"It's 'Bull Durham'-meets-fantasy-sports come to life.": The Schaumburg Flyers are managed by, well, a few hundred (or thousand) armchair coaches via the internet. "Fans" set the lineups before each game. After starting 31-17 and winning the Northern League's first half division title before the fans took over, the minor league team has gone 14-31 and sits in last place with the democratic managerial style. But those 14 wins and 31 losses have been viewed 500,000 times via the web-reality show based on the team. Still, the manager and some players are not happy. "It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of in baseball, period," says the closer. (This, of course, is to counteract the recent feel-good publicity surrounding the Vintage Base Ball Association, where the mitts are flesh and walks take six balls.)

posted by nicotine winning patch to baseball at 11:54 AM - 8 comments