About Roto Evil
About the Name
Roto is short for Rotisserie, which is a widely used fantasy sports term. A man named Daniel Okrent invented “Rotisserie League Baseball” in 1980, naming the league after the New York City restaurant where he and his friends used to frequent. While being the modern founder of fantasy sports as we know it is a pretty sweet claim to fame, Okrent is actually better known for being named the 1st ever public editor of The New York Times in 2003 and was also featured in the fascinating crossword puzzle documentary Wordplay. Sweet!
Evil is short for Evil E, the nickname by which 75% of my friends address me. It was bestowed upon me within 10 days of arriving in college and has stuck ever since. Some shorten it to “Evil” or just “E.” I’ve been called E-Rock, Vitamin E, and a couple of other sinister variations. It’s all good!
About the Section
The Roto Evil section is all about basketball. For those of you who’ve been following my work over at 82games, you can expect the same top-notch fantasy hoops rankings and analysis as well as much, much more on my new site.
For the past 4 years, my fantasy team name has been A Tribe Called Evil, in homage to the groundbreaking hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Since using this team name, I have won over 50% of my fantasy leagues and finished “in the money” over 90% of the time. Over the past 3 years, I’ve used my statistical prowess to win over $12,000 just from playing Fantasy Basketball.
I’ve going to do some non-stat-related “Feature Articles” which I’m really looking forward to as well as “Random Fun Stuff” relating to any and all aspects of basketball. I encourage all of my hoops fans to become active participants on my new site. Let’s talk some b-ball!
About the Site
See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil refers to the famous Japanese proverb and the Three Wise Monkeys.
I was born in 1980, which is the year of the Monkey in Chinese astrology. To take this one step further, I am a Metal Monkey (so is Yao Ming). The Chinese calendar combines the 5 elements with 12 different animals to create a 60-year cycle that has been used in China since the second millennium BC. So the last Metal Monkeys were born in 1920 and the next won’t be born until 2040. I have designated one “Metal Monkey Master” for each section of my site, so just click on the other “About” pages to find out more.
Note to the naysayers: I too didn’t believe in Chinese astrology until one of my friends looked it up for a school project awhile back and found out that she’s a rat and that my other friend in the room was a dragon. After agreeing that the characteristics of each animal fit all three of us, we found out that we all get along because we form the first animal trine.
“The first trine consists of the Rat, Dragon, and Monkey. These three signs are intense and powerful individuals, capable of great good or great evil. They make great leaders, but the three have different approaches. Rats and Dragons have a tendency to be quite dictatorial and autocratic, whilst Monkeys are more diplomatic. Frustrated when hampered, these signs are ruled by highly potent energy and unpredictability. They are intelligent, magnanimous, charismatic, charming, authoritative, confident, eloquent and artistic. They can also be tyrannical, bombastic, prejudiced, deceitful, imperious, ruthless, power-hungry, and megalomaniacal.”
I created this site for those friends of mine. One has the most unique music collection that I’ve heard and digs college hoops while the other really likes artistic things and can cook up a mean meal.
So let’s take it one step further. I created this site for any internet wanderer who might be interested in some of my favorite things. If you want to hear about football, baseball, mainstream music, blockbuster movies, blue states vs. red states, and major corporations taking over the world, I suggest going elsewhere. If you want to talk about basketball, underground hip-hop, independent films, art, philosophy, food, and whatever else, please visit and contribute as often as you can!
And let it be known: I prefer monkeys over sheep.
