Fantasy Baseball - East Coast Style

I have two favorite days  a year. The first is the day I draft my fantasy baseball team.  The second is the day I draft my other fantasy baseball team.   The second day is today, planned while Jenn is gone so she wouldn't have to deal with the silent treatment she usually gets on draft day.  I got hooked on Fantasy Baseball five years ago now and never looked back.   In the ultimate stats game, baseball makes perfect fantasy sense.

Baseball has been my favorite sport since my dad took me to my first Astros game.  Back then I collected baseball cards, which helped me keep touch with players throughout the league.  I would read up on all their different stats and if they weren't very good they went to "the box."  The box was a long skinny cardboard box, no filing system.  It was where cards would go to get forgotten.  The good cards went to "the book."   The book was a 100 page baseball card storage binder alphabetized by team and player name.  I was pretty nerdy little kid. (Glad I grew out of that!)  The book contains a Mark McGwire rookie card (now significantly devalued), four Nolan Ryan cards and about 150 Astros you've never heard of because I was a huge Astros fan.  Every Astro made the book.

Sorry, that whole digression was to point out that for a while in my teens and early 20s, I didn't follow baseball very closely.  I knew how the Rockies were doing and could name the starting roster, but in the rest of the league, I really didn't follow.  Fantasy baseball is now my grown up way of keeping up with the sport I love.  Normally I wouldn't care about the Toronto Blue Jays, but if they lead the league in home runs, I'm eyeing their third baseman.

Now being in DC, it's fun because I'm getting to hear all of the hype leading into the baseball season for East Coast teams, namely the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals.  I'm pretty stoked that both stadiums are about 20 minutes from each other and only 30 minutes from me.  Here are a few guys I'm excited to watch this year up close and personal.
 
        Ryan Zimmerman (Wash) - I'm a sucker for a guy who plays defense and Zimmerman is one of the best.   Any oaf can make chicks swoon by hitting the long ball, but give me a bare-handed play across the diamond and I'm one martini away from a bad decision.

       Gio Gonzales (Wash) - He transferred from Oakland last year and was great, despite being in the hitter friendly American league.  I'm hoping he can help the Nationals go far this year so maybe I can go to a playoff game.

      Adam Jones (Balt) - A really fun young player to watch this year.  He knocked on the door last year and may just bust it down this year.  Sadly, he may be the only reason to watch the Orioles this season.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got my fantasy notes in front of me, a cold beer freshly opened and 185 days of wheeling and dealing my way to the top.  Play ball!

Sunday Nights

Sunday nights are tough.  And not because I have to go to work the next day.  I generally like my job and appreciate the time with adults by the time Sunday roles around.  It's because they remind of what we're missing being here in DC.  This week, Jenn went back to Denver to celebrate the birth of Alice Ann Nelson, daughter of two of our favorite people, Ryan and Emelie Nelson.

When we lived in Denver, we started a tradition of Sunday night dinner.  It started out as a way to get our friends caught up on Firefly (call me!), one of Jenn and I's favorite series.  Every Sunday we would get together with our kids, Brynn, their wonderful daughter Maggie, and eventually Jonah joined the group.  We would have dinner, wrangle kids, swap stories, then put them to bed and start watching our show.  We did this for about eight weeks until we ran out of Firefly episodes.  No one wanted to say anything, because we didn't want them to end.  Thankfully Ryan casually said, "You know...I know another series that sounds really good."  We eagerly agreed and pretty soon we didn't even need an excuse.  Sunday nights became my favorite night of the week.

So why are Emelie and Ryan so awesome?  The easier questions would be, why aren't they?  But since you asked, I'll see if I can answer.  Ladies first; Emelie is a Wyoming grad, nuff said - Go Pokes.  When I first met her, she brought over ice cream after a meeting her and Jenn were having for the Arthritis Foundation, where Emelie worked.  She was in.  She's generally worked for non-profits, making the world a better place and all that garbage.  Those jobs are incredibly economy dependent, so opportunities come and go rather quickly.  Still, Emelie has always been able to land on her feet, grabbing an equal or usually better job than the one before.   She's awesome and did I mention that quality Wyoming education?

Now Ryan.  Ryan is a lot like me, only much taller, nicer and was a decathlete in college while I was tripping up the stairs in front of cheerleaders.  He's almost hard to like if he wasn't so effing nice, as mentioned earlier.  He introduced me to KET, a fantastic chess-like strategy game involving lazers.  That's right lazers, look it up.  He's a fellow science geek being a 6th grade science teacher in Jefferson County, again making the world a better place and all that garbage.  As a dad, he's second to none.  If every kid had a dad like Ryan there would be a) a female president, b) no strip clubs and c) potentially world peace.   It's been great to go through the experience of parent hood side-by-side with two such great parents.  If Brynn and Jonah are even slightly well-adjusted, it will be thanks to them and Jenn's influence.

So on this Sunday night when Jenn is in Denver spending time with Baby Alice and the Nelsons (band name?), I'm missing the nights we had and looking forward to the nights to come in 2013.  Congratulations Emelie and Ryan, I can't wait to meet Alice!

March Sadness

I love March Madness.  So many games, great underdog stories and flat out fantastic basketball.  After watching these kids (yes I'm old so I call them kids) play great defense and put their heart and soul into every possession, I'll never be able to enjoy the pro game.  I love pro football, hockey, and most of all baseball.  In basketball though, give me the college game anytime.

The best part about the tourney: brackets.  I've been filling out NCAA brackets for over half my life and have only come close to winning once (I picked Memphis in 2008 http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=293210235).  Seriously, once I played against just my sister, my wife and one of her girlfriends and I came in third.  However, never have I done so poorly in the first round as I did this year.  I always try to pick a champion that not many pick to hopefully separate myself from the pack in those late rounds.  I sat down, did some research and found that I really liked...Missouri.!    0 for 1.


Then for fun, I sat down with Brynn and we came up with our mascot battle bracket.  Wolverines vs Owls, Aggies vs Hoosiers, Gators vs Tigers; it's a really fun bracket to do and Brynn and I painstakingly debated every matchup until we came up with our winner: The Duke Blue Devils!      0 for 2.

So now that Duke and Missouri are out of the tournament, I find myself wondering how much basketball I'll really watch in the next two plus weeks.  I have five brackets out in three different leagues and I'm pretty sure I'm mathematically eliminated in all of them.  Couple that with the fact that it's hard to get T.V. time with three other people in the house--two of which cry when I turn on sports (you guess which two)--and I'm not sure I'm all that interested any more.  Am I really this petty?  That just because I don't have money or glory at stake, I don't want to watch?  I'm starting to think so.

Until today.  Today at lunch, I turned on the game while we were all eating together.  I craned my neck around the wall to watch Syracuse play Kansas St.  Brynn noticed and asked, "Daddy can I watch the baseball game too?"  After correcting her egregious sports error, I obliged and moved her seat next to me so we could both see.  We sat next to each other, ate our lunch and I explained to her why it's called basketball and pointed out the tall guys bouncing the ball and throwing it to other tall guys.  She sat with me and really watched, even after lunch, cozying up with mom on the sofa.

I think I'll keep watching.

Jonah turns one! (2 of 2)

Day 3 (Sunday): Saturday was too packed, so present opening got moved to Sunday morning.  The pile of presents from our family and friends was embarrassingly high and we couldn’t have been more thankful.  We feel bad that we moved Jonah away from all the family and friends who would have otherwise surrounded him on his special day.  What purges that guilt?  Presents, and lots of them.  Brynn eagerly showed Jonah the ropes and before we knew it, all of the presents have been opened, their contents strewn about on the living room floor, couch, end table, etc….  She got a little confused when we told her, “No Brynn, these are Jonah’s presents.”  Clearly we must be the confused ones so she continues to play with them.  Oh well, has plenty to go around.

We said goodbye to Steph and Peter as they headed back to Charlottesville.  They were such a  huge help.  Steph has always been good with the kids, but I came away from the weekend with a new appreciation for how good Peter is with them.  Our kids are lucky to have such great aunts and uncles.

After they left, Stephanie, Olivia and Jenn wanted to see the Holocaust Museum.  Since this is obviously not a very kid-friendly venue and I’ve seen it recently, I stayed home with the kids while the girls ventured into the city.  There is so much to see, they spent almost four hours there and don’t even get to see the special exhibit.  Another trip is definitely in order.  Afterwards, Stephanie and Olivia wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial really quickly.  Quick is a relative term, as it’s a much longer walk than it looks.  After another marathon day, our weary travelers headed home.  Jenn somehow mustered the energy to put together another fantastic meal.  We swapped stories about where we all were one year ago today, played a little poker using cheerios as our currency, and all slept very well that night.

Day 4 (Monday): Back to work after the fun weekend.  I woke up at my regular time (5:30) and headed to the gym.  After trying (and failing) to work off the four or five cupcakes I ate, I headed back home to shower, get dressed and go to work.  The kids were up by the time I was ready to leave, so I kiss them goodbye.  It’s at this time that Jenn reminds me that Monday is Jonah’s actual birthday.  I had completely forgotten.  Oh well, it’s a small price to pay for an epic birthweek.  Happy first birthday Jonah Jack Berkeley Walker.

Jonah Turns One!

Birthweeks.  It’s a tradition in our family that started back when Jenn and I found ourselves as DINKs (Dual Income No Kids).  Fresh out of college, with more money in one paycheck than we’d had in four years of college combined, we decided to celebrate Jenn’s birthday for a full week, starting Saturday, through her actual birthday on Thursday and finishing on the following Saturday.  The eight-day celebration left us with a lot of memories and restaurant doggie bags.

Fast forward eight years.  After buying a home, everything that comes with a home, and saving up for two adoptions, birthweeks have been trimmed down to measly birthdays.  So it was nice that when Jonah’s first birthday came around that we could go a little nuts.  Jonah’s birthmother (Stephanie) and her daughter (Olivia) came from Colorado to celebrate this very special day with us.  We love them both and couldn't imagine spending the weekend without them, celebrating the amazing gift Stephanie gave us a year ago.  Of course it would never be a party without Steph and Peter, who drove up on Saturday to celebrate with their nephew as well.  With Steph, I get someone who shares my sense of humor and genuinely laughs at my jokes.  With Peter I get someone who loves giving Steph crap as much as I do.

Day 1 (Friday): Our honored guests, Stephanie and Olivia flew into town around noon.  After a great afternoon catching up, we went to a fun Mexican place around the corner that Steph had given us a Groupon for.  This opened us up to one of Jonah’s hidden passions: mariachi music!  For over an hour Jonah threw down the wiggle, the electric slide, and something that vaguely resembled the chicken dance in an effort to fully express his love of the upbeat tunes cranking through the restaurant’s sound system.  If only we had known, we have hired a band for this party.  Next year buddy, next year.

Day 2 (Saturday): What a day!  We hung out in the morning as Stephanie and Olivia shook off their mini-jetlag and Steph and Peter drove up from Charlottesville.  Around 10:30, we headed out to the metro station.  This in itself has had us nervous for days.  After much deliberation, we decided that the double stroller would fit on the metro and thus, should be the main mode of kid transportation for the day.  They did great!! (Editors note:  While the stroller may have fit on the metro, we did not account for escalators--both functioning and non-functioning.  Thanks to Peter for a lot of heavy lifting.)  Once we were on the metro, Brynn looked out the window and Jonah photo-bombed a couple of pictures and before we knew it, we were on the Smithsonian Mall.  We hit the Museum of Natural History first.  Jonah spent most of his time looking straight up at the huge blue whale hanging from the ceiling.  I could barely keep up with Brynn as she ran from exhibit to exhibit.  (“Look at that dead fish! Look at that big elephant!” and “Look at that dinosaur--ROAR!!!”)

We stopped for lunch in the surprisingly nice restaurant in the Museum, then decided to head over to the Air and Space Museum while we still had some time.  Brynn and Jonah found this museum a little less interesting, which was sad given my career, but I’m not giving up hope.  At one point I did have a fun conversation with Brynn about the fire that came out of the big thruster.  The kids did so well, we didn’t get back home until 3:00 and they went without a nap the whole day.  Steph, Peter, Stephanie and Olivia were a huge help to us and we were so grateful.

And then it was time to decorate birthday cupcakes!  Jenn had a brilliant idea to make owl cupcakes and they turned out great.  (Editors note:  Pinterest had the brilliant idea how to make owl cupcakes--they were just so easy it seemed impressive.)  Peter and I hung out downstairs with the kids, while the ladies decorated cupcakes.  For about a week, Brynn had been practicing her birthday song to Jonah and the moment did not disappoint.  With Brynn diva-ing it up in the background, we sung “Happy Birthday” to Jonah and he tore into his cupcake.  He made an awesomely huge mess as he got his first taste of sugar since arriving on earth.  It was a little weird when he started rubbing it all over his body, but hey, if you can’t rub chocolate cupcake all over yourself when you turn one, when can you?  Happy Birthday Jonah Jack Berkeley Walker--go nuts.