In the drink

Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated, as once again I am blogging, not over anything in particular, just to get some things out of the way.

Baseball season is final, and I did win the $30 back that I was hoping for to recoup some of my losses. Since it cost $55, I can live with spending $25 dollars and getting a season's full of enjoyment, which is something not many people in Pittsburgh can say given that the Pirates stink.

As for those guys on my team that helped me recover my losses, well here is a list of the statistical leaders on my team as of the end of the year (mind you it is American League only)

(Note: Stats only reflect while the player was on my active roster and therefore may not actually equal the players season total if I had them in reserve status for any amount of time)

Homeruns - Frank Thomas (25) - I probably missed another one or two the last week of the season, but a decent number from a guy getting up there in years

Runs Batted In - Bobby Abreu (101) - A bad start and a poor slump of sorts (only 16 HRs) made him a bit of a disappointment for me. That being said, anyone in the Yankees lineup is a good bet to have an inflated RBI total, this is no exception.

Stolen Bases - Ichiro Suzuki (37) - I never understand why he lasts in drafts as long as he does, while he doesn't hit for power, but he does hit for average, steals bases and scores runs, which are usually three things to like in a fantasy draft.

Runs - Bobby Abreu (123) - Another benefit to getting on base in the Yankees lineup, someone is bound to knock you in on a regular basis.

Average - Ichiro Suzuki (.351) - See above and as for the runs that I mentioned, he scored 111 of them.

Wins - Josh Beckett (20) - I'll admit that I blew off saves in my league, playing instead for wins, figuring that if I snagged 9 starting pitchers that had the chance at 10 wins, I would be competitive in wins and strikeouts (it worked, I won both categories), but the 20 wins was far more than I expected, but a boon I was more than happy to receive.

Saves - (0) - I told you I blew off this category, and I didn't lie as I recorded none.

Strikeouts - Josh Beckett (194) - I drafted Beckett more for this number than wins, but gladly took both.

Walks/Hits per Inning Pitched - Aaron Fultz (1.043) - This number is misleading as I only threw him a total of 15.1 innings all year.

Earned Run Average - Aaron Fultz (1.76) - Again a benefit of limited innings pitched.

I still have my fantasy football to worry about, I entered tonight down in both my yahoo and bar leagues. In yahoo, I trailed 91-65 but with four guys playing in tonight's contest (New England vs Cincinnati) and the bar league I was down just 7, 91-84 with Chad Johnson, Wes Welker and Steven Gostkowski yet to play and my opponent has Shayne Graham. I just fired up the football program for the bar league and I have cut that 7 point lead to two points, early in the first quarter, compliments of two catches by Wes Welker and a field goal by Gostkowski. I think I like my chances, even trailing at this point. Oh well, I will deal with final scores at a later time, otherwise I will be blogging to well in the night.

We do have a change meter update, another .19 cents to the total, so the grand total is now $29.51. I have been given a few more surveys to fill out online as well, and my total there is now $8.35.

I was thinking of who to make the Asshat, and I was thinking along the lines of the New York Mets, whose collapse at missing the postseason in baseball this year will be remembered for years, blowing a 7 game lead in the division with only 17 games to play. Not only did they play themselves out of the division title, but the wild card as well, leaving the Metropolitans much like you and I in that they will be watching the post season from home.

That being said, there is something also to be said for video, and because I was able to find the video of the Asshat in question, we will go the visual route. For those that don't know, the President's Cup is a golfing event that pits an International group of golfers against a team of Americans, much like the Ryder Cup event. The Americans won this years President's Cup (unlike the Ryder Cup, which they can't seem to win) but not without it's moment of asshattery. Enter Woody Austin, he of the American team. Let me first say that after the shot in question, Woody was able to compose himself (something he hasn't always done in the past, in one tournament he broke his putter over his head) and fired off three consecutive birdies and gain the Americans a half point in the competition. That being said, Mr Austin saw one of his shots go right of the fairway, finding itself lying directly in the water. Most golfers would, seeing their ball is now in the drink, opt to take a one shot penalty and drop the ball on the edge of the fairway. Woody chose the path less traveled, which may be good philosophically speaking, but not so much from a sporting perspective and chose to play the ball in the water. Let's just say the results were less than spectacular. Wait, forget saying it, I said there was video to be had and video you shall receive. Without further adieu, your newest member of the Halls of Asshattery, Woody Austin........