Of late, my contribution to the blog has been nothing short of pitiful, and for that I apologise. There are a plethora of reasons why, none of which are really acceptable. Those of you who follow me on twitter will have seen I'm still keeping up with the post-season action, and I intend on doing a fairly major World Series preview once these thrilling Championship Series are over. But I recently heard the news that Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz will be moving on from the Fantasy Focus Baseball podcast, and, as with Baseball Today reformatting, the move hit me harder than I expected.
A quick point: fantasy baseball got me interested in the sport. My friends and I had been NFL fans for a short while, and our fantasy NFL league led us to take an interest in fantasy baseball. With absolutely no knowledge of the sport, we drafted, and looking back on the draft makes for some fun reading (Carl Crawford was my first round pick, Roy Halladay was the second etc.). I was hooked. I began keeping up with daily box scores, reading up everything I could on the players, the teams, the rules. By the end of the season, I was a competent baseball enthusiast. A couple of years on and I'm fairly obsessed.
But that's enough about me. The point is, it all started through fantasy, lame or not. And fantasy was made fun, interesting and accessible by the goofy combination of Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz on the ESPN Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast. No doubt about it, they don't go heavy on content. In fact, they jokingly pride themselves on their mediocre fantasy advice. But they made me laugh, they made me angry and somewhere along the way they gave me a good baseball education.
Matthew Berry has become something of a fantasy guru, appearing frequently on television, radio and more recently in book format. His frequent changing of story, factual errors and bizarre obsession with random players are maddening. But his super sense of humour and ability to laugh at himself helps the show flow. He clearly enjoys doing the podcasts, and from time to time he pops up with a little nugget of advice that is actually pretty damn helpful.
For me, Nate Ravitz makes the show. Unlike Berry, Ravitz is not a household name, and I have to assume that is out of choice, because I for one would love to read his content or listen to other podcasts that he is involved in. Ravitz is a supremely talented host, which becomes evident whenever Matthew is forced to fill in, and he is able to make the show flow speedily, forcing Matthew to shut up when they spend too long on a trivial point. But in my opinion, Nate has proven his worth as far more than a reliable sidekick. He actually gives superb fantasy advice, quietly so, considering he doesn't write down his opinions, and I find myself agreeing with most of his opinions. Ravitz is also extremely funny, able to crack jokes without allowing the show to get bogged down, and I found myself at several occasions this year wishing he did have more content I could check out.
But that's enough fanboyish chit-chat; this was just a small blog post in which I wanted to thank Matthew, Nate and of course 'Pod Vader'. The fantasy focus podcast had become part of my routine, and they've been able to keep me laughing for a few years now. During one particularly comical moment, I snorted loudly on a packed train, and these are the kind of memories that make for great podcasting. So thanks guys, and good luck with whatever is coming in the future. And Nate, if you ever decide to start broadcasting more advice and opinions, you've got yourself a reader right here.
