Esteemed fans of the
SBL,
It is my great
privilege to roll out a new column this week entitled Mac’s Mailbag. I have asked several people to contribute to this
week’s first column in hopes that more of you will contribute in the future.
And I expect Ben
Smith to only have one question on here next time. Please send questions to mmcclelland@gmail.com.
Regards,
Mac
Dear Mac,
Picking Frankovich to win it all? What are you thinking?
Sincerely,
Skeptical in
Dear Skeptical,
Well, I think people
are looking at it the wrong way. My pick has very little to do with Frankovich becoming more clutch, and everything to do with
him being re-paired with Mikey, one of the most
clutch and vastly improved players in the game. This duo was good with Hoosier
Daddy…they will be even better now that Mikey has
found a life outside his lover.
Dear Mac,
Do you lose sleep over
losing to Hoosier Daddy in the first week of the 2004 season?
Regards,
Heckling from
Hermitage
Dear Heckling,
I actually get this
question/comment a lot. People always think that it bothers me being that close
to perfection and not achieve it. This thought is especially prevalent from
newer people to the league. The only thing I regret about that game is that
with Nate out of town, the write-up for that game didn’t get done. Thus, people
forget that two of our starring four players and two of our hot high school
rookies weren’t there- leaving the starting four of Jon, myself, a first time
Ben Smith, and “fat” Tony Merrilo. Being that John and
I have very similar games, we weren’t a good pair to lead the team…and it
showed on the court. The lack of a write-up also neglects to mentioned that
Hoosier Daddy, already stacked with Bryan, Mikey, and
Brandon McKendry, also had Mark Tarkanick,
one of the best players nobody seems to remember. Add in the fact that these
four all had the game of their lives, and the fact that Jon and I only missed
like 1 or 2 shots each didn’t matter. This is not to take away from what they
did that day…only to point out that it would have been a different game had
Nate, Shelley, Katie, and Aryn been there. Honestly
with the way they were shooting, I still think they would have won…but it
wouldn’t have been the route it was.
Dear Mac,
What is the most
amazing thing you have witnessed in Baseketball?
Love,
Pining in
Dear Pining,
This may be the
hardest question of the week…as I have seen hundreds of amazing things during
my career. Oddly, the first thing that came to mind was the time that Rando hit every shot in a game. Sure, Shelley had already
done it, but with all the players who bat for a high average in the league,
nobody would have guessed Rando would be the second
person to do it.
Dear Mac,
As anybody who follows
the SBL knows, you are a former Player of the Year, so you know a thing or two
about great players. I have the fourth pick in my fantasy baseketball draft (yes, those exist), with the first three
picks being Nate Tomko, Terry Shernisky,
and Bryan Frankovich. There are a few players
I've had my eye on, but all have big question marks. For instance, who
knows if Shelley Goodpastor will be around this
summer? Will Mikey Moroco
be able to shine with B-Frank gobbling up all the RBIs? Will Ben Smith
finally show some consistency and play to a high level week in and week
out? Will Matt McClelland or Terry Hall be around enough? Will
Jon Biddle learn some offense? Can you also explain what, if any,
chance they have of being mentioned alongside the big three by season's end?
Thank you so much, Matthew.
With lust,
MacIsMcDreamy@sbl.com
Dear Dreamy,
I have been trying to
get in on a fantasy baseketball league for years now.
With all the other crap we have at the web page, you’d figure someone other
than Nate would step up and make this happen. As I have mentioned in the past,
the level of talent drops after the “big three.” If you had the fourth pick in
the draft, I would not go with any of the players you suggested. Here’s why:
Shelley Goodpastor: is anything but a sure thing after missing last
season.
Mikey Moroco: with Frankovich already crowned as the RBI man,
that leaves Mike as second banana.
Ben Smith: Using the
4th pick on someone who is capable of playing like Tomko makes sense. Wasting it on someone who played like
Mike Frankovich for the majority of last season does
not.
Matt McClelland and
Terry Hall: have improved every year they’ve been in the league, but still
leave more questions than answers.
Jon Biddle: has never
had much of an offense…and let’s not forget he wasn’t as dominant on the glass
last year either.
No, there is one name
you left of this list…a name that happens to be that of my fourth pick, Jon Olsavsky. This season has all the makings of a resurgence for Jon. He has many doubters, got picked to a
team with people he likes, and must be missing the SBL after missing a lot of
time last year. I think he’ll be in
Dear Mac,
I am a captain this
year! Words cannot describe my excitement when Nate named me one of the
captains for this year's teams. With a nucleus of Mikey
Moroco, Pat Nespor, and
Mike Frankovich, many have pegged my team as the
early favorite to win it all. However, we're lacking two things: a
name and a true leadoff hitter. Do you have any ideas for a good name for
my team? Who should bat leadoff? Is it Mikey? I
love Mikey being right in front of me, batting, that
is. You put my team at number one in your preseason power rankings.
Does this mean that I will finally hoise the left-eye
in August so I can finally celebrate along side a certain someone who I've had
my eye on? Will he love me forever? Will he make me so happy for the
rest of my life? Will he take me away and will he make me his wife,
err, husband? I gotta know right now!
Sincerely,
KennedyBBalla
Dear Balla,
First off, just let
me say that I love the Meatloafish ending to your
letter. Paradise by the Dashboard Light truly
is an underrated song, and Meatloaf had one of the
best sets of pipes in music history. As far as the name for team K-Y, I’m not
going to touch that one with a ten foot pole…though I’m sure this team will
have quite a bit of pole touching going on. Someone recently implied that we
should let Nate’s neighbor Rob play this year to become the first professional
sport to have openly gay athletes. I had to remind them that Frankovich and double M broke that barrier many years ago.
They just can’t quit each other. That said, I don’t
like either Bryan or his “partner” in crime leading the other one (except on
the dance floor). The answer has to be Mike Frankovich.
Despite his awfulness at defense, the MFer has shown
that he can occasionally hit those singles and doubles with consistency. I
think he has to be the leadoff man.
3. Dear Mac,
I love the SBL.
I have been a fan since day one. I love the personalities, the scrums,
the psyche-outs, and Nate getting pissed off at this team over missed double
plays among other things. One thing that I do not love is the fact that
so many of my favorite personalities end up leaving the valley to pursue their
life goals (assuming that baseketball glory isn't at
the top of their life goals). Andy Esenwein,
Teddy Ballgame, Joel Lepak, and Jason Betts used to
really float my boat and now they are nowhere to be seen on Sunday
afternoons. I've read Nate's article about players that need to come
back. So now, answer me, these questions three: 1.) Who are
your favorite "missing" SBL personalities?; 2.) What
"missing" players do you think may make a return soon; and 3.)
Which personalities do you fear may be leaving the valley soon? Thank
you.
Forever yours,
Mr. Hennon
Dr. Mr. Hennon,
I will try to answer
your questions in the same succinct way in which you asked them:
Question #1: Nate and
I will agree on many of these, but I would put them in a different order as I
missed the first two years of hilarity.
5) Joel Lepak- Though I missed most of his reign of terror, it’s
clear to me that a lot of the fun left the league for
4) K-Unit- One of my
first acts to gain noticed in the SBL was a balls out
scrum that left the Unit and I both a bloody mess. Something about Kurt just
makes me want to inflict and receive pain.
3) Seth Salcedo- This kid was comic gold. If he thinks being 6’2”
and weighing 230 is going to stop Nate and I from
giving him a super wedgy like the days of old, he may
have another thing coming.
2) Lenny H. Crist- The first stranger who talked to me when I came to
the SBL, Lenny also has my vote for funniest. Something about a dude wearing
tight plaid shorts while reading Hamlet
is beautiful.
1) Mr. Ballgame-
While I have promised not to print his name on this site in any of my articles,
that doesn’t stop me from missing the big guy and the humor he brings to the
hearts of the children. These last few years haven’t been as special w/o my
mentor in tow.
Question #2: Of my
list, I think that Lenny and Seth are likely to play in a few games. The others
I don’t think have much of a chance to suit up this year.
Question #3: The two
people I think may be leaving the valley sooner rather than later also happen
to be the SBL’s two smartest (at least in IQ). I’d be
surprised if Pat Lackey and Jamie Morocco didn’t move on to better things…which sucks, as they are in my top 10 favorite SBL
people.
Dear Mac,
Ben
Smith in his column recently made public the rumored possible trade between
himself, Lee, and a third team.
How do you think this will affect your team’s season, and what is the status of
Ben and Jamie’s relationship?
Love,
Slighted in the
Dear Slighted,
I will not claim to
have all of the answers, but I do have some inside knowledge of the situation.
From what I have heard, Lee Nespor had the crazy idea
of getting Jamie Morocco for someone of little value. Ben then suggested that
it would take someone like Billy Weisburg to pry
Jamie from his hairy grasp. It didn’t take long for the SBL offices to nix the
deal, as PJ and L have been known to cut many a shady deal before the season.
In the end, I think it hurt the team to have Ben make it public, but Jamie
staying means that I will be happy. I don’t forsee
Ben and Jamie having many problems…until she 2 months
pregnant with my child.