In the ever increasing world of technology and advanced interests of todays youths, baseball cards have become somewhat a thing of the past. OneSeason.com is only one of the many new alternatives to collecting the old fashion cardboard cutouts of our favorite stars. Let me introduce to you Topps 3D Live, an “augmented reality” allowing you to play games with the cards you love to collect and trade.

Here is how it works, in each pack of Topps 2009 Series One cards there is one card that will be recognizable through a webcam at www.toppstown.com. Once the website recognizes the player, a 3D image will appear on your computer screen. From here you can play games and earn points based on how good your skill. These simple games are only the begining of what is possible and there are already plans to incorporate two player matchups and expand on what games they currently offer. Steve Grimes, the Chief Digital Officer with Topps said that this “was nothing more than a concept at Thanksgiving.”

I will be the first to admit it, I loved Bud Selig’s newest ploy to make money. I was the first to post about it on the OSN forums, and I have been one of the few in this country that actually looked forward to it. I dismissed the injury concerns and the fact that these guys simply aren’t ready to play 100% just yet. I dismissed the fact that the games truly are meaningless because I desperately wanted to just watch my favorite players duke it out for the first time since October. I was blinded by my own selfish wants until today when it finally hit home.

Dustin Pedroia today strained his oblique after taking extra batting practice and infield drills while working out for Team USA in preparation for tonights second round game against Puerto Rico, the same injury mind you that rendered Josh Beckett all but useless against Tampa Bay last October. You can call me a hypocrite, a flip flopper, whatever you want, but this is bull shit and I am now standing in front of the picket line trying to get rid of this stupid thing. Pedroia is the most important piece of the Boston Red Sox. He is a catalyst in the lineup, on the field, and in the club house. Basically, this guy is the man. Reports are that the strain is mild, but if he misses a single game or is not ready in time for opening day, than it is not worth it for these players to be playing in such a stupid exhibition match. These athletes are being paid zillions of dollars to play for their MLB teams, not to play for the USA. I will bet you anything that good old Bud will be hearing from the Red Sox brass very soon.

I knew there had to be something wrong with me when I was actually on the same side of an argument with Bud Selig, I’m glad I finally got myself straightened out.

Ever since A-Rod’s untimely hip injury, almost everyday at work has been spent debating who should be the number one pick as many have their fantasy draft quickly approaching. Do you go with the veteran, two time NL MVP Albert Pujols? Or do you take the more risky route and snag up and coming five tool stud shortstop Hanley Ramirez? For me, it’s not even a question, you take Hanley without hesitation and ride him hard (no homo) to the glory land that is fantasy sports supremacy!

Even with a sore shoulder Hanley was still a 30/30 guy (33 HR and 35 SB) in 2008 while batting .301 and scoring 125 runs and driving in 67 all at the ripe age of 24. Hanley has increased his HR and OPS in each of his three seasons in the majors and should only get better as he continues to mature.

Pujols put up even better numbers last season. In 148 games he stroked 37 HR 116 RBI a .357 AVG and scored 100 runs. If you look at it simply the stat lines then you go with Pujols every day of the week, unless you are some sicko that gets a hard on for stolen bases. However, what gives Han Ram the edge is the two 50 SB years in 2006 and 2007 (sorry, I might be that guy) and more importantly that he plays shortstop, a very weak position in comparison to first base. Lets compare both players to see how much of a drop off there is the deeper you dig into each position. To do this we will compare each to the fifth and tenth players based on default ranking. While obviously not perfect, it is a pretty good way to show the positional strength at first base compared to the weakness at shortstop.

Pujols: .357 AVG 37HR 116 RBI 100 Runs 7 SB
5th R. Howard: .251 AVG 48 HR 146 RBI 105 Runs 1 SB
10th A. Gonzalez: .279 AVG 36 HR 116 RBI 103 Runs 0 SB

As you can see, really not much of a difference at all to Ryan Howard and even Adrian Gonzalez is not too too far away.

Hanley: .301 AVG 33 HR 67 RBI 125 Runs 35 SB
5th D. Jeter: .300 AVG 11 HR 69 RBI 88 Runs 11 SB
10th M. Aviles: .325 AVG 10 HR 55 RBI 68 Runs 8 SB

Much bigger difference. While Derek Jeter is an iconic god to some, he is becoming a fantasy dud with no power and a decreasing numbers across the board. It is safe to say the gap between him and Hanley is far greater than that between Howard and Pujols. The same can be said for Aviles.

First base is definitely the deepest position this season with short stop being one of the weakest. While Pujols may give you better numbers overall, it will be much easier to find a good first baseman later in than draft than another shortstop. So if on draft day you find that the number one overall pick has fallen into your lap, take Han Ram and never look back!

This past week may go down as one of the most action packed five days in OneSeason since we saw 100% growth every day for a week. It seems like we have seen a new, great announcement each day! Today I will attempt to give you the cliff note version for those who decided to be bitches and not log in at all this week.

Sunday - Boring, but who cares, it was Sunday, you should have been spending time with your family anyways…jerks.

Monday - Magic is announced, and once again it happens right in the middle of east coast rush hour. I don’t know what we did in the east to piss off that monkey, but I smell another civil war brewing if this doesn’t change.

Tuesday - OneSeason unveils their awesome new homepage which blows the old one totally out of the water. If you randomly stumble upon OneSeason now you are now much more likely to stick around and see what’s going on than that sketchy old shadow thing that was there before. Later, Bullpup and The_Brett released the first episode of OSN_TV, yet another totally kick ass feature brought to you by the folks here at the Nation.

Oh, and P.S. the market rose about 30% with volume over 4,000. Were you sitting on a butt load of cash and missed out? I bet you won’t let that happen again.

Wednesday - With the monkey still upset with east coast traders, Utley was announced once again during rush hour. All of the honking you heard on the expressway coming out of Boston was angry traders cussing at the damn monkey. Utley also marked the second straight IPO release that did not result in a mass sell off in the market. It was also announced on Jewcer’s, umm, interesting radio show that Mike Sroka will be participating in a moderated chat on Wednesday March 25 at 7pm PST.

Thursday - Utley was released to the fury of OneSeason traders itching to get their hands on another baseball SOI. For one of the few times that I can remember an IPO was released and continued to go up throughout the day. I sold my shares $8 a couple hours after the release and he made it all the way to the $9 range by the end of the day. Later, SeeTrai from OSPro made an appearance on OST Radio and came in for a LIVE chat with us the OSN Chat Room and announced that they will be launching a website for Fantasy and Market games using SOI’s, something that has the potential the change the entire landscape of OneSeason. Oh, and there was once again volume over 4,000.

Friday - By this point everyone was straight up worn out from the weeks activities. Trading was slow, the message boards and chat room were lacking enthusiasm, and it seemed like people were just taking a breath of fresh air, and good for them. You don’t need to be glued to your computer every single day, and there was no IPO release to reel everyone back in.

This is a week you guys should remember for a long time. I will be the first to admit that there can be some boring and frustrating stretches here as Mike and the boys build out their system. Take advantage of all the great communities out there. Post on the message boards, join us in the chat room, participate in the numerous contests that our great sponsors provide us, and when we do have exciting periods like this past week enjoy it. Have a great day off today and look forward to Pedroia coming tomorrow or Monday.