My Blackberry Pearl is NOT a New York Yankee fan..

I was trying to text the word YANKEES today, and instead , my Blackberry Pearl suggested TANKERS.

Scott Berger: Jedi Knight - Fantasy Sports General Manager Chapter

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ME!

"It ain't braggin' if it's true...." Well, guess what, it's true. Year after Year, Sport after Sport, I find a way of getting players via trades that I want without giving up anything I covet. Whether it be Baseball (5 years in the money league - Two Championships and Three Silver Medals), Basketball (One Championship and One second place finish in two years of money league play), Hockey(One ESPN.com fun league years ago, but made a few trades and won the banner), and of course FOOTBALL (Money League Champ two of the last three years), I just have a knack for evaluating the situation and making the best decisions. Find what you want and pursue it until its yours! Simple mantra, I suppose.

Now before you assume I am some 30-something playing fantasy sports against a bunch of 12 year olds (Like Cosmo Kramer in his karate class), let me tell you I am just another has been playing against other has beens and never were(s?). Anyhow, injuries or bad beats aside, I tend to dominate this form of entertainment that walks the fine line of gambling and dungeon and dragons. My most recent Jedi Mind trick unleashed was back to back trades that ended with me receiving Stud WR Larry Fitzgerald, while only parting with depth from my bench. I now have the best roster in the league as I try to win my 3rd Money League Championship in 4 years. Good luck to me!

General Manager Berger on Line 1

I was thinking about baseball trades today and the ability for teams to rebuild on the run. Last year I advocated the Yankees to try to trade a guy like Mussina who, though valuable, could help the Yankees restock the "farm" without dismantling the team. Of course they turned around the season and still made the playoffs and now Mussina is helping lead the drive to the playoffs this year.

So, if you dont want to trade a veteran from a team that contends every year, then what about trading youth from a team in the middle of a rebuild. Now before you scratch your head to the point of scalp removal, please read my case study...The San Francisco Giants. Right now the Giants are a bad team in a worse division. They just traded Ray Durham and are cleary in Post-Bonds rebuild. I think they should make one more trade...trade TIM LINCECUM! Now, if you were scratching your head before, I can only imagine what you are thinking now. I say, that Lincecum's value has never been higher nor will it as you have the rare window of opportunity to trade a guy who is EXCELLENT now AND still has pontential to spare. Some people would say that is a reason to lock him up like the Cleveland Indians would do in the past with young players. But I look at the Okaland A's and the Indians themselves (C.C. Sabbathia trade this year for example) as two great reasons to trade Timmy. The A's have showed how you can trade a Haren, Hudson, Mulder, etc. and get solid (if not better) major league ( near major league) ready talent. The Indians have shown that locking up young talent works, but you can end up in a CC Sabbathia situation as well.
I say trade Lincecum and get 3-4 prospects that could all be playing at the major league level within the next 12 months and that wil give you a chance to win a weak National League West quicker than one Tim Lincecum can do by himself.

T.W.I.B. Notes from Around the League

This week in Berger........

Josh Hamilton in the homerun derby at Yankee Stadium was awesome! Probably the most energetic non Yankees World Series moment I enjoyed watching, baseball related, in a LONG time.

The economy - Pretty scary. Oil and Housing Crisis are understandable, but IndyMac closed, Wachovia raided, and Citigroup posting a $2.5B loss and B-E-A-T-I-N-G the expectations on the Street....Thats got me scared.

Work - I am lucky to have the job and all the work we have, but DAMN!. I have never seen this many people working on multiple projects from multiple companies this stressed out. From the Director of Construction for the Owner all the way down to the final cleaners (and of course the flooring guys!).

Vegas - As of this writing, rumors of a last second 24 hour Vegas trip cannot be confirmed or denied.

American Dreams, Ninja Blacksox, and Japan Robins are back!!!

1989 will be remembered for MANY things, but perhaps none bigger than the introduction of the Nintendo game, "Baseball Stars." Whether making your own SUPER team or having 7 game series that featured 1968 like pitching duels and hitters who barely hit .220, we all got caught in the hysteria of the best video baseball game offering of its era. Well now, with no downloads, and no MONEY, you can play for free on your desktop!!! See the link below and enjoy Baseball Stars and EVERY Nintendo game of ALL TIME!!!

http://nintendo8.com/game/683/baseball_stars/

Donnie Baseball

With the Juice Era exposed, I think we can once again open up the HALL OF FAME chatter for Donald Arthur Mattingly. Take a look at some of the years he had... http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mattido01.shtml

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

When I was young I was obsessed with baseball and all its players. Baseball themed video games were just starting to be released, so we would make up baseball games with index finger sized bats and toothpaste caps, and grab our baseball cards and baseball encyclopedias in order to form our teams. Today's young people have more options than ever to fill their free time, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the video I have linked below, which shows an 8 year old boy who has memorized all current 750 major leaguers. Sure does remind me of the days of U.L. Washington and Daryl Sconiers.........

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/sports/2008/06/21/smith.eddie.richardson.cnn