Draft Day Eve

As we get ready for CFCL 2009 (!!) I have found myself strolling down Memory Lane. It seems as good a time as any to go through this exercise since we concluded 25 years last year and start on the next 25 this year.

The one thought that keeps running through my head is the year that I was trying to figure out whether or not to keep Andres Galarraga. I was at a gym I belonged to at the time up on Harlem and Fullerton. Roster Cut Sheets had arrived in the mail (there was no Internet at the time) and among other things I had to decide if the Big Cat was worth .32.

So I went to the gym (this was also pre-marriage and children) and in between sets I was pacing back and forth like a caged animal, not trying to psych myself up to increase my workout performance, but rather trying to figure out if I should cut the anchor to the Rebels offense. If my memory is accurate it was a good move cutting Galarraga. I am pretty sure I reacquired him for a salary in the low to mid .20’s.

Then I go back further in my mind to all the Draft Day Eve rendezvous that David and I had at Mr. Submarine. We would head out around 11pm the night before the draft (this again was pre-marriage and children – heck it was even pre-girls in our lives), go to Mr. Submarine and talk in anxious anticipation of the next day’s festivities.

There was the year that computers entered the CFCL. Bob Monroe (the man that is honored by the name of this blog) had one of those home computer things. That meant that draft day lists and such could be printed instead of typed up on the typewriter and copied. So again the night before the draft I rode my bike from my parents home in River Forest to David’s home in Oak Park. From there we rode our bikes to Bob’s house in Brookfield to print out the documents and have them ready for the next day’s draft.

There was the year that we sat in the Ruffins’ basement waiting for an owner to arrive that never did. We were supposed to start the draft around 7pm, but since we waited we didn’t get going until 8 or 9pm. So there we were walking around Dave’s backyard during a break around 1am. I can only imagine what his neighbors were thinking.

And for the past ten years or so, there have been the drives in to the Draft Room. It starts out with me jerking awake around 4am, completely certain that I’ve overslept. Then when the sweat dries and I nestle back into bed, I glance up every 8-10 minutes to see what time it is. Finally around 5am I give up and get dressed, quietly moving about the house to collect my computer and papers so as not to wake the family. Then it’s a quick thirteen minute drive to the DoorMatts home where I arrive at least 30 minutes before I promised to be there. With the car lights turned off I sit parked on the street looking in the front window watching as the ‘Matts pack their lunch (yeah dude, I’m watching you). Matt hops in the car and we try to cram two months of conversation into a thirty minute drive.

Once at the office we do a quick reconnaissance of the room and figure out if there is a better way to construct the tables than last year. Fifteen minutes later we’re done, staring at the clock waiting for everyone else to arrive. Soon the familiar faces come through the door and it’s time to reacquaint ourselves with our fellow owners that we haven’t seen in twelve months. Andy Williams was wrong. Draft Day Eve and Morning is the most wonderful time of the year.

What are your Draft Day Eve memories/routines?