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Why Fantasy Baseball Trumps Fantasy Football (And Every Other Sport, For That Matter)It may or may not be apparent to you, but I absolutely love playing and blogging about fantasy baseball I mean, what game can give the owner/blogger like myself a legitimate reason to watch anywhere from six-ten games per night?
Okay, I’ll admit that at times, it can be hard to keep up with my teams AND blogging at the same time. But fantasy baseball is far superior to fantasy football for many reasons.First, fantasy baseball takes an incredible amount of strategy, thinking, and analysis. No successful fantasy baseball owner can beat the game on his/her own. While the same is also true of fantasy football, most of the strategy and thinking comes at the draft, as well as the Thursday or Friday before the weekend’s games. Fantasy baseball owners participate in daily management (for the most part), and the 162 game managing simply turns lazy fans off to the fantasy baseball game. With that added dimension of true strategy and thinking, fantasy baseball owners are rewarded justly for their efforts. Log in everyday and manage your roster, and you will probably be better off than that owner who hasn’t logged in for the past 130 days. Most often, this is not true of fantasy football owners. Some owners can simply draft a team and forget about it, stealing wins and usable players from the owners that really care. Another benefit to playing fantasy baseball is that there are a LOT of games (NO WAY!). If you were to turn on your TV and watch MLB baseball every night on ESPN, ESPN2, or any like network, you could probably view every MLB team at least once. The same cannot be said of the NFL: though there are many different games on your local networks, many fans won’t get the opportunity to see several NFL teams play at all over the course of a season. With daily scores, come daily surprises and lots of great plays. This has more to do about baseball in general than fantasy baseball but it is really great when you can turn on your television and get online to find new scores and news essentially every day. Over the course of a normal NFL week, many news reports focus on previews and reviews, as well as the occasional Chad Ocho Cinco story or injury report. Even though the game may be tougher, fantasy baseball easily trumps fantasy football as the better fantasy game. Though fantasy football can provide bursts of excitement on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights, fantasy baseball is an exciting game that will really help you grow in your love for the national pastime. Visit my fantasy baseball blog: Fantasy Baseball Flash! http://www.fantasybaseballflash.com
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MLB League Donates Millions During the All-Star WeekOne of the most important Baseball events the MLB All-Star week will bring its all-star game next July 15th at the Yankees Stadium where we will be able to see the gathering of many Hall of Fame players.Some New York City Communities such as the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America will receive one of the largest donations throughout their history as both the MLB and the NY Yankees will deliver more than $7 million dollars.
“This year’s Major League Baseball All-Star community activities week will touch the lives of many New Yorkers,” said Commissioner Bud Selig. “We will be hosting the largest number of community and charitable activities, making the most significant financial investment in years and enlisting a record number of charitable partners to help us make this week an incredible success. Our All-Star Game gives us a unique platform to improve the lives of others and make a contribution to communities throughout New York City.” The MLB All-Star week begins on Wednesday and will end next Saturday with the closing of the All-Star Game. The opening ceremony will be hosted by Bank of America; the NY Yankees team and the Little League Baseball; all funds will be given for the remodeling of the Castle Hill Field in the Bronx. On Thursday the Yankee Stadium will hosted a league challenger game between the special care children from the Astor Little League of the Bronx vs. New Jersey District Little League. On Friday the donation of Starlight Starbright Children Foundation Fun Center entertainment unit will be given to the children at the Lincoln Bronx. Additional events will take place until the 15th which is the closing day. During the All-Star game there will be more than 64 players as well as team managers of each league. “The extraordinary support MLB provides for our clubs has positively impacted the lives of countless numbers of young people,” said Roxanne Spillett, president of the BGCA. “Together, we are teaching our nation’s youth the important values of teamwork and sportsmanship. The Boys & Girls Clubs members who will be a part of this year’s All-Star activities are in for the experience of a lifetime.” Several awards will be handed to players for team spirit, responsibility, sportsmanship and general accomplishments. Also, the MLB regional stars will be present at the main game and week events. The 2008 grand prize winner of Breaking Barriers Essay Contest - Amanda West and several other Make-A- Wish children will be present at the All-Star Game which was their life time dream. “This is just one example of the generosity that Major League Baseball and its 30 clubs show with children throughout the year,” said David Williams, president and CEO of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “Whether it’s a wish to attend the All-Star Game or World Series, visit Spring Training to meet a favorite player, or spend the day as a ballplayer for their favorite team. Major League Baseball makes them feel like All-Stars every day.” Ally White is a top senior copy writer on MLB games and sports action for the sportsbook - http://www.instantactionsports.com/
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MLB Baseball Party Craft IdeasDepending on your favorite MLB baseball team, there are a lot of fun crafts that you can do to make your sports party even better than it would have already been. Most people who have a love for a certain sport also love to have a party any time that their team plays. They watch it with friends, eat great food, and just generally have a good time. When you like baseball, you are no exception. You can use these crafts to make your sports party as fun as possible.To add a bit of flair to your MLB baseball party, you can craft decorations that make your guests feel welcome. For example, you could make wall hangings out of construction paper that look like baseballs or catcher’s mitts. You could also hang up the colors or logos of your favorite team. For example, if you are a big fan of the Yankees, you could put up their logo for all to see.
Another big thing to craft for a MLB baseball party is the food. You should definitely make your own dip. You could make a chili cheese dip or even a salsa if you are good at cooking or at following the directions of a recipe. In addition to the dip, a good baseball food is hot dogs. This is a food that you can get at the park, so it can also be fun and nostalgic to have it at home. Make sure to have a lot of different hot dog fixings for your guests to choose from. Mrs. Party… Gail Leino takes a common sense approach to planning and organizing events, celebrations and holiday parties with unique ideas for MLB Baseball party supplies and fun MLB Baseball party games. She explains proper etiquette and living a healthy life while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. The Party Supplies Hut has lots of party ideas with hundreds of free holiday printable games and free birthday party activities. Over 100 adorable Themes including MLB Baseball Party Supplies to fit your birthday celebration, holiday event, or “just because” parties. Party themes include cartoon characters, sports, movie, TV shows, luau, western, holidays, and unique crazy fun theme ideas.
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2008 MLB Championship Series Rays Vs Red SoxI had the pleasure of going to see games 1 and 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. The games were played at Tropicana Field on October 10th and 11th and it was an experience I will never forget. I had been to a few Major League games in the past but I had never experienced playoff baseball.Tropicana Field is the home stadium of the Rays and it is a monstrous dome stadium located in beautiful downtown Saint Petersburg. Tropicana Stadium opened in 1990 under the name “The Florida Suncoast Dome” Even though the stadium was finished, the city did not have a major league baseball team. The Tampa Lightning hockey team played 3 seasons in the stadium and the name of the stadium was changed to the “Thunder Dome” The city was finally awarded a MLB team in 1995 and the stadium name was changed to “Tropican Field” The first MLB game played in the stadium was March 31, 1998. The stadium is situated right off interstate I-275 which makes it easy to get to from any city in the Tampa area. Tropicana has some pretty large parking lots and there are plenty of private lots adjacent to the stadium.
Walking inside the stadium I was taken back by the enormous size of the interior of the dome. I have always thought baseball should be played outside but I really liked the look and feel of the dome. Looking around at the seating it appeared that nearly every seat would provide an excellent view of the game. There was a lot of activity on the field with grounds crews sparying water on the infield and sports reporters and camera crews were getting ready. Spectators were pouring into the stadium 3 hours before the start of the game. The thousands of fans entering the stadium were mostly Rays fans but there was no shortage of Red Sox fans. By the time the game was close to starting the stadium was filled to capacity which is around 34,000. It was an awesome site to be there at the start of the game with 34,000 screaming MLB fans ready for some championship baseball. This was the first time the Tampa Rays have been in the MLB playoffs in their 10 year history. Not only was I seeing my first ever MLB playoff game but I was also watching the first ever Tampa Rays Championship series! The Tampa Rays advanced to the American League Championship Series by defeating the Chicago White Sox in the divisional series. The Rays are playing the Boston Red Sox who are the defending World Series Champions. Game 1 was a great game with James Shields pitching for the Rays and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching for Boston. The Rays could never get any offense going and the Red Sox were able to win 2-0. Before the start of the 8th and 9th innings the jumbo video screen showed a live shot of a stadium suite where Hulk Hogan and another wrestler were screaming “let’s go Rays” into the camera. Hulk Hogan really got the crowd fired up and the place became electric with people standing on their feet yelling “let’s go Rays” Even with the renwed energy of the crowd, the Rays could not come from behind and so game 1 was over. Walking out of the stadium with the thousands of Rays fans with their heads down you would have thought they were being lead to the gallows. The Red Sox fans were understandably fired up and they were letting the Rays fans have it. Returning to the stadium for game 2 I was really concerned that the Rays were going to fall to 0-2 and then they would have to play the next 3 games in Boston. Game 2 proved to be an exciting MLB playoff game complete with a home run derby and numerous pitching changes. I was in the outfield and it was awesome to see 7 home run balls fly into the stands. The Rays were up by 1 run late in the game when a wild pitch allowed Boston to score the tying run which infuriated the Rays fans inside the stadium. It seemed the game would never end until B.J.Upton became the games hero by hitting a sacrifice fly which scored a run and the Rays won. The crowd went crazy when the game was finally won at 1:30am in the morning. This time it was the Rays fans turn to scream and heckle the Boston fans on the way out of the stadium. I’m not a big MLB fan but these 2 championship games made me understand why so many people are absolutely crazy about the sport. This experience ranks right up there with a NCAA Final Four game that I went to and I hope to see the Rays playing in the World Series this year! Author writes for the Florida travel and vacation blog http://www.BestofFloridaOnline.com Best of Florida reviews attractions and events all over Florida so that prospective Florida visitors will have a better idea of where to go and what to see while visiting Florida. Any Florida business, attraction, theme park, concert, or event can get a free review by emailing sunnygator@bestoffloridaonline.com
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