It's Baaaaaaaaaaack

Our original Gangster BB Fantasy Sports Game, ESPN's Salary Cap Baseball.

For the newcomers, this is a daily game in which you pick a starting lineup and pitching staff, while staying under the 50.0 salary cap.

Rosters must be set for each day by 3:00 AM. The season starts on Sunday, April 2, so you have until 3:00 AM that day to set your lineup for opening day.

Points are awarded based on how well your hitters and pitching staff do on each particular day - it's all explained in the "How to Play" section of the site.

Loads of fun, and everyone is welcome to play, But.....unless you are fairly certain that you'll be able to devote at least a few minutes to the game every single day, you probably have no chance of winning (although you're certainly welcome to play just for the fun of it - in fact, the more the merrier.)

Here's the link....(ESPN calls the game "Baseball Challenge"):

http://games.espn.go.com/bbc/frontpage

You need an ESPN account to join, which is free.

Group Name: Gangster BB

Password: Corleone

[ Okay, so I changed the title. --JG ]

I'm all in.

How did I manage to miss this thread?!

Especially considering Plaw's excessive excitement for the game...

I think I already forgot the few strategies I developed last year, but I'm more than ready to revive my addiction.

The first post-it note of the season has been proudly stickied to my monitor. I'm getting chills.

I'm in, though not as excited as the rest of you, as you can tell by my team name. Sorry, I'm still in basketball mode.

My excitement level had reached a fever pitch when it looked as though Don Cardi had joined the game, but he's apparently wussed out on us.

Because it wasn't called "Baseball "Challenge" like it always was...

Oh, yeah...

I'm inviting (forcing) thirty people at school to play in the other BBC group I set up. I don't think any more than ten will actually join and stick with it, but I'm still excited.

I even printed out sheets explaining how to join and how to play, which everyone has complained are too detailed and confusing.

Whatever Plaw lost in spirit for this game, I must have gained.

I figured calling it "Salary Cap BasebaLL" described it a lot better.

Change it if you want to.

I haven't lost my spirit for this game, Gina, I'm just more excited about the Yahoo game because I think it's more interesting (I wish you would've played, BTW),

Plus, the big drawback that this game has: The fact that you can't ever miss a day, which tends to sometimes make it seem more like a chore than like fun.

BTW, I loved it when you wtote this:

I even printed out sheets explaining how to join and how to play, which everyone has complained are too detailed and confusing.

There's a girl after my own heart. "Too detailed"? Attagirl.

I'd love to read one, if you 'd like to PM it or email it to me.

Sheesh. Plaw looking for strategy tips from a chick! :rolleyes: :p

Nah, I just wanted to see if someone could be as big a windbag as I am in explaining a game.

Geoff, are you going to be reprinting your strategy guide from last year?

I never did end up with a copy of that thing. :p

(I won't respond to the chick comment - I don't want to trash talk until I get back in my groove. Or did I ever have a groove....hmm. )

I didn't wuss out Plaw. I realied that this particular game requires that a lineup be picked everyday throughout the season. And rather than stop playing for lengths of time during the season due to my vacation schedule and other commitments this summer, I thought it more respectful to the others in the league that I not play the game at all rather than play it when it is convenient for me.


Don Cardi

Feel free to play.

Unlike Head-to-Head games it doesn't matter if you play or not on a given day or during a given week, since your participation (or lack of it) doesn't affect the other players in the game.

Play for a week or two, enjoy yourself, see how you do against everyone else, then if you can't play for a while, so be it.

Nothing disrespectful to the other players about that, and I'm sure I speak for everyone else when I say that we'd love to have you in the game, even if you only play sparodically.

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"


Don Cardi

I was just going to jump in here, also hoping you would join, DC, but I see you already have!

You won't regret it. Just ask me and Zia - half the fun is the discussion in this thread. We usually forget about the game after a few weeks.

How could I regret it now that you and Zia are in this?

Now I'm glad that "they pulled me back in!"


Don Cardi

Although, great... now the burden is on us to make sure he doesn't regret it! We've gotta make it worth your while, right DC?

I'll leave that to you, Zia. Make sure he grows to love fantasies..er, fantasy baseball. :p

DC, I'm just curious, have you played this game ever before? I was a rookie last year, and I only played a partial season, so I don't know much about the "history" of BBC here.

Oohhh... BBC history is long and sordid!! Very sordid! And steamy! And.... well, I'll let Bethie give you a recap of the past few seasons....

I went to the BBC thread for...2003, I think, last night. I happened upon quite an interesting account given by Plaw that I'd rather not go into detail on.

Things are a bit more toned down, nowadays, aren't they?

Like Gina said : I never played this one before.

Back in the late eighties and early nineties, before the computer craze, I did play a lot of fantasy sports where I worked. Baseball, Football and Hockey. We used to hold a live draft in a bar or restaurant, and then payed a service to keep our stats for us. You had to call in to the service phone number to set your lineups, report any trades that you made and to make free agent picks. Nothing like it is today in regards to convenience and ease using your own computer.

But the truth of the matter is that back then, at least you interacted face to face, or spoke over the phone with the other managers in your league. It was a lot of fun in it's own way.

Then by the mid nineties I stopped playing fantasy sports.

I picked up playing Fantasy Football again back in 2004
(3 leagues), Hockey this season ( 2 leagues), and now baseball (2 leagues) again.

I'm looking forward to this game too.

....and to having my fantasies fulfilled by a certain member here!


Don Cardi

Oh yeah, leave the dirty work to me.

In a nutshell Gina, make sure your Woody can go long and hard; 69's are things that we all strive for, and the men here enjoy playing with their Johnsons alone.

Gina, Zia and Bethie. Oh boy, this is going to be a very interesting game!


Don Cardi

Wow, DC, I never even thought of fantasy sports being played in that way. Sounds like a lot of fun!

My only problem with playing it that way is my mom would be much more aware of how much time I spend on it, instead of homework. With the Internet, I can just call it "research."

There aren't many guarantees in life Gina, but you can rest assured all talk of Willy will be turned dirty.

Thanks for noticing I joined DC. I was only the first one in the league. :p

I think I tried this last year, but from now on, Willy will be referred to as William Taveras.

Bethie, I just want to warn you, because I've had the same problem, I hope you don't allow things to get personal when making your picks. I know you love Sammy Sosa, but you gotta learn to pick with your head and not your heart. Try choosing someone more reasonable, instead of just going after the "hotties." Maybe Vinny Castilla - complete based on stats, of course.



By the way, what the heck is Sosa doing, anyway? Retiring, playing, remaining one of the most annoying players...? Well, the last one's a given.

As far as I know Sammy Sosa does not even have a team, so no chance of picking him.

As far as Vinny goes, I want to score with him off the field not on it. But no worries, I was playing this game while you were still hanging out with cheerleaders.

Hey...someone needed to keep the basement apartment in tip top shape. Who wants to hang up in the penthouse with their french maids and grey poupon.

I'll hang out with you, Bethie. I ain't like the "fancy folk."