Spmusic Mondays: Is Fantasy The New Reality?
(1 Cent): The Greater Good
Sports. A multi-billion dollar business. Fantasy sports. A multi-million dollar business. Both use the same athletes (although hopefully not the John Rocker’s or the Greg Ostertag’s). People, or fans, seem to follow both loyally … but if they had to choose one team to root for in a certain situation, which one would it be?
A question was posed a couple months or so ago on ESPN’s webpage called “The Daily Quickie.” It basically asked, if you had to choose between your fantasy team winning or the team(s) you actually root for in real life (i.e. Lakers, Dodgers), which would you choose? I just got to thinking about this the other day and had to pose this moral sports dilemma to myself.
You see, my fantasy sports world started out about my junior year of high school, where my friend J.H. introduced me to yet another way to wonderfully burn time with sports. Since then, J.H. and I had always made a team for basketball and baseball every year, to this day. To understand the sports predicament even further, you have to understand how fantasy sports work.
In picking your fantasy team, you have to choose real life sports athletes (in honor of my current baseball team, we will use MLB players and teams for examples). Before the season starts (for fantasy and real life), a “draft” is held, where the league you signed up with randomly decides who gets to pick first, second, third, etcetera until all teams (usually 10 or 12) have picked a player. When that is done, the first round is complete. Then, for the second round, the team who had picked last gets the first pick (in other words, two picks in a row) and it goes all the way back up. This continues until your fantasy team has all the requisite players (i.e. a starting line-up and a bench).
During the selection process, you have to decide which current MLB player you want playing for your fantasy team. The league that I’m in counts all offensive stats as points … nothing is penalized for errors or outs (except for pitchers, who are penalized about 0.5 points for giving up hits, earned runs, and more points for a loss). With this in mind, you can choose anyone from any team … including a team that might be your rival for real life sports. Let’s use me as the example. I love the Los Angeles Dodgers. I despise their rival (tradition?) the San Francisco Giants. But, what if I needed a good starting pitcher, and the best one available was Giants ace Jason Schmidt? I’m not going to take a lesser pitcher with my next pick just because he’s on the Giants (am I?).
So, say my fantasy team is comprised of Schmidt (hey, it happens) and a couple of other players from the Dodgers’ division, like 1B Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies and 2B Orlando Hudson from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now, what happens to my loyalty if the Dodgers are set to play the Rockies for a 4 games series and then the same week, the D’Backs for another 3 games? I need Helton and Hudson to do well, but if they do well, their respective teams have a better shot at beating the Dodgers … and if the Dodgers lose, it puts a kink in my day. If they don’t do well, then my fantasy team comes up short in points and I lose. Quite the quandary.
An even crazier choice would have to be made if the Dodgers are towards the end of their season and are vying for a playoff spot, while my fantasy team is also in the hunt for one. Now what should I want to happen? On the surface, it seems ludicrous for me to be rooting for said Giants pitcher Schmidt, while my whole life I’ve been booing his team … but now he’s helping my fantasy team.
Basically, I don’t know if there is a right or wrong answer here. I suppose a lot of the decision making could stem from what team is “your” team. For example, if your favorite MLB team was the Kansas City Royals, you might not have much of a dilemma because the Royals get beat more than red-headed step children. Plus, do the Royals even have a rival? The closest thing is probably their Triple-A team. So, the problem for Royals fans (if they exist) is alleviated greatly.
For me, it goes like this: I will never wish defeat or someone doing well against my Dodgers (or Lakers). It is just too foreign to me. I just hope that my fantasy players going up against my real life favorite teams don’t suck so badly that it kills my fantasy team. I am happy with that. I suppose my loyalty runs too deep for my LA teams and because nothing surpasses the excitement of watching said teams in the playoffs … and I don’t think that’s bad.
(2 Cent): Second Round’s On Me
This week’s review is the second CD from one of Eminem’s protégés entitled “Second Round’s On Me” by Obie Trice. I was skeptical at first because I really liked his first CD (“Cheers”) and thought I should prepare for the “sophomore slump” that some artists go through. Another side of me felt that it still should be good since Eminem produced many of the songs and oversaw production on it in general.
I should know better than to doubt Eminem. Obie’s second CD is better than anticipated, not only because his tracks are hard hitting but because I feel his lyrics overall are a little deeper in some songs; Obie isn’t rapping about “bling bling” throughout the whole CD but keeps it real. For me, Rap artists need to have a unique style, strong voice presence, and to have some variety in their raps (i.e. good use of allusions that haven’t been stated previously by other rappers). Obie Trice has these qualities and personifies them throughout the CD.
I keep looking for a reason to give “Second Round’s On Me” a lower rating than 8 out of 10, but I can’t. He has hood anthems, a really sweet party song (“Jamaican Girl”), he switches up the flow with a couple of songs (“Wanna Know” and “Mama”) and keeps his guest appearances low in number but high in quality (most notably Eminem, 50 Cent, and Nate Dogg). I know I keep using the phrase “a really solid CD” but that’s what Obie gives us. There isn’t a lull of filler songs anywhere (save the Intro). If you like Eminem’s production style and liked “Cheers” then this CD will not disappoint.
**My Top 5 Songs** (in no particular order):
1): Track 5, “Lay Down” … This Em produced track has that “Renegade” feel to it (a song Em did with Jay-Z on “The Blueprint”) probably because of the violin sound in the background … but more up-tempo … a little harder … nice ridin’ music.
2): Track 9, “Jamaican Girl” (Featuring Brick & Lace) … This is the lone party song but you will definitely cut a rug to it …reminiscent of a Timbaland beat (i.e. “Naughty Eye”) … very catchy hook.
3): Track 17, “Every Where I Go” (Featuring 50 Cent) … A nice little jam that has 50 on the hook … just a song you can chill with while driving or you need a little pick me up.
4): Track 8, “Ballad of Obie Trice” … I like the simplicity of the beat and the synthesized hook ... the lyrics are also good.
5): Track 12, “All Of My Life” (Featuring Nate Dogg) … This track has a 213 feel to it, most likely because of Nate’s presence … how can it not be a hit with Nate Dogg on it?
(1/2 Cent): We Were Worked!
Last Thursday, my softball team --the Wannabees -- was handed a nice piece of humility. We were beaten 7-1, where our offense disappeared (last week we scored 11 runs somehow). I made my first outs of the season, going 1 for 3 … one was a big fly with only warning track power and the other was another pop up between shortstop and left field. It was horrible. Also, through 3 games, I’ve still not crossed home plate … in fact, I’ve not even gotten past 2nd base (only in softball people … I’ve been across “2nd base” many-a-times! Ha!). After the game, I had an epiphanic moment: I’m going to have to go at least 3 for 3 in every game that we want a chance to win. That’s not tooting my horn (where ever that phrase came from) but our offense for the most part is – to be positive – inconsistent.
At least I had a couple of good defensive plays at 3rd (which is noteworthy because I’m hit or miss in the field … let’s just say I have a good arm, but my work on grounders needs some practice). My best play came where the batter hit a laser in between me and the shortstop, I went left and just put my glove down to attempt to stop it, it ended up in my glove (where I thought to myself, “happy birthday!”), then acting like it was all routine, I calmly gathered myself and threw a laser back at the first baseman (ya know, a little extra juice on it so I can make myself feel good). Hopefully, we can pull another win out of our … bag … and even up our record.
Team Stats: (1-2) ... Last Game - L, 7-1
HCP Game Stats: AB = 3, R = 0, H = 1, RBI = 0, BA = .333
HCP Season Stats: AB = 9, R = 0, H = 7, 2B = 1, 3B = 0, HR = 0, RBI = 4, BA = .778
As for this Thursday, make sure you check back to see another pet peeve saturated article! Someone asked me the other day, “What if you run out of pet peeves?” To this I replied, “The day I run out of pet peeves is the day I stopped living.” Well, it sounded more profound in the moment. Make sure to send in those comments, questions, or anything that’s on your mind to HCP2007@gmail.com or click on the comment icon on the bottom right! Until Thursday!
HCP
Sports. A multi-billion dollar business. Fantasy sports. A multi-million dollar business. Both use the same athletes (although hopefully not the John Rocker’s or the Greg Ostertag’s). People, or fans, seem to follow both loyally … but if they had to choose one team to root for in a certain situation, which one would it be?
A question was posed a couple months or so ago on ESPN’s webpage called “The Daily Quickie.” It basically asked, if you had to choose between your fantasy team winning or the team(s) you actually root for in real life (i.e. Lakers, Dodgers), which would you choose? I just got to thinking about this the other day and had to pose this moral sports dilemma to myself.
You see, my fantasy sports world started out about my junior year of high school, where my friend J.H. introduced me to yet another way to wonderfully burn time with sports. Since then, J.H. and I had always made a team for basketball and baseball every year, to this day. To understand the sports predicament even further, you have to understand how fantasy sports work.
In picking your fantasy team, you have to choose real life sports athletes (in honor of my current baseball team, we will use MLB players and teams for examples). Before the season starts (for fantasy and real life), a “draft” is held, where the league you signed up with randomly decides who gets to pick first, second, third, etcetera until all teams (usually 10 or 12) have picked a player. When that is done, the first round is complete. Then, for the second round, the team who had picked last gets the first pick (in other words, two picks in a row) and it goes all the way back up. This continues until your fantasy team has all the requisite players (i.e. a starting line-up and a bench).
During the selection process, you have to decide which current MLB player you want playing for your fantasy team. The league that I’m in counts all offensive stats as points … nothing is penalized for errors or outs (except for pitchers, who are penalized about 0.5 points for giving up hits, earned runs, and more points for a loss). With this in mind, you can choose anyone from any team … including a team that might be your rival for real life sports. Let’s use me as the example. I love the Los Angeles Dodgers. I despise their rival (tradition?) the San Francisco Giants. But, what if I needed a good starting pitcher, and the best one available was Giants ace Jason Schmidt? I’m not going to take a lesser pitcher with my next pick just because he’s on the Giants (am I?).
So, say my fantasy team is comprised of Schmidt (hey, it happens) and a couple of other players from the Dodgers’ division, like 1B Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies and 2B Orlando Hudson from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now, what happens to my loyalty if the Dodgers are set to play the Rockies for a 4 games series and then the same week, the D’Backs for another 3 games? I need Helton and Hudson to do well, but if they do well, their respective teams have a better shot at beating the Dodgers … and if the Dodgers lose, it puts a kink in my day. If they don’t do well, then my fantasy team comes up short in points and I lose. Quite the quandary.
An even crazier choice would have to be made if the Dodgers are towards the end of their season and are vying for a playoff spot, while my fantasy team is also in the hunt for one. Now what should I want to happen? On the surface, it seems ludicrous for me to be rooting for said Giants pitcher Schmidt, while my whole life I’ve been booing his team … but now he’s helping my fantasy team.
Basically, I don’t know if there is a right or wrong answer here. I suppose a lot of the decision making could stem from what team is “your” team. For example, if your favorite MLB team was the Kansas City Royals, you might not have much of a dilemma because the Royals get beat more than red-headed step children. Plus, do the Royals even have a rival? The closest thing is probably their Triple-A team. So, the problem for Royals fans (if they exist) is alleviated greatly.
For me, it goes like this: I will never wish defeat or someone doing well against my Dodgers (or Lakers). It is just too foreign to me. I just hope that my fantasy players going up against my real life favorite teams don’t suck so badly that it kills my fantasy team. I am happy with that. I suppose my loyalty runs too deep for my LA teams and because nothing surpasses the excitement of watching said teams in the playoffs … and I don’t think that’s bad.
(2 Cent): Second Round’s On Me
This week’s review is the second CD from one of Eminem’s protégés entitled “Second Round’s On Me” by Obie Trice. I was skeptical at first because I really liked his first CD (“Cheers”) and thought I should prepare for the “sophomore slump” that some artists go through. Another side of me felt that it still should be good since Eminem produced many of the songs and oversaw production on it in general.
I should know better than to doubt Eminem. Obie’s second CD is better than anticipated, not only because his tracks are hard hitting but because I feel his lyrics overall are a little deeper in some songs; Obie isn’t rapping about “bling bling” throughout the whole CD but keeps it real. For me, Rap artists need to have a unique style, strong voice presence, and to have some variety in their raps (i.e. good use of allusions that haven’t been stated previously by other rappers). Obie Trice has these qualities and personifies them throughout the CD.
I keep looking for a reason to give “Second Round’s On Me” a lower rating than 8 out of 10, but I can’t. He has hood anthems, a really sweet party song (“Jamaican Girl”), he switches up the flow with a couple of songs (“Wanna Know” and “Mama”) and keeps his guest appearances low in number but high in quality (most notably Eminem, 50 Cent, and Nate Dogg). I know I keep using the phrase “a really solid CD” but that’s what Obie gives us. There isn’t a lull of filler songs anywhere (save the Intro). If you like Eminem’s production style and liked “Cheers” then this CD will not disappoint.
**My Top 5 Songs** (in no particular order):
1): Track 5, “Lay Down” … This Em produced track has that “Renegade” feel to it (a song Em did with Jay-Z on “The Blueprint”) probably because of the violin sound in the background … but more up-tempo … a little harder … nice ridin’ music.
2): Track 9, “Jamaican Girl” (Featuring Brick & Lace) … This is the lone party song but you will definitely cut a rug to it …reminiscent of a Timbaland beat (i.e. “Naughty Eye”) … very catchy hook.
3): Track 17, “Every Where I Go” (Featuring 50 Cent) … A nice little jam that has 50 on the hook … just a song you can chill with while driving or you need a little pick me up.
4): Track 8, “Ballad of Obie Trice” … I like the simplicity of the beat and the synthesized hook ... the lyrics are also good.
5): Track 12, “All Of My Life” (Featuring Nate Dogg) … This track has a 213 feel to it, most likely because of Nate’s presence … how can it not be a hit with Nate Dogg on it?
(1/2 Cent): We Were Worked!
Last Thursday, my softball team --the Wannabees -- was handed a nice piece of humility. We were beaten 7-1, where our offense disappeared (last week we scored 11 runs somehow). I made my first outs of the season, going 1 for 3 … one was a big fly with only warning track power and the other was another pop up between shortstop and left field. It was horrible. Also, through 3 games, I’ve still not crossed home plate … in fact, I’ve not even gotten past 2nd base (only in softball people … I’ve been across “2nd base” many-a-times! Ha!). After the game, I had an epiphanic moment: I’m going to have to go at least 3 for 3 in every game that we want a chance to win. That’s not tooting my horn (where ever that phrase came from) but our offense for the most part is – to be positive – inconsistent.
At least I had a couple of good defensive plays at 3rd (which is noteworthy because I’m hit or miss in the field … let’s just say I have a good arm, but my work on grounders needs some practice). My best play came where the batter hit a laser in between me and the shortstop, I went left and just put my glove down to attempt to stop it, it ended up in my glove (where I thought to myself, “happy birthday!”), then acting like it was all routine, I calmly gathered myself and threw a laser back at the first baseman (ya know, a little extra juice on it so I can make myself feel good). Hopefully, we can pull another win out of our … bag … and even up our record.
Team Stats: (1-2) ... Last Game - L, 7-1
HCP Game Stats: AB = 3, R = 0, H = 1, RBI = 0, BA = .333
HCP Season Stats: AB = 9, R = 0, H = 7, 2B = 1, 3B = 0, HR = 0, RBI = 4, BA = .778
As for this Thursday, make sure you check back to see another pet peeve saturated article! Someone asked me the other day, “What if you run out of pet peeves?” To this I replied, “The day I run out of pet peeves is the day I stopped living.” Well, it sounded more profound in the moment. Make sure to send in those comments, questions, or anything that’s on your mind to HCP2007@gmail.com or click on the comment icon on the bottom right! Until Thursday!
HCP
posted by HCP @ 10:29 AM
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