NOLA FBA night at the Shrine on Airline.

4 Time Champ - The Prosper Express!

Sadly, dreams of becoming an MLB catcher ended 3 years into little league.  However, greatness in baseball just turned out to be in fantasy and not in real life.
Our first 3-time champ is now our first 4-time champ.  Great job in 2017!
Let's see if you can become our first back-to-back champion in 2018.

Put him down for three!!

Our now second three-time league champion had quite a run in 2016.  Some slick moves (trading for Bumgarner preseason and Hamilton midseason, etc.) along with a solid draft and waiver wire wizardry brought it home for The Clucker in '16.  He kept telling me he was going to catch CWCH in the last month and, I'll be honest, I had my doubts.  Well, I'll never be skeptical of The Matrix again.  What a finish...passing his last hurdle in the last few remaining days of the season and securing yet another championship.  Well done Armando!

The Throwback 34s double up in 2015!

This year the Throwback 34s secured their second championship in the NOLA FBA.  Powered by the vaunted veteran and the astonishing rookie tandem known as the "Throwback Thumpers," the 2015 champ held off the always competitive and formidable CWCH and Clucker organizations.
Key trades and a nice job drafting this year were central in the successful campaign by the T34s.
Obtaining multiple championships is truly an impressive feat and judging by the postseason festivities, the Throwback 34s' organization celebrated in a level commensurate with that accomplishment.  Led by their owner and GM, the epic celebration was rumored to involve chicks, guns, and firetrucks while lasting well into the next morning.

In deal made by Da Commish with Eonline and People Magazine for an undisclosed amount of money plus compromising photos of CWCH, some paparazzi snapshots were obtained of just a sliver of the celebration as displayed below:

Congrats Throwbacker, you are in rarified air now!  Only way to top this one would be to become our only back-to-back champion and our second organization with a hat-trick of championships.  Good luck in 2016.

Scouting Bryant and Russell vs Hatherly Hitter

Hatherly Hitter

NOT Major League Ready

Bryant and Russell are

Major League Ready

Dojo goes the distance!

Hailing from his home base somewhere between Mount Rushmore, the spiritual waters of Lake Minnetonka, and the far east - Dojo broke through in 2014 for his first championship in the prestigious and highly lucrative NOLA FBA.  In the closest finish in league history, on the very last day, Craig Who and Clucker deftly maneuvered and muscled for rank, but it was Dojo who ripped a walleye out his back pocket, bitch slapped them both with it then dropped the mic on his fellow competitors and walked off the stage with the hardware.
Congrats to Dojo!  Will he become the first back-to-back champion in league history or succumb to the pressure and pitfalls of a reigning champ?
Let history unfold as it will and Play Ball!  Here's to 2015.

Throwback finishes it out like he was all year...In Command.

After five years in the league, and following up a second place finish from last year, the Throwbacker dominates 2013 with an almost wire-to-wire victory.
The NOLA FBA manager, who has met more sports stars than Kim Kardashian, complimented anchors Miggy and Trout with unheralded 2013 stars Matt Carpenter, Jason Grilli, and Chris Archer just to name a few.
He performed a Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka Backbreaker on The Matrix down the stretch, leaving the Clucker, Hatherly, Dojo and the rest of the league scratching their heads.  Well played sir! Just a reminder though - there has never been a back-to-back champion in the NOLA FBA.  Better start formulating the 2014 game plan.
Lastly, you might want to save some of that $600 prize money just in case you have to ship the trophy to Dojo in China next year.  $600 should just about cover it.

**Photo Courtesy of Throwback 34s.  All rights reserved.  Copyrighted all day**

Promising Prospects

Making two consecutive night trips to Zephyr Field with a 2 hour roundtrip commute was worth the time. I've read about Oscar Taveras and how talented a baseball player he was and have also seen some good things about Kolten Wong.  

I am nothing more than an avid baseball fan, but I can tell you this:  talent sticks out like a sore thumb.  I saw it when Cameron Maybin was there, I saw it when Logan Morrison was there.

Kolten Wong is deceptively fast even though he has a stout build.  He hits the ball with authority.  He drilled a triple to center and legged it out with no difficulty.  Although, I have to say, it is not nearly as entertaining as watching "The Fresh Prince" on his giddy up around the base baths.  Once he gets his MOJO moving, lookout!  The big man can hustle.

Oscar Taveras has incredible bat speed.  I really noticed this when I was able to get right up on the first row behind home plate and watch these guys on deck no more that 10 feet away from me.  Even his practice swings look head and shoulders above most of his peers. When taking warm up swings it just looks as if he is able to keep the bat in the strike zone longer than anyone else.  Maybe I need new glasses but I swear it looks like that up close.   Check out the video at the end of this post.  It was, by far, the hardest hit shot of anyone in the two nights I was there.  A rocket shot the opposite way about 380-400 feet and it got out in a hurry.  There was no doubt when it left the bat.  The crack of the bat sounded like a gun going off.

Scenes from Draftapalooza 2013

Well folks, it's officially in da books. The 2013 draft is done and the inaugural "Draftapalooza" was a big success.
The draft anticipation and hype reached a fever pitch around 8pm and that's when things got totally out of control:  We each had a 16oz Coors Light and some Popeye's spicy chicken strips.  After that, the Diet Coke flowed hot and heavy.  Extreme  - yes it is.   And to quote Little Nicky "Popeyes chicken is F&^*%n' awesome!"
Seated in the pic to the top left are "Bluff Court Blue Sox"  aka "Da Commish" forefront, "Triple Threat" middle right, and "Team Macaque" in the back.
Also in the collage are pics of Team Macaque's "NFL style" draft day playbook and playsheet.
As for the draft, it was pretty balanced.  After perusing the picks I feel like there are 8-9 teams with a legit shot starting out the year.  Injuries, trades, and pickups will change all that I'm sure. So we'll see, but 2013 shapes up to be a very competitive year.

Clucker does it again.

The torch was officially passed last night to the Clucker.  After very humble beginnings finishing 7th, 9th and 8th in his first three years, the Clucker has become a force in the league with 2 championships and two 3rd place finishes in the past 5 years.  So that he doesn't get too big for his britches though, I threw in a bonus gift for him.  A desk ornament with the trade he made in his rookie season that propelled Hatherly Hitters to his 2nd of 3 championships.  The Hitter got Beltran from the Clucker for Dontrelle Willis ..... and the rest as they say is history.  Willis sank faster than Bill Clinton's approval ratings after he and Monica were smoking cigars together in the oval office.
Stung by the devastating effects of this trade, Cluck steeled his resolve and vowed for better days.  Out of despair and defeat, came the genesis of the Matrix, a revolutionary and proprietary (says Cluck) new way to look at players for the draft.  I got a quick look at the Matrix a few times when Cluck left his laptop on at work, but my eyes burned for 2 days afterwards and I kept having the inclination to trade my top rated hitter for a 5th tier starter.  It's locked down, not for prying eyes, and has "The Curse of the Dontrelle" on it.  The Matrix/Cluck combo is strong and churning out championships.  We will see if the trend continues?  Congrats on a great season!