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Fantastic catcher Buster Posey of Florida State has been voted as the nation’s top college baseball player…hands down. Consider these stats if you think he doesn’t deserve the accolades—nation’s No. 1 batting average of .460; nation’s No. 1 in home runs (26); nation’s No. 1 in RBIs (92); nation’s No. 1 in hits (114); nation’s No. 1 in runs (88); nation’s No. 1 in on-base percentage (.564); nation’s No. 1 in total bases (220). The 6-2, 220-pound Seminole is also one of the nation’s top defensive catchers, with only eight errors in 474 chances (.983). Earlier this year against Savannah State Posey played all nine positions in the game. He’s made eight appearances as a relief pitcher, earning six saves. Watch for him next year in a San Francisco Giants uniform. The Giants made him the number five pick in this month’s draft.

I’ve been playing fantasy sports on Yahoo since the start of the new millennium, dating back to 2000. If you’ve never tried it, you should give it some serio9us consideration. There are both public leagues and private leagues. I don’t recommend the public leagues because there are many participants who flake out after the start and it takes the fun out of it for everyone else. The best thing to do is to go to Yahoo Sports, click on Fantasy Sports and choose the one you are interested in. Then go to the message board where you will find dozens of private leagues that are looking for a few more participants. Find the one that appeals to you and join up. Pretty soon you’ll find yourself with a group of guys who stay active. I’ve been playing with the same people for seven years or more and we come from every corner of the United States. Give it a try—you’ll be glad you did.

The Calgary Vipers of the Northern League had a problem. One of their pitchers, an American named John Odom, was having trouble crossing the border into Canada. Don’t know why. But the Vipers came up with an interesting solution. They traded Odom to the Laredo Broncos of the United Baseball League for 10 bats. Not just any old bats, these were custom maple bats known as Prairie Sticks. Manufactured by Prairie Sticks Bat Company of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, these hard maple bats are gaining in popularity among professional baseball players. The ones involved in the trade for Odom were the 34-inch double-dipped black C243. They are made from rock maple grown in eastern Canada. The company only sold 1,500 bats last year, but when word hit the Internet about the trade of 10 bats for a professional pitcher, the phones in Red Deer started ringing off the hook. According to an Associated Press account, players from California to Connecticut wanted Prairie Sticks bats. Where it all goes from here is anyone’s guess, and my guess is that things in Red Deer are going to continue to get better and better. And for Odom, originally from Atlanta, Laredo, Texas is a lot closer to home. This trade is one of those win, win, win situations.

He’s only 21 and his batting average is a cool 1.000. In his major league debut with the Reds, Jay Bruce played center field and batted second. And he had a great game, helping Cincinnati to a 9-6 win over the never easy Pittsburgh Pirates. Jay’s line went like this: At the plate five times, but two were walks so they don’t count as times at bat. He went 3 for 3, with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI’s. He also had a stolen base. Heck of a start for the youngster from Beaumont, Texas. At 6’3” and 205 pounds, lefthander Bruce is coming into his prime. Reds CEO sees Jay Bruce as the team’s next superstar and he may very well be right if yesterday’s start is any indication. The Reds could certainly use a superstar right about now. They struggled last year to a dismal 72-90 record and haven’t had a winning record since 1999, when they finished 96-67. They haven’t had a consistently good team since the late 1980s, so they’re about due. Good luck, Jay.

Interesting column in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. Scott Ostler sees Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens as “brothers in alienation”…a two-man fraternity complete with secret handshake. Neither of these jerks has retired from baseball, but guess what—neither is playing.  And that’s a good thing.  It’s the story of the season in MLB, and the last thing America needs is to have these two losers dragging down professional baseball to an even lower level. I call them the “denial brothers” because neither will own up to their use of steroids in spite if the compilation of irrefutable proof against them. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only guilty ones, they’re just the most high profile.  We need some real heros in baseball. They’re out there, we just need to identify them. Here are a few players that I admire: Chipper Jones of Atlanta, the two Carlos on the Mets (Beltrans and Delgado),  and Manny Ramirez of Boston. I’d like to hear some other suggestions from you.  And speaking of the poster child of steroids. Here’s today’s Moment in Baseball History for May 8. On this date in 1998, Mark McGwire connected for a home run against the Mets, making him the fastest player to hit 400 home runs. It took McQwire 4,726 at bats to achieve this pinnacle. Babe Ruth held the previous record, hitting his 400th on his 4,854th plate appearance. I think we need to put an asterisk beside McQwire’s stat though because it was mostly achieved through the miracle of science (aka steroids).

Welcome to InsightSports, where your opinion counts.  Whether it be the NFL, NBA, MLB, NASCAR, horse racing or whatever, here’s the place for spirited debate. No subject is too controversial, let’s hear what you have to say. Here are a few topics worthy of comment:

• Barry Bonds — superstar or super loser. Ditto for Roger Clemens, Michael Vick.
• Kentucky Derby — sport of kings or animal abuse? Did Eight Belles really take steroids? Wouldn’t be a surprise to me.
• NASCAR or open wheel racing? Personally I find NASCAR incredibly boring, but the Indianapolis 500 is another story. I love Memorial Day racing at Indy. And NASCAR is on practically every week (yawn).
• Show me the money. Professional athletes keep getting larger and larger contracts the size of which it is hard to comprehend. But if they didn’t get the money, it would just go to the already wealthy owners who deserve it even less. How about giving it back to the fans with lower prices for tickets and concessions. Ten bucks for a beer and hot dog is ridiculous. What’s wrong with this picture.  These are just a few of my thoughts on a wide variety of sports. I’ll be posting more as wel move ahead and I look forward to hearing from all of you too.