Yes, I’m a fantasy sports junkie

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/05/2010 (5941 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Take a dozen baseball fans and lock them in a room for about six hours and what do you get?

Well, if you’re members of the Brandon Professional Q-Roto Baseball League, you get months and months of managing your own Major League Baseball team.

Now, for full disclosure, I just happen to be one of the lucky 12 who get a chance, every spring, to "buy" American League players and hope that the 22-man roster I put together is better than the rosters that 11 other just as eager participants during the course of the 2010 season.

Welcome to the world of Rotisserie baseball, which has been around since the early 1980s.

Personally, I have been involved in this form of fantasy sports for close to 20 years, starting in 1991 when I was working in Weyburn, Saskatchewan and continuing when I moved to Brandon in 1993.

The BPQRBL has been around for 26 years now, originally founded by staff members of CKLQ radio, but our bunch now consists of people from almost every walk of life, and from outside the Wheat City.

This past month (April 11, to be exact), we once again travelled from near and far to be part of an auction to distribute our players through the league.

The rules of our game are complex, and yet rather simple. We have what is referred to as a 5 X 5 league, consisting of five offensive categories (Batting Avg., HR, RBI, SB and Runs) and five pitching categories (Wins, Saves, ERA, WHIP and Holds).

You have five fictional dollars to buy a 22-player roster, consisting of 13 batters and nine pitchers.

These players major league stats are accumulated on your team through the 2010 season with each team ranked in each of the ten categories, and receiving points (12-1) for their ranking in each category.

The complexity comes in with some other parts of playing the game, including the ability to protect a certain number of players from your team the previous season and having their salaries deducted from the five dollars you have to buy your team for the auction.

The auction progresses by having each owner, in turn, nominate a player and his fellow owners upping the bid until one final owner

Affectionately known as the Brewskis, my squad is off to slow start this season (David Ortiz, boo!!) but we’re still hoping to pick it up.

If not, yes, trades are allowed. Inevitably, if you’re like me and your team stays close to the bottom too long, you’re bound to try your higher-priced players for cheaper talents or prospects — just like the pro’s.

I am involved in fantasy with all the major professional leagues — baseball, hockey, and football.

One hockey league I’m involved with has a similar setup to the BPQRBL I’ve described above while, last fall, I was in five, yes, five fantasy football leagues involving NFL players.

Now, I see there’s a move afoot for a fantasy football league for the CFL (www.fantaseh.ca).

Maybe I’ll have to give that a try.

What makes the experience the most enjoyable isn’t only the ecstasy of victory or the agony of defeat; it’s the opportunity to interact with other people who are passionate about sport.

Some have become life-long friends.

And the chance to not only cheer for your favourite team, but for some of the players on YOUR team isn’t too bad either.

 

Bruce Luebke is sports director at 880 CKLQ and 94.7 STAR-FM.

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