I am old school. I remember sitting in the bleachers in Ebbetts Field in the 1950s. My first game was, I think, the Dodgers against the Phillies in 1951. I was six. For the next six years, all I could think about was "The Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant."
Broken hearted at age 12, I went into baseball hibernation until 1962. Baseball was back and The New York Mets were born and I was re-born.
As the Mets grew, so did I, and so did the technology of the times. I certainly don't have to re-cap those times since they have been recorded before by far superior writers than myself.
I want to fast forward, however, to the computer age that we live in today. By the time came in the mid-'90s and PC's were the rage and everywhere, I turned everywhere and all I could see was www dot. Internet schmitternet.
I didn't have a clue. Well, sort of ,because when you raise five children and you're a School Principal, you need to keep up with the times, so my knowledge was, let's say, on the periphery.
As we moved into the 21st Century, all of my sports fan friends kept talking about was Fantasy Sports—Baseball, Football, Basketball, NASCAR and even Soccer.
I liked the idea but frankly I was too embarrassed to ask anybody how it worked or how to get involved. They were everywhere. ESPN, The NFL, MLB, Yahoo fantasy sites were all over the place.
Since 1962, all I ever wanted to do was to write a column or be a broadcaster for the New York Mets. I haven't got there yet. I discovered The Bleacher Report by accident. It has been a Godsend in my semi-retirement.
I have met some of the greatest fans in sports and the quality of the work is astonishing to me. Take a look at my favorite writers list. There must be a hundred of them.
So that brings me to the topic of this article. I finally decided to take a plunge into the waters known as Fantasy Baseball and guess what? I am hooked so badly, I can't get enough.
I started two leagues on Yahoo Sports. The first is The Bleacher Report Fantasy Baseball League and the second is The BR Fantasy League II.
Last night we did a live draft for the first league with many of our writers on line at the same time for a little over 2 hours. It was absolutely fantastic. I think I did very well for someone with zero experience. Only time will tell.
I also have joined two other fantasy leagues. One is on the MLB home page and my team is called "Kairi's Mets" named after my Granddaughter and another one on ESPN which is actually a "Met Fan" only league. My team there is called "Las Vegas Kami's Mets". That's named for my Philadelphia born converted Met fan wife Kimberly.
So there you have it. Life goes on, people can change, and the Mets will NOT CHOKE again this September. Take it to the bank. Well maybe not the bank, but somewhere safe. LETS GO METS!
This also appears on www.metspolice.com and www.ddmetsfanblog.com/
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