Welcome to ABA Convention 2012

Elmo serves as the welcoming committee for this year's Convention. He is sporting one of the ABA hats provided by Charlie McDonnell as a gift to the Convention attendees.

Maria Takes Everything

In between raiding the snacks from the meeting room, Maria likes wearing the ABA hat (although she seemed to prefer wearing it backward -- perhaps she has a future as a catcher).

What We Envisioned

Division winners Mitch Caren and John Barna clash in an opening round playoff series.

What We Really Saw

Unfortunately, John Barna was unable to make it to the Convention this year so Charlie McDonnell sits in at the helm of the Wexford Wranglers. Charlie is unable to muster the magic of past WW playoff teams (including last year's World Series champion) as Hillsdale, led by MVP runner-up Jose Bautista, sweeps the series.

Burning the Midnight Oil

In a 7-game series completed shortly before midnight, Jerry's Essex Trailblazers prevail over Chuck Bennett's Twin City Tigercats. Games 6 and 7 each go 13 innings, forcing several players out of action due to reaching usage limitations by the end of Game 7. The final batter is Albert Pujols who lines out with the based loaded. Jerry goes on to capture another hard fought 7-game victory on Saturday, edging Mitch's HB squad in the NLCS. The final game is a 1-0 affair with the only run coming on a Jimmy Rollins HR in the 8th inning.

Meanwhile, over in the AL

Neal Matthews sits in for Bill Guerra at the helm of the Tampa Rambo War. Brian Hoyt's One Eleven A's eliminates the Rambo War to advance to the ALCS.

Scouting the Opposition

Phil Grabar follows the OE-TB series. Serving as a substitute manager for the absent Mark Snyder at the helm of the Connecticut Crows, Phil outlasts MP in a very tight 7-game series and then sweeps OE and ET for the 2011 ABA Championship.

Draft Room A

Around the table at the 2012 Free Agent Draft: Tim Weidman (trying to keep track of who's been picked), Jay Leininger (hoping the draft ends in time for him to go to his daughter's basketball game), Phil Grabar (using his new laptop - the one with the mousepad attached to the outside), Neal Matthews (dominating the 5th round), Charlie McDonnell (waiting hours for his first pick) and Brian Hoyt (wasting bandwidth by using the wrong Refresh key on the web site).

Draft Room B

Standing Room Only in the office with Mitch Caren (deciding which sleeper to bag next) and Mike Perry (trying to figure out why he had to choose between Collmenter and Vogelsong).

2011 ABA Champion

Congratulations to Mark Snyder whose Connecticut Crows swept the ALCS and the World Series to win the 2011 ABA Championship!