The day after opening day

Ah, baseball is back. And for regular fans, nothing could be better than hearing the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd. 

But things aren't so pleasant when you're a manager of a fantasy baseball team.

We're one day into the season and fantasy baseball managers are beginning to freak out. Quite a few "sure things" were pretty bad yesterday. CC Sabathia surrendered 6 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. Mark Teixeira went o for 4 at the plate. Cliff Lee (last year's AL Cy Young winner) left his outing for the Indians with a crushing 12.60 ERA. Arizona's Brandon Webb got beat down by the Colorado Rockies.

Quick, where's the panic button!

I've been there.

I used to run a squad called the "7 Colby 9" (I used to live at 7 Colby and, well, you've got 9 players on a team). I was roped into a fantasy league by an old co-worker.

It was hell.

Fantasy baseball is a 24/7 operation. You've got afternoon games, evening games, late night west coast games. Guys are always getting injured. Pitchers always need to be activated and deactivated. Trades are always going down left and right.

And the "sure things" always seem to backfire.

I'll be honest, I never had a good team. Sure, I had some great players, but I never seemed to last through the entire season. I was a cellar dweller and often fought for next-to-last place.

But it was addictive. Baseball became a second job. I'd be holed up with my computer late into the night, watching live updates on Yahoo Gamechannel, calculating how many hits I'd need to raise my batting average enough to take that week's point.

My relationship with the Professor, needless to say, suffered.

After two seasons, I got out. I couldn't put myself through the six months of torture again.

But it's like being a recovering addict. Every year, when spring training starts, I get the itch. I follow former players from the 7 Colby 9 during the season and keep track of their stats.

My name is Ben, and I am a former fantasy baseball manager.