Fantasy Hardball

I took part in a fantasy draft not long ago and was aiming for solid, lipogrammatic guys to play on my squad.  Down to brass tacks, though, picking all and only guys on my list was an impossibility.  My fantasy lipogram ball club:

C: Kurt Suzuki, Oakland A's
1B: Troy Glaus, Atlanta
2B: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati
3B: Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants
SS: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado
OF: Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks
OF: Shin-Soo Choo, Indians
OF: Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays

SP: Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros
SP: Tommy Hanson, Atlanta
SP: Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
SP: Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants
RP: Brian Wilson, San Francisco Giants
RP: Carlos Marmol, Chicago Cubs

And my back-ups: Adam Lind, Toronto; Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals; Marco Scutaro, Boston; Gavin Floyd, Chicago; Ichiro Suzuki, Sailors (a strain, I know, sorry); and Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays.

A tad soft at first, but a strong squad all around.  Tough to win against that group. I would put that club up against anybody.

And I should add that partial inspiration for this was found at this spot, which was found via that spot.  Thanks for linking and providing such brilliant information.

Famous Quotations - Sports

Lombardi: Winning isn't a totality of things, it's a singular thing to such a point that no ancillary things count.

Ali: Float a la a moth's cousin, sting a la a bug from an apiary.

Unknown: It's not if you win or don't win, it's how you play a sport.

Lou: Today, I am appraising yours truly, this world's primary lucky guy.

Yogi: Nobody visits that location, it's too full of folks.

March Insanity!

If you want a solid approach to scrying* this spring's NCAA hoops championship, Lipograms can assist.  My formula should not astound any of you.  All you do is count up a program's flaws.  Now, you may think I look at ball-handling or shooting skills, but that's not vital, as it turns out. 

Vital to making fruitful picks is karma.  Schools incorporating our taboo symbol will no doubt bow to karmic fury for such audacity.  Knowing this should put you in command of your pool.  Good luck.

Click this link for Lipogram's Official Picks.


* If you don't think my karmic approach is any good, how do you account for such a wondrous pick for alphadictionary.com's daily word right as I was drafting this? 

NFL Draft Analysis, Part I

It's approaching D-Day, H-Hour for football fans as NFL squads adjust plans of action for our run up to draft day.  It falls to yours truly to broadcast any sports information that might show up on this blog; Lord knows my co-author won't do it, as Flo's floccinaucinihilipilification* about sporting affairs knows no bounds**.  Thus, my thoughts on a position-by-position basis follow.

A handful of young guns will audition for a spot taking snaps.  A quick synopsis of six of 2010's top guys:

1. Sam Bradford from Oklahoma ranks atop this list according to my analysis. An injury-fraught history will harm his status, but a coach should risk picking him fairly high.
2. I would not draft a guy who willfully opts to go by "Jimmy".   Maturity is paramount at this position, and a Jimmy lacks it almost indubitably.
3. For my dollar, Colt McCoy, not commonly thought first round quality, will grant solid production for low cost.  Gritty, that McCoy.
4. Cowboy Zac Robinson : am I including him simply for no typing difficulty?  Mainly, but Robinson's good, though.
5. That Tim guy from Florida will not pan out.  Possibly a solid H-back in coming days.
6.  And last but not most trivial (just kidding, most trivial, too, by far), my tricky, sly pick: Jonathan Crompton.  Can't say much about his NCAA affiliation, but what NFL squad won't want to add a guy with disturbing, wispy facial hair?  Can't miss.  As long as you aim at a UFL slot.

* Ha!  Did I do that right?
** Not totally truthful.  Flo plays kickball.