APATHY, THOU HAST DEFEATED ME

Apathy-(ap`uh-thee)-Lack of emotion: Lack of interest: Indifference.

There are lots of horrible things that can happen over the course of a fantasy baseball season. But if apathy comes home to roost, you may as well throw in the towel.

You can live with an owner or two who loses interest…but apathy is contagious and if you don’t nip it in the bud, it might be time to break it down.

Unlike fantasy football where you can fall off the face of the earth for 6 days and then reappear to set your lineup Sunday morn, baseball takes real commitment.

The reason rotisserie was invented in the first place was to give guys another excuse to sit around and talk baseball. If you are in a league where the majority of owners don’t even want to do that, then it’s time to blow it up.

I’ve reached that point in two of my leagues. My NL only and AL only leagues are populated by 10 owners, 9 of which participate in both.

Problem is, I just don’t get the feeling most of these guys even want to be in. That’s not a knock on the owners…if you aren’t into it, then you aren’t into it. But it certainly does suck and I am confident that unless I can find some new blood in 2009, these leagues won’t be in existence.

I’ve tried, really I have. Updating players on the trading block. Trash talking. Submitting trade offer after trade offer.

But consider in one league there is a trade offer on the table that was submitted on April 29th….there hasn’t even been a response to it by the owner. Not a rejection, not an approval, not a counter. NOTHING….IT JUST SITS THERE.

Reject it, please! You won’t hurt my feelings. At least I will know that you give a crap.

And how about one time, somebody send me a counter offer to a trade…as stupid as you want it to be. Offer me Luis Salazar for Ryan Braun…SHOW ME YOU CARE, AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT.

In my mixed league there are owners who send out 40 trade offers a week. 39 of them are ridiculous, but at least I know that they are actually enjoying themselves and trying to have others do the same. These are the guys that fantasy was made for.

The owner interaction in the distressed leagues is depressing. Even now, when cbssportsline has created a live chat right on the league site for owners to shoot the bull as games take place, nobody says nothing.

Maybe I’ll be proven wrong and things will change in the coming summer months.

To be honest, I had a gut feeling before the season began that these leagues could be going down this path. But I forged ahead anyway, mainly out of my own selfishness. I wanted to do an auction. I wanted to do an AL only head to head. So I guess I get what I deserved and I shouldn’t complain.

But it won’t happen again. Keep me in mind when you are putting together a fantasy league in the future. Don’t let this happen to you.


Chances are the Kimbo Slice fight was fixed this past Saturday night, I cannot deny. But it was still terrific television.

If you are like me, you grew up watching boxing. Remember when fights were actually on free TV on Saturday afternoons? How about Friday night fights on ESPN? Or even going to a friend’s house who had an illegal converter box and watching Mike Tyson when he was on HBO?

But the fact of the matter is that professional boxing has been ruined. Greed has taken over and fighters have their minds on the rematch before the current fight has even begun. I’m proud to say I have never given a single dime to Don King and I hope you can say the same. I don’t know if it will all ever come to light, but King is a truly horrible person who has ruined many, many lives.

So here comes MMA…mixed martial arts for those of you not in the know. The downfall of boxing has left a void and Elite XC is stepping in. There is still an audience out there who enjoy watching two people beat the pulp out of each other, without having to pay 80 bucks to see it.

CBS has realized this and last Saturday night, they aired a full card of bouts, to much glee in the McPherson household. At least, amongst the males over 30. (in other words, me…though, in people years, the cat is 67)

With characters ranging from the New York Badass to some guy who claims to have found Jesus and now likes to smash opponent’s skulls, the night was a success. Sure, there were some quick stoppages and some eye gouging, but all in all, I think it showed what it has to offer.

A ladies match was actually the best of the night. Gina Carano messed up Kaitlin Young over 2 rounds…but more importantly….Gina Carano is smoking hot!!! Plus, her day job is as American Gladiator Crush!



So she’s gorgeous and she can kick your ass. I know a lot of guys who would pay for that kind of action (Blum).

The biggie, though, was Kimbo Slice versus some British dude names James Thompson, who everyone says is basically a tomato can. Thompson entered the ring with a left ear the size of a small child’s head. It might as well of had a bullseye painted on it.



Drain that sucker!

But nobody was there to see Thompson…it was all about Kimbo.

You might know him from the youtube videos where he would beat the living tar out of guys in backyard brawls all over Florida. Kimbo has become an overnight sensation and EliteXC knows it. They signed him to be a marquee name, but it almost when all wrong on their biggest night.

Slice is a streetfighter, but to be successful in MMA, you need to know more than that. You need to know jujitsu and tae-kwan-do and all this other stuff. Kimbo knows how to hit people real hard in the face.

So when Thompson was laying a beat down on Slice in the second round, fight organizers probably could have used a diaper. Their biggest name was being taught a lesson.

But Thompson’s cauliflower ear would be his achilles heal and in round three, Kimbo popped that sucker. I let out a yelp as blood splattered from the Brit’s ear, but oh was it glorious!



The fight was stopped and Slice had survived. But I’m pretty sure he hadn’t been hit like that in a long time and his time in the XC might end up being short lived. Against a better fighter, Slice would have been meat.

But the important thing to consider is this: when was the last time anybody talked about a boxing card as much as this? It doesn’t happen, not anymore. If you didn’t watch, I suggest you tune in this Saturday night.

A buddy of mine, we’ll just call him Bryan, recently purchased the video game RockBand and it has consumed his entire being.

Suddenly, he has an alter ego. He’s purchased new clothes, some skull caps, and even talks with a British accent. The next time I see him, I expect him to have tattoos over half his body and a heroin addiction.

The funny thing is that of all people, Bryan is the last one I ever thought would get hooked on this game. I’ve known him for 15 years and in that time, he has purchased one CD….School House Rocks. Music has no real place in his life and suddenly, he is the drummer in a fictional rock band that practices in his living room. He’s invited me to his house to be the bass player, but who wants to be the bass player? Nobody likes the bass player.

I mentioned this movie before, but now it is on Comcast OnDemand….under free movies. Night of the Creeps. It won’t cost you a dime and you will thoroughly enjoy it…It stars Rusty from Vacation. Not Anthony Michael Hall, but the kid who played Rusty in Europe….when he made it with the German fraulein.(I’m sure that’s spelled wrong, but you know who I’m talking about)

Did I mention it’s FREE!!! What else are you going to watch now that Lost is done for the summer?

Say what you want about M Night Shama-lama-ding-dong and his movies, but he sure knows how to make an amazing trailer! ‘The Happening’ looks absolutely spooktacular, with people lying down in front of lawnmowers and jumping off of buildings. Totally cringeworthy.

It reminds me of that old TV commercial for ‘Worlds Most Extreme Video’s’ where they show a woman running to cross some tracks with a train coming….then they cut it right before she gets smashed to bits. You know her head erupted like a watermelon at a Gallagher concert, even though you didn’t see it. I viewed this commercial one time when I was 11 and I still have nightmares about it.

Back with a YEA or NAY on Friday….loads to talk about. Fat Joba, injured Papi, Dusty freakin’ Baker, Old John Smoltz and more.

Also, an FYI to those trying to leave comments. Do so without using vulagarities or they won’t get posted. Thanks.