Sadly, this is how I’ve spent the many days since my last official communication with the Fantasy Pros Great Debate staff. Secluded in the confines of the sleepy seaside town where I live and work as a humble schoolteacher, I waited for the next debate topic in restless anticipation for weeks with nothing to distract me but my own deluded mutterings.

Actually, I’ve got 2 boys, including 3 year-old Clyde Mighty who’s content to swordfight with just about every inanimate object in the house AND a pre-teen David Blain, Tristan, who keeps making my quarters disappear, so really there never is a dull moment out here on the Left Coast. Add to that the 3 leagues I’m in, the one I commish, the college classes I have to take to clear my special ed. credential, and oh yeah, my muther flippin’ J-O-B, and I haven’t exactly got what one might call “spare time” on my hands. Have I missed the Debate? You betcha. But have I survived just fine with a nice long hiatus? You double betcha.

Still, truth-be-told, when I got that email from Commander Greco once again, and learned that there would indeed be a final installment to the contest, I was of course what we Californians call “stoked.” Paul writes:

“Describe your experience being a weekly writer and discuss how it helped/hurt you when analyzing your fantasy baseball team.”

A profound query and one worth exploring, but with a marathon of topics behind us, it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s revisit some of the peaks and valleys of the competition, then, and reminisce about some of the finer moments of the Great Fantasy Debate competition.    Cue the dream-smoke, Boris.

There was of course that age old quandary: Old School Scouting vs. New School Sabermetrics, and the ensuing BABIP debate which followed. I was charged with poo-pooing BABIP, and won the debate if I remember correctly, but honestly, I came to love BABIP this year and feel that discussion really helped to round out my skills as a fantasy prognosticator. When considering why a Cole Hamels or an Adam Harang was struggling midyear, that was definitely one of the stats I looked at.   

We had a robust discussion about the value of taking a SP early, and I was happy to get a chance to knock that idea. Its not a terribly new concept of course, waiting on pitching, but it was especially fun to watch those debaters who had to support the ridiculous notion squirm. 

And of course there were my personal favorites, the Top 10 Statistical Anomalies article in which I explored the strange phenomenon that was causing middle-infielders to hit like Dave Kingman mid year and of course my crazy time-machine article where I harkened back to my first Rotisserie draft in my buddy Gilly’s basement back in 1989. These articles helped me more as a writer than as a GM, I believe, as they really gave me a chance to find a voice, and hopefully with that voice, something of an audience. As for that, well, only time will tell,

But if I may actually respond to Commander Greco’s prompt for a moment, let me say this: I loved every freakin’ minute of this gosh darn contest and it most certainly made me a better GM.   (What’s this site rated anyway? I’ve wanted to curse in one of these articles for going on 5 months now. Shitflippers! There, much better.) Having an open dialogue about stats, ADP, breakouts, etc. has been way preferable to the one-sided sorts of diatribes that one sees on other fantasy websites. I loved the camaraderie of the articles and their comments, even if we all had to live with the Editor-in-Brief’s snippy comments about our wayward grammar, spelling or what-have-you.  

But alas, all good things must come to an end, dear readers. I’m not sure what happened to the results from the last debate topic- I’m pretty sure I was winning, and I know I was winning overall. But quite frankly, who cares? I dug my feet in for this contest, swung hard at every fastball over the plate, and waited on every curve. If I join the ranks of the FantasyPros911 staff, I know I’ll do the site proud. And if Boris pulls out a late-inning squeaker, well then he’s the gal for the job.

Thanks for hanging in there readers, and thanks for giving me a chance, Pros. I’m definitely glad I bumped into Paul in that ESPN mock draft chat room back in March so I could learn about this crazy contest, which, as you may remember, I instantly dubbed “ridiculous.” Only thing I can imagine being more ridiculous now would be not giving it a shot.

Good luck to everyone in their respective leagues and thanks for a great year. I look forward to staying a part of the FP911 community in whatever capacity, and seeing all the debaters, writers, and readers on the site in the years ahead.

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Go, Ackshawn!
written by LaSara Firefox Allen, September 20, 2009

Can't wait to see you on staff, and writing more and more.

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written by Jason Harvey, September 17, 2009

Hey FantasyPros' screw that Mr. Disappointed. He's probably been more disappointed in his life has to blame someone. What you guys did for those that were in the contest was great. All the guys that wrote in said it made them better fantasy owners, and by reading some of their work it made me better too.

So to Mr. Disappointed, find another website that cares about your girlie feelings.

FantasyPros has helped a lot of people here including myself to win $1600 this year, so I' guess that makes me Mr. Make-It-Rain.

FantasyPros, thanks for all the hard work, and forget that guy. Keep doing what you guys do best, getting all of us out of jams and for making this site for to come to.

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Whoah now, little filly.
written by Big Ack, September 17, 2009

I was disappointed by the lengthy pause in the contest too, but if I understand the context correctly, this website has been up for, what, less than a year? Not to make excuses, but I think its worth considering. I'm impressed with the growth of the site, which no doubt hampered the debate, and I'm always impressed with the knowledge of the pros. Don't change your name, pros. Just make me one of 'em and let me help organize the contest next year.

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written by Mr. Dissapointed, September 17, 2009

What a horrible ending. Shame on you Fantasy Pros. This contest was like watching your favorite pitcher have a perfect game going and then he gives up 6 earnd runs with 2 outs left in the 9th inning. Was it so hard to come up with topics for these guys? Change your name to Fantasy Amateurs. Someone call 911.

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