Well, fantasy fans and addicts throughtout the land, it’s time to kick back and rejoice! The verdict is in, and with the decision Monday afternoon that the Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal brought forward by MLB and the Players Union, we can officially put this sad chapter in the history of fantasy sports to rest. Thankfully, we won’t have to be using alpha-numberic codes to identify our fantasy teams and players heading into the future.
A spokesperson for the players union responded with the old tried and true, “We’re looking at our options at this time,” and MLB had “no comment.” Someone enlighten me here, because I just can’t see a whole lot of options. Give it up guys, it’s over and done and leave us fantasy fans to the game we love. C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing Inc., which originally launched this suit, has a free-speech right to use the names and performance statistics of professional athletes, as both a federal judge and then a U.S. appeals court in St. Louis had determined in earlier judgments.
Maybe it’s just about time that the game recognized the value of the fantasy player in the grand scheme of things. An article by RotoRob back in August 2006 more than summarizes my feelings on this topic. Have we not gone to games, bought the apparel, and stuck by a sport/industry that has endured more than its fair share of recent problems?
We talk the talk and walk the walk, and maybe, just maybe, the “Business of Baseball” can now without recourse allow the “Fantasy Fans” of baseball to enjoy the game that we hold so near and dear.
Neither Eva’s hose nor her hoisery could slow down the Lakers.
Eva Spurred on by Paparazzi
Upon arriving in Los Angeles for Game Five between her husband Tony Parker’s Spurs and the Lakers, Eva Longoria was grilled by the Paparazzi about how she felt about her man’s team being down. Was she hassled by the Lakers’ fans on the plane, wondered the TMZ reporter? Uh, dude, probably not nearly as bad as you’re hassling her, ya asswipe. Strangely, Eva didn’t have much to say on how San Antonio could get back in the series. In fact, she didn’t have much to say at all. Anyways, Parker and the Spurs were taken out by the Lakers, leaving the couple of begin their off-season vacation plans earlier than expected. Check out the video here.
Mikey Likes It
On Saturday, guess who was seen at the UFC match at MGM Garden in Las Vegas? Michael Jackson of all people was spotted taking the action, And get this – there were no pre-pubescent boys on the card for the evening. Go figure!
Candor at Cannes
Among the talk of the town at Cannes was James Toback’s 90-minute documentary Tyson, about former boxing champion/convict Mike Tyson. The entire film is essentially one long interview with Tyson, whose candor is nothing if not refreshing. He spills his guts about virtually every component of his controversial life, both in and out of the ring. First, Tyson would bite your ear off; now, he just talks it off. I guess that’s progress, isn’t it?
Hmmm…spending the offseason tossing the pigskin around or porking this? Tom Brady faces a tough call.
Seeking Shade(s) in Ibiza
Are you wondering how Tom Brady is spending his offseason? What’s his workout regimen? How is he planning on preparing for the 2008 season to help the Patriots get back to the Super Bowl? Well, as part of his recent world trekking, he was spending time in Ibiza with gal pal Gisele Bundchen. They were at the world-famous party destination to be on hand for the unveiling of Vogue’s new collection of sunglasses. So, to answer your question, weights and workouts have been replaced by supermodels and shades. Nice work if you can get it.
Spice of Life
Speaking of off field encounters, David and Victoria Beckham were seen at the Elton John concert in Las Vegas last month. Damn, they even brought their boys along to the weekend show. Isn’t it grand that the couple is exposing their children to “alternative lifestyles” at such a young age? After all, Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.
Anna Not Ready to Settle
Apparently, Anna Kournikova is not ready to settle for just one mixed doubles partner. The word on the street is that the tennis babe’s boyfriend, Enrique Iglesias, has repeatedly attempted to convince Anna to marry him, but to date, he keep double faulting.
The pair has been together for three years, and obviously Enrique is ready to settle. But, Anna? No way, Jose. Clearly, she’s holding out for RotoRob. And really, who could blame her? Damn, I might even let her serve to me, so to speak.
Andy would rather fondle a large stinky dead fish than listen to people bad mouth bloggers.
Readers of RotoRob may or may not know, but I actually have some experience in “old” forms of media as well as the newer ones. While I’ve written for this here fancy blog for a couple years, I also have written for a fantasy football magazine, and will be doing so again this year. Some of you guys might be holdovers from when Derek and I podcasted weekly during the football season. You may not know that I was, briefly, employed by a sports talk radio station in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.
I bring this up due to the blow-up on HBO’s Costas Now featuring Deadspin’s Will Leitch and Buzz Bissinger, who penned such classics as Friday Night Lights…and…Friday Night Lights! I could attempt to describe what happened, but it’s easier to just watch the clips.
Plenty of bloggers have responded. Somethoughtfully. Somehysterically. I can’t really add anything to other than a personal moment that I was reminded of while watching Bissinger curse up a storm. Obviously, my story can’t compare to being called “full of shit” on premium cable, but I think some of the themes are similar.
At the radio station, I was part of a new show centred on fantasy football. As one might imagine, the idea of a radio show about fantasy football ruffled some feathers. Once the idea was put forth, a number of more tenured members of the station were visibly upset and clearly tried to “talk some sense” into the boss. For the record, I was amazed that we were getting a time slot. That’s not because we weren’t going to succeed. I’m sure we would have. But we were still new to the station and the boss had no idea whether we were talented or “full of shit” ourselves.
Anyway, we were scheduled to do some cross-promotion on other shows during the day. That sounded good to me and we first appeared during the afternoon drive show.
“So Andy, explain to me how fantasy sports and fantasy football aren’t ruining the fan experience.”
“Thanks for having us, it’s great to be he- wait…what?”
Basically, instead of some time for us to develop a relationship with an audience and establish ourselves as knowledgeable voices in the world of fantasy football, we were turned into defense lawyers. Old Media v. Internet-fueled Development. Sure fantasy sports isn’t exactly the same as sports blogs, but in the venn diagram of things old sports writers are afraid of, and therefore hate, they share some bubble space.
I was floored. I have defended fantasy sports to family members, friends, and even while calling into other sports talk stations, but this was an ambush and I’m sure I didn’t exactly make the best counter-arguments. In this area, I feel for Leitch. He went on knowing he probably should be on his heels, but he couldn’t prepare for venomous, nonsensical rhetorical questions.
The last laugh, obviously, stands with the new media. It always does. Sooner or later, the Buzz Bissingers and Bob Costases of the world will be media members who started off blogging or podcasting. And what blogger would actually attack blogging?
Okay, the revolution might take a little bit longer than expected. But chances are, it won’t be televised.
