I had no idea that ratings wars and running late were major issues on ESPN Fantasy podcasts, but apparently they are. Reader JK sent me an email stating that I needed to listen to the Football Today podcast and he was right. Listen to this clip as Fantasy Football guy Jeremy Green decides to take umbrage with the Baseball guys, Matthew Berry and Nate someone....

Since ABC is under the Disney umbrella with ESPN it was only a matter of time before they started cross marketing their talent. However I didn't think the combination of "One Life To Live", Matthew Berry as a doctor, and various baseball players would ever be possible. I was wrong....

ESPN this week will break a campaign, "One Season. Endless Drama," via Arnold, Boston, that matches baseball players and ESPN talent with real cast members of the ABC soap, One Life to Live. To make this fantasy realistic, the spots were filmed on the set of the show and directed by its executive producer, Frank Valentini.

A 30-second spot will break March 3 on ESPN, then air on all sister networks. Eight other spots, filmed as Webisodes, will air at Endlessdrama.com. They come with such soapy titles as "Caught Cheatin'" and "Bed Ridden." Athletes include Jorge Posada, Chase Utley, Torii Hunter and Hanley Ramirez.

No it's not as bad as last year when their whole system crashed, but it's still pretty funny. Make sure you become a "member" and check out their special League Directory (click for larger)...



(Thanks to MP for sending the tip along)

Lost in the shuffle of Alex Rodriguez’s dramatic walk-off homerun earlier today was the news that Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui strained a hamstring and could miss up to a week of playing time.

Normally, this news would thrill me to no end, especially with Johnny Damon battling a leg problem of his own and Bobby Abreu questionable after taking a pitch to the knee. Sure, it’s only April, but when you’re in a division and part of a rivalry in which every game counts, the loss of New York’s entire starting outfield for any length of time is encouraging.

One problem: when setting up my fantasy baseball team this season, I resolved to “employ” only players who were born outside of the United States and Latin America. As you can well imagine, there aren’t many outfielders whom apply and even fewer on my team. In fact, as much as I like Jeff Baker and Dave Roberts, Matsui is pretty much the cream of One More Dying Quail’s crop.

Because he was the best offensive player available who fit my criteria, I resolved to draft Matsui first and worry about the fact that he was a Yankee second. I figured that, much like I do with Chien-Ming Wang, it would be easy enough to just root for individual success but team failure. Not so easy, it turns out.

The best-case scenario at this point, at least as far as I’m concerned, is for Matsui to return but Damon’s leg to fall off completely. I think I can live with an outfield of Matsui, Abreu and Cabrera. I think.

(Photo credit: MSNBC.com)