SB Nation User Blog: DMtShooter

NBA fantasy league needs owners

DMtShooter — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:33:48 -0000

This will be an auction league via ESPN, where you have a salary cap and keepers. The league has been around for almost a decade as a serpentine redraft league; I'm trying to do something different and more fun.

It's a $40 league with 12 slots where we've got a few openings right now. Top three teams make money. If you are interested, email me at dmtshooter@gmail.com, but do hurry; first come, first serve.

Thanks...

Hamilton, NJ fantasy league has opening

DMtShooter — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:31:51 -0000

Engage your multi-category David Lee love in a NBA fantasy league. It'll keep you warm throughout the winter, and make you care about the Pacers. (Yeah, it's not all pretzels and beer.)

I've been running an NBA fantasy league for most of the last decade as a serpentine online draft; trying to transition to a roto auction with keepers. Email me at dmtshooter@gmail.com for details; I'm hoping to close out the last members this week, for a mid-October draft. (I live near the NJ Turnpike and NJ Transit for those who aren't familiar with the greater Princeton area.)

Slots open in a Hamilton, NJ NBA fantasy league

DMtShooter — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:23:50 -0000

Engage your multi-category Andre Iguodala love in a NBA fantasy league. It'll keep you warm throughout the winter, and make you care about the Pacers. (Yeah, it's not all pretzels and beer.)

Local (NJ) Fantasy NBA League Starting

DMtShooter — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:49:11 -0000

Hey folks... please excuse the spam from a longtime Sixers fan, but I'm starting an auction / keeper NBA fantasy league, and we've got a few open spots. It's a longtime league (7 years) that's going from a head to head draft to a roto auction.

The live draft happens on Saturday, October 25th in Hamilton, NJ (between Princeton and Trenton), and you can get the details from me at dmtshooter@gmail.com.

Best,

DMtShooter

fivetooltool.com

I Hate My Favorite Baseball Team

DMtShooter — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:23:27 -0000

Your one-time AN Priest is off his meds and hating this team. Reposted from my blog, the always-uplifting Five Tool Tool. (The link also has pictures and video.)

http://fivetooltool.blogspot.com/200...

Those would be the Oakland A's, the only baseball team that I've ever been a season ticket holder. Some of the best times in my life were either spent at the park or just listening on the radio to the sublime Bill King. I've read "Moneyball" and posted to A's blogs and even been to A's fan group outings... so how has it come to this?

I still want them to win, will watch them when they are on, look to their box score first, and wear the merch, Billy Beane remains the only GM or owner in any sport that I'd piss on if he were on fire.

I just can't stand watching them.

Why? Because this year's Oakland A's team not only isn't winning that much -- at 43-41, they are 8 games out of the division and 6 games out of the wild card -- but they've also committed the cardinal sin of being no fun to watch. By valuing the subtle things that win ball games and can be found on the open market relatively cheaply, they've managed to drain the lifeblood out of the ways in which baseball can appeal on a visceral level.

Like watching a ball shoot into the gap and seeing if the hitter can go for three? The A's aren't the team for you. Despite playing half of their games in a park with funky angles and an outfield that, during football season, sends balls to the wall faster than an airport tarmac, they rank 26th in MLB in baseball's most exciting hit.

How about when your pitcher rears back with a 2-strike count and blows the hitter away with heat? Not so much with these A's, who despite the AL's best ERA, rank just 23rd in MLB in strikeouts. Blame the perpetually injured Rich Harden, the biggest tease to hit Oakland since Todd van Poppel.

Does watching young players emerge from obscurity wet your whistle? It does for me, which is why those A's teams from earlier in the decade where such a kick in the pants... and why this team is such a collection of blah.

This era gives you the failed promise of guys like Harden and Bobby Crosby. Crosby's excuse is frequent injuries, but at some point, you have to accept that hitting like Jose Hernandez is not acceptable, no matter what your excuse is.

You can also take a good whiff of Eric Chavez, who used to bear a passing resemblance to a Hall of Fame third baseman, and now looks more like a platoon player. Chavy now holds the dubious distinction of being the active player with the most home runs who has never made it to an All-Star Game, and his current .250 BA isn't going to get him an at-large invite this year, either.

I won't even get into the certifiably bad guys on the roster -- not many, because Beane is smart enough not to give knuckleheads the fuel they need to hijack a clubhouse, but still. Esteban Loiaza and his DUI is not much fun to root for, even when he isn't hurt. Arthur Rhodes and Mark Redman were such asshats, the team had to take on the ruinous contract of Jason Kendall, who is in the last year of a contract that's so bad, he should be in the NBA. ($10 million for a catcher with a breathtaking .540 OPS, which is the lowest in MLB among players with enough at-bats to measure. Tasty.)

Mind you, these A's do have their fun moments. Jack Cust gives hope to every beer leaguer. Dan Haren haunts the dreams of Cardinals fans who are paying for the broken-down years of Mark Mulder. Travis Buck has half of the team's triples, looks very good for his age and made Milton DL Bradley go away. Daric Barton is tearing up AAA and could be Pujolsian one day soon. Let's make it soon.

If they ever got back the myriad number of injured players, especially in the bullpen -- where the team has somehow patched together outs due mainly to the joy of being rested from the quality starting staff -- they could go on one of their traditional July/August runs that saves the year.

But for now, the team just looks like Mark Kotsay to me... a textbook defensively, means well, nice guy, tries hard, with occasional moments of power, gets the most out of his abilities... and a .622 OPS. And he ain't getting any better.

I'd rather watch Kurt Suzuki than Jason Kendall. I want to see Daric Barton now, not when the season's decided, even if that means the outfield becomes a defensive nightmare. I'd rather watch some minor-league kid than Crosby (another .622 OPS). And I can't be the only A's fan that feels this way. Let's move on to people with a future, because the present is making me feel like this guy.

(Kid Passes Out At Stadium video not allowed by SportsBlog)

And the season is too long for that.

Poll

Hating this year's A's team is...

Offensive

7 votes

Defensible

23 votes

Nostalgic -- FIRE MACHA NOW!

16 votes

Treasonous

11 votes

Short-lived (they're going on a run soon)

22 votes

Logical

14 votes

Disappointing

11 votes

104 votes | Poll has closed

I've Got Dave Stewart's Balls

DMtShooter — Wed, 16 May 2007 19:24:52 -0000

Sunday's win over the Tribe was very meaningful to me. Reposted from Five Tool Tool, The Sports Blog That Loves You Back...

http://fivetooltool.blogspot.com/200...

The A's were down two with two outs in the ninth, nobody on, and an 0-2 count on Eric Chavez. But the third baseman and Smoke Stewart client (yes, our man is also an agent) would not go gently into that good night, and he got on against Tribe closer Joe Borowski with a base hit. Milton Bradley followed with a longball act of vengeance against his old team. Then, Dan Johnson and Bobby Crosby get knocks to chase the closer. Finally, minor league legend Jack Cust went yard against Fernando Cabrera for his sixth home run in the last seven games. Ball game, Oaktown.

It gave the A's a series win, and made them 15-6 against the Tribe in their last 21 games in Oakland. But more importantly, it gave FTT its second win of the year in the Smoke Stewart NBX.com picks contest.

This means that we're going to get a second autographed baseball from the man himself. Having just gotten the first one in the mail yesterday, we're clearly besides ourselves with glee at the idea of completing the set.

(Smoke, however, just saw the headline, clicked on the (AC/DC YouTube video) clip below, and spit his coffee across the room, then fired off an email to the head people at NBX.com to make sure he really does have to go through with an interview with us when we win the season-long contest. Don't worry, Smoke. We're big fans. And we would not have the balls of Roger Clemens in our house, not that he's got any in the first place.)

Editor's follow-up -- Smoke has replied to our posts with vaguely happy words of congratulation... so either he's got a sense of humor, or he's not reading. In any event, we're camping happily -- and if you'd like to join in the quest for Smoke's Balls, go to www.nbx.com and see if they'll let you in the Blog Challenge. Tell them DMtShooter sent ya.

Poll

What Would You Do To Get A Hold Of Dave Stewart's Balls?

Find Ken Macha, hire him to do some yard work, and then FIRE MACHA NOW

3 votes

Pick baseball games

0 votes

Send DMtShooter A Big Honking Check

1 votes

Call Tony LaRussa and see if he's still got them

1 votes

Dress as Stomper

2 votes

Read a diary that has almost no useful content in it

5 votes

12 votes | Poll has closed

The Unwanted Return of AN Confessional?

DMtShooter — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:55:47 -0000

Probably not. After all, I moved and abdicated.

But if you remember the man who brought you

FIRE MACHA NOW! (Hey, it worked!)
The AN Confessional
Polls That Made No Sense
Simmering Unresolved Issues with Nico
and Other Diaries No One Remembers...

It's the All New, All Snark, All Sports Blog that someone, somewhere is talking about -- http://fivetooltool.blogspot.com/

Five Tool Tool has, to date, no hot Priest On Sin action, and coverage of the A's has been thinner than recent attendance at the T-Long Fan Club Meet Ups.

But it does have NFL coverage, NBA rantings, a revolutionary new way to use cheerleaders, infantile nicknames and apt comparisons of Barry Bonds to a meth lab.

So come on down! And if you're still dealing with unresolved sin, post it below. I'll unpack my Big Funny Hat and get to penance-pushing.

DMt

Poll

I missed DMtShooter more than...

Gary Papa

5 votes

Jeremy Giambi

4 votes

Billy McMillan

0 votes

Herpes

10 votes

Ken Macha

2 votes

Gil Heredia

3 votes

Who are you now again?

22 votes

T-Long

2 votes

Bill King (seek help)

1 votes

Jason Giambi

0 votes

49 votes | Poll has closed

The Last

DMtShooter — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 17:40:42 -0000

Every game you go to could be your last, but you never think things like that, because while life is short we've got tickets for so many more games, so many more months, so play ball and put such thoughts aside, for a while.

Tonight, I went to the Coliseum for what should be the last time in my life.

What follows is a memory of tonight and the last 6 years, for the team that made me care about baseball again. It's my way of saying thanks to them. Hope you like it.

On Friday, I resigned from my job of 5.5 years. The first 4.5 were great, the last year wasn't, and the new job should be much more like the early days. My new job starts in two weeks in NYC, close enough to my (and the A's) ancestral home of Philadelphia, where most of our relatives live, and where the housing prices are not Stock Raving Mad. So we're leaving.

* * * * *

In February 2000, I moved to the Bay Area; in April, we had our first child. By late summer, we had taken her to a game or two on a lark, and I had started to notice how this team had some interesting players. In the playoff loss to the Yankees, I felt a bond growing, but I could still take or leave them.

In 2001, we went to a few more games, mostly for fireworks, opening day, that sort of thing. The bond grew. I didn't really want it to - I had stopped following baseball entirely after the strike, following a lack of interest after the Phillies 1993 Blue Snow Team faded - but it did just the same. I started taking my daughter to the games by myself when my wife needed a break.

In 2002, the ante was raised. My daughter and I attended the last 4 games of the streak together. Memories were built (during the Streak, my 2-year-old conducted a section of people in Let's Go Oakland chants, quieted a section of guys using profanities with her wide little eyes, and slept through the Hattie homer), and traditions established (we're going to the Kids Club in the fourth inning, we're singing during the Stretch, you get ice cream or cotton candy but not both, etc., etc.).

The playoff loss was much more bitter. I began to resent the Giants for their saturation media coverage. I started collecting stories of what it was like to go to games with someone so young, so often. And in the next year, when a friend asked me to join a baseball fantasy league for the first time in 15 years, I said yes.

In 2003, my daughter and I went to 20 games, as we got season tickets for the first time in my life. We watched Eric Chavez and Keith Foulke drive the A's and my team. I went to the first - and, to date, last - playoff games of my life, and charted every pitch. My friend Doug and I watched Ramon's walk-off bunt, and a few days later, we saw Terence Long end the season and his A's career, while a third of the stadium cheered the death of hope. It stayed with me for a very long time, and made me feel the same as when Joe Carter ended Mitch Williams in 1993.

I didn't realize I could still feel that way about baseball. The A's made me.

In 2004, the Aces year, my daughter and I again went to 20 games... but with scar tissue. Mark Mulder faded and took my fantasy team and the A's down with him, and my playoff check was returned two months later. I felt as if the team had missed its window of opportunity, and now the best parts would simply go, one by one, to wealthier teams. Combined with political activities that can't be discussed here, it was a very down season, but I was a lifer now.

2005 was better in some ways, worse in others. I discovered this site, went to a couple of get-togethers, and took in another 20 games with my daughter. The team gained new and more promising momentum with Blanton, Haren, Johnson and Street, and I rode many A's in my league to recover from a bad start to a second-place finish. Our second child was born in July, and my eldest started kindergarten, so we started cutting back on nights out. With the hard eye of a fantasy league player, I never sent the team a playoff check.

So when 2006 rolled around, and the need to spend for new tickets came due... I put it off. We finally settled on just 10 games, for fireworks and games with friends, and I resigned myself to the fact that my daughter was just going to eat junk food, play with her LeapPad, and jump in the Kids Club bounce tent. Adding distance to distance, I had no A's on my team, and could no longer sit in the third deck, behind home, where I had for most of the last 5 years.

So 2006 has been something of the low ebb... and with job worries creeping into too many waking moments, and the previously forgotten challenges of raising an infant, the odd A's game didn't seem like a big deal. I also stopped coming to AN very often, and posted less. Baseball was there, the A's were there. They'd always be there, and I'd get back to them when I could.

Well, now, I can't.

* * * * *

So, today. The job situation became clear, and it's time to say goodbye to the Coliseum with a game against, of all people, Derek Lowe. And I have him on my team, and with Jason Schmidt getting lit up in Seattle this afternoon, I even had to consider starting him. Thankfully, Jose Contreras strikes out a ton of hitters, so I was able to bench Lowe at the last minute, and save what's left of my A's soul. And I went to the game, my karma clear, with any number of endings seeming poetic.

Doug, my wingman for the 2003 ALDS, is here again. Since I am without child for once, we can imbibe freely, and do. Lowe struggles in the first, and my decision looks wise. Then the A's pound grounders at fielders for 6 more innings, and it's all going to end badly - no win for either of my teams, the final game for me ending with a whimper.

And then Kielty, and then Scutaro, and then Crosby... and as Lowe leaves, I give him a celebratory crotch-grab, because revenge is a dish best served cold, three years later, in a regular season game instead of a season-ending playoff. Hah. Take that, you bastard. I'm feeling all of the old chills, all of the old love, because baseball is like that, and the A's are like that.

Street blows the save, and the blue shirts in the crowd give me flashbacks to 2003. The game goes on and on, and Doug and I trade stories. How he went to a 20-inning game in Philly in 2003 with the woman that became his wife. I didn't know him then, but I was at the same game, and stayed for all of it, just like him. We move down as others move out, and also rip on guys, because that's what we do.

"Think Nomar always talks down Lowe, even on games he doesn't pitch? `It's OK, Derek, I know it's late, but it's still going to be steak when it gets here...'"

"I wonder if Nomar has those same ticks in other aspects of his life."
"I don't want to think about that."
"Where is your mind at? I'm talking about brushing his teeth."
"Oh, man. I can't believe I went straight to that."
"It's OK. I did, too."

Foul pop up, near the screen, caught. "That's only an out in Oakland." Next inning, foul pop up, just outside the third base line. "That's only an out in Oakland."

A Bill King montage plays during an inning break. I can't put into words how much I miss Bill King, how my ears still keep reaching out on the radio to hear him every time I've turned on a game this year. We have the technology, and we have 20 years of Bill on tape. Someone can't put together a software program so that Bill can broadcast just an inning or two, now and again? I'm not ready to say goodbye to him. I'm not ready to say goodbye, period.

The 17th rolls around, and Seo misses on his first pitch to Crosby, and Doug and I are of the same mind. We're holding up fingers for the walk.

"Come on, Blue! Three more!"

Ball 2.

"Atta boy, Blue! Two more!"

Ball 3.

"YES, Blue! One more and its restaurant time, Blue! Let's go home!"

Strike 1.

"BLUE! YOU'RE KILLING ME!"

Ball 4, and it's all over. High fives all around, 9 in a row. I love this team. I even love this stadium.

And yes, there's always the possibility of the sequel of more games, and I've got tickets for July 4 fireworks that I may or may not be in the area to use. I'm sure I'll follow them online, Tivo their games back East if possible, log on to AN, etc., etc.

But on some level, I'm already gone, just because I'm aware of the possibility, and paying attention so much it hurts, trying to download the highest possible resolution file to the hard drive of my mind. We walk to the BART station and say our goodbyes. As the stadium fades into the distance, I actually say good bye, out loud, because that's just the way this movie ends.

Thanks for the moments, guys. Thanks for reading this, AN.

And Go A's.

Help Wanted: Priest

DMtShooter — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 06:45:54 -0000

Brothers and Sisters,

Your AN Confessional Parson is giving up his post.

(I'm also moving out of the Bay Area, and won't have the time to handle penance for, well, possibly ever.)

So... reply with why you should be the High Priest of the AN Confessional. The pay is spectacular, and the health benefits are unmatched. Contact Blez for all of the details on that.

The decision of the Parson shall be final. Bribery (we prefer to call it indulgences) is heartily encouraged.

You're also welcome to post your sins, and receve some good 'ol Shooter penance, while you still can.

DMt, Giving 2 Weeks Notice

Poll

DMtShooter is Leaving. I plan to

Engage in a flame war over who should be the new Parson

1 votes

Post a political reply

0 votes

Put $50 on Nico to get the gig, since he likes to play dress up

7 votes

Use the opportunity to create a public groundswell to FIRE MACHA NOW

4 votes

Read his back diaries and comments while dabbing away tears

5 votes

Club him to death with Antonio Perez's unused bats, then eat his brain, to gain his Parson spirit

6 votes

Dance in the streets, Broadway-style, because I'm Just That Secure In Who I Am

4 votes

Tell him he can't leave, because I just can't live without hiim [sob]

10 votes

Link his leaving to a secret plan to move the A's away from the Bay Area

8 votes

Blink twice, slowly, and try to figure out who he was again

20 votes

65 votes | Poll has closed

The Hopelessly Overdue Return of AN Confessional

DMtShooter — Tue, 16 May 2006 07:37:53 -0000

Dear Friends,

For 18 wins and 19 losses, the A's have wandered in the wilderness of mediocrity.

For six long weeks, Athletics Nation has cried out for relief from a crises of faith.

This was supposed to be easier.

Many of us seek answers. Some assurance that May will not always bring maladies, malaise and morass. We know not why the vestments of green and gold fail to burn brightly until the seasons turn.

Some of you have doubt. Antonio Perez, you have seen before, when his name was Keith Ginter. Esteban Loiaza has the same number of syllables as Ariel Prieto. With a batting average less than his weight, Frank Thomas has Hurt you before he Hurt himself. Matt Watson is gone, and everything tastes of ash.

And verily I say unto you... know ye not the ways of Beane? Hast thou not comprehended the pattern, the understanding that the goyim and the first half are simply for practice?

Look upon the moribund Winged Fairies Of A Southern California Zip Code, and be of good heart. Consider the Impotent Seamen to the North, locked into an endless future of Sexson to Beltre to Bat Rack, Pop Fly. Look south upon the Mirage Strangers at the Grand Theft of Arlington, who plan to reach the post-season with the novel ideal of recreating the pitching rotation of the Philadelphia Phillies. (When they somehow get their fiendish hands on Brandon Duckworth and Eric Milton, feel free to panic.)

Know ye not that The Way is hard? Know ye not that May will always bring a weekend series that resuscitates the Yankees, that Bobby Crosby will never play more than 130 games a year, that the young pitchers will always struggle before turning it around, and that Barry Zito is always a Zen koan away from getting roped or going 9?

My children, your faith is being tested. If you have failed the test, speak now, so that you may be absolved and cleansed before the Inevitable Surge.

For verily, it is easier for a rich man to pass into the left field bleachers than it is for Jason Kendall to reach the Kingdom of Homer. Or Something.

Confess, and receive your penance!

Poll

Has your faith passed the test of 18-19?

My faith was irrevocably damaged by the closing of the third deck

3 votes

I don't know, but let's FIRE MACHA NOW

7 votes

Faith, schmaith, this team's not playing worth a Rincon

4 votes

No, and I insist upon a vigorous penance. Mmm, penance.

4 votes

What the heck is an AN Confessional?

8 votes

Yes, but the priest's lenghty absence shows he doth protest too much

12 votes

I have no idea, but I saw a manifestation of Charles Thomas in a piece of beef jerky last night.

9 votes

No, I have sinned against BB

5 votes

Is there an answer that someone gets me access to a nude Huston Street?

19 votes

Yes, I am drinking Kool-Aid That Tastes Of Stomper

21 votes

92 votes | Poll has closed