The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT March 19, 2011

There’s just something about coaching a baseball team.

Well, as close as someone can get without having the slightest idea of how to coach, that is.

For the third-straight year, I’ve embarked on a fantasy journey along with some friends where I’ll be running another baseball team this summer.

DON’T GET me wrong, I’ve got some idea of how to manage a baseball team, but nothing like what area high school baseball and softball coaches have to do on any given day.

Besides, in fantasy baseball, there’s no rainouts, something that I’ve grown quite fond of.

Despite the regular season not getting started until March 31, there was a sense of excitement among those of us when the live draft commenced on Sunday night.

That or attempt to psych each other out on each pick — whatever you’d like to believe.

As far as fantasy sports go, I must have seemed to have forgotten that I had a basketball team as I slipped into a rather long losing streak to end the season.

It’s safe to say I haven’t quite won the championships that I had envisioned at the start of the season.

If only some of my players happened to live in South Beach, I’d probably have a good excuse of why I’ve been losing so much.

No such luck — I’ve just been pretty bad about my picks.

THE TREND doesn’t just end there either.

After celebrating some success with my fantasy football team during the regular season, everything unraveled by the playoffs.

Really, what were the odds that Rashard Mendenhall and Minnesota tailback Adrian Peterson weren’t going to play on the same weekend?

Apparently good enough for them to both sit out in one of the final weeks of the season.

And who knows, had the Vikings not been forced to play outside in the frigid cold in the final weeks of the season, maybe Peterson could have found his way onto a field instead of sitting on the bench.

But there’s a bright side to the struggles — they can only improve this year.

Instead of allowing a computer to make all my picks, this time around I was able to control my own destiny and choose my own players.

While it could be considered a risk to take Felix Hernandez with the second overall pick, I figure that he’s due. The rest of his teammates meanwhile, well don’t expect much this time around.

Adding pitchers such as Tim Lincecum and C.C. Sabathia as other options can’t hurt — can they?

THERE IS a good chance that most of these players will either be traded or coveted in a trade by the All-Star break in July, but we’ll see.

I keep trying to tell myself that no matter what, I will pay attention more than the occasional glance I gave to a basketball team that wound up somewhere between 30 or 40 games under .500.

Judging by all the talking going on Sunday night, I’d better change the way I approach things this season.

Or else, I may never hear the end of it.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.