My 2012 Hall of Fame Ballot and an Update

The great folks over at MLB reports continue to offer me a place to write about anything baseball-related these days and so I took a shot at a Hall of Fame ballot. It turned more into a "what I think the Hall should be" article rather than an in-depth look at which players are deserving.

You can check out the full article over on their site at: http://mlbreports.com/2012/01/09/cooperstown-aubain/

Be sure to follow all the wonderful baseball (majors and minors) and fantasy baseball articles that site puts out on a daily basis. They can be followed on Twitter @MLBreports, too.

As for me, I'm still hoping to have some great news near the end of this month about what 2012 has in store for me and my fantasy baseball writing. Baby #4 will be making his/her debut on the 23rd of January, as well. So all in all, life has many changes in store for me, my family and my passion for fantasy baseball. So be sure to stay tuned.

In the meantime, I'm still on Twitter @DJAubain commenting on with a certain level of snark about not only baseball but anything that pops into my mind. I'll continue using this Twitter account as my personal one and hope to have a separate one to follow specifically for promoting my writing.

I'm very excited for what 2012 has in store for me and I appreciate all the support each of you has given me in the past and hope that support continues into the future.

Play ball!

~ Daniel

COSFBA Gets Recognized

As much as I hemmed and hawed, at times, about not having an audience or much of a following for my writing on this site, 2011 was a great year for a little fantasy baseball blog that wouldn't give up until the bittersweet end.

One of the sites which I used regularly to promote my work and reach a new audience for COSFBA was BallHyped.com. Well, how surprised was I to learn through an email that they added COSFBA to a list of their top-64 sports websites promoted on their site in 2011.

Check out the entire list of blogs here: http://ballhyped.com/2011/12/18/ballhyped-com-2011-sports-blogs-of-the-year-tournament-participants-announced

Keep an eye out for a link to vote for COSFBA in the tournament soon, too.

As 2011 comes to an end, I sit here reflecting on all I've accomplished and the groundwork I've laid for a very promising future within the fantasy baseball blogging community. Is that pride I feel welling up inside me or heartburn? Who am I kidding? It's definitely heartburn.

Guest Article at MLB reports

For those of you still checking in here periodically, be sure to pop over to MLB reports and check out my guest article at http://mlbreports.com/2011/11/11/mlb-guide-offseason/

Be sure to follow me at my new Twitter name, @DJAubain, for updates on the future of COSFBA 2.0.

Thanks,
Daniel

Rising From The Ashes To Write Again

Knock, knock. Who's there? COSFBA. COSFBA who? Exactly.

If COSFBA fell in the woods would it make a sound.

The above attempts at humor adequately sum up my personal reasonings behind walking away from this blog I held so near and dear to my heart. I was simply tired of working so hard to have my work seen by "the masses" and yet knowing the reality of the situation was only a small core of very loyal friends and followers were truly the ones coming back on a regular basis.

Constantly being told how great my content was by respected peers but not seeing the readership grow was a hard pill to swallow. And I'm not going to lie about something else that made it hard to keep doing what I was doing as COSFBA...I knew I was better than so many others with dramatically larger followings simply because they had words like "fantasy", "baseball" or "expert" in there site's name or an army of writers simply chugging out "content" for content's sake.

I'll take ownership of two "fails" with my blog. The first being the shortsightedness when it came to naming this blog. I never thought it would become anything bigger than a personal journal of my own rants and raves about the game I grew up loving (baseball) and the obsession I have for playing fantasy baseball.

The second "fail" is directly related to why I shut down COSFBA. In my desperate attempt to grow readership, I reached out to as many writers as possible who were willing to bring their voice to COSFBA in a last-ditch effort to save what I felt was a failing venture. Some of the invitations I handed out turned out to truly be positive but the majority weren't. And that was a learning experience I am soon not to forget. I know this comes off as bitter, maybe even childish, but I hold myself to a high standard especially when my name is attached to the overall identity of this site.

Okay. Enough about the past. This article was supposed to be about the future of COSFBA and me as a player in the fantasy baseball writing realm. Those of you who have taken the time to get to know me personally may recall that 2012 will be the year baby number four comes into the world in the Aubain household. As I started to toss around ideas in my head for the next generation of a baseball/fantasy baseball site, I kept coming back to the fact that I have no idea what kind of time I'm going to have to dedicate to all the great and truly aggressive ideas I was putting down on paper.

So, after some serious soul-searching, I've come to the realization that 2012 is probably not the best year for me to jump into the new venture of trying to build something again from scratch that I'd be proud of. With "time" being an unknown, I know I'd wind up being one of those bloggers who constantly post updates and apologies about lack of content because life simply got in the way of a hobby. That's unacceptable to me.

Now comes the fun part. I'm looking for an opportunity, the right opportunity, to join an established baseball and/or fantasy baseball site with a loyal following of readers who would be interested in what I have to say. What would I bring to the table? This entire site is my résumé. Even the articles not authored by me were ideas I had in my head but no time to write them all down myself.

Is your site or one you know of going through a major redesign this offseason and would benefit from additional content from an established writer? Are you a baseball-centric site looking to branch out and attract a fantasy baseball crowd? Is there a specific thing I did well on COSFBA that you'd love for me to bring with me to a new venture?

If you answered yes to any of these questions or have ideas of your own on how I could fit in on your site or others you know are looking for additional contributors, please contact me via email at COSFBA@gmail.com. I'm willing to consider any opportunity offered to me which makes sense to both parties.

Thanks again for making 2011 an incredible season and hopefully the information and advice I gave out on COSFBA kept you entertained while helping you succeed in your fantasy baseball leagues. I'm truly excited to see what 2012 has in store for me.


Sincerely,
Daniel J. Aubain @COSFBA
Owner, Founder, Editor, Lead Writer and Mastermind behind all things COSFBA

COSFBA Closes Up Shop

There comes a time when the effort you put into something isn't equal to the satisfaction you receive back from doing so. That time has come for me with COSFBA.

COSFBA was never meant to become anything other than a place for me to talk about fantasy baseball, mostly to myself. If you're not familiar with the history of this site, I dedicated an entire page to it called, "What is COSFBA?".

I never really put much thought into the name of this site but I honestly wish I had because getting people to notice my work was even harder with a name most never took time to remember.

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the guest writers and contributors who shared their work on COSFBA. I'll honestly admit most were very successful but some were not. Live and learn, I guess. I promise you I won't make those same mistakes next time. That's right...next time.

I'm shutting down COSFBA to focus on creating "COSFBA 2.0" (if only the name was that easy). I know I can be successful in the fantasy baseball blogging game but I can't keep battling against a bad blog name. Oh, and the overall focus of version two will be baseball...everything and anything...with my personal focus on the fantasy side of the game I've spent the majority of my adult life obsessing over.

So this should not be considered a "goodbye" by any means. Consider it a "see you soon". And don't worry. It will be easy to recognize me. I'll be the one dominating plenty of fantasy baseball leagues in 2012 and beyond.

Peace out!
Daniel aka the Colorado Springs Fantasy Baseball Addict