August Update: New Projects, New Additions, New Problems

It's been a crazy couple of months and I wanted to give everyone an update on what's been going on in my corner of the world and why I haven't been around on
AC much lately.

As many of you know, I've been writing for a fantasy baseball Web site. The guy who runs that site is very driven and is going places in the world. And I'm
riding his coattails to bigger and better things. In addition to writing for his site, I've been a member of several roundtable podcasts with him and he's
liked my contributions so much that he's created a new show that I'll be co-hosting. Starting next week, you can here my melifulous tones on a weekly basis
on Blog Talk Radio.

Blog Talk Radio has podcasts on every topic imaginable. Their sports podcasts have become so popular that they are starting a channel devoted exclusively to
fantasy sports. We were lucky enough to get not only a place on the new channel but a prime time spot when listeners should be at a peak. You can hear the
new show, Fantasy Face Off, Thursdays at 7 pm Eastern time, starting on August 14. In addition to the live airing, you'll be able to download the podcast
and listen at your leisure.

In order to promote the podcast, I am now on Facebook. I'm supposed to get 100 friends, so if you're reading this and you're active at the site, please send
me a Friends invite, it will make my day. I was tentative about joining Facebook, figuring that I would be about 25 years older than their average member.
And I very well might be. But you know what? It's a really worthwhile place to be with tons of neat features. It's extremely easy to use that even newbies
(like me) or technophobes have no problem getting around and understanding what's going on. I also link to my writings for other sites, so if you find my
stuff remotely interesting, Facebook is a good way to keep up with what I'm doing outside of AC. And for those who might be interested in such things, I've
got a picture up there from the early 1990s, before I had kids and when I used to get some decent sleep.

I'm also going to be involved in a new venture that will be unveiled either in December or January. This is a multi-platform project about fantasy sports
that will feature some of the top names in the industry. If you are an active fantasy addict, you've probably heard of Tony Cincotta or Pat DiCaprio or Paul
Greco or Lenny Melnick. This new venture combines all four of those heavyweights. Dubbed FantasyProfessionals 911 this will be a tiered site which offers
round the clock access to fantasy experts to help with your teams for paid members. There will be both free and paid content available. Undertaking a new
venture like this is a daunting task, but it's been made easier with the inside contacts provided by our four co-founders. The podcast show that I'll be
co-hosting is for fun. This project is a serious endeavor.

Another fun project I'm involved with now is I've been picked up as a writer for the blog New York Mets Daily. Finally I have an audience that will not roll
their eyes as I post yet another article on my favorite baseball team. I thought it was just another run-of-the-mill blog about the team, but once I started
writing for them, I had a couple of people remark to me how great it was that I got hooked up with them. The site has a nice design and easy navigation,
which puts it a step up right away. Hopefully I can contribute content to make it a must-read site for fans of the team.

I just received my credentials in the mail for the Carolina Panthers. I'm going to be covering them this season for SportsTicker, the same company that I
covered the ACC and NCAA Tournaments last year. I'm starting my coverage in the exhibition season, which means I'll be there for Saturday's game against the
Indianapolis Colts. Steve Smith will make sure it's an interesting year one way or another for the Panthers.

My son finished up his first season of modified T-ball. For the uninitiated, in modified you get three pitches from your coach to hit the ball and if you
are unsuccessful you then hit it off the tee. The league was for five and six-year olds and most kids end up hitting off the tee. I've worked a little bit
in the back yard with the boy and he does a nice job of hitting a pitched ball. He's a lefty and has a beautiful swing. In his very first game, he was the
first one to hit a pitched ball. He had a great hit, solid contact right up the middle. I could not have drawn it up better. And then he stayed in the
box, admiring his handiwork. Finally, I yelled "run!" and he took off. Excpet instead of running to first base he followed his hit and ran immediately to
second base. By this time, the other team retrieved the ball from the outfield and his coaches were yelling for him to go to first base. He just made it
back to first before they tagged him out.

I signed him up for flag football. This will be the seventh organized league he's played in, but the first time he's played football. I've never been his
coach but I checked the box to be an assistant, because I wanted to be able to go on the field with him. It turns out that they don't have enough coaches,
so I've been promoted to head coach. I went to one 45-minute meeting and one 3-hour meeting to get sanctioned by the NYSCA in order to coach the kids. Now,
I grew up playing both touch and tackle and I played flag in college, but I've never coached five to seven-year olds, so this should be quite the adventure.

In the past, I've shied away from coaching his teams because I didn't want him to feel any pressure. He seems excited that I'm going to be his coach.
Hopefully that doesn't change once we start practicing. They tell me that the key at this age level is to get the kids lined up right and to learn how to
grab the flag. I understand that it's mostly running plays. Monday night there's a skills competition and we draft teams afterwards. This is a league run
by the city and you stay on the same team until you age out. So, I'll be inheriting some kids who will probably know more about the league than me. But I
just want to foster the ideal of teamwork and then feel my way during the season about how to actually teach the kids how to play.

And we got dogs. Have I mentioned that we now have two lab puppies? This was not my idea. I'm a cat guy. But my wife has wanted dogs for awhile and when
a guy who has gotten me some freelance work sent out an email about having 10 unplanned puppies, I figured this was as good as time as any to bite the bullet
and let my wife have her way. They've been pretty good puppies. We enrolled them in a puppy class and Rocky won the obstacle course that they had at the
end of class while Indy won the fast sit contest. Unfortunately, Rocky is currently staying at the vet due to some stomach issues. Rocky is the alpha dog
and one morning I went out to feed him and he didn't move. My wife saw him yesterday and he was doing much better, but still not 100 percent. Hopefully he
will come home today.

We let our son name the dogs. He picked Indy after his new favorite - Indiana Jones. Batman, Spiderman, Superman and the others have taken a back seat to
Indiana Jones. We have rented the first two movies - Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Temple of Doom. We haven't seen the new one yet. We're planning on
waiting until it comes out on DVD. The sound in the movie theatre is too loud - we had to leave Spriderman 3 because of the noise - and on DVD we can
control the volume. Next we'll see The Last Crusade. He now wears a fedora wherever he goes and converts a belt into Indiana Jones' whip.

We are also getting into another movie series from my youth - Star Wars. Now, let me preface this by saying that we almost named our son Luke. We were
having difficulty coming up with a middle name that went good with both Luke and Joura. I suggested Skywalker (I was serious) but my wife wanted no part of
that one. Now I'm getting a lot of mileage telling my son how he was almost named Luke Skywalker. I think he would have liked that. He loves the light
saber. I have a feeling he'll be getting one for Christmas.

My daughter is doing good. I'm trying my best to raise a tomboy but she's a born flirt. She bats her eyes and flips her hair like she took a course or
something. Next month she turns three and I'm hoping that means the headstrong ways will soon pass. It's good to have hope; sometimes that is all you have.
While the boy is involved in all of the athletic activities now, I think the girl will be the athlete in the family. I'm hoping she'll be old enough to
start soccer in the fall.

Finally, I'm writing this in the waiting room in the hospital. My wife is in for a cardiac catherization. Her doctor ordered it as a precaution - he even
gave her the option of declining the procedure. But what's the old saying - it's only minor surgery when it's on someone else.

So, it's been an eventful period for me. I'm sorry that I haven't been on AC for awhile and I'll try to catch up on reading your stuff but some of you have
been cranking out articles like Stephen King or something. Feel free to get a temporary case of writer's block or something, will ya?

Oh, one last thing. I'm in the process of putting together the second AC Fantasy Football league. I'm hopeful that we break the gender barrier this season.
There might be an opening, so if you are interested (either gender) leave a note below.