We are 2 days away from the day we all have been waiting so long for, the first SPBNOW Rookie Draft! As a reminder the draft will begin at 11 AM EST (10 AM CST, 9 AM MST, 8 AM PST) and will be conducted via the SPB web page chat auditorium. By now I should have received a draft list from those unable to participate either in person or in the chat room. Otherwise, can you say Andres Galaraga for your computer generated first round pick :-).

A few ground rules. Since most of the league will be in the chat room, please try and limit the conversations to making your draft pick. That way if someone is away from their pc for a moment, they can quickly catch up on all of the picks. I will announce who is up and on deck, then you can make your pick for the league to see and I will repeat your pick before moving on. We have a lot of players to draft and I am going to enforce the 3 minute per pick time limit. If you cannot make your pick within the allotted time, we will move to the next team and the team missing the pick can do so when they are ready.

John Turnbull and Craig Korol will be on-site assisting with John compiling the database as we go along and Craig will be monitoring the draft lists which have been submitted. Should you need to call draft central, the number is 570-424-6670. John will also be publishing the picks on the web page and e-mailing a updated season disk as the draft progresses.

I have decided to publish a schedule for the Phase 2 picks and will release that on Saturday after the draft. Once the Phase 1 portion of the draft has been completed, there will be a freeze on trading until Phase 2 has been completed.

Oh, one last thing, several have not yet paid their league dues of $3.00. I will notify you separately if I have not received your league dues.