"They're my daddy."

Pedro Martinez famously uttered those words after suffering yet another beat-down at the hands of the Yankees (a.k.a. The Evil Empire).  The same sentiment can be applied to Interleague play.

The American League is the National League's daddy.

The AL has dominated the senior circuit three years in a row.  They amassed a 136-116 record against the NL in 2005, 154-98 in 2006 and 137-115 last year.  That's 427-329 for you MIT grads out there (or those of you who are bored and wanted to play with the calculator accessory on your computer).

Does the word "own" come to anyone else's mind right now?

As round one of the 2008 version of Interleague play is set to begin this weekend, I offer my deepest condolences to National League fans.  You are about to get a prelude to hell.

Or are you?

This year--more so than any since interleague play began--may provide the NL with its best shot at bettering those that use the designated hitter.  Thanks to an infusion of tremendous young talent (due to great rebuilding jobs from the likes of the Rockies, D'Backs and Marlins), some breakout stars and a couple key trades involving pitchers, the senior circuit could finally get the best of the American League.

For the first time since interleague play began, it's the NL that comes in dominating MLB's leader boards.

The Top 5 in hitting average are all from the NL, led by Chipper Jones with a .415 average.  The entire Top 5 in homers are from the NL.  And a whopping nine out of the Top 10 in OPS are from the NL, led by Lance Berkman with a 1.1280.

It doesn't get any better on the pitching side for the men from DH land.  The National League currently has three of the Top 5 leaders in Wins, Strikeouts and ERA.  Add in the fact that Dan Haren, who led the majors last season in interleague victories (4), and one of the most dominant pitchers in the game today, Johan Santana, are both now in the NL, and it won't be easy for the AL to score runs this weekend, even using the DH.

There is no way to tell for sure if the NL has completely caught up to, or surpassed, the AL in talent until the 'boys of summer' get on the field.  But there is an old saying that goes, "the numbers don't lie".

And the numbers are saying that this should be the most competitive interleague season yet.

At the risk of sounding redundant, seeing as my colleague Bret Sims as already posted a wonderful little ditty on Mr. Packer, it's time for me to lay down the smack on Billy Packer. 

It can be debated as to whether or not the game has passed Packer by or whether his style of color commentating hasn't kept up with the modern era of sports media.  But what cannot be debated is what comes out of his mouth.  That is usually something moronic; therefore by extension, he is a moron. 

I can stomach the fact that Packer has crossed the line between announcing and personal opinion.  Most notably, he pulled this stunt several seasons ago when the NCAA Selection Committee chose to put in more mid-majors than ever before at the expense of some larger conference bubble teams.  In an interview with the committee head on Selection Sunday, Packer got into an argument about how he believed that the tournament would now be watered down because no matter how good a mid-major team appears to be, they never could be in the class of a major conference team due to talent level. Instead of arguing his personal opinion, he should have been questioning the committee on how and why they came to such a decision.

Never mind the fact that Packer completely ignored the fact that, at that point, the college ranks had been losing major high-school talent as they headed straight to the NBA.  Those consistent defections had leveled the playing field for all teams for all conferences.  Not the fact that the selection committee had some bias against large power conferences (or at least that's the way Billy Goat saw it).  When the mid-majors (Butler, Gonzaga, etc.) had deep runs in that year's tourney--thus proving the committee was correct--crotchety old Packer refused to admit that he was wrong.

Jackass.

But what I can't stomach are the moronic things that he says during the game.  Most the time they are so riduculously stupid that it distracts me from the game I'm watching.  I understand that most of you will say, "Hey, just turn off the sound on your TV."  Well as someone who has aspirations of being in sports media as a play-by-play announcer, or sports talk show host, that really doesn't work for me.  What would work for me is if CBS politely, or not so politely, pushed out Packer.

Or pushed him off a cliff.  Either one works.

Here are just two doozies from last night's National Championship game.

With about 45 seconds to go in overtime, Memphis is down by five.  As they are about to inbound the ball on the side, Packer says, "Jim, they need a three and a two to tie.  So they don't have to get a three this trip, but they are going to have to get one."  Memphis elects to take the shot at the three.  Douglas-Roberts miss fires, Kansas rebounds and Memphis immediately fouls.  As the players are walking to the other end....

Packer:  "Jim I really don't agree with that at all.  They didn't need a three."

Really Billy?  Considering they were down by five with a very limited amount of possessions left in the game, I think they actually did need a three.  Maybe not that particular trip down the floor, but eventually.  I'm no MIT graduate, but my remedial math skills say that 3+2=5.  But worse, you just said the very same thing (wait, double-checking quote above...yep, that's what he said) not more than 15 seconds before hand.  Is the senility finally starting to get to you Billy?

But my favorite quote from last night's contest had to be this gem:

Packer:  (utttered shortly before OT began) "Well Jim, Kansas certainly is no stranger to overtime in National Championship games.  They had to go to overtime in the 1959 National Championship game."  Yep.  You read that right.  1959.

Never mind the fact that outside of Packer himself, there might have been 2 people in the nation that can remember that particular game, what the hell does that have to do with the OT in 2008?  None of the players on the court were born then, most of the player's parents weren't born then and some of the player's grandparents weren't born then.

Are you kidding me with that?  It's those type of statements that take us as audience members right out of the action, not put us further in the action.

I now fully understand why Jim Nantz always works The Masters golf tournament after the NCAA National Championship game on such a short turnaround.  It's not because The Masters is so great (although it is), it's because he has to get the taste of working with Billy Packer for three weeks out of his mouth.

Oooh.  Unfortunate choice of words.  No one wants Billy Packer in your mouth. 

And no one wants him calling anymore NCAA tournament games either.

Last second losses.  Crappy missed calls.  Crappy made calls.  Lucky half-court bombs. 

We as sport fans have all been crushed by the moments listed above.  So with The Madness picking back up tonight, I thought it was a perfect time to break out the heatbreak moments.  Or as I like to call them, the Grrrrrr moments.  Those moments as a sports fan where everytime someone mentions it, or you see a replay, you get so enraged all over again that you can't talk rationally.  You simply must excuse yourself, walk out of the room and let out a long, primal Grrrrrr.

My stepfather's is the NCAA Championship game in 1983.  My pops was a diehard Houston Cougars fan and Phi Slamma Jamma was the bomb.  How could it not be?  With potential NBA legends like Clyde "The Glide" Drexler and Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon on the same team.  Mix in All-American Michael Young and a highly underrated Larry Micheaux and you had a dominant team that rolled to 31-2 record in the 1982-83 season. 

But in the championship game they were done by a North Carolina State Wolfpack team that most said weren't even in Phi Slamma Jamma's class.  Lorenzo Neal grabbed an airball above the rim and dropped it in the hole as time expired for an 54-52 victory.  To this day, my stepfather, and anyone else from Houston at the time, will come completely unglued when that moment is shown.  They still believe that Neal's shot was goaltending.  They still believe they got jobbed.

Mine is burned in my mind as well.  September 21, 1999.  Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium.  University of Texas at Austin campus.  I was a junior at the 40-acres and we had Notre Dame in our house.  This was when Notre Dame was still good.  They came in ranked 9th in the nation.  Texas had begun to come back to college football powerhouse status being ranked #6 in the nation.

I bought tickets for me and my brother.  Had a fired up (hint:  liquor was involved) weekend.  Campus was buzzing like it hadn't been since I had been at school.  

The game went according to plan for us Longhorn faithful.  Pre-dope smoking Ricky Williams had over 100 yds. rushing and a touchdown.  The Godfather of Soul at QB, James Brown, was having a solid day, throwing for 178 yds, a TD and limiting his mistakes to only one interception.  With 2:54 left to play, the game was tied at 24.  The Irish drive the length of the field and get into field goal position.  The trot out PK Sanson (sorry, never knew his first name; don't care to know it now) and he buries the 39-yarder as time expires.  But adding insult to injury, the ball went over the protection net and proceeded to land right in the row directly in front where my brother and I were sitting.

I could've caught the damn ball as it bounced off the bleachers if I had cared to. 

It was like the whole Notre Dame team took a shank to my heart and then turned it for good meausure.  I'm actually surprised I was able to make sense long enough to write this out.  But having to relive it again?  Excuse me.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Let us know your best Grrrrrrr moment.  And I hope that a buzzer beater doesn't set the dagger in your hearts tonight as you watch The Madness all this weekend.

The first two rounds of the Madness have ended.  Most of America's brackets have been hosed, including mine.  We've seen upsets, buzzer beaters and a bona-fide superstar breakout (thank you Stephen Curry).  But this isn't where the tournament ends.  Beginning tomorrow we head into the candy land of sweetness:  The Sweet 16.

So for those of you who still have brackets that are alive (unless you are one of those dorks that fills out 100 different options; you don't count), those that play in a bracket pool that allows you to go round-by-round or those that just like to place a "friendly wager" on the games, here's five great match-ups/stories to pay attention to in the next two days.

1.  Can They Check Him?

Stephen (pronounced Stef-ON) Curry has become an absolute star in this tournament.  Only the diehard NCAA basketball fans and sportswriters were aware of Curry entering last weekend.  The whole nation knows him now.  Dell's boy went off in the first two rounds, totaling 70pts.  But what is more impressive is that he did it when it mattered most.  30 of his 40 in Round One vs. Gonzaga (the flag bearer of mid-majors) came in the second half.  In the Round Two match up against Big East power Georgetown (a much better defensive team), 25 or his 30 came in half two.  I believe you call that clutch.

The question now is can Curry and the Wildcats continue that trend as they step up, yet again, in class defensively.  Wisconsin is a #3 seed that has been flat-out terrific defensively all year long (the best in the country in defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com).  That continued in the first two rounds of the tourney as they held Cal State Fullerton to 56pts. and the Michael Beasley led Kansas State Wildcats to 55pts.  More importantly, the Badgers have already dealt with an opponent whose offense is centered around a superstar talent, the aforementioned Beasley.

How did that go?  Ask Beasley who is still scratching his head trying to figure out how he only scored 5pts. in the second half.  If the Badgers continue their play on the defensive end, Davidson's run comes to an end.

2.  Old School vs. New School:  Big Man Style

The Texas v. Stanford game on Friday night provides an interesting showdown in style of play between big men.  All year long Texas has struggled with teams that have good size.  It is not a stretch to say that the Cardinal have great size, cosidering they have the two 7-foot Lopez twins manning the middle.  But the key to the game could very well be one of Texas' big men.  And not the one you think:  Connor Atchley

Atchley is the type of big man (6'10") that you are seeing more-and-more of these days in college hoops.  He's more comfortable floating jumpers, including threes, than manning-up down low.  And he's adept at those jumpers too, shooting 42% from behind-the-arc.  The Lopez twins, Robin and Brook, are both classic low-post players.  Brook may be the better offensively, but both make a living commanding the paint on offense and defense.

If Atchley makes early outside jumpers, that will force whichever Lopez is guarding him to come away from the basket on defense.  That will leave only one Lopez twin under the board for defensive purposes.  That will greatly increase the chances of there being open lanes for All-American guard D.J. Augustine to wreak havoc.

On the other hand, if the Texas big men can't hold their own in the paint defensively, the Lopez twins could put multiple players in foul trouble.  If that happens, Texas is toast because they don't have the bench depth to overcome that.

Classic low-post big man vs. New age big man.  Who ya got?

3.  Pressing D

If you like multiple defensive sets, forcing turnovers, helter-skelter play and full-court defensive intensity, this is the game for you.  The master of the full-court press defense, Louisville coach Rick Pitino, will go mano-y-mano with the new guru of full-court press defense, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. 

Both teams have good size.  Palacios and Padgett for the Cardinals and the never-ending Smiths (How many do they have?  Two...three...twelve?) for the Vols.  Both have good guard play and both play an up-tempo, run-and-gun style offense predicated on getting easy buckets in transition off their defense.  That is merely the long explanation for they are very evenly matched.

It's going to come down to a defensive chess match between the suits on the sidelines.

4.  Return of the Prodigal Son (Sort of)

Xaiver University, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, will have the chance to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers, coached by non-other than former University of Cincinnati coach, Bog Huggins.  If you live in Cincinnati (I do), then you have no idea what this has become in the Queen City.

Wecome to the Crosstown Shootout Renewed! (Sort of)

But the key match up is not going to comed down to coaching, pasty history or bad blood.  No matter how much fans in this city really, really want it to.  It is going to come down to Xavier's defense, led by Stanley Burrell, versus WVU superstar, Joe Alexander.  The Mountaineers struggle offensively when Alexander has trouble scoring.  Xavier are where they are because of superior team defense.  Next to Wisconsin, the Muskies are the best defensive team left in the field.  West Virginia hasn't faced a team the plays defense with as much totality yet in this tournament.  They drew Arizona and Duke in the first two rounds.  Both are good teams, but neither one very special on the defensive end.

And yes, I know that WVU plays in the Big East so they must be battle-tested in that regard. 

Bull.

It does not matter one iota what a team did in their conference at this point.  The Madness, especially this deep into it, is a completely different animal altogether.  Go ask fellow Big East team Georgetown about that.  How did that Big East tested toughness work out for them again?

If Alexander doesn't score around 20, Huggy Bear will be on the country road back to West Virginia (thank you John Denver).

5.  You Wanna Run?

The Memphis v. Michigan State game provides an interesting mix of styles.  So far, there doesn't seem to be a team outside of UNC that can run the floor with the Tigers.  Michigan State has been living on slowing the ball down, playing solid half-court offense (even when Drew Neitzel is struggling) and locking down on defense. 

So we have a classic style-vs.-style game.

If Memphis can push and play their up-tempo style of play, Sparty will get blown off the court.  I don't mean just beaten.  I mean beaten down like a redheaded stepchild.  However; if MSU slows the game down, limiting the number of possible possessions, and has good shot selection on their end, Memphis could be in for a long night.  The Tigers don't shoot jumpers, especially threes, particularly well, and they shoot free-throws even worse.  Those are the two weapons you most need to have at your disposal if you find yourself in a half-court-to-half-court style game.

Whoever wins the style battle, wins the war and advances.

In case you were wondering?  I think Wisconsin checks Curry, Atchley forces a Lopez away from the bucket, the master continues to be the master, John Denver impersonators need to start warming up their vocal chords and the Tigers are off and running.  Wisconsin, Louisville, Texas, Xavier and Memphis advance.

The tiny college of Davison has quickly become this year's trendy "upset special" in the NCAA tourney.  Well I have my seat booked on that bandwagon as well.  I love Davidson to get the Round 1 upset over the king of the mid-majors, Gonzaga.  I also wouldn't be surprised to see them knock out Georgetown in Round 2 (assuming Georgetown takes care of it's business over UMBC).  I don't personally have the Wildcats of Davidson pulling that kind of George Mason-like run, but I wouldn't exactly be stunned if it happened.

(Note:  Vegas says that #10 and #12 seed upset teams advance onto the Sweet 16 round half of the time, after getting their Round 1 upset.  In case you were looking to make a friendly wager, Davidson is a #10 seed.  Not that gambling is legal....or anything.)

Davidson gained the automatic bid to "The Big Dance" by winning the Southern Conference tourney, after toasting it with an undefeated (20-0) record.  The Wildcats finished with an overall record of 26-6.

The university is located in tiny Davidson, North Carolina and only has an enrollment of about 1,700.  Davidson, North Carolina is near Charlotte.  Want to take a guess where they are slotted to play Rounds 1 and 2?  Raleigh.  If you ever want to provide fuel for an upset, having a upstart mid-major play near their campus is like providing them with their own Shell station.

They average 78 pts. per game and shoot 47% from the field.  A large part of that is superstar shooting guard Stephen Curry, son of former NBA star Dell Curry.  Curry averages 25.1 ppg and 4.8 rpg.  Just like his old man, he is absolutely deadly with his jump shot, shooting 48% from the floor and 42% from behind-the-arc.  He's a matchup issue for anybody in the country and can't be held down for a full 40 minutes.  Let us just say that Gonzaga's 181st ranked defense will see way too much of Mr. Curry for their liking.

Davidson also takes care of the ball, which is key in winning tournament games.  They the turn the ball over on average of 12 times per game.  But they offset even their smallest amount of turnovers by getting 8 steals per game. 

However; the one achilles heel for the Wildcats, as it is with most mid-majors, is size.  They don't have a lot of it.  The top two leading rebounders (Meno and Lovedale) only go 6'8" and average only 5 rpg.  Compare that with their prospective Round 2 opponent, who have Roy Hibbert (7'2"), and you see why I don't have them getting out of the second round.

Lastly before you throw out that old argument against mid-majors:  their competition isn't as good.  The Wildcats are one of the exceptions.  They played a tremendous non-conference schedule that included ACC heavyweights UNC, Duke and North Carolina State.  They lost all three of those games by a combined 11pts.  Considering they had to play each of them on their court (God forbid that a major go play a mid-major in their gym) that's not too shabby.  Tells me that they aren't afraid, or intimidated by anyone.  Another good trait to have heading into the tourney.

Bandwagon giddy-up.

Lost in the shuffle (predictably) of Bret Favre's retirement, Warren Sapp announced his official retirement from the NFL according to ESPN.com.  In a moment of symmetry, the announcement comes on the same day as Favre's.  Sapp will be forever linked with Favre for their so-called "feud" when Sapp played on the Bucs, and Tampa Bay and Green Bay were both in the same division.

At the height of his career, Sapp was the most dominant defensive lineman in the game.  He was also one of the greatest "mouths" in the game, never at a loss for words or a good quote.  The NFL media will never be the same.

The NBA's Western Conference was already bunched tightly enough.  Several huge trades over the past couple of weeks involving the likes of Pau Gasol, Shaquille O'Neal, & Jason Kidd amongst others only furthered that bunch.  Well, the conference race to the playoffs may have just thinned out a bit.

KRIV-TV out of Houston, and ESPN, are reporting that C Yao Ming is done for the season.  http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3265631

He was pulled from practice after complaing of--yet again--foot pain.  He was examined by team doctors which revealed that he was going to be done for at least a game or two.  He was then sent to Memorial Hermann Hospital for further testing.  It was revealed today that he has an apparent stress fracture, and will undergo season-ending surgery.  

As you can imagine, this is going to be potentially devastating for the Rockets.  The Western Conference #1 seed and the last #8 seed are currently separated by only 5.5 games.  Although the Rockets have been playing out of their minds recently, winning 12 straight, one good 3 or 4 game losing streak could send them plummeting right out of the playoffs altogether (they currently are the #7 seed).

It should be interesting to see how they handle the situation beginning tonight against Washington.

NASCAR officials need to review their inclement weather policy after what took place yesterday at the Auto Club 500 in Fontana, California.  Currently, there only seems to be one rule:  Get in the race on Sunday at all costs.

It rained a ton this weekend in Fontana.  The rain also unloaded on the track again several hours before the race was to begin.  Once the rain let up, all parties agreed, including the drivers, that the race could be gotten in yesterday if two things occured:  1) NASCAR dried the track sufficiently, paying special attention to weepers (seeping of water through cracks in the track) that are notorious at Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway), and 2) No more rain came down.

Neither happened.

In thier zeal to get the race in yesterday no matter the cost, NASCAR didn't take the time after they dried the track to make a double-check to see if the infamous weepers were rearing their ugly heads.  Well not until they allowed the drivers to do that for them, at least.

You guessed it.  As soon as the cars got to moving, and the green flag flew, the weepers kicked in and massive puddles were created on the track.  The puddles were big enough to be seen on the television coverage at one point, and even those of us without HD could see them.  Naturally, several cars ran through the water, spun out, hit the wall, and were out of the race within the first 20 laps.   (Remember:  NASCAR mandates that the tires on the cars have no tread.  They are known as 'slicks'.  Appropriately titled for yesterday). 

It was only after Casey Mears had an incident with the weeper puddles, whereby his car ended up on its roof, did the NASCAR officials red flag the race and decide to take care of the problem. Anyone ever heard of the word "proactive"?  NASCAR knew that this track in particular has had this problem in the past when it rains, yet didn't take the extra time to monitor the situation before the race began. 

Listen, we all understand the issues at hand here.  If you cancel the race and run it on Monday, you lose a signficant portion of your television audience, it makes your revenue sponsors unhappy, it all ties into money.  We get it.

But shouldn't the safety of the drivers come before the money guys?  I mean, isn't this the very same organization that spent millions on research in order to develop what eventually became known as the Head And Neck Safety restraint (HANS)?  They did that only in response their most popular driver, Dale Earnhart, dying on the track.  Is it going to take somebody else, like maybe Dale's son, Dale Earnharnt, Jr., succumbing to the same fate before they re-evaluate their inclement weather policy (assuming there is one, and there is serious debate of that after yesterday)?

After Earnhardt, Jr. was collected in the aforementioned Mears crash, he had this to say, "The track's real dirty and everybody's sliding around.  The track ain't ready today.  The track's dirty, and this was a bad move."  Denny Hamlin was the first car to tangle with the weepers, "...we should not be racing on that racetrack right now.  I hit a slick spot and my car took off.  I hit a wet spot and I'm not going to be the last."  The Casey Mears incident happened just a few laps later.

The sad part of all this is that this a problem, unlike on-track collisions, that is easily rectifiable:  Get tires with tread.  Period.

NASCAR teams have the world's best engineers continually developing new engines that can generate 10 more horsepower than ever before, or get 10 more miles per gallon than ever before, and conversely, NASCAR itself has some of the world's best engineers to oversee the team's engineers and make sure they aren't cheating.  You're telling me with all that MENSA-like brain power involved, NASCAR can't come up with a set of tires with tread that can run on wet surfaces?  Seriously?

The Car of Tomorrow (COT) debuted at several tracks last season.  This season it has become the Car of Today, as it will be run at all tracks.  Before that car design ever hit a single track in testing, NASCAR asked Goodyear (the exclusive tire provider) to come up with a tire with new rubber compounds that will allow the car to run properly.  They did this because the COT has some design features that had never before been used on a stock car (mainly a rear wing).  Goodyear got right on it.  As of this writing, there have been no significant problems with tires on the COT.

You're telling me that Goodyear can invent new molecular compound structures for tires, but they can't figure out how to put tread on a racing tire that allows these stock cars to run on wet surfaces?

The old argument to all of this has always been that it doesn't matter anyway because the cars don't have windshields that are made of glass, therefore they can't have windshield wipers.  Without wipers they'll never be able to run in the rain. 

Pardon the pun, but that doesn't float.

You don't, and shouldn't run these cars in the rain itself.  You wait for the rain to stop completely, then give the crew a few minutes to install the "rain tires" and away you go.  You don't have to waste time even bothering to dry the track because the cars have tires that can handle the wet surface.  Or, if it makes NASCAR feel better, they can have a reduced drying time, get the track somewhat dry and send them out.  Either way, it's less time for the fans to wait during the delay, the cars are safer on the track, and NASCAR can keep their hell-bent way of attempting to get races in on Sunday.

It doesn't take a genius, or a NASCAR engineer, to figure that out.

Let's be honest.  If you are reading this, you probably already know about the Holy Trinity of shortstops (that's what we call them here at GSI)--Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins.  You also probably know that they will be drafted early in the first round of almost everyone's draft, including yours.  If you are one of the fortunate to a draft slot that high, you can stop reading now.

Seriously.  Stop now.  You're set at this position.  Move on.

But what if you're not one of the fortunate?  What if you know that there is no chance in H-E-double hockey sticks that one of the Trinity will fall to you?  What do you do?  Be patient and wait. 

An old adage says, 'Patience is a virtue'.  It works in life.  It works in a fantasy.

Shortstop is one of the deeper positions in the game, especially if you are participating in a mixed league.  It is also a position where you can get good value later in your draft. 

Why?  Because there is a second, and even third-tier of shortstops that can be had in the middle-to-late rounds of your draft that are going to provide you with excellent production, and as an added bonus (wait for it....wait for it....) they are interchangeable. 

That's right.  I said interchangeable.  As in you don't have to think, just name one. 

Choosing anyone of the second-tier shortstops is like being in the middle of a Florida orange grove and being asked to pick an orange.  Any orange.  In much the same way you would just reach up and grab the first orange you see, you can simply reach out and snag a shortstop whenever you feel like.

Here's what I mean.  I believe the second-tier of shortstops to be Jeter, Carlos Guillen, Tulowitski, Michael Young, Edgar Renteria.  That's because all of these guys are going to give you solid production in all five categories (AVG, HR, RBI, R, SB), without forcing you to have to compensate in a particular area because of a deficiency.  Using ESPN's fantasy guide (you should be using GSI's, but for the purposes of remaining unbiased, I chose to go outside the company), let's take a look at the projections for these five.

Derek Jeter:  .327 / 14 / 79 / 109 / 20
Carlos Guillen:  .305 / 19 / 91 / 91 / 14
Troy Tulowitski:  .288 / 24 / 99 / 107 / 13
Michael Young:  .305 / 11 / 97 / 90 / 10
Edgar Renteria:  .311 / 10 / 62 / 100 / 12  

You can now see what I mean by interchangeable.  Select anyone of these guys and you're going to grab someone who hits over .280, steals you double-digit bags, scores in the neighborhood of 100 runs, and drives in around 80 RBI or better.  The only difference is in home run stats, and even there, there isn't a significant gap that would cause you to lose an overall point or two in that category.  

Now for the patience side of things.  You don't have to grab any of these guys too early.  You don't need to spend your first-round pick on them.  You don't even have to feel antsy if you still don't have one of them in the third round.  According to Mock Draft Central, the first one of the above being chosen is Jeter.  On average, he's going with the 37th pick.  If you play in a standard 12-team league, that's early fourth round.  Tulowitski follows closely after, being drafted around the 46th pick (also 4th round).

Our own mock draft here at GSI bears that out as well.  Jeter and Tulowitski both went in the fourth round, with Guillen following in the fifth.  Renteria may be the best value as he isn't even listed in the Top 75 picks by Mock Draft Central, and in the GSI mock he didn't go off the board until the 11th round.  Not bad to pick up a guy that will hit above .300, score 100 runs and steal double-digit bags in the 11th round, huh?

But the great thing about shortstop right now is that you can even wait longer.  Value can still be had even after the second-tier group.  Players like Orlando Cabrera, Jhonny "Who put this H in my name?" Peralta, Miguel Tejada and Kahlil Greene can be selected even later in most drafts.  However, this group of players' value is limited.  You have to draft anyone of these with that caveat in mind.

Tejada may not play for 50 games because of the Mitchell Report's investigation.  Peralta will kill you in stolen bases.  Greene will kill your average.  Cabrera will kill your power.  If you are prepared to draft so as to compensate for those deficiencies, then even these guys will be valuable late in the draft.

So if come draft day you don't have a top selection slot, don't worry.  You let the owners ahead of you grab the Holy Trinity.  You'll be secure in the knowledge that you can build your team around other studs like Howard, Fielder, Holliday or Pujols, or maybe develop a serious rotation with arms like Santana, Peavy, Webb or Beckett, and still have plenty of juice at the shortstop position waiting on you in a couple rounds.

Like picking oranges in China Grove (had to get a Doobie Brothers reference in). 

Before I begin, allow me to perform a public service announcement for one:

To my colleague Bret Sims:  I know that you hate MLB.  So in the interest of fairness, I'm giving you this advance warning.  This will be yet another baseball related post.  Pleas ignore it and move on to investigating your follow-up post on the Wii Syndrome story:  HGH Being Prescribed to Suffers of Wii Syndrome.  Thank you and Good Luck.

On to baseball.

Several weeks ago,  I wrote a three-part series whereby I did a one-man mock baseball draft (or rankings if you prefer that terminology).  In it, I beat the drum for a particular mantra over, and over, and over again:  Grab Speed Early.  Since I've been participating in the GSI Mock Draft (posted directly under this one), I have recently taken some heat for that mantra.  I feel that further explanation is necessary.

I was never, and never will advocate taking all speed guys early.  Can you find stolen base guys late in your draft?  Sure.  But will they be coming with a ton of category baggage?  You bet.

(When I refer to category baggage, I am referring to a player that does one, or possibly two, things extremely well--i.e. stolen bases and average.  But does something else so completely horribly--i.e. home runs and runs batted in--that you have to use pick(s) to compensate for it.  If you don't compensate, you devalue the one or two things that player does well because your overall team value takes a hit.)

I have never, for instance, advocated taking a player like Juan Pierre in the second or third round just because he'll steal you 50+ bases, and that's hard to come by.  I would not only be kicked out of writing for GSI if I did that, but I would have my fantasy players card revoked (if there was one) and possibly be locked up by the men with the white coats (maybe I'll get a room next to Brittany!). 

No.  What I've advocated is taking the speed guys who don't bring along category baggage early, over say a pure power hitter.   You want the elite speed that will also not hurt you in other categories, so that you don't have to worry about using picks to compensate.  Players like Reyes, Ramirez, Crawford, Byrnes, etc. should be taken over players like Pujols, Manny and Big Papi, because they are going to steal you a goodly amount of bags (in Reyes' case an ungodly amount), yet they won't hurt you too badly in other categories like HR, RBI, R.

You might be asking yourself, "Self, why would I do that?"  Answer:  Sheer numbers.

Last season there were only 19 players total that stole 30+ bases in the bigs.  19.  That's it.  That's all.  Drive home safely.  And of those 19, just a little over half of them come without category baggage.  So if you don't grab one or two these players early, you're going to be spending the rest of your draft trying to do preparatory compensation so that you can then select a couple of speed guys with baggage (i.e. Pierre, Taveras, Owens, etc.) and not bring down the overall production of your team.

Allow me to use our own GSI Mock Draft to illustrate.

We are currently in the 11th round.  If you were an owner that didn't subscribe to my mantra (shame on you!) and decided to go for power or pitching early, then fill your stolen base needs later, here is what you are looking at.  Through 10 rounds there are approximately six players who stole 30+ bags last season still left on the board.  Let's break these players down, shall we?

So if you waited on speed, while you're looking over the above options (heaven help you), I'm sitting pretty with my speed already in tow.  I have approximately 70-80 stolen bases, projected, with Ichiro, Kinsler and Martin, and I didn't seriously damage any other category doing it.  And I still have time to take a flier on a guy like Michael Bourn or Fukudome to round out my stolen bases category.

As an added bonus, I still have a ton of 25-30 HR potential guys left on the board to choose from when filling out the power needs of my roster. 

Wouldn't you rather have a bunch of decent options to fill your roster needs late in the game, instead of a few--and those few are going to cause more trouble than they are worth?  I sure would.

But then again, maybe you covet Jerry Owens.

Today the NCAA denied University of Cincinnati QB Ben Mauk's petition for a 6th year of eligibility.  Mauck had redshirted his freshman year at Wake Forest.  He then broke his arm in the first game of the 2006 season and missed the rest of that season.  Mauk had petitioned for the extra eligibility on the basis that he was forced to redshirt at Wake.  The NCAA didnt' buy it.

But don't despair Bearcat fans.  UC will have Notre Dame transfer Demetrius Jones on hand next season.  He sat out all of this season after starting the first game for the Irish, only to transfer to UC shortly afterwards.  The Bearcats will also have QB's Dustin Grutza and Tony Pike in house as well.

COMPLETE STORY

I've had enough!

Here are just some of the things we learned in yesterday's so-called "sports" world. 

Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens are both big, fat liars.  Both have lied so often, and about so many different things, neither of them will be prosecuted because no one, federal investigators included, is able to make heads-or-tails of their lies.  Heck, I'm not even sure if Clemens and McNamee can keep all their lies straight.  The congressional hearing was the biggest waste of time on the planet.

Kelvin Sampson is still calling recruits illegally, even after he's been punished at two different universities for it.  Now it appears that he's sullied the previously good reputation of Indiana University.  And worse yet, it appears the Athletic Director knew of Sampson's past, and either boldly ignored it or just decided to take a flier and hoped he'd change his ways.  No dice.  As the saying goes, a leopard doesn't change their spots.

The one actual sports news story from yesterday also got screwed.  The Mavericks and Nets had a deal in place to trade Jason Kidd for a whole host of players, expiring contracts, etc.  Unfortunately, Devean George was one of the players involved going from Dallas to New Jersey and guess what?  He doesn't want to leave.  Even stranger, he has an obscure provision that allows him a no-trade clause in his contract.  I say obscure because George is on a one-year deal that he signed at the beginning of this season.  Who the heck gets a no-trade provision on a one-year contract?  Anyway, he decided to exercise that clause because, let's be honest, who the hell wants to go to New Jersey when you've been playing for Mark Cuban?  Needless to say, the Dallas fans were brutal on George last night, and several times is almost got U-G-L-Y.

And lastly, UK fans were going bonkers/borderline insane over the stomping they suffered at the hands of Vanderbilt two nights ago.  For those of you who missed it, they were handed their worst beat-down in close to 20 years.  They only scored 11pts. in the first half.  Any witty quip I could write here would just be piling on.  I won't do that.

So in the interest of public service, I would like to get the sports world off to a fresh start.  Let's refocus on the games.  Out of the abyss of darkness comes light.  Yesterday might have been one of the worst in sports news, but today is going to be one of the best.

For NASCAR fans, like myself, the Twin 125 qualifying races at Daytona are today.  That marks the official countdown to the Superbowl of racing, the Daytona 500.  And for real NASCAR geeks, once again like myself, it's time to start evaluating drivers for my fantasy team.

The baseball fans can finally come out of their winter hibernation, as pitchers and catchers report to most camps today.  That means that there are only a scant number of days before all of Spring Training in full-effect.  For you fantasy players, again I'm guilty, you can officially begin answering some of those offseason question marks you had about your teams.  In my case, I need to see if Randy Johnson's back is healed enough for me to warrant keeping him in my keeper league.   I'm sure you have similiar questions. 

And not to be forgotten, if you're a golf fan, you have another tournament in a beautiful location.  The Northern Trust Open (formerly the Nissan Open, or the LA Open for those of you who go way back) in beutiful Pacific Palisades tees off today.  For those of you who are not golf fans, but have HDTV, I highly suggest you flip over every now and then this weekend to see the view in HD.  No better Zen for a sports fan than that.  Definitely worth the look.

So cheer up sports fans.  The dark days of needles, gauze, and abcesses on the ass are behind us.  We're going full steam ahead toward the light.  The light that is the goodness of sports.

In just about every mock draft I have been monitoring, including the one here at GSI that I'm participating in, Victor Martinez has been drafted ahead of Russell Martin.  Well, it's time we put an end to that insanity.

Now I'm not one to use quotation's from other fantasy writers, as I prefer to make up my own original ones. (Like the soon to be infamous, "Asians live vibrantly forever".  Inside joke for those of us here at GSI)  But when looking at ESPN's 2008 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit, I realized that lead writer Matthew Berry did the best job at describing this travesty.  I tried to improve upon it, but alas, could not.

Berry writes, "Martinez had six more home runs and batted eight points higher in 2007, while Martin had nine more runs. That's basically a wash to me. So it boils down to V-Mart's 27 more RBIs to Martin's 21 more stolen bases, and I value steals more than RBIs. Plus, there's no reason to think Martin won't improve. After all, new manager Joe Torre has had quite a bit of success with catchers, no?"

Bingo, baby.

Once again, too much emphasis is being placed on power numbers in fantasy.  Don't get me wrong, I love the big hitters as much as the next guy.  And I understand that chicks dig the longball.  But the fact of the matter is when it comes to fantasy, there are a plethora of guys who will give you very good production in the power department.  The positions of 1B, 3B, OF, and to some extent SS, are loaded with power guys.

Therefore it reasons that when looking at the catcher position, it would be far easier to replace the type of production that Martinez will give you, than the type of production that Martin will give you.  Are Matthew Berry and I the only fantasy players that are realizing this?

Plus when you take a look at the numbers, it is not like you are having to choose between power and speed.  Martin hit only 6 less bombs than Martinez and scored more runs.  You are just about getting the best of both world's here, at a position where there is a distinct drop-off after these two.

But the question is can Martin duplicate his production from last year?  Catcher is position notorious for killing players' knees and legs.  Seeing as steals is a key component to Martin's game, it is a valid question. 

I say Yes.

Martin is only 24 yrs. old and is entering only his third full Major League season.  At that age, he should have at least 4-5 more good years left in his legs easy before you have to start worrying about the inevitable "catcher's knees".  (Note:  Eventhough Martinez's game relies more on power, he is 29, which makes him a prime candidate to watch for tired legs due to catching.  Seeing as most power comes from a player's leg drive and hip turn, that might be something to pay attention to.  Just saying.)

In his two full seasons in the bigs, Martin has produced OBP's of .355 (2006) and .374 (2007).  Both are well above league average.  I expect him to do the same, which means he'll be on base enough to have the opportunity to steal bags and score runs.

The one X-factor in all this--and it's a big one--is new manager Joe Torre.  Torre may not be the best manager in the world with a pitching staff, but he certainly knows how to manage a loaded offensive lineup in a way that uses everyone's talents (see Yankee's teams he managed over the last decade).  I'm not too concerned right now that Martin will land in a slot in the lineup that will adversely affect his power.  In a quick scan of last year's box scores, Martin usually held down the 5 or 6-hole.  Those are not traditional speed slots, but Martin still swiped his 20 bags.

I don't see the addition of Andruw Jones, crappy Rafael Furcal and even crappier Juan Pierre affecting Martin's batting position adversely.  In fact, if Pierre and Furcal are as bad as this year as they were last year, Torre might even move Martin up in the order to take advantage of his speed and higher OBP.  Remember, Jones and Kent need someone to drive in ahead of them.

Lastly, I think Martin equals or betters his production in 2008 because he plays all of his home games in Dodger Stadium.  That ballyard is cavernous and doesn't allow many 'adios' balls at all.  But the gaps in the outfield are extremely inviting.  So if the Dodgers want to score runs, they are going to have to take advantage of their guys with speed to get into scoring position, then let the big dogs extra basehit them home.  This is not a yard that plays into the "wait for the 3-run homer" philosophy.  (Hence the reason I said Torre is a BIG X-factor.  Can he manage that way after so many years in the AL where it was wait on the home run ball philosophy.)

It appears that some of my fantasy brethren have started to become aware of this injustice even before this posting.  As of this writing, Martinez's ADP (Average Draft Position) was only one spot higher than Martin's (28 to 29).  We can do better.  We can push Martin by Martinez.  We can right this wrong.

But if you happen to play with some fellas less educated than you on this matter and Martinez is drafted first, then you just smile.  Smile in the confidence that you know you can still get Martin (the true best catcher in fantasy) at a pick somewhere in the 40's (I got him in the GSI draft at #44), making him one of the best bargains in the draft.

For once, Redskin's owner Daniel Snyder's money couldn't get him what he wanted.  ESPN is reporting that Giants defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo is staying with the Giants.  The Giants also wanted to make sure that Spagnuolo didn't have the urge to flirt with other jobs, so in the immortal words of Cuba Gooding, Jr., they "showed him the money".  They signed him to a three-year contract, in excess of $2 million per year.  It makes Spagnuolo the highest paid defensive coordinator in the game.

But don't fret Redskins' fans.  You soon will have a Giant among you.  Former Giant head coach, Jim Fassel, is said to be the frontrunner for the 'Skins open vacancy.  May God have mercy on your souls.

Alright, I'm sure that you think I'm about to break some unbelievable story on a trade of Chad Johnson, or some other blockbuster deal.  If you thought that, you haven't lived in Cincinnati and been a Bengals fan long enough.  Mike Brown and the Crew don't roll that way.

No.  While the rest of the Striped Nation are still talking about Chad's antics, or the upcoming April draft, or how to fix the defense, the organization goes and makes an under-the-radar move yesterday.  A move that didn't even need a press conference to announce.  They merely sent a press release from the PR department. 

They signed P Danny Baugher.  Thank God.  Our long, local nightmare is over.  I can rest easy now knowing that we have a punter to replace Kyle Larson in case he leaves via free agency (he's an unrestricted free agent).

It's just the type of move that a Bill Belicheck coached Patriots team would make.  Remember several seasons ago when they jettisoned periennial Super Bowl hero Adam Vinatieri because they knew they could go and get a guy like Stephen Gostowski from the lower end of the draft?  That's right.  You don't ever, under any circumstances, pay for kicking.  It's that type of shrewd thinking that is going to bring the Lombardi trophy to the Queen City soon.

Oh, by the way.  Did I mention that Baugher was cut from the Bengals three seasons ago, hooked on with the Pats scout team, got cut from that, and was completely out of football all of last season?  Oh well.  If you can't beat 'em, rip former players off their scout team, I suppose.

Wow. Way to make a splash Bengals.