The Birth of the Tooting Dragos

• 11th Mar 2009 at 09:19:59 GMT by Jacques Claw

With Spring Training under way and the season fast approaching it's time to introduce Word of Sport's new baseball blog

Life begins on Opening Day said the great baseball writer Roger Angell and for me this opening day will have a bit more spice than usual. I won't just be following the box scores on the internet, trying to find a commentary on the American Forces Network or enjoying the shambling amateurism of Jonny Gould and Co. on Five. This year will see me dipping my toes into the murky waters of fantasy baseball.

Word of Sport have kindly given me the opportunity to awaken my inner Billy Beane and chronicle my progress over the coming season. I'll aim for reasoned analysis but it's far more likely to turn into a series of incoherent rants about closers who blow saves or overpriced sluggers who perpetually strike out. Thankfully I've still got a few weeks to sort out my ERAs from my WHIPs and my slugging percentages from my OBP but first and foremost I need find a name for my team.

Despite being a fantasy league the name requires some geographical element. As I was in Tooting when I took over the team it seems as good a place as any to start. I could go for something alliterative like the Tigers or Titans but where's the individuality in that, especially when up against teams called the Stakhanovites, Flair Bears, Rampant Rhinos and in a nod to the current financial climate, the FSA member with a team called The Fraudsters.

So what does Tooting have to offer? The Tooting Curry Houses, Tooting Pound Shops, Tooting Mental Hospital Escapees? Okay that last one was in bad taste but you get the picture. A famous Tooting resident perhaps? Wolfie Smith and Clinton Morrisson don't offer much in the way of inspiration either.

Thankfully salvation came walking down Tooting High Street clutching a Daily Star and an Iceland carrier bag, wearing the unlikely combination of leather brogues and tracksuit bottoms. A lightning fast sportsman who is exciting, emotional and extremely prone to disastrous blow ups. Just how I expect my relief pitchers to perform in fact. I give you Tooting's favourite sporting son (now that Jimmy White has moved to the leafier pastures of Surrey) - Maltese Tony Drago.

And so The Tooting Dragos are born. All I need now is some players.....