During my fantasy draft, Zack Greinke's name kept standing out to me. I didn't know a lot about him, but I felt like I remembered him having pretty good stats. I ended up drafting him, and to date he's been the best pitcher on my staff as well as the best pitcher in baseball. A few years ago, when Greinke was drafted by the Royals he was considered to be a pitching prodigy. Early on he showed that he had the make up to be a No. 1 type pitcher. However, he struggled with something that not only effected his game, but his life as well. The thing about Zack Greinke is that he isn't the type of guy that dreamed of being a major league pitcher. He never wanted to pitch. He was more fascinated with hitting home runs than he ever was with trying to strike hitters out. In high school, he took part in a home run derby, and pitched occasionally when his coach needed him to. His coaches pushed him into pitching because he was far too good not to pitch. Most people who know Greinke will tell you that he is a little on the strange side. He's not the type of guy you will find sitting in the clubhouse talking with his teammates or talking to the media. He's the one staring into his locker or looking bored when he's getting asked questions. He's likely to wander off on the days that he's pitching and fall asleep somewhere around the stadium. In 2005, Greinke was having an awful season. Nothing was working for him the way it normally did. During one game, he told his manager that he planned on throwing a 50 mph curveball, and when he went out there, the radar guns confirmed the proclamation Greinke had made earlier. Now, why would a guy with the capability of throwing in the mid-90s feel like all he could throw was a 50 mph curveball to get hitters out? The truth was Greinke wasn't happy pitching. As a result, he was getting into arguments with his pitching coach and growing even more distant from his teammates. He didn't like having five days between his starts because he was unoccupied, and talked to his family about wanting to become a position player so he'd have more playing time. Things got worse for Greinke the following spring. He was so unfocused he couldn't pitch. He couldn't throw strikes during his bullpen sessions let alone at any other time. He informed his pitching coach and his manager that he needed to take some time off from baseball. The Royals allowed Greinke to take the time off, and it was then that he was diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder, a condition that occurs in high tension social situations. Luckily with the help of everyone around him and medication, Greinke was able to get himself back in a good frame of mind. He pitched his way back into the Royals' starting rotation, and has been lights out so far in 2009. Many people think that a social anxiety disorder is one of those made up diseases that people say that they have to mask whatever their problem is. However, as someone who suffers from an anxiety disorder, I can vouch that it is in no way made up. Anxiety can be debilitating. It can make you feel like someone is standing on your chest and you can't breathe. You feel trapped, you can't focus, and that only gets worse when you feel like everyone is zeroing in on you. Thankfully, it can be dealt with in a variety of ways. Sometimes all a person needs is a little bit of time on medication to feel like they are in control of their lives again, and then they are able to function without it. There are lots of ways to try and eliminate stress or at least keep it at a lower rate and focus on one thing at a time. I had difficulty feeling calm around small groups of people; Greinke had to pitch in front of thousands of people a night, and that alone can cause anxiety never mind if you already suffer from it. Zack Greinke will never be the guy that is chatting it up in the clubhouse or laughing with his teammates in the dugout, but he will be able to help his team. He is fortunate that he was able to recognize his problem, and get help. It is because of that that Greinke has been able to emerge as the dominating pitcher everyone always thought he would be. He still may not love to pitch, but he loves to compete, and that is what fuels his ability. The Royals love what he's doing as does every fantasy owner who pencils him in every fifth day. It's always good to see someone overcome an obstacle and come out on top. Keep up the good work, Zack!

Last April, Jorge Posada injured his right shoulder while warming up on Opening Day. No one knew about it, however, until several days later. At the time, it didn't appear to be too serious, but no one could've imagined how it would've impacted the Yankees' season. I was in Florida for the first week of the season last April, and Yankee games were not being aired. Luckily, the Internet connection on my phone allowed me to get scores and updates on my team. I remember I was out to dinner, and I was trying to check the score when I saw a headline stating that Jorge Posada was scratched from the lineup with a sore shoulder. The first thing I did was text my friend back home who was always up on all the happenings in sports to find out what the deal was. Mat quickly informed me that Posada was said to have some soreness in his throwing shoulder after an awkward throw on Opening Day. He didn't know how bad it was, but said the Yankees would be in serious trouble if Posada was out for a long stretch of time. As it turned out, Posada had tendinitis in his shoulder and was out for almost eight weeks. The Yankees were definitely suffering without his leadership behind the plate, and his bat as well. Even though Posada was said to be OK, he didn't look like his usual self. He wasn't nearly as aggressive at throwing out base runners, and his swing looked some what off. It wasn't until July, that the word got around that there might be something more than tendinitis wrong with Posada's shoulder. He was being sent to several orthopedic specialists to get the best opinions possible. By the All-Star break, the Yankees were barely staying afloat. They had been hit with some pretty bad injuries, and the only real bright spot was Mike Mussina and the stellar season he was having. A couple weeks later, while on my summer vacation, I again went to my phone to check the score of the game. Needless to say, I was shocked to see that Posada was done for the year, and was having season ending shoulder surgery. All of the specialists had confirmed that he had a tear in his labrum, and if he wanted to be ready for Opening Day 2009, surgery was his best option. I knew right then and there, that the Yankees were in serious trouble. They had been playing catch-up all year, and without Posada, things weren't looking much brighter. Like Mat had said months earlier, you lose a guy like Posada for a long stretch of time, and your team is not in good shape. Don't get me wrong, Jose Molina is the best backup catcher the Yankees have had in years, but the lack of Posada's presence on the field and in the clubhouse had a huge effect on the rest of the team. What Jorge brings to the table is more than just calling pitches and coming up with hits. He is the one that mans the pitching staff. It is so important for him to develop a relationship with the entire pitching staff, and keep everyone on track. He is the guy that is vocal in the clubhouse when individuals or the entire team need to be reminded what is expected of them. He is a gritty, grind it out type player, which is an invaluable quality. The Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, and a big reason for that was the injuries, Posada's in particular. If the Yankees were hoping to improve their team for the following season, they were going to need to first, get some serious pitching, and hope that Posada would be able to catch come Opening Day. At the start of the 2009 season, no one knew how Posada's surgically repaired shoulder would respond. The Yankees were determined not to rush his rehab, but Posada was progressing well and on schedule to be behind the plate for the first game of the season. In the first six games, Posada has shown that his shoulder is more than healed. He has not been hesitant about throwing out base runners, and already has one home run under his belt. He's been driving the ball to all fields, and picking up some RBI in the process. The reality is that sooner rather than later, the Yankees are going to have to replace Posada. I don't know if you can really replace someone like Jorge Posada. You put someone else in at his position, but it is impossible to replace what he does for the Yankees. Hopefully Posada is able to stay healthy and provide the Yankees with his leadership as well as his baseball abilities. The healthier he is, the better position the Yankees are in, and if they want to go all the way, he's one of the key pieces to the puzzle.

Last April, North Carolina was knocked out of the Final Four by Kansas, and no one was more distraught than Tyler Hansbrough.

Hansbrough had another impressive season and seemed to have everything going for him.

He won the NCAA Player of the Year award and was expected to be a high draft pick if he declared for the NBA draft. The only thing missing? A national championship. 

Most guys would have opted to go pro, get paid to play basketball, and forsake the opportunity to win a national championship-not Hansbrough.

Hansbrough felt his team had a really good chance of winning if his teammates Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington decided to stay on.

Once they were on board, Hansbrough had no doubt in his mind he was going to stay at UNC, finish college, and take one more shot at NCAA glory.

However, almost as soon as he made that decision, his entire NCAA career was being called into question.

People went from hailing his skills and work ethic to saying he was overrated and could never survive in the NBA. How could he go from the top of everyone's list to being on their hit list so fast?

Hansbrough earned the respect of his teammates and coaches back when he was a freshman.

Coach Roy Williams has said he had never had a player with Hansbrough's work ethic. There was no chance you would ever catch Tyler slacking off. He always wanted to improve, and never let up no matter the situation.

After suffering that awful broken nose in 2007 during a game against Duke, Hansbrough went to Williams with blood all over his face and uniform and still wanted to play.

Williams had to tell him he would benefit the team if he got his nose taken care of and didn't try to play the rest of the game. He never missed any time due to the injury.

Then last year, Kansas had UNC by 18 points in the final minutes of the Final Four game, and Hansbrough was still diving for loose balls, and throwing his body around, refusing to back down.

From the start of the season, North Carolina was picked as the team that could definitely win the national championship, and throughout the season they proved just why they were so good.

The talk shifted from Hansbrough to his teammates Lawson, Ellington, and Danny Green and how they all fueled the Tarheels. Hansbrough was continually criticised, but he let his teammates have the spotlight because being the center of attention is not what Hansbrough is about.

He served as the heartbeat of the Tarheels, and brushed aside what all the critics had to say about him to still go out and play his game.

Hansbrough was a big part of the championship game, and even though UNC had Michigan State backed up into a corner for almost the entire game, Hansbrough and UNC never let up.

As the clock expired, Hansbrough was the guy jumping up and down with the huge grin on his face. He touched the championship trophy while wearing his championship hat, cut down a piece of the net for the final time in his college career, and couldn't stop smiling.

UNC had won their fifth National Championship, and second under Williams.

The projected best team back in October was holding the championship trophy in April.

All Hansbrough needed to say was, "I guess I made the right choice in staying."

No one had anything negative to say about him, because he was a big reason North Carolina was victorious.

And now he gets to have the last laugh, because no matter what happens from here on out, he will go down as one of the best players in NCAA basketball history.

Last Friday night, I participated in my first fantasy baseball draft. For the last couple of years, I've been wanting to have a fantasy team, but for one reason or another, I never did. About a month ago, I saw that my friend Joe had openings in his fantasy league and I decided to join. I had no idea what to expect, but I figured it would be fun, and something I could add to my list of things to write about. So last Friday night, I headed over to Joe's for the draft with nine other people. Most of the guys came with their fantasy stat sheets or had their laptops so they could better decide who they wanted on their team. I just came with myself. There were 10 of us, and we picked a number out of a hat to decide the order that we picked in the draft. The guys were nice enough to let the lady pick first, and by some stroke of luck I picked No. 1. Not bad for my first pick. The way it went was we pick in order 1-10, and then would go in reverse. The great part about having the first or the tenth pick was you got to make two picks at once, while everyone else only got one at a time. When it was time to make my pick, I knew who I was going to go with. "Hanley Ramirez", I called out, and the room was filled with grunts. Yeah, it was pretty sweet landing the No. 1 draft pick. We drafted our teams for 21 rounds. I shared some of the stat sheets with the two guys I was sitting next to, which was really helpful. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about baseball. Still, I can remember a time when I only really knew the players who were on the Yankees, and now my knowledge is definitely more wide spread. What always impresses me about guys that like sports is that they go beyond the players on their team, or their league for that matter. They always seem to know who just about every player in the league is, their stats, etc. This group of guys were no different. They knew the info on almost every player in both leagues, and I figured if I really want to compete in this league, I've got to get up to their level. Despite being less prepared than the rest of the group, I still think I drafted a great team. There's a lot I have to learn about trades and dealing with injuries throughout the course of the season, but I'm really looking forward to it. This is what my first fantasy baseball team looks like... 1B-Derrek Lee 2B-Dustin Pedroia SS-Hanley Ramirez 3B-Mark DeRosa C-Chris Ianetta OF- Matt Holiday OF- Curtis Granderson OF- Justin Upton SP- C.C. Sabathia SP- James Shields SP- Chien-Ming Wang RP- J.J. Putz RP- Mariano Rivera BN- Adrian Beltre BN- Dioner Navarro BN- Shane Victorino BN- David DeJesus BN- Zack Grienke BN- Bobby Jenks BN- J.P. Howell BN- Jesse Litsch Hopefully, my team proves to be as great as they look. I definitely plan on doing updates of my team throughout the season, and I'd appreciate any advice along the way. I really have to thank the guys in my league for their help and patience, it was greatly appreciated. Here's to an excellent season.

Over the past couple of days, I've been involved in a lot of Yankee/Red Sox banter. It started when I had dinner with some Red Sox fans last weekend, and has continued on into this week. Last weekend, we got on the subject of where we all were when Aaron Boone hit the game winning home run in Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS against the Red Sox. Naturally, the Red Sox fans didn't want to talk about where they were that night, but I remembered exactly where I was. I was a freshman in college, and I had class at 10 am the next day, which I was bummed about in case the game went into extra innings. I was sitting on the end of my bed cross-legged in my Derek Jeter t-shirt with my hands clasped hoping for a miracle. It had already been a really intense game, and the Yankees had been mounting a slow come back against Pedro Martinez, and then the Red Sox bullpen. When I saw Aaron Boone heading for the on-deck circle, my stomach dropped. He hadn't exactly been the most reliable guy on the team. His plate appearances were awful, and his ability to play third base was on some days non- existent. He made me miss Scott Brosius a lot. Yet, there was something different about him when he stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. It was as if he knew he was going to do something special before the rest of us. And just like that, he proved everyone wrong. On the first pitch, Boone hit a home run to send the Yankees to the World Series, and the Red Sox home crying. From that point on, it didn't matter what he did. He was the guy that beat the Red Sox, which earned him elite status among Yankee fans. The following offseason, Boone ended up hurting his knee in a pick-up game of basketball, which led the way to the Yankees signing Alex Rodriguez. Since then Boone has played for Cleveland, Florida, Washington, and signed with the Astros this off season. So last night, I'm watching the World Baseball Classic, and cringing as Adam Dunn made error after error at first base, when I see across the bottom of the screen that Aaron Boone will undergo open-heart surgery. Hold on, what? Boone is 36, what could he possibly need open-heart surgery for? As it turns out, Aaron Boone has had a heart condition since he was in college. It is known as a bicuspid aortic valve, a congenital defect where the valve only has two cusps to manage blood flow instead of three. The doctors told him there was no reason why he couldn't play baseball, and that they would monitor his condition, and that's what they've been doing for the past nineteen years. It was the Houston Astros trainers and team doctor that discovered the acceleration in his condition. Boone announced yesterday that he won't be playing this season, and will be scheduling his surgery soon, even though there is no huge rush for it. The condition usually causes no problems, but later in life the valve can become calcified, which can lead to aortic stenosis and aortic regurgitation. Some patients end up needing valve replacements in the third or fourth decade of their lives. Due to the fact that the aorta is different in patients with bicuspid aortic valve, there is a higher risk of aortic dissection, and the formation of aneurysms. The condition of the aorta is actually what ends up determining the type of surgery the patients end up getting. Here's a relatively young guy, who a few years ago went from being somewhat of an unknown guy in baseball to one of the most recognizable players in the Yankee/Red Sox rivalry. And now he needs heart surgery. It just makes you think about what's really important in life. Most Red Sox fans hate the mention of Aaron Boone, along with Bucky Dent, and Bill Buckner. Those are players that ruined their chance at possible World Series glory and helped keep them in an 84-year championship drought. However, last night I saw something that really said it all. I was reading the articles on Boone to try and get a handle on what was going on, and there were posts attached to the article mostly wishing Boone well with his impending surgery. There was a post from a Red Sox fan, and I was expecting the usual hatred toward Boone. But that's not what I got. He said that said when he thinks of Aaron Boone he thinks of a guy that ruined his World Series dreams, but somehow none of that seems to matter anymore. He said he wished Aaron well and that his thoughts and prayers would be with him and his family because life is more important than baseball. That guy couldn't have been more right. I love baseball, and I love the rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox, but this situation just goes to show you that someone's health trumps any kind of rivalry. Boone's prognosis is good, and hopefully he can play baseball again, but in a world where making money and fame are so high on many people's lists of priorities, it's nice to see that Aaron Boone has his straight.