MLB you did what?

I found this article via Twitter from @mashable.

http://mashable.com/2009/09/16/little-girl-throws-ball-back/

If you don’t want to read the article yourself (it’s very short) I’ll give you a short synopsis.

A Phillie fan caught a foul ball and promptly gave it to his 3-year-old daughter. She, like any grown man would if he were hopped up on apple juice, throws it back. This absolutely adorable moment was quickly posted all over sites like YouTube.

MLB, in all its infinite wisdom, decided to place copyright restrictions on the video forcing YouTube to remove the video. Then, it uploaded the video here on MLB.com without an “embed” code so the video can only be seen on MLB.com.

I understand wanting to drive traffic to your site as a business and company, but in this digital age trying to “control” the medium will only cause backlash against your brand. A better solution is to create a better quality video of it, then make it distributable, so the top quality videos out there are your’s and not user-generated. As cute as the video is, users do not want to, or regularly, search a site like MLB.com for videos. There is already a site for stuff like that. It’s called YouTube.

Triple Threat League – Week 12

My team, Dixie Cup Check, is currently sitting in 13th place of 14 teams, 6th of 7 in my division.

About 2 weeks ago I posted about my luck with injuries and so forth with guys like Hamilton, Webb and Matsuzaka. Anyways being desperate for something in last place I pulled the trigger on a trade. I offered up Adam Lind and Garrett Atkins for Carlos Beltran and Craig Counsell. I have since dropped Counsell. He was a throw-in from the other owner. I really wanted Beltran after he was supposedly improving since his cortisone shot.

Anyways fast forward 2 weeks and Beltran lands on the DL. It seems as though the fantasy world is conspiring to thwart any opportunities for my team to improve. The only up side to this is the All Star Break is approaching which means my studs can have a chance to recover and pretend their not made of glass.

This week is my chance to gain some ground in my division because I’m playing the only team with a worse record than me. I’m waiting for the punchline. It’ll probably be Sunday when he comes from nowhere to obliterate me.

In my other league I enjoyed possibly the greatest fantasy baseball day in a long time on Sunday, June 21. I jumped 7 rotisserie points in one day, going from 6th to tied for 1st.

Hitting: 17/48, 13 runs, 3 home runs, 13 RBIs, 0 SB, .354 BA
Pitching: 25 IP, 31 K, 2 W, 1 SV, 2.88 ERA, 1.40 WHIP

Triple Threat League Update!

I’m participating in a triple threat league…Glad you asked. The same 14 guys play fantasy baseball, fantasy football and fantasy basketball adding up points accumulated across all 3 sports to determine who gets bragging rights. It is a keeper league too, so you play for this year and the future.

Currently in head-to-head format my team, Dixie Cup Check, is gasping for air at the bottom of its division. Struggling with injuries to 4 of my first 5 draft picks I’ve been scraping the free agent market hoping for a gem. Josh Hamilton (round 1 – 2 DL stints), Brandon Webb (out til the All Star Break), Cole Hamels (struggling, spent a few weeks as DTD), Daisuke Matsuzaka (spent a couple weeks on the DL), Joe Mauer (started first month on the DL). Needless to say, if this was Rotisserie style, I’d be trading and looking toward 2010.

The drafts for all 3 leagues were randomly generated and I scored the 2nd pick in Football and the 1st pick in Basketball. Being weak in the NBA I traded my #1 pick in basketball for the #1 in football, giving me the first 2 football picks. We also swapped the 11th round picks, me giving my football pick and him giving his basketball pick.

My other team, Triple Playa Haters Ball, is in a standard 10-team ESPN league and currently sitting in 6th place. I’m hoping my strategy of having a core of solid starting pitchers and quality relievers will help net me most of the pitching categories.

Tune in closer to football and I’ll unveil my rankings for each position. And around the All-Star Break, I’ll give my mid-season rankings based on current production and projected production.