The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT September 25, 2010
Playoffs - where everyone brings their best to the table.
Players, coaches and everyone involved prepare all year for a shot at success in the postseason.
If that were the case, I would have been fired from my fantasy baseball team three months ago.
WITHIN THE past three months, I've gone through a nine-game losing streak, won a few weeks, then went into another tailspin as the season comes to an next week.
Quite frankly, after the football season started, I stopped paying much attention to how the standings were - but after taking a look a few weeks ago, I realized that whatever chances I had of claiming victory in the playoffs were long gone.
There were a couple of bonehead moves that led to my shortcomings (dropping Matt Garza for Hiroki Kuroda of the Dodgers and leaving Cole Hamels on the bench on a night when he shuts out the Atlanta Braves.)
At first, I thought that most of my success was going to come from the right arm of Stephen Strasburg, whom I picked up in a late-night trade from a buddy as an early groomsman gift.
I had to give up Cliff Lee in the deal, but the upside of the rookie phenom was enough to make it a worthwhile deal.
A little less than a month later, I was done after Strasburg went out for the season with an elbow injury - as did any of my chances of moving anywhere in the standings.
AS THE season has progressed, my roster has been changed at about the same rate as the Seattle Seahawks - fast and furious.
If there was a reason behind it, I wish I could find it, but there isn't.
The fact is, as the season has gone on, I've just been looking to score some points - whether it's by acquiring a rookie starting pitcher or a couple free-agent hitters to attempt to pile up the points on the final day of the week.
That never worked.
In fact, those moves ended up costing me a few times and, although at the time it seemed like for all the right reasons - they weren't.
I've managed to take the same strategy in the fall football league, taking advantage of some good picks in the draft and trading away the bad seeds.
After finally settling on what I believed was a good lineup, I made the trek toward Seattle.
Little did I know that Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (who was on my bench), was about to score four touchdowns after an interception on the first play from scrimmage.
Throw in Pittsburgh running back Rashard Mendenhall taking a run to the end zone to win a game - and it was no fantasy - I wanted to kick something.
Hopefully, a light will go off and I'll figure things out - but it's all a fantasy at this point.
Jason Elliott is a sports reporter for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.