Trading The Gator - Draft Day

Today, for the 31st time in history, the owners of the CFCL gather for what they collectively acknowledge is the Greatest Day of The Year:  Draft Day.

I'm sure Rich will be recapping the events of the day, as well as the celebrations that took place to recognized the CFCL's 30th Anniversary.

For now, though, let's take a look back for an in-depth examination of Draft Day and what it means, courtesy of Trading the Gator.  This clip from the film documents the draft of 2002.

Trading the Gator - From the Cutting Room Floor - The Ralph Macchio Incident

The 2014 CFCL Draft is just two weeks away.  To whet our collective appetites, here's a little glimpse inside the Draft Day segment of Trading the Gator, the fantasy baseball documentary featuring the CFCL.

Note: See this post for the background on the CFCL’s involvement in Trading the Gator. 

The documentarians following the CFCL during the 2002 season shot hours and hours of video - the vast majority of which never made it into the final cut.  Included in those hours and hours recorded, was the full 8 or 9 hours of Draft Day, shot with multiple cameras, and including side interviews during breaks in between rounds.

The producers whittled the Draft Day segment down to about 7 or 8 minutes in the final cut of the film (we'll be sharing that sometime in the next couple weeks, to celebrate The Greatest Day of 2014).  Most of the Draft Day footage left cast aside in the editing suite consisted of those mostly silent, brooding moments as eleven owners sit waiting as the 12th endures the internal debate about whether to raise the current bid a penny.

There were a few really entertaining moments, though, that just couldn't make it into the finished product.  Case in point, The Ralph Macchio Incident...

The producers were kind enough to share some of the unused footage from Draft Day, so we were able to save this moment for posterity.

To set the scene, Six Packs' owner Kelly Barone was locked in a bidding war for Hideo Nomo with Bruce Ellman of Tenacious B.  It was the point in the auction when you're getting down to the last few players who are really worth spending for, and Kelly found himself with the choice of spending more for Nomo than he had budgeted or passing him by and possibly being stuck with a much lesser pitcher.

Kelly begins the clip apologizing for taking so long to make up his mind, and declares that he's at a crossroads in how he'll proceed with the rest of the Draft.  Bruce wonders whether he's referring to the Ralph Macchio film, "Crossroads", or the Brittney Spears offering of the same name.

Cue the film ...

 

Trading the Gator: Draft Prep

Spring Training has begun, and soon teams in Arizona and Florida will begin playing preseason games.  Elsewhere, all around the world, fantasy baseball owners are shaking off the cobwebs of winter and starting their research and preparation for the Greatest Day of the Year - Draft Day.

Draft Day prep can involve many facets - from reading every bit of news you can get your hands on and watching spring games - live or on television, to arts and crafts and ensuring you have the right foodstuffs with you at the Draft Table.

See all that and more in this latest clip from "Trading the Gator," the fantasy baseball documentary that featured the CFCL (read that story in this earlier post).  You'll see CFCL owners Kelly Barone, Eric Lamb, David Mahlan, and Jason Grey, Paul Zeledon, plus Walter Shapiro of the American Dreams League discussing their pre-Draft routines and strategies.

Trading the Gator: What It All Means

As we ease into the baseball offseason, let's revisit "Trading the Gator" with the film's closing sequence.  It's an introspective segment, that reflects on what this whole fantasy baseball thing really means.  Original Rotisserie League founders Valerie Salembier and Dan Okrent, along with Dave Barry, Jim Cramer, Bill James, Tim Kirkjian, and American Dreams League owner Walter Shapiro all give their thoughts on the subject.

Also appearing in this clip is Paul Zeledon, owner of the CFCL's Da Paul Meisters, who is seen in action at White Sox Fantasy Camp.  The video of him legging out a triple earned Paul the nickname "wheels" after "Trading The Gator" premiered.

The CFCL Awards Banquet

One of the (many) things that makes the CFCL special is the end-of-season Awards Banquet. Since our very first year, the CFCL has traditionally gathered in October or November (and once or twice, December or January as schedules required) to celebrate the accomplishments – and failures – of the recently completed season.

We seldom got full attendance at the banquet – especially in recent years, with a number of owners living out of town – but whether we have three owners present or ten, a good time is had by all.

In the CFCL’s early years, the big attraction at the banquet was the revealing of the final standings. Until 1997, when the CFCL finally modernized and hired a stat service, I compiled the standings by hand and until the final rankings were announced at the banquet, no one knew for certain who the league champion was.

To get a real feel for what goes on at the CFCL Awards Banquet, check out this clip from Trading the Gator, with highlights from the 2002 banquet. Some things to watch for:

• Pizza – the official banquet food of the CFCL. In the early years, we usually held the banquet at an owner’s house and ordered pizza in. After a few years, though, we decided to actually go out for the banquet. Although there were a couple years in the 90s when we met at a Chinese restaurant, most of the time we stuck to pizza. The pizzeria in the video is Giordano’s in Oak Park. 
• Awards – In addition to awarding certificates for the final standings, we also recognize a number of other award winners at the banquet. Some of the awards, such as the Dallas Green Award (which was described in an earlier post), are based on the point totals accumulated by CFCL teams, while others are voted on by the owners. We’ll be looking at some of those awards in future posts.
• Championship Trophy – Of course the big prize of the night is the CFCL Championship Trophy. This has evolved over the years, from a photocopied certificate to a customized trophy. Rich described this evolution in an earlier post.
• Baseball Cards – For a number of years beginning in the late 1990s, I started handing out unopened packs of baseball cards from the mid-80s to add some more fun and nostalgia to the proceedings. Each owner would get 3-4 packs to open, and we’d rip through them with the enthusiasm of 12-year-olds. The fact that the cards were from 8-10 years prior allowed some of the old-timers to reminisce about owning some of the players in the past, and it also meant many of the packs included the cardboardy plank of pink gum. Usually the gum was discarded untouched, though in 2002 – the banquet captured in the video below - the owner of Da Paul Meisters accepted the challenge to chew a couple sticks – you’ll see him putting his hand over his mouth in the video in an effort to keep from gagging it up.

Of course, the real attraction of the awards banquet is to spend an evening visiting with the rest of the owners in the league, outside of the usual Draft Day pressure cooker.

Here’s what the CFCL awards banquet looked like back in 2002:

Trading the Gator: The Home Stretch

As we've seen the past couple days, the 2013 race has turned out to be another nail-biter.  It's that time of year when the team in the lead spend gut-wrenching nights hitting refresh on the Live Scoring, desperately trying to stave off charging competitors, while those lower in the standings - if they're paying attention at all - wonder at what could have been, while others have already checked out for the year.

We see all of that in this clip from Trading the Gator.  We get to hear the anxious thoughts of Lambchop owner, Eric Lamb, as he tries to hang onto a lead for the last few weeks of the season, we get to experience the softball prowess of Da Paul Meister's owner Paul Zeledon, and hear David Mahlan (David's Copperfields) and Kelly Barone (Six Packs) dissect the Six Packs all-out collapse in 2002.

Trading The Gator: The Season Begins

It's time for another installment from the film Trading the Gator, the fantasy baseball documentary that featured the CFCL.

      Note: See this post for the background on the CFCL’s involvement in Trading the Gator.
The timing's not exactly right for this clip, as it covers the opening of the baseball season, but you'll notice the filmmakers had some problems of their own with timing here.  The shots of Michelle and I crooning "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field were obviously not filmed during on Opening Day as purported.

That aside, the clip also features Six Packs owner Kelly Barone musing about the need to "keep your head in the game" (by the way, for a time during the editing process, the producers were toying with titling the film "Head In The Game") and we see Da Paul Meisters owner Paul Zeledon evaluating his team's chances for the season.

From there, the segment takes an interesting turn with Rotisserie League founder Dan Okrent and the wife of Walter Shapiro discussing (very frankly and matter of factly in Mrs Shapiro's case) the impact of fantasy baseball on the personal lives of those who play it and their loved ones.

For the last portion of this clip, the filmmakers spoke with Harry Witzke, a former co-owner who quit the CFCL after the 2001 season, leaving Bruce Ellman as sole owner of Harry's Witzke a Go-Go, soon to be rechristened Tenacious B.

A couple years leaving the league, Harry was clearly still perturbed about the reasons that had led him to leave the CFCL - a combination of the planned move from standard 4x4 format to non-standard 5x5 in 2003 (the rule changes he mentions) and what he saw as an unreasonable trade by co-Commissioner Mahlan.

I'll admit the trade was imbalanced - a deadline deal in which my Copperfields acquired Shawn Green and Curt Schilling from the Picts for a package of four minor leaguers, only one of whom panned out (a two-cent Morgan Ensberg, who provided the foundation of the Pict offense for the next five years).

I do, however, take exception to the charge of "finagling," Harry's term for the fact that I released the .33 Green and .27 Schilling rather than keeping them the following spring (when, by the way, Harry was already long gone).  Given that I already faced going into the Draft with .55 to spend on 8 players, keeping an additional .60 in salary was never really a consideration.

I actually think the producers mainly wanted to include Harry in the film because they were desperate for a stereotypical Chicago accent (I love the "double edged schword" line).

But enough about that ... enjoy this 5-minute clip from Gator:

Trade Deadline Review: 2002

This is the third in a series of posts taking a look at the trade deadline action in each season during the CFCL’s first 29 years. Specifically, for each season we’ll look at each team’s trading turnover in the 3-4 weeks before the trading deadline. Individual deals will continue to be listed (though not analyzed) in the “This Week in CFCL History” posts.

Previous posts in this series:

1: 1984-1987
2: 2001

Now, we continue one, with 2002.

2002
Trade Deadline: July 31
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 7 teams, 5 trades
Number of Players Changing Hands: 20
Busiest Teams: Dem Rebels (3 trades)
Contenders: Dem Rebels, Tenacious B, Eric’s Lambchops
Rebuilders: Nick’s Picts, Reservoir Dogs, Six Packs, Da Paul Meisters
2002 was the year of Trading the Gator. With the season being played out in front of a documentary film crew, you’d have thought the CFCL owners would have put on a great wheelin’ and dealin’ show. Instead, 2002 was one of the quieter trade deadlines of the early 2000s.

What’s really surprising is that, of the top 4 teams in the standings on July 1, only one – the league leading Lambchops, made any deals in the month before the deadline. Even David’s Copperfields, typically one of July’s busiest teams and in second place, 8.5 points behind the Chops at the beginning of July, did not make a single deal.

There were big changes in store for the CFCL in 2003. After 19 years of playing under standard Rotisserie scoring rules, the league was moving to non-standard 5x5 scoring in 2003. This is just speculation, but perhaps the radical category changes in the offing left rebuilding teams a bit uncertain about making big moves going into the following season. Whatever the reason, there weren’t a whole lot of deals being consummated in July 2002.

Happily for the producers of Trading the Gator,  at least one trade was captured on tape for inclusion in the documentary:  a deal between Dem Rebels and Tenacious B.

NICK’S PICTS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Luis Pineda Nick Neugebauer	Woody Williams 13th round pick 15th round pick	All it cost the Picts to acquire Pineda and Neugebauer was the few remaining months on Woody Willams’ contract as he played out his option year and a couple late draft picks.  Still, it was a fairly empty return for the Picts, as neither player made it to Opening Day 2003. Pineda was cut loose in October during Winter Waivers, and Neugebauer was released prior to Draft Day. Not much was given up, so no real harm done, but as a rebuilding team the Picts didn’t help themselves much either.

 RESERVOIR DOGS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Danny Bautista Ricky Ledee Alex Cora John Patterson Kip Wells	Sammy Sosa Roberto Alomar Glendon Rusch Scott Sullivan	Fantasy baseball guru Jason Grey made a big splash in his first CFCL draft, spending big on Sammy Sosa (.48), Roberto Alomar (.39), and Phil Nevin (.34).  Despite that fire power, though, they struggled right out of the gate, and after April failed to rise any higher than 10th in the standings. July 31 found them in selling mode, as they prepared for hopefully a better year in 2003. Cora and Ledee were both cut before the next season - Ledee in Winter Waivers and Cora prior to the Draft. At a penny, Kip Wells proved to be a great pickup, posting a 3.28 ERA and 22 QS in 2003.  Bautista provided middling returns (.330 OBP, just over 100 TB), while Patterson bombed (6.05 ERA, splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen.

 SIX PACKS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Tyler Houston 4th round pick 8th round pick 10th round pick	Adrian Brown Edgardo Alfonzo Hideo Nomo	The Six Packs had high hopes for the 2002 season, but a series of injuries left them in the second division by the time the trade deadline rolled around. In their lone deadline deal (actually completed in early July), the Six Packs picked up catcher Tyler Houston, whom they released before Draft Day 2003, and a trio of Rotation Draft picks. Since all three draft picks came from eventual 2002 Champions, Eric’s Lambchops, they were the last pick in each round.  Here’s how the Six Packs used them: 4th round – Russ Springer (8.31 ERA in 2003)8th round  – Oscar Villareal (7.00 ERA in 2003)10th - pass I’m noticing a trend here … not much of value was obtained by rebuilders in 2002.

DA PAUL MEISTERS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Tim Worrell	Shawn Estes 13th round pick	Estes was playing out his final contract year, so was no use to the Meisters. They picked up Worrell, who carried a .05 salary, and kept him going into the 2003 season where he paid healthy dividends. Worrell posted 39 HoSv and 2.87 ERA in 2003, the best season of his career.

DEM REBELS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Woody Williams Shawn Estes Jose Jimenez 13th round pick 13th round pick 13th round pick 15th round pick	Luis Pineda Andy Fox Tim Worrell Nick Neugebauer	Pitching and 13th round draft picks, that’s what the Rebels were after in 2003. Interestingly, despite all the draft picks they acquired, the Rebels were actually playing for 2002 with these deals.  All three pitchers they acquired were on expiring contracts. In 6th place at the beginning of July, the Rebels were 23 points behind the leading Lambchops.  However they trailed the second place Copperfields by just 14 points, and were only 7 points from finishing in the money.   They decided to make a move, and completed three trades during the course of the month, acquiring a pitcher and a 13th round Rotation Draft pick in 2003 in each deal (with an extra 15ht rounder thrown in for good measure). The players they received were a mixed bag.  Williams ended up hurt for a good portion of the season’s second half, but performed well (3 Wins, 2.84 ERA) when he pitched.  Jimenez put up an ERA over 4, but did save 23 games.  Estes was terrible, though, posting a 6.00 ERA with just two Wins. Despite the spotty performance from their trade acquisitions, the Rebels had a stellar final few months, and rose to finish the season in second place. While all three pitchers completed their final roster year and were released at the end of the 2002 season, the Rebels did have something to show for their trades in 2003 as well – those draft picks. Apparently targeting 13th rounders because they are the 13th is the first round in which players acquired receive a .02 salary, here’s how they worked out for the Rebels: Meisters’ 13th–Scott EyreTenacious B 13th - Scott ThormanPicts’ 13th – Carlos Hernandez15th – Did not use Eyre was the best of the bunch (3.32 ERA, 21 HoSv), while Thorman languished in the minors until the Rebels cut him and Hernandez put up a 6.43 ERA in limited duty.

TENACIOUS B

Acquired	Traded	Results
Sammy Sosa Andy Fox Roberto Alomar Glendon Rusch Scott Sullivan	Ricky Ledee Alex Cora John Patterson Kip Wells Jose Jimenez Danny Bautista 13th round pick	Tenacious B made perhaps the biggest moves at the trade deadline, picking up some big names in an effort to rise above their current 5th place standing. It didn’t work out so well for them, though.  Sosa was good, providing 17 HR and 40 RBI over the last two months, and Fox contributed 11 SB.  Rush was fine as well, posting 5 Wins with a 3.57 ERA. Alomar was a big disappointment, though, hitting just .232 with no power or speed, while Sullivan’s ERA was over 6.00. In the end, it was just enough to edge Tenacious B into 4th place, the last money spot. by the end of the year.

LAMBCHOPS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Adrian Brown Edgardo Alfonzo Hideo Nomo	Tyler Houston 4th round pick 8th round pick 10th round pick	Apparently supremely confident, the first place Lambchops completed just one small deal in early July, then stood pat the rest of the month leading up to the trading deadline. Though there weren’t any superstars among the players the Chops acquired, all three contributed. Alfonzo hit .312 with 12 HR and 31 RBI.  Brown was injured at the time of the trade, but he returned in September to hit a soft .333 and added 3 SB.  And Nomo won 7 games for the Chops to go with his 3.49 ERA. In the end, the Lambchops cruised to their first CFCL Championship.

2002 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

Fox for Jimenez - Captured!

Eleven years ago on this date, in 2002, Tenacious B and Dem Rebels teamed up on a deal that’s gone down in CFCL history. Not because of the players involved, nor its impact on the standings, but because it was the only trade in CFCL history to be captured on film.

It was the month of the trading deadline in 2002, and the producers of Trading the Gator had been anxious about recording trade talks – and hopefully the consummation of a deal – for the documentary.

   Note: See this post for the background on the CFCL’s involvement in Trading the Gator.

They had recorded some general discussions between the Lambchops and Da Paul Meisters, though things didn’t get beyond the kicking-some-names-around stage. The also filmed a number of owners who had gathered at a sports bar to watch the All Star Game, but no trade discussions took place (and the background noise in the bar made the footage unusable).

Eventually, the producers arranged to be present on both ends of a phone call during which Dem Rebels and Tenacious B completed this blockbuster:

TENACIOUS B trade Jose Jimenez and their 13th round Rotation Draft pick in 2003 to DEM REBELS for Andy Fox.

The straight forward Saves for Steals swap paid off better for Tenacious B than for the Rebels. Post-trade stats:

Fox: .257 BA – 3 HR – 17 RBI – 11 SB
Jimenez: 4.00 ERA – 1.39 RATIO – 2 W – 5 Sv

The Rebels also received a 13th round pick in the 2003 Rotation Draft, which they used to select first base prospect Scott Thorman. Thorman didn’t appear in the majors until 2005, but by that time the Rebels had cut him.

The trade talks between the Rebels and Tenacious B were included in the portion of Trading the Gator dealing with trade talks. The section also includes the trade meeting between the Lambchops and Meisters mentioned above, as well as footage of the owners of the Six Packs and Tenacious B at a White Sox game, and thoughts on trades from a couple real life GMs. And Baseball Tonight’s Tim Kirkjian says he’s much too busy to play Roto.

Before we get to the video, a quick correction: the video the Fox-Jimenez deal is dated July 29. This was apparently a bit of creative license on the part of the Gator producers (or a mistake in labeling tapes), because the trade was officially reported on July 20.

And now, on with the show…

The World Premiere of "Trading The Gator"

On this date in 2003, Trading the Gator, a documentary film about fantasy baseball featuring the CFCL, had its world premiere at Chicago Cultural Center. We covered the background on how the CFCL got involved in a post back on June 20.

After nearly a year and a half of filming, the producers had a final cut of the film completed by mid-June 2003. The producers hosted a swanky (catered!) private premiere for the owners of the CFCL, then scheduled the public World Premiere for the evening of July 13 in the Chicago Cultural Center’s Cassidy Theater (listed as #6 on Crain’s Chicago Business’ “10 Things To Do This Weekend”!).

Seven CFCL owners and their groupies (family and close friends) attended the premiere, forming part of a 250+ member audience. The film was very well received, and after the credits rolled, the four producers took the stage to an extended ovation. After they said a few words, they called the seven CFCL owners in attendance up to the stage, and we were greeted with a shockingly enthusiastic standing ovation. There was a brief Q&A, during which we each got to field some questions from the crowd.

Here’s the Roster Change report from the following week where I described the experience:

Roster Change Report for July 19, 2003

Above, I noted that seven CFCL owners attended the premiere. Actually, there were eight CFCL owners in attendance that night … future CFCLer Kenn Ruby was there as well.

Kenn wrote a brief article about Trading the Gator, which was published in Chicago Magazine (see below). Months later, during the 2003 off-season, the CFCL advertised for owners to fill a couple openings. Kenn applied and joined the CFCL for the 2004 season.

“Trading the Gator” producers Sara Berliner, Casey Morris, Brad Morris, and Nick Barrionuevo (click to embiggen):    CFCL owners Kelly Barone, Matt Bentel, Bruce Ellman, David Mahlan, Matt Grage, Paul Zeledon, and Eric Lamb:

 You may recognize Producer Brad … an alum of the Second City improv group, Brad had since gone on to star in Best Buy commercials (with Brett Favre!), and has appeared on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and The League (an FX comedy about a fantasy football league).

To close this post, here are the opening 4 minutes of Trading the Gator. Appearing in the opening are CFCL owners Eric Lamb, Paul Zeledon, and David Mahlan; original Rotisserie League owners Dan Okrent, Valerie Salembier, and Glenn Waggoner; and fantasy league superfan, Walter Shapiro.

The Darryl Kile Tragedy

This story is much too serious and somber to carry the label of "Incident".  "Tragedy" is very fitting indeed.

On June 22, 2002, St Louis Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile was found dead in his hotel room in Chicago, where the Cardinals were due to play the Cubs in a Saturday afternoon game.

Pre-game preparations were already underway when Kile was found, and Cub catcher and captain Joe Girardi made a very classy yet very emotional announcement to the crowd assembled at Wrigley Field that the day's game had been cancelled. He didn't explain why at the time, saying only that the Cardinal family had been struck by a tragedy. News that Kile had passed away came out shortly thereafter.

Of course when something like this happens, baseball - whether fantasy or the real thing - takes a back seat, and rightly so. However the fact remains that Kile’s death did have an effect on fantasy leagues, as petty and insignificant as that effect was compared to those personally impacted by the loss of Kile.

I think it’s safe to say that the CFCL’s experience with Kile’s passing was unique among all fantasy leagues. While teams in thousands and thousands of fantasy leagues I’d wager that very few of those fantasy league teams had traded for Kile less than 24 hours before his death. What, maybe 10 or so?

And of those 10 fantasy leagues in which Kile had been traded the day before he died, how many were in the process of being filmed for a documentary?

I’d guess only the CFCL.

I don’t say that to brag or puff up the significance of our little league, but just out of sheer wonder … I mean, what are the chances that a team in the one fantasy baseball league being followed by a documentary crew would acquire Darryl Kile the day before his passing? They’ve got to be miniscule.

On June 22, 2002, the Six Packs traded Bobby Abreu, Edgar Renteria, Darryl Kile, and their 12th round Rotation Draft pick in 2003 to Eric’s Lambchops for Terry Adams, Carlos Hernandez, Roosevelt Brown, and Aaron Heilman. The Lambchops were gunning for their first CFCL Championship, and felt this deal could set the up nicely for a pennant run.

While the filmmakers didn’t capture the trade being made, they happened to be filming Six Pack’s owner Kelly Barone at a birthday party the day Kile died, but he hadn’t heard the news yet. Here’s how the Kile tragedy was portrayed in Trading the Gator:



When the film was finally released, the Lambchops’ owner Eric Lamb took some flak for what appeared to be an insensitive reaction to Kile’s death – for thinking more about its impact on his fantasy team than for mourning the loss of a human life.

I got to know Eric fairly well over the years, both as a fellow owner and as a friend outside of the league, and I’d be hard-pressed to name a more caring and compassionate person. I have a feeling that editing had a good deal to do with how things appeared (not that it was intentionally cut that way by the filmmakers). I have no doubt that the human side of this hit Eric very hard indeed, regardless of the impact to his team, and it’s not as if he immediately started drafting trade proposals upon hearing the news. It was a number of weeks before they made their next deal. 

That said, fantasy owners are conditioned to evaluate all news in terms of the impact to their team and league. Eric’s trading partner, Kelly, was very honest about his reaction in a post to the league message board:

==========================

Posted by Kelly on 6/22/2002, 3:28 pm
A few things on a very tragic subject...

-- I had absolutely no idea Daryl Kile was going to die
-- I hope this isn't a hex on Eric
-- This instantly becomes a classic bit of roto lore that you couldn't possibly dream up for a documentary
-- It’s sad and its selfish, but one of the first thoughts that went through my head was "Good thing I traded him when I did". And anyone in a roto league who says they wouldn't think something like that is just lying.

Other owners agreed:

Posted by Matt on 6/23/2002, 7:58 am
I'm with Kelly, one of my first thoughts was thankfulness that I didn't have him on any of my teams. What God awful timing on Eric's part to deal for him (I said wow about another dozen times this morning).

Well, my condolences to Daryl's family and friends and his current and former teammates throughout the league. I'm sure they'll all miss him, especially his kids. What a horrible week for the Cardinal nation.

Posted by Paul on 6/23/2002, 8:09 am
Unfortunately, Kelly is correct in his above assumptions. Obviously, the first three (and most importantly, the first two) go w/o saying, and the last item is one that is tragically true to at least one small degree, at least for yours truly.

I had a chance to talk to Eric yesterday and the whole conversation was just strange and surreal. In the big scheme of things, it doesn't (and shouldn't) really matter to Eric, but, as Kelly alluded to above to some degree, he was shaken (as I interpreted it) by this whole thing. I really wish it was something we could laugh about, like Kile was just out for the year after falling victim to having a tarp come up to Busch Stadium and rolling over his leg. This was something, however, that you just couldn't make fun of or joke about.

==========================

A few days after Kile’s death, I paid tribute to him in the weekly Roster Change report by listing the stats he had accumulated with each of the CFCL teams he had played for, and recapping his entire CFCL career. You can read the tribute in the report linked below:

Roster Change Report: June 25, 2002

Fantasy Baseball Diva

Yesterday, I wrote about the CFCL’s involvement in the fantasy baseball documentary, Trading the Gator. As I mentioned in that post, when Rich and I checked with the rest of the league about participating in the film, everyone was quick to jump on board. A couple owners asked follow-up questions about the process and extent to which they’d have to open their lives to the filmmakers, but nearly everyone responded very enthusiastically.

Of course, some owners were more enthusiastic than others. Tenacious B owner Bruce Ellman immediately went into full-on diva mode and posted a classic bit of writing to the league message board in which he laid out the demands that the producers must meet in order to ensure his participation.

Enjoy!

======================================================

Posted by Bruce on 1/7/2002, 12:38 am , in reply to “Re: Fantasy Baseball Documentary”

Unbelievable timing! I am currently involved in a project documenting documentary film crews. I am hoping to film the documentary crew filming our league for my own special documentary showing the process of writing, filming, editing and then selling a documentary film. It should be quite interesting. My target demographic is invalids, agoraphobics, people who don' speaka the language good and "in-shape," smokin' female aerobic instructors who're "just looking for a good time."

If the film crew will not agree to be filmed then the following demands must be met in order to ensure my participation:

1. We must, as a "band of brothers," agree to check our egos at the door

2. Our privacy and that of our families must be respected at all times

3. Only the right side of my face can be filmed

4. Spicy, red curry must be one of the catered dishes. If I see or smell one molecule of green curry I will be sick and filming will be immediately shut down!

5. My trailer will feature 2 27" (minimum) TVs with DVD players: One will be playing episodes of "The Flying Nun" and the other will be playing Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" in continuous loops (I will NOT touch any buttons)

6. My personal assistant and stylist, "Remy," will have final approval over dress and makeup for those owners sitting within a 4-seat radius of me

7. The voice of my wife must be dubbed in a Scottish accent

8. Since I do not own a dog one must be provided for my personal use during the course of filming. Dogs have keen senses of earthquakes and the undead (those that crave human flesh, anyway)

9. The roles of my best friends will be played by C. Thomas Howell and Jonathan Silverman

10. The hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold will be played by Brooke Burke (the host of E!'s "Wild On..." series)

11. I will make all bids using the following phrase:  "The Owner from the great team of [my new team name TBD] respectfully makes a bid of $X as according to prophesy."

12. My background/theme music will be selected from the following:

• Anything by the Sex Pistols (including Public Image Ltd)
• Anything by the Clash (but not including Big Audio Dynamite)
• Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack "The Story of Us"
• Husker Du before they sold out (okay, they never really did so it's all fair game)
• New Edition and all subsequent spin-offs including Bell, Biv, Davoe but not Bobbi Brown
• Prince: especially when he still wore chaps
• Natalie Merchant: not that I've heard any of her new stuff but have you seen the picture on the cover of her new CD? As long as I'm going there, how about Shelby Lynne or Nelly Furtado? Boy, the music the kids these days listen to...Also, for nostalgia purposes, the oft-misunderstood artists Juliana Hatfield and Samantha Fox should be scheduled to make personal appearances

13. The filmed sections of my life focusing on the difficulties of my early years, growing up on the streets of Evanston & Wilmette and then my victory over a severe case of peer pressure to watch "just one episode of Dr. Who because Tom Baker's so cool," will be represented by music from NWA, PE, the Geto Boys and Morrisey. Keepin' it real!

14. For my crying scenes, all extraneous persons (including non-essential crew members and ALL other owners) will be asked to leave

15. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and "Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes." You do the math....

16. Montel Williams, Alan Thicke, Woody Harrelson, Tori Spelling and Boutros Boutros-Ghali will be quoted as saying that I have profoundly influenced their lives

17. At a random point during the draft (that I will determine), all owners will run-around the room in a counter-clockwise direction screaming "Bud Selig and my father are f*&%$#@ liars!"

18. I will use nothing less than a .44 magnum and all action scenes must make liberal use of slow motion owing to the speed of my kung fu (Drunken monkey style)

19. Finally, this must all be filmed in the spirit of fun. If it's not, then my management team headed by Rock Newman will dangle somebody from the ledge of a 3+ story building or at least speak to them in a hostile manner

Trading the Gator: The CFCL Goes Hollywood

Pride of the Yankees.
Bull Durham.
Field of Dreams...

Trading the Gator?

When listing the greatest baseball movies of all time, no one would name that last one, but no baseball film is more fondly remembered by the CFCL than Trading the Gator. The reason – we were among the featured players.

A 51-minute documentary filmed in 2002 and released (very limited) in 2003, Trading the Gator was billed as “an intimate and entertaining look at one league in Chicago, where intense competition coexists with strong friendships, where hope battles tragedy, where finding a second baseman with some steals just might allow you to control the uncontrollable.”

That “one league in Chicago” is the CFCL. Here's how it all came about… After the 2001 season the owner of Tim’s Maulers announced that he wouldn’t be returning for the following season. We put out the word to advertise for a new owner to take over his team, and one of the respondents was Jason Grey, of Mastersball.com fame (he's also written for SI.com, MLB.com, ESPN.com, and is now a scout for the Tampa Bay Rays). Given Jason's credentials, he was quickly approved and welcomed into the league.

In December 2001, shortly after Jason joined the CFCL, he was contacted by the documentary producers who were looking for a long-standing, local league that they could feature in the film to illustrate various concepts related to fantasy baseball. Specifically, “we are looking for a group that is proud of their involvement with, and proficiency in this sport … our goal is to give people an unprecedented view into the preparation and drafting process.”

Jason felt that the CFCL fit the bill, and after visiting the CFCL Internet Headquarters and meeting with me and Rich, the producers agreed. Rich and I were definitely intrigued, and checked with the rest of the league to determine their level of interest. Everyone responded positively and seemed to agree with the assessment of Six Packs’ owner Kelly Barone: “I've not seen anything so far to make me think this is a bad idea. Sounds like fun, outside of the possibility of us being portrayed as a bunch of pathetic geeks -- and what's the chances of that?”

And so the CFCL agreed to live the next few months under a microscope as a film crew interviewed us and our loved ones, documented our draft prep, and filmed our entire Draft Day. Although the producers originally planned for the film to end there, shortly after the Draft they told us they’d like to continue follow us for the entire season. Filming continued throughout the rest of the 2002 season, and by the time Draft Day 2003 rolled around, they were still filming follow-up interviews to fill in some holes.

Once editing and production were complete, the producers held a private screening of Trading the Gator for the CFCL owners in June of 2003. That was followed by a premiere showing at the Chicago Cultural Center during the All Star Break, a showing at the Chicago Historical Society in October, as well as appearances at a few film festivals. An interesting note about that premiere at the Chicago Cultural Center – in the audience that night was future CFCL owner Kenn Ruby, who joined the league in 2004. We’ll have more about Kenn’s experience at the premiere in a future post.


Trading the Gator includes interviews with some of the owners of the original Rotisserie League, including creator and Beloved Founder, Dan Okrent, ‘celebrities’ such as writer Dave Barry and cable TV financial guru Jim Cramer, a handful of real-life general managers and players, and some owners from The American Dreams League – purportedly the second-oldest Rotisserie League in the country. Most-featured among the ADL owners is political columnist Walter Shapiro, who speaks with more eloquence and child-like enthusiasm about the game than anyone I’ve ever heard.

However, the main focus of the film is on the CFCL as we play out the 2002 season. A subset of 4-5 owners are featured more than the others, though nearly every owner got at least some screen time. It’s incredible to have that document of our league at that moment in time – probably the league’s heyday in terms of engagement and competition. That’s not meant as a slight to the current set of owners (or any other in the past 30 years) but the 2002 season offered a full complement of 12 teams - not a weak owner in the bunch - and a total of 6 CFCL champions or future champions ( plus a nationally recognized guru and winner of multiple expert competitions).

When we wrote to the producers of Trading the Gator to ask about sharing clips from the film on this blog, one of the producers, Sara Berliner, who now helps run an iOS and Android app development company called Night & Day studios, shared these thoughts about her experience documenting the CFCL’s 2002 season:

I was really impressed with the dedication of the league members and how you guys created a membership organization based on your passion for baseball with a friendly but deeply competitive spirit. I remember seeing the preparation rituals (charts and marked-up books, Twizzlers, homemade baked treats) and the "game faces" of draft day and realizing how seriously some of you took it -- perhaps not always the friendliest of days! -- but it seemed to me that your lasting relationships and camaraderie were as important over the years as any individual seasons, triumphs, or trade stories. I doubt many groups last as long as the CFCL and congratulate you on your longevity. We had a lot of fun covering you guys and appreciated your participation. Definitely wouldn't be the same film without the CFCL.

We’re glad the producers were happy with the final product, and playing our season out in front of the camera was certainly a fun experience.

Throughout the year, we’ll be posting clips from the film (including scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor) to illustrate various aspects of the league or fantasy baseball in general.

The first clip we’re going to share does not include the CFCL at all; rather it features Bruce Buschel, a playwright and owner in the American Dreams League. We’re starting with him because his segment reveals the story behind the film’s name. But don’t worry; we’ll be posting plenty of clips from Gator, including those featuring the lovable clowns in the CFCL.

For now, let’s hear how the Gator got its name…