Fantasy Baseball

Every February, they descend on your local magazine rack like locust. Their covers screech variations of the same theme: "Buy me and you'll win your league." They are fantasy baseball preview guides. When I was a kid, playing in my first few fantasy leagues, I had no idea who might dispense the best advice. I didn't know who Ron Shandler or Alex Patton were and there was no Internet. So I turned blindly to these magazines. And believe me, it can be hard to distinguish between them. These previews are written in November and December, so they can't possibly incorporate the most up-to-date news (that's why I rely more on Internet services)

I know many of you are thinking Super Bowl this week, and I haven't been struck by any thunderbolt ideas, so we'll do an odds and ends column. Several people asked me last week if Kobe Bryant's 81-point game was a big deal in fantasy sports. I actually think it's a greater accomplishment in real basketball. Bryant's incredible scoring makes him a top player, but points are not rare commodities in the fantasy game. In the leagues I'm in, the teams with Bryant rank third and fourth in the points category.

Good news for Sidney Ponson owners, if there are any out there - Sir Sidney is on the disabled list. So if you have been inexplicably plugging Ponson into your lineup these last few months, absorbing his damaging blows to your team ERA and WHIP, you can now feel free to leave him on the bench. Indefinitely. Ponson, sidelined by a strained calf, should return to the Orioles before the end of the season, but it's quite possible that he'll do so as a member of the bullpen, which might not be such a bad thing.