longer around to drag the Rockets down,
expect Bogans to fit right in in Houston and lead them to glory.

The fantasy impact of this is that the bench guys on each team will have to
move down one spot. Actually, I sort of like Bogans game - he can score when
given minutes - it's just that's he's a swing guy and well, they already have a
swing guy that's pretty good. Just don't see Bogans getting any kind of minutes
there unless T-Mac's back goes out.

Then, of course, there's the Al Michaels deal. In case you did not hear, NBC
wanted Michaels for it's Sunday Night NFL broadcasts next year and ESPN had him under contract. So, they swamped him out for expanded coverage rights to Ryder Cup and Olympic broadcasts, some other smaller rights, NBC will promote MNF on ESPN on it's Sunday Night game (because, let's face it, how else will you know where to find it?) and rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Oswald, apparently, was the first creation from Walt Disney. When he lost the rights, he created Mickey Mouse, which, if you look closely at the many online photos of Oswald, is basically Oswald with shorter ears. Walt: Great businessman, not so much a cartoonist.

It may seem odd, but let's face it. Would you rather be dealt for an obscure animated rabbit that hasn't worked in close to a century or Lonny Baxter? That's what I thought. By the way, is it me, or does Oswald the Lucky Rabbit sound like the title of bad porn?

Got the following trade offer from a guy in my longtime AL Only keeper league:

Hey man , let's make a deal.

What about Konerko for Jose Contreras?

It's a keeper league and Contreras is about $20 cheaper than Konerko but still. In case you were wondering if becoming an "expert" stopped the crappy trade offers coming your way, the answer is. they don't. Would rather have Oswald the Lucky Rabbit rights than Contreras, who I have never believed in.

Now that’s some good writing. That’s why I’m going to shell out another $30. It’s certainly NOT for their baseball information. After all, the Pecklers keepers are pretty laughable, so we need to go into a Bleacher Bums style four corners offense this year and save a few bucks. But I’ll always spend some dough for a good laugh.

This week I set up the alternate, temporary, invisible site for the Pecklers’ pre draft fantasy chatter. We pledge that we will NOT play for next year. That said, Pedro Martinez could be had in a trade. We’re going to prove, like Lou and Big Rick did last year, that keeper lists mean nothing. In fact, good keeper lists hurt your team because they make you too conservative. Wait ‘till you check out our $9 pitching staff.

Pitchers and catchers are just a week away. The sweet sixteen and the elite eight are in Oakland next month, and we’ve got tickets. Life is good.