Sports Guy North

Sports Guy North's Fantasy Baseball

It's the middle of winter, the snow's falling and the thermometer has finally dropped below freezing, so that can mean only one thing - it's a beautiful day for a ball game; let's play two! That's right, Pitchers and Catchers have reported to "spring" training already, and questions have begun coming in to me about who I would advise taking in fantasy drafts. Here's the easy answer - I'm not telling yet. The reason being that I've decided to reward my loyal readers with a FREE Fantasy Baseball league. This league will be roto, with prizes for the ultimate winner, and for the person with the most dominant week. The prizes will be determined by my Sports Guy North related advertising revenue between now and the end of the baseball season, so if you are lucky enough to get a team don't forget to start padding the prizes. You all know how that works. Also, every week the weekly leader will get a small feature article where they can speak their mind and/or advertise their blog or anything else. Since a lot of my readers are bloggers, this might be the biggest draw, not to mention the pride that goes along with finally proving that you know sports better than, say, the guys over at Forward Progress.

How can I enter, you ask? Well, since I am limiting the pool to 50 people, you have to prove to me that you have been reading, and you aren't just looking to win. Send and email to

SportsGuyNorth@gmail.com

with your answers to the following questions:

1. Who is the worst defenseman in the NHL?
2. Which Basketball Player Can Name Sports Guy North As His Number One Fan?
3. Who Is Your Rucchin Of The Year and Why?

Simple as that. Remember also to mention what city you are from. I have a list of 25 servers that access my sight the most often, and if you're from one of those places, you'll likely be at the top of the list if a tie breaker has to be implemented.

Olympic Hockey

I was ready to write a big article about the Olympic hockey semi-finals, but the Kasparitis sucked the entire desire out of my by being Kasparitis. I don't even want to give credibility to him by mentioning anything he did that pissed me off. Anyone else who saw the game has to feel the same. This guy has been ruining hockey for way too long now, and needs to be stopped. Violently. There is no way that I'm the only one who is cheering for this. Anyway, the results of these two games were exactly as I expected (although one was a little higher scoring than I thought it would be), bringing my record to 6-0 predicting the playoff round. That's nothing to brag about, though, because there's no reason to have gotten any of these games wrong. None of them were in doubt on any level. Russia should take the bronze in much the same way, no, but the Gold medal game might actually be decent. I'm still sticking with my pre-Olympic pick in Finland, but it should be a good game anyway. Sweden is more than capable of throwing in a surprise or two, along with some entertaining hockey. Even Freddy Modin scored a pretty one in this tournament. I know I've mentioned that already, but I'm still trying to come to terms with it. I'm not sure I ever will.

Barrel Jumping

This picture from Russia's win over Canada brought one thing to mind for me - Barrel Jumping. What happened to this sport? I used to love random sightings of it on Wide World of Sports back in the day. I could watch it for hours. Unfortunately, in this overly safety-conscious world, it seems to have disappeared. I could watch this stuff all day, and I really think that if it was added to the Olympics it would easily be one of the most popular events.

Even without the barrels, they need to come up with some other Winter Olympic events that amount to the equivalent of the Field half of track and field. Speeds skating already has the track part covered. Barrel Jumping can cover the long jump. Shot put might not be a good idea on ice, but how cool would pole vault be with a skate up to the jump? At the speed that skaters could get up, the jump heights could get out of control. If anyone else has some other field events they'd like to see in the winter, please suggest them. Also, if you know somewhere me and the JF can go to watch some barrel jumping this winter, speak up as well. I just can't get enough of that mostly defunct sport!

NA Medal Counts

Americans put a little distance on Canada in the battle for second place today, picking up 3 medals to only one for Canada. This should ensure their finish ahead of the Canadians, but it was a good run while it lasted. 2010 in Vancouver should be a great battle. Remember to join me there for the 2-man luge. It'll be the event of the century!

Canada (20) - Russ Howard et Al, Men's Curling, Gold

USA (23) - Julia Mancuso, Ladies' Giant Slalom, Gold
Chad Hedrick, Men's 10,000m Speed Skating, Silver
Pete Fensen et Al, Men's Curling, Bronze