I used to play a lot of video games in my spare time. I really only liked sports games and readily finished baseball, football, basketball and hockey seasons on my sega, PC and Playstation. I’ve won a few championships (sometimes thanks to the reset button).

I’m not super-proud of my nerdy tendencies, but at some point in the past 5 or 6 years my video game attention turned to fantasy sports, especially football and baseball. This time of year (Jan-Mar) is the fantasy sports dead zone for me, although I’m getting close to gearing up for baseball. It’s a bit like the anticipation many have for the holiday season. Emails full of trashtalk, trade offers and rule changes have been flooding my inbox over the past couple of weeks. 

Last night Doug beat me to a post about Tony Scheffler, Denver Broncos Tight End who came back from the Pro Bowl with E. coli O157 symptoms (which may have been linked to the Western Stock Show — infosheet below). Scheffler was on my team, Bend it Like Brady, for most of the past year. His oft-injured groin cost me at least two games this year, and maybe a shot at our league playoffs.  I really don’t like that guy.

Today, I’m taking the sports-related post — ten Arizona Diamondbacks (including Scott Schoenweis, who was once on my team, the Berserkers) missed spring-training drills today with some GI issues.

The team isn’t sure if the illness stems from something the players ate, a virus going around the clubhouse or some other factor.

"I’m not an authority on gastrointestinal conditions," Melvin said, but after talking with the team physician he expects all to return to practice Monday.

Some players fell sick Saturday night, others arrived at the clubhouse Sunday morning feeling sick and were sent home.

And if you think I’m crazy about fantasy sports, I’m nothing compared to this guy or this dude (who hired a couple of interns and gave t-shirts to players on his team)

You can get the Western Stock Show/E. coli O157 food safety infosheet here (and they are all archived at www.foodsafetyinfosheets.com).