Fantasy Baseball

Upset that you missed out on Pedro Martinez in your fantasy baseball draft and ended up with Tim Wakefield instead? Couldn't get Randy Johnson and got stuck with Randy Keisler? Went after Carlos Delgado and came home with Wilson Delgado? Maybe you're playing the wrong game. You might want to try Maxim Fallacy Baseball instead. Unlike fantasy baseball, in which team owners earn points for home runs, RBIs, victories, saves and other positive statistics accumulated by players they draft, Fallacy ball rewards players for producing negative statistics.

Around this time of year comes a matter of paperwork.It's either that imposing-looking 1998 1040 Forms and Instruction booklet from the Internal Revenue Service or a blank bracket for the March Madness office pool.Here are a number of ways to prepare yourself for March Madness by using the vast resources of the Internet:General information: At FinalFour.net (www.finalfour.net), users can get the NCAA-sanctioned lowdown, which is a good thing because the NCAA has exclusive rights to cybercasts of the games.

WARNING: This column is about obsession. It is also about using the personal computer to pursue a late-night hobby so addictive (and so stupid, some would say) that thousands of otherwise normal people are willing to risk friendships, jobs and even marriages to pursue it.The hobby is fantasy baseball on the Prodigy computer network.In its most benign manifestation, Prodigy Baseball Manager is an opportunity for armchair managers to assemble and manipulate a dream team of major-league athletes for a summer of fun.Would-be managers from across the continental United States can pit their teams against others in a computer-network league that uses real-life statistics, from the previous night's Major League Baseball games, to determine the outcome of their fantasy contests.

Baseball has indeed expanded beyond the American and National League to the Fantasy League. The stadium of the mind is embodied in the burgeoning Rotisserie League, where every fan can run his own team. Organized 11 years ago by a small group of fans and writers, an estimated 2 million persons are playing in this field of schemes. The reality is that fantasy baseball has become big time, with a national expenditure of an estimated $50 million to buy teams and millions more on statistical services to keep fans up to date.