And We're Back...

By Dan Rodgers

So it's been a while... I hope everyone enjoyed the Super Bowl a few weeks back. My prediction of the Giants winning outright was correct. We just finished NBA All-Star Weekend, and it kind of sucked in my opinion. The halftime show was good, better than the Super Bowl halftime show.

We are in full-swing in college basketball and NBA seasons. We already have to deal with Joe Lunardi's "first 4 in and last 4 out" every night on ESPN.

We are in the second part of this shortened NBA season, and teams are still trying to get into a grove. I'm going to start doing weekly reviews, and my position on surprise teams and why they're successful. Also, I'll be talking about my fantasy basketball team and how I'm going in my league.

With all this talk about basketball, please don't forget about baseball! Spring training has begun and players are reporting and are beginning team organized activities. I'll also be getting into season predictions, as well as fantasy baseball.

Rodgers That

MLB Season Surprises

By Dan Rodgers

We are almost an entire month into the MLB season. There have been a few surprises so let's talk about 'em.

Records

• The Indians (12-5) lead the Royals (11-6) by one game in the AL Central
• The Indians (12-5) and Rockies (12-5) are tied for the best record in the Bigs
  
• The Yankees (9-6) are the only AL East team over .500
• The Red Sox (5-10) have the second worst record in the Majors
• The Pirates (8-9) are one game back of the division lead

Stats

• Athletics pitcher Gio Gonzalez is 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA. He has given up one run in 19 innings of work
• Matt Kemp, Starlin Castro, and Joey Votto are the only qualifying players with averages over .400
• Three Yankees have five or more homers
• Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki leads the majors with seven home runs
• Two Royals are top five in the AL in batting average, Alex Gordon and Billy Butler
• Even though the Red Sox suck, they lead the Majors in fewest errors thus far (6)
• A fun one: Oakland's Daric Barton leads the MLB with 4.96 pitches per at bat

Fantasy

• Dan Haren and Jered Weaver, both Angels, are 4-0 and are the second and third best fantasy players, respectively
• Now on the Cardinals, Lance Berkman is the sixth best fantasy player with six home runs and an over .300 average
• The Pirates have two players, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker, in the top 20 best fantasy players

^Fantasy ranks based on Yahoo! rankings.

I'll pop up with more stuff like this later in the season. Also, later this week I'll have some predictions for this season.

Rodgers That

Fantasy Baseball

By Dan Rodgers

So, I know it's bad that I haven't written in a while. Just a heads up, this is going to be me venting about the fantasy baseball league I am about to take part in.

The league is through Yahoo, which is just about normal and how I did it when I was younger. The reason I prefer other sports, fantasy football, instead of baseball is because most sites require you to change your lineup everyday. That can get very irritating and annoying, but it has to be done if you want to win.

The league I am in also has a waiver wire. Personally, I think that there might be nothing stupider in sports than waivers. But, I didn't make the league so it's not up to me.

Okay, down to the draft: The last time I participated in fantasy baseball I drafted Jose Reyes number won overall and I won the championship. Clearly, he is not going to be drafted in the same spot. Most people are looking at Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Hanley Ramierez and Chase Utley. Those four players are pretty much the top four in every draft. Let's just do a review of each player and then I would appreciate your opinion on players to take, sleepers, etc.

Pujols: Pending injury ~.330 avg 30+ homers 100+ RBI ~100 runs how could it get any better?

A-Rod: ~.300 avg 30+ homers 100+ RBI ~100 runs...like Big Albert minus the avg?

Hanley: ~.325 avg 20+ homers ~85 RBI <100 runs 25-50 stolen bases...great all around player

Utley: ~.300 avg 25+ homers ~100 RBI <100 runs...another good all around player?

Let me know what you think, and any other players you might recommend taking...I'll come back with an update that will include my team on Sunday night...

Rodgers That