The Diary of a Fantasy Virgin - Week 8 Oct 30, 2007 | More

What an interesting week. The height of my bye week pain comes this week with the resting of Tony Romo and T.O. If these guys won you all those games, you will understand my House of Pain this week. So big losses need to be the kind of largess that makes you chuckle. That is where we go this week.

And None Of My Opponents Players Have A Bye?

When you notice this you are in for a long week. The reason is that even an outstanding game by a backup player will not make up for a regular team of starters in Fantasy Football. There is a reason why these fine players are on the waiver list in your fantasy football league my friends.   They get 8-12 fantasy points a week. Regular starters go with 12 – 30 or even higher. It is the kind of difference that sets up for a massive loss.   So large that people think you failed to put in a starting lineup foolish kind of game. Next just add the play of Drew Brees and we have toasty sensations.

“Brees Is Back In A Big Way”

The alarm next to his name told me the story. Drew Brees has had a tough first 7 weeks. The highest total was 18 fantasy points in week six. The lowest was 3 in week three. Combine this with 6 points in week one and 8 points in week five and I find myself wondering where it all went wrong. Well no worries anymore! Drew Brees went for 28 and my opponent doubled up with R. Bush as well. The result is that those two went for 45 points. Add Reggie Wayne from Indy and his 29 fantasy points and all I can say is… ”We’re not worthy… we’re not worthy!” Like way! So all the way back for New Orleans means I get my third loss. I need some luck because Ronnie Brown is out and I need a runner. Oh well… I think my diary entry will put to rest what everyone in New England thinks about this year.

Dear Diary

The Red Sox completed a four game sweep of the junior circuit contenders known as the Colorado Rockies. The National League bears the burden of having trouble with pitching and trouble with putting together several major league at bats. None of this seems to be a problem in the American League. But this ebbs and flows and this is the current state of affairs.   Let’s go back to the not so distant future.

When I was growing up, the National League won 11 All-Star games in a row from 1972 – 1982 and they did it in fine fashion. By the time I really cared about this stuff, the announcer would say… “and now going for their 7^th in a row, the National League. The point is that there are trends in this stuff. So may I recommend a book?

I love financial markets and I purchased and read Trend Following - How Great Traders Make Millions in Up or Down Markets by Michael Covel. I read this the Summer of 2004. In this book is a chapter on John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox. The point of the chapter on the top of it all was that the owner of the Red Sox was a meticulous person who followed a certain set of rules since the beginning of his trading. These trends were exploited to the point where John Henry could afford to purchase the Boston Red Sox. But what does this mean?

It means that baseball is numbers. There is a definable trend in putting these pieces and numbers together. Over time, talent will only get you so far but the numbers don’t lie. After reading this book, you can almost foresee a Red Sox championship, no matter how improbable.

Why? Because the numbers don’t lie and certain trends over long periods of time pay off.

May this be a new trend in Red Sox Nation.

Master D.