RotoWidow: Counting Down to the Trade Deadline
From the RotoWidow files
Just over 24 hours to go until the madness ends. The madness I write of is the constant monitoring of ESPN.com for the latest MLB trade news. And then there’s the need to be near the computer at all times in case the guy who’s offering Carlos Beltran should email with a counter-offer. I simply cannot wait until the moaning stops about so and so who never answers the phone and doesn’t return email but just happens to have the one player who will make RotoRob a sure contender. Please, can’t the trade deadline come any faster?
By now I manage to cope pretty well with the fact that vacations are only possible before April and after September. The need for proximity to a computer with Internet access is pretty routine in my life now. Still, this time of year is so disruptive to my peace. It’s hard to believe the stress that so many ordinary people — Fantasy baseball managers — put themselves through for their fictional teams. I mean, that’s why the Theo Epstein‘s of the world get paid millions. In many cases, RotoRob included, it’s pride that motivates.
The funny thing is that I’m often asked for advice on trades. How the heck am I supposed to provide counsel for these deals? I’d be about as lucky at making the right guess as Wile E. Coyote is of dropping the anvil at the right moment. So I’m counting down the hours until I stop hearing about how player A’s stats compare to player B’s, complaints about trade etiquette, and deliberations about what to do now that Chipper Jones is on the DL.
As of Tuesday morning, I’ll be a little less of a RotoWidow.
