OLD SOFTY

I was ready. To unload. On the St. Louis Cardinals. Owners. And even Walt Jocketty.

I had a picture of Bozo the Clown. And a story. About how Walter appeared on the WGN based show back in the early 60's when he played The Grand Prize Game. No, he didn't miss the first bucket. But I certainly think he and the owners missed the mark on signing Fat Sidney. Talk about team chemistry. They are so hot to trade Marquis because he bellyached about not being a starter in the post season, but they'll take a flyer, and a million dollar one at that, on Ponson. But they wouldn't offer more for Gruz. Or Dotel. Or a whole heckuva lot of other free agents.

So I guess we'll see Marquis go for Willy Throw Pena or some other scrapheap project. Spend the damn money--you got it; come on.

But then I thought, "Are you kidding me?" You're getting so upset over something you have no control over? Do you know what time of the year this is? And I'm not talking about the Hot Stove League, or x number of days to Spring Training. Or even the opening of the New Busch Stadium. (I got my Christmas stocking from the Cardinals yesterday with the New Busch Stadium logo on it. I got it for ordering one of the 4-Game Packs.)

I'm talking about the manger, not the manager. I'm talking about the Lord Almighty, not the almighty dollar. The creche, not the cash. And how can one think of the crib without thinking of the cross, without thinking of the crown, without thinking of the King?

Have the most blessed Christmas ever and in the silence of Christmas Eve night, say a prayer of thanks to the Lord for His gift to us. Amen.

NBC'S NEWEST GAME SHOW IS STATISTICALLY INVALID

This is how it works. A contestant selects 1 out of 26 briefcases that contains an amount ranging from 1 penny to 1 million dollars. That case remains unopened while the contestant first chooses 5 cases whose contents are revealed. The object , of course, is to select the cases which reveal the lowest numbers, which means his case would contain a higher number, hopefully the 1 million dollars.

After he has chosen 5 cases, a hidden banker calls the emcee and reveals what kind of deal he will make. For instance, on Tuesday night's show, a contestant from Mass. had only 4 cases left--$1,000; $300,000;$400,000;and $500,000. The banker offered him $238,000 to make the deal. Of course, greed set in and he refused. He picked a case that contained $500,000. Then the banker offered him $189,000. Keep in mind there were only 3 left: one for 10 thou and one for 300 thou and one for four hundred thou.

Now there are two things I haven't told you. One doesn't matter. This is it. The cases are held by beautiful women in short dresses. The other does matter.

A little info blurb comes across the bottom of the screen telling the viewers that the odds of this particular contestant having either the $3 or $4 hundred grand is 66%. WRONG!!!!!
That's not taking into account that the one he selected was from 26. So first of all, he would have to have incredible good fortune to pick either a $300 or $400 thousand case out of the 26 possibilities. And with only 3 left, there's simply no way that that's 66%.

He took the deal, got $189,000 and when they opened his case, it was for $10,000. What a deal. And maybe not a bad game show, but statistically it doesn't add up and never will. I'm just glad my old stat teacher in Research 500 is not alive to witness such a numerical mockery.

A PARTIAL MVRL HISTORY

In 1980, Dan Okrent in a Manhattan restaurant came up with the idea of fantasy baseball. He called his invention Rotissserie after the restaurant that gave birth to the idea. In 1985 or so, I purchased a copy of the Official Rules for playing Rotisserie Baseball. I perused it, skimming it mostly and thought it neat but complicated and put it back on the shelf. Sometime around 1989 or so, Scott picked up the book, scoured over it, formed a league of high school chums (notice there's no p there, but I purposely used that word for one member of the original owners group who will not be identified, ok, you got it out of me-- Scott Pfiffer) and began play in 1990.

There were certainly some kinks along the way. One owner traded players for money. Real cash. Another named his team after a prophylactic, several members over the years stunk. There were some Ryan Piphers. Translation--owners who were on fire for the league. Did all the pre-preps, bought all the fantasy mags, talked a good game, and disappeared for the season after three weeks or so. Ryan's a great guy, but he'd tell you, that's what he'd do.
(Pfiffer's cool, too, for a Mets fan.

Baseball stats were kept by different owners taking turns using the Sporting News. And it took a long time. Alex Wellmaker was a long time stat guy although many people would share. Ryan Pietsch came to our rescue once when somebody got behind. It took hours to sort out. Another time, I kept stats but for some reason gave them over to Derek. Someone asked Derek if I had cheated, maybe because I had won the year before. Derek's response, "I hate to say it, but yes." The other owner was surprised. Derek continued, "He cheated himself out of some points that he should have had."

I'm not sure of the years that football, NBA basketball, then college basketball were added, but for awhile we went year round, although it should be noted that we never went NBA and college at the same time.

Plaques were purchased for the purpose of keeping track of previous winners. They proudly hung in my basement and at draft they were scrutinized by more than one owner. In the mid- 1990's, Ryan Pietsch purchased five inch trophies for the winners. (At least I think they were that size; it's been since 1999 that I received one.) The plaques are still in Scott's basement although I don't think they're current.

Man we have had hours of fun, and as Derek notes, stress over the years. New owners come and go, but the MVRL survives because of its uniqueness.

(Other owners and fellow bloggers: please feel free to add any info to this thumbnail sketch, including past winners, a list of all the owners, records, all the team names. I think it would make for a great read.)

ON THE OUTSIDE IN THE MVRL

Man, what would Sunday afternooon be without the MVRL? Even when your team choked it like the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, and the 2005 Astros, it's still fun to switch that remote and find out who's doing what. It's also tough when your team is out of it, not knowing who to root for. This year we have 3 storied franchises and one rook in the final four. All worthy opponents and good guys. When I got on the website after another Ram loss, another Cardinal loss, and the first loss for the Colts, I found Derek and Wes tied at 64 and Ryan and Terry close. Good luck guys--it looks like it could come down to the Monday Nighter.

Some thought on next year. You know, Ryan F is absolutely correct in calling our league a crapshoot, but isn't the NFL that way? How in the heck does San Diego get shut out by the Dolphins one week and beat the Colts in Indy in the next week? How does David Carr's team win and score 30 and he gets 0 points? Similar to Brad Johnson last week. Those are just a few examples, as you know there are many more. (See LT)

Despite all the breaks or lack of them, how do 3 of the final 4 teams get there nearly every year? We only get to keep two players, we have a rookie contest and selection, we have trades, we have free agents, and yet, nearly every year there sit Ryan and Derek in a position to win yet another championship. So how's that a crapshoot?

And it's just like the NFL. Oh yeah, there are always underdogs or newcomers, but the Steelers, the Broncos, well you know the rest (and if you know me, I won't name the patsies from the other coast) are nearly always in the playoff hunt. Fortunately, in our league we have no football Cardinals who never make the playoffs, but you get my drift.

So, having said all that, I'd suggest no changes to the football league for next season. Why mess with something that works so well? Now,baseball is another story. Even though I like the way we do it with the compilation of stats for the year rather than head-to-head, I think it may be time for a change. I think all are in agreement that Ryan F and Scott return to the league. I like the 3 AL players plus a 4th at mid-season. I'm ready for some modifications in this league. Ok, I'm ready to give Derek's head-to-head a chance. In fact, I'm in favor. And while baseball's not crapshoot (have you seen The Bronx Tale?), it is many times a simple roll of the dice.

Tomorrow's blog will cover a little history of the MVRL.