Question for Yankees/Red Sox Fans

by marchmadness on Feb 25, 2008 2:38 PM EST Comment 22 comments

This question refers to the no hitter that Clay Buchholz threw last season. I am in a fantasy league that has minor league rosters. I happen to be a Yankees fan and have Buchholz on my minor league roster. Since he is on my roster (and only for that reason) I found myself cheering for him that he would complete the no no. My question for Yankees fans is if you were in my position would you have cheered for Buchholz from a fantasy perspective? And for Red Sox fans, if you had Hughes or Chamberlain on your roster and they were about to complete a no no, would you cheer for them even though you are a Boston fan?

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As a Yankee fan

I'd root for the no-hitter. I don't really think it matters that much in the grand scheme. If I owned Buchholz, it's pretty unavoidable for him to win games, and in the scope of it affecting the Yankees, a no-hitter is just another win, should be no different. Fantasy baseball creates these conflicts of interest pretty frequently, and the only time it would be hard to stomach it is if he was tossing that no-hitter AGAINST the Yankees. In that case, I'll be hoping for him to lose his bid, and then for the pen to eventually blow it so he doesn't get the loss. LOL

One day, Elijah Dukes will be President of the United States.

by PujolsJunkie on Feb 25, 2008 3:03 PM EST reply actions

You know this is actually pretty funny.

I've heard people say fantasy sports have really ruined the competitive aspect of sports and some go as far as saying it's simply ruining sports. I don't necessarily agree with the latter because it has brought some extra/new attention to the sports and perhaps opened it up to newer demographics/markets but they do have a small point.

Spending a lot of time in sports bars the last 4-5 years, I actually saw a ton of people rooting for their fantasy players over their own RL team. People would try and sit in the bar at the spot in which they could view the most TVs with players from their teams. It really does get ridiculous to a point. Some would actually bring their rosters (theirs and their opponents) and sit and calculate how they were doing as the games went on. I just think people lose sight of the sport which seems far more important than their fantasy leagues (but of course the sport on TV is simply a game).

by jfish26101 on Feb 25, 2008 3:15 PM EST reply actions

My team

I am big tribe fan. If I werent in fantasy I could care less about any other team but now I can watch a Padres Arizona game and care:-) If my pitcher faces the tribe I just hope for a tribe win... 1-0 in extra innings.

Jman

by Honda3speed on Feb 25, 2008 3:24 PM EST reply actions

Red Sox fan

As a Sox fan who has Hughes in scoresheet this year, I have to admit I'd root for the no-hitter. I'll usually root for a no-hitter, though, unless it's someone I truly despise (Curt Schilling, David Wells) pursuing it. I found myself rooting for Moose to pitch a perfecto once . . . against the Red Sox. And I didn't even have him on my stat league team. Unless it knocks the Sox out of the playoffs, it's still just one game, and they're rare enough that they're always cool.

Where Anne hath a will, Anne Hathaway.

by woodstein52 on Feb 25, 2008 3:55 PM EST reply actions

I always root for my fantasy team

Because if my favorite baseball team wins; I'm not going to make any money off it.

by Galt on Feb 25, 2008 4:13 PM EST reply actions

You could if you bet on the game...

or have some of their memorabilia which might increase in value. Plus the simple fact that your team won should give you enough gratification to outweigh the monetary gains.

by jfish26101 on Feb 25, 2008 6:43 PM EST up reply actions

I have Buchholz

in a keeper league, I always root for him. Then hope the bullpen can blow the lead.

by nyy601 on Feb 25, 2008 4:44 PM EST reply actions

Fantasy

The way I see it, I have two roles in baseball:

Fan: short for Fanatic: cheer for things to happen

Owner: predict things that will happen

I don't think Julio Lugo is going to be a productive major league for the rest of his time with the Red Sox. As a fantasy owner, I wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole. I'd rather start the corpse of Omar Vizquel over Lugo. But as a Red Sox fan, you know I'm cheering for it

As long as I'm able to distinguish between two and I don't allow my fandom to interfere with my decision making, there's no problem

Also, I would be cheering for Hughes to pitch the no-hitter. This is for several reasons: I love baseball history, I don't care that much about a single win or loss unless it's in the postseason, and I'm one of the few Sox fans who doesn't hate the Yankees

-1 and only member of the Jed Lowrie fan club!

by Jgaztambide on Feb 25, 2008 5:12 PM EST reply actions

As a Sox fan

I'd say I (almost) always root for the no-hitter. The caveat is if it's being thrown against the Sox. I still root for it, to a degree, but there is clearly a sense of relief if it is broken up. Case in point - when Mike Mussina was throwing a perfect game against the Sox a few years back. Jurassic Carl broke the perfect game up with two down in the 9th. I was sorry that Mussina didn't get the perfect game, but relieved that it wasn't thrown against the Sox.

"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day." - Calvin

by RVachon on Feb 25, 2008 6:28 PM EST reply actions

Stolen from Lookout Landing

Always brings a smile to my face ^o^

by elrey34 on Feb 25, 2008 7:22 PM EST up reply actions

Quite Possibly

the greatest comment in the history of minorleagueball.com

I am just now reaching the age of Dusty Baker prospectdum. maybe i should give Krivsky a call

by Terry Ryan Jr on Feb 25, 2008 8:52 PM EST up reply actions

Heh.

LL has some regulars that are really talented at PS. There's a lot of funny images they keep on the sidebar.

Man, Crazy Carl was a flippin' lunatic but I sure had a lot of fun making fun of him when he was a Mariner.

by elrey34 on Feb 26, 2008 12:43 PM EST up reply actions

That, my friend

Is OUTSTANDING.

"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day." - Calvin

by RVachon on Feb 27, 2008 4:31 PM EST up reply actions

why do you have him?

In baseball, my favorite team, hands down, is my fantasy team. But in football, my favorite team is the Redskins, and as such, in my 13 years playing fantasy football, I have never owned a Cowboy or a Giant (although I did slip and allow a couple Eagles onto my roster a couple years years ago). I do that to avoid the temptation - because I know if I've got a Cowboy on my team, I'm going to root for him, and I can't bear to do that. It's probably cost me some wins, although I have won the trophy a couple times. So my question is, if you've got Buchholz, first of all, how did you get him, and second of all, why aren't you trying to trade him? He'll certainly have value, and you should get a nice return.

But to actually answer the question, yeah, I'd root for the no-no (reluctantly), but then use that success to further bolster his value in a trade.

by journeymen on Feb 25, 2008 11:15 PM EST reply actions

Fantasy reasons

Due to several injuries at the beginning of the season last year to some of my high priced players (Carpenter) and a slow start by several others (Pujols, Konerko, Matusi) I fell out of contention pretty early on. I ended up trading for Buchholz. But just because he is on the Red Sox, I'm not going to ignore trading for him afterall he is one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, so why would I ignore his fantasy value? I'm not going to root for him if he were pitching against the Yankees, just that he pitch a descent game.

I'm not going to trade him because I am looking to win this year, and I think he will put up good numbers if he gets the playing time. Plus I will be able to keep him for three years at a cheap price, then can sign him long term if I like.

by marchmadness on Feb 26, 2008 11:26 AM EST up reply actions

personally

I won't put a Yankees player on my team because under no circumstance do I want to be rooting for a Yankee player to do anything good.

This is me being polite.

by CrimsonLiederhosen on Feb 26, 2008 12:19 AM EST reply actions

I tend to lean this way as well...

Except for me being a Phils fan, so it's the Mets and Braves I do my best to avoid. If I do have one of them, I still root against them though admittedly not quite as hard when they play against other teams, but when they are playing the Phils I don't care about fantasy anymore. Fantasy teams change year to year, the Phillies are my team for life.

FJM, down in the trenches doing the Lord's work.

by zdavis2512 on Feb 26, 2008 12:54 AM EST up reply actions

+1

To:
Fantasy teams change year to year, the Phillies are my team for life.

This is me being polite.

by CrimsonLiederhosen on Feb 26, 2008 12:58 PM EST up reply actions

Doesn't matter to me

I'm a Yankee fan and I don't really care much about the Red Sox. Honestly, I hate the Orioles more than anything.

Todd Frazier for President

by FrazierFan on Feb 26, 2008 1:16 AM EST reply actions

wouldn't

have any yanks on my team

by SoCalSoxFan on Feb 26, 2008 1:48 AM EST reply actions

as a Dodger fan....

....I'll take Giants sometimes that I'm worried will break out.

this way, it's a no-lose for me: either I prosper from their success, or I can superstitiously celebrate the fact that my drafting of the player "stopped" him from succeeding.

of course, while i'm watching the games, i'll root more for the Giants player to fail. except now. right now, the Giants are bad enough where it doesn't matter, and it's comforting to my friends when they actually do something good, so i'm OK with it.

by bleedjaxblue on Feb 26, 2008 2:03 AM EST reply actions

Half-full

Well aren't you a bright ray of sunshine! I like at it as a no-win situation. If they stink, it's bad for my fantasy team. If they do well, it's bad for the team that actually matters.

This is me being polite.

by CrimsonLiederhosen on Feb 26, 2008 1:00 PM EST up reply actions