I woke up this morning a champion. It has been 9 long years, but I’m
now finally able to call myself a BDB champion. My son, Harrison Allen
Paul Spoelstra, born on the 19th of March 2012, will be able to tell his
sons, and they their sons, that their grandfather and great-grandfather
was once a Belted Deep Baseball champion. Those children, years from
now, will be regaled with stories of Jimmy Rollins and his 2-run jack
off of Mo Rivera in the 9th inning of Game 3 of the Semi-finals. Of
Jose Valverde earning 6 saves – and maintaining a 0.00 ERA! – through
the Semfinal AND Championship Series. And no one will be able to to
forget fat old Carlos Lee catching that Russell Martin fly to win the
Championship against Montreal.
But we’ve already gone too far into the future. The only way to
properly tell this story is by starting at the beginning. And the story
of the Hamilton Splitterz began with one man – Ismael Valdes. I was a
young, optimistic, and dedicated fantasy sports participant back in
2003. The Splitterz – originally named the Hong Kong Splitterz – were
born in a tiny apartment in the former British colony south of China. I
had some success with Yahoo! baseball leagues, and assumed that the
knowledge and expertise I gained would simply carry over to BDB. I had
much to learn. The North Bay Trappers and Ancaster Waterloo Langley
Royals Spartans would teach me many hard lessons through the first
number of years. So it was with my 1st overall selection in the 2003
Expansion draft that I took Valdes, who was followed in succession by
Jimmy Haynes, Doug Mientciewicz, Carl Everett, and Tony Batista. So,
uh, yeah, I didn’t have the strongest start.
Fast forward to the 2009 season, where I lost in heartbreaking fashion
to the Sao Paulo Tricolor in the championships. Tears were nearly shed
that evening, but I knew that something special was happening in the
Steel City. The groundwork was laid for this team to become world
champions. January 31, 2012 was another significant point in the team’s
history. It was that day that I, along with Joe Rae, pulled off a
blockbuster deal that saw me acquire Albert Pujos and Dan Haren, who
would eventually be instrumental in earning this championship. Smaller
deals that brought in studs like Jay Bruce, Mike Napoli and Zack Greinke
helped, but in the end it was a true team effort with 7 different
Splitterz hitting 15+ jacks over the season.
So it is with great pride and joy that I thank other General Managers
for their well-wishes and congratulations, for this was a long road.
While I am contemplating if this current feeling is worth the hours of
time I neglected my career, social and family life to determine mop-up
relievers and analyze which backup left-fielder to draft, I can’t help
but think to myself “Don’t overthink it. Let’s go out and do it again!
This has the makings of a dynasty!”