Sweet fantasy

I'm doing the fantasy thing this season. And it's moments like this that my newbieness just shines right through my passion. I get the idea behind the fantasy league concept -- get a player who plays often and well, and get him for a good price so his value will grow. Like stocks, except this is more fun and yet useless.

By now I have an idea of who's good, in that I know who I like. I know who I like to watch playing, and I know who does the moves that make me believe in all things divine. Who doesn't want to pack her team with starters who perform? But, quite honestly, those are the guys whom I can't afford. I can afford some of them, so I picked up who I could, considered who I knew of that I liked, and felt my way through the rest. I'm thinking that I really should have skimped a bit on a few players so I could afford a good keeper, but oh well. Here's to trades, eh?

I think my best value, however, is Alecko Eskandarian. He's healthy, more or less, he's back in the game and he's got a goal. He's my cheapest player, but I think his value's just going to soar over this season.

But as I was picking through the meat market, I noticed several names that I know are not longer in MLS, such as Preki and Dema Kovalenko. And it got me wondering exactly who else isn't in the league anymore. Checking with team Web sites didn't help much, because they're still listed, and I just don't have the wherewithal to hunt down rumors or info online right now. And then it occurred to me -- it's a World Cup year. What if my players go to Germany? That's months out of MLS play, so there will be no points for months out of them. So it could be that I've picked a team of players that I like or see potential in, but they're not going to be playing for MLS this season. So I might have shot myself in the right foot on this.

Oh well. I got some of the guys I like. The starting 11 for the Vorpal Bunnies are:

Strikers -- Alecko Eskandarian, Santino Quaranta and Sergio Galvan Rey. I think Santino is an awesome young player and he does so well. Sergio Galvan Rey is a MetroStar, which isn't a team I really follow, but I have noticed him. So I like this lineup, except for the fact that Santino is under consideration for the national team.

Midfielders -- Christian Gomez, Ned Grabavoy, Paulo Nagamura and Clyde Simms. Clyde Simms really impressed me last season, he came into the game and turned in some nice plays. Christian Gomez is, of course, a hot player, but I love him especially for his team spirit. Remember when he got suspended for card accumulation and showed up at the game anyway to cheer along with Barra Brava? How cool is that. I have to admit, I don't know much about Grabavoy and only picked him because I know his name and he had good stats. But Paulo Nagamura -- not only is he a fellow haafu, I saw him shine last season. I think that's a good pick there, too.

Defenders -- Frankie Hejduk (of course!), Eddie Pope and Nick Garcia. The only problem with Frankie and Eddie, of course, is that they have a shot on the national team. I saw Nick play when I went to KC last year, and I really liked what I saw.

Keeper -- DC's Troy Perkins. Really, he's all I could afford. I've seen him play a few times, and he's good, but he's second to Nick Rimando, so I don't know how much play he's going to get. So I will probably be looking for a trade.

So I don't know how valuable a team this is yet. But it does add a little to the enjoyment even now. I want to see how my players are going to do. I'm looking forward even more to evaluating players for this.