In celebrating our 10th season of existence I would like to take you all on a look inside the JNFL Headquarters.  Unless you are actually here it would be very difficult for a JNFL member to fully understand and appreciate the world that is Judd’s NASCAR Fantasy League.  We had long talked of video taping and maybe some day we still will.  I figure the next best way to share my day would be a one-day diary.  A blog if you will, of what I do all day.  So without any further ado, I give you my Chicagoland 2008 race day diary.
          6:38am – I woke up.  I really don’t sleep in anymore.  I get up at 5am every morning for work so 6:30 is actually late for me.  First things first I need to hit the head.  We have a nice little window there and while I stand there doing my thing I notice out in the alley a man walking by on his way to work.  Sure enough, it is Mark Lee from the power duo of Mark & Kim.  Were it not so early in the morning I would have yelled ‘Go Dale’ and he would surely have laughed.  Finished, I head back to bed for a little more rest.

          7:07am – It’s Neal again.  He has it figured out now.  A couple Jeff Burton picks and a Kyle Busch later we are laughing it all off and it is then that Neal apologizes and promises to buy me a beer next time he sees me.  (At this point I figured I might as well feed the cats.  Lucinda couldn’t care less about eating; she just wants to get outside so she can chase the birds out by the feeder.  Thank goodness Mark wasn’t walking by when I opened the door, for he surely would have gotten a look at me he wouldn’t soon forget.)

          9:05am – Mark calls from work and puts in his pick then asks if I will be headed over to the bar to watch the race tonight.

          10:09am – It is 40%-off at Ross where the First Mother of the JNFL works so the First Lady and I are off to do some clothes shopping.  Fellow JNFL member Tiffany will be joining us.  Leaving the JNFL Headquarters on a race day is a RARE occasion, but it does happen.  Most certainly we will miss some calls, hopefully nothing too important.

          12:14pm – Just got back from shopping and unfortunately we missed a pick.  Dottie Ott, possibly the nicest person in the JNFL, left a lovely little message on the machine.  She went with Jeff Burton too.  I will have to give her a call back so she knows I got it.

          12:46pm – Mary calls to put in Canute’s pick.  Mary use to play in the league and is well known for her ability to make biscuits & gravy only so her husband Jim can pretend he made them.  Jim ‘Canute’ has been playing in the league for about 8 years or so.  After saying that he would like Johnson for this race, she calls into question the reasoning behind his ‘NONE’ listed for his Sonoma pick.  According to her records, she called in Kasey Kahne as his pick, and then checked it off.  She only checks it off after she calls.  Though it was a few weeks ago, she remembered talking to ‘a lady’.  Unfortunately we just took the food off the stove for a late breakfast.  I promised I would call her back after I looked into the issue.  (We ate breakfast, was very good.  Hit the spot).  Immediately following breakfast I set out to solve the question about Canute’s pick.  Because he calls in his pick so early every week, I usually don’t have the computer turned on yet or have the weekly ‘picks’ sheet printed out.  Thus begins my search for every scrap piece I can find.  While I am very organized, this desk is always in a state of flux.  Any notes about the JNFL (picks, phone numbers, etc) I keep in an old soft Earnhardt Jr. beer cooler under my desk – at the end of each year I dump it and start new.  There is quite a collection already and a lot of Jim Canute’s picks were lying right on top.  There was his Daytona 400 pick (taken by June), there was his Michigan pick (taken by June) but no Sonoma pick.  Canute called in his Loudon pick.  As it turns out, June was working the morning of the Sonoma race, so it would have been impossible for her to take his pick.  I took all the picks that day and I specifically remember wondering to myself about Canute still not having called in.  You never know, maybe he wants to pick his Back-up Driver.  Well, this is when I doubled-down and went through my garbage can.  I am not proud to say this but it is not the first time I have sifted through the trash looking for JNFL picks.

     Please note I/we have been doing this for over 9 years, we have a system that works perfectly every week for every race.  All picks taken early are left on the keyboard and then transferred to the master-list when it is printed.  This note does not exist and there was no way June took the pick.

     I called Mary back and explained the information I found to her.  She didn’t have an answer and came to the conclusion that she was wrong.  Personally, I hate situations like this.  I am only human and I do make a mistake occasionally.  All too often it is the player that is actually wrong, mostly for picking a driver a 4th time.  My door is always open here at the JNFL Headquarters for sharing information I have concerning anything JNFL.  If you ever have a question about anything, feel free to ask.

          1:35pm – Sean Cook calls in his pick.  June ran in from outside to get the phone, I was downstairs going through my trash can.  She see’s that I picked Jimmie Johnson and screams, ‘We picked the same driver, AGAIN!’  We never talk about who we pick until long after both our picks have separately been made.  This year we have picked the same driver really often, especially lately.

          2:18pm – Stan Jones calls in his pick from Albuquerque, New Mexico .  He swears he is not lost and is on his way to Las Vegas .  Looks like the perfect time to do some gambling because he is currently in first place here in the JNFL.  His pick last week, Earnhardt Jr., was good enough to vault him up to the top spot.  Needless to say, he sounded really happy over the phone.  Good luck Stan!

          3:26pm – Steve Jones, Stan’s son, calls in his pick and his son Spencer’s too.  Upon hearing that his father is in first place and headed to Vegas he says, ‘You talk to him more than I do.’

          3:57pm – Ed Luke calls in.  As always he is off in left field.  “I can’t find my sheet.  The cat tore it up!”  I have already this year reprinted his list for him twice, not to mention numerous more times in past season.  If I ever get my hands on that dog and cat I might just have to slice them open and check their bellies for evidence, at this point I think Ed is pulling my leg.  Anyway, no Ed you can’t change your Back-up Driver, it says so in the rules packet you were given in the beginning of the season.  There was a big sign posted in the bar and should you find your list, the dates for changing your BUD are there too.  Good luck Ed.

          4:30pm – The silence is broken.  I had just started to squeeze in some sleep when the phone rings.  It was Tara down in Virginia .  ‘Which Busch is on the pole?  I am on a Blackberry trying to figure out who to pick.”  She switched from Kurt to Kyle Busch.

          4:53pm – Dave Mantle calls.  He is still in New Jersey but he will be coming up to the JNFL Headquarters tonight to watch the race.  Just as cool he will have Steve Bosco in tow.  Easily two of the coolest guys in the JNFL.  Dave won the title in 2005 as a rookie and Steve has come close on more than a couple occasions.  Even though they live so far away they always come up at least once or twice a year – and they always come to the banquet.  Looks like it will be a good night!

          4:54pm – Charlie calls.  He is on his way out to umpire back to back kid’s baseball games so he needed to make his pick a little early.

          5:28pm – It is decided that when the company gets here we will order out for dinner.  We need some vegetables and paper plates though.  June and I drew straws and I lost, so I will be headed to the grocery store.  Be right back.

          6:36pm – The past hour has been a lot busier.  As we get closer to the start of the race the phone calls start to come in at a faster pace.  I will not be far from the computer from now until the race starts.  I have taken picks from George and Patti Mease (they can’t come to the bar tonight because they are babysitting grandchildren, and that trumps), Joyce, GeoPete, Sam Ayob, Patty Cakes, Rich Hughes and Sandy Alderfer.  Sandy is really happy because she finally got out of the basement.  Her husband Scott called in a minute earlier to put in his pick.  It was then he revealed that he is drunk.  Sure sounded like it.

          6:43pm – Harry R. puts in his pick.  Harry is bumming because his favorite driver, Tony Stewart, is changing his colors next year.  Now he too will know the pain associated with having to rebuild your wardrobe.  Harry is also currently the featured rewind photo on the website although he has yet to see it.  Harry doesn’t have a computer.

          6:47pm – I checked my e-mail again and a letter from the Pope’s came up.  I would like to share it with you here:

          7:37pm – ‘Basement’ Bob McLaughlin called in his pick of Jimmie Johnson.  His wife Sandi, a rookie this year, took Kenseth.  They must be having fun this year as they are about 30 points apart in the standings and they both are sitting just outside the cut for the Chase for the Championship.  That makes the races a bit more fun to watch.

          7:53 – Must be getting close, Jimmy D. called in his pick.  He is almost always the last person to make a pick every week.  He has been like that since forever.  He took Kenseth too.  BEEP – call waiting, it is Robin, another founding member, he thinks it is all screwed up with the start by points – so he went with Jeff Gordon.

          8:00pm – they are singing the national anthem and have a moment for prayer.  I am going to have to stop writing in my journal and back-up all the picks.  Be right back.

          8:11pm – Leo Holmes calls in a panic.  ‘Did the race start?’  He was reading the paper and saw that the race stated at 8pm today and freaked out.  They are on vacation and figured it was Sunday afternoon like Chicago has always been.  Good thing he reads the paper on vacation.

          8:14pm – Dan Warden calls in.  He is going with Jeff Burton.  Now I am going to back-up.

          8:16pm – Jon Huffnagle calls, he just got back from Pocono doing the NASCAR experience and wanted to pick Stewart.  I looked and he was not one of the players who forgot to pick.  He assured me that was not the case.

          8:16pm – Huffnagle called back, he was wrong.  His friend put in his pick on the computer earlier, so never mind.

          8:17pm – The race finally starts.  Now I am scrambling to lock out the race so people can’t make a pick online, post the start time on the web and print out the picks to make sure they are right.  Looks like a couple people forgot to play which is not bad.  Sometimes it can be a lot more when the race is run Saturday night.  You really know they missed it when they call in Sunday morning with their picks.