The End of the Dogs Days of Summer Bring Us ..........Football!!

Let's be honest here. Despite an NFL lockout and seemingly daily ethics issues in college football, all of that hardly matters once the 1st kick-off arrives. Time that used to be taken up by family, work, or household chores are now replaced with fantasy football, survivor leagues and entire Sunday's spent in man caves. This all leaves precious little time for following Major League Baseball, let alone a HR contest. Luckily we both drafted well and we have nothing to be embarrassed about. Maybe buy and hold works after all!?

With that said and holding a 279 to 241 lead I am not taking any chances. Dropping Jason Heyward and the 10 homers he has had while on my roster and adding Matt Kemp minus his current 31.

Oh and my biased NFL prediction is the Browns offense finishes in top 15 in the league and team goes 8-8. They are only 3 defensive players and a move to the NFC West away from challenging for the playoffs!

VR Drops Ka'aihua, Adds Granderson

First time looking at my team this season, and oddly the only ballgame I watched all year should have tipped me that one of my players got demoted to AAA

I watched the Yankees-Royals while in NY at a conference and was impressed by the youngster Brad Hosmer at first base. Never occurred to me that my last round pick Kila Ka'aihue had to get bags packed for Omaha for that to happen...

So, I drop the Hawaiian and his two dongs, add Yankee star Curtis Granderson who has taken the slow trot 23 times this season.

I chose CG over Berkman, Kemp and Jay Bruce based on superior SLG and park effects. GT dropped Josh Hamilton earlier this season, but I will pass as my squad looks pretty strong despite the lag.

GT, your move.

July 4 Standings - GT up 168-147

It is fair to say neither combatant remains engaged in the 2011 Home Run Contest, but our pretty good drafting allows our laissez-faire management to get by for at least half the season.

GT lead VR 168-147, and almost all of that difference can be attributed to the first round selections of Greg's Jose Bautista (27 dingers to lead MLB), versus Vince's horrendous Adam Dunn (pictured, practice) with only 8. The rosters:

GT 168

Bautista 27

Pujols 17

Konerko 21

Heyward 8-3=5

Teixeira 25

Votto 12

Nelson Cruz 20

Adrian Gonzalez 16

Carlos Gonzalez 13

Dan Uggla 12

VR 147

Adam Dunn 8

Ryan Howard 17

Fielder 21

Stanton 16

ARod 13

Braun 16

Carlos Pena 17

Miguel Cabrera 17

Mark Reynolds 20

Ki'aihua 2

Greg cuts Hamilton, adds

Dropping Josh Hamilton and his broken finger and 0 homers for Jason Heyward minus his 3.

At least I saw Hamiltons injury on Sportscenter, or i'd probably never know.

Vince Note - I saw he called his third base coach "stupid", Stay classy Josh

2011 Home Run Contest Draft

HR Contest Year #5 - fantasy baseball at its most elemental.

Home runs only. Minimal free agent moves allowed.

Plenty of time to enjoy the finer things in life.

Greg, as two-time returning champion, elected to take picks two and three overall in our two-person snake draft, leaving Vince to select first.

Vince admits to following the quantitative methods of Baseball Prospectus to arrive at his draft list. Greg admits to looking at last season's leaders. Which one works?

Vince's roster, aka The Big Uglies

Adam Dunn

Ryan Howard

Prince Fielder

Mike Stanton (rookie)

Alex Rodriguez

Ryan Braun

Carlos Pena

Miguel Cabrera

Mark Reynolds

Kila Ka'aihua

Greg's roster, aka Tour de Longball

Jose Bautista

Albert Pujols

Paul Konerko

Josh Hamilton

Mark Teixera

Joey Votto

Nelson Cruz

Adrian Gonzalez

Carlos Gonzalez

Dan Uggla