Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Recent threads have got me thinking about board activity and volume.... and remembering the glory days

Not claiming to be an expert about the glory days. But have observed a few things over the years.

First is you rarely realize you are living in the glory days until after they are over and you look back.
Looking back I remember when the boards were the place to hang out and kill time. There were always a dozen or a couple dozen active threads constantly getting added to. Often times activity was so good you could almost carry on live conversations. On anything of particular interest I would bookmark the thread because if I didn't so many other threads would get created my thread of interest would be pushed right off the page.

When I look at the current activity makes me wistful for those good ole days....
So far only 4 threads in the ATG forum have been updated today the 19th
There are only and additional 5 showing updates for the 18th

And that is even counting the ones which were only asking someone to do a randomzing run for them. Those threads are not actual conversations. We had conversations back in the good ole days. We solved MLBs revenue problems, the merits of 5 man rotations for keeping pitchers healthy, whether pitch counts helped or were the downfall of modern pitching, and whether a 19-15 rated runner who was better than an 18-16 runner with lots of good jump rolls, etc. We discussed every aspect of baseball and strat.

I miss the good ole days.

And Remember when at 11:40 someone would say, "Let's frenzy" and we would fill a league in 15 minutes.
Guys would check in before going to bed, just in case we were throwing a league together.

I remember throwing a pot of coffee on anticipating a 1:00 am frenzy and constantly hitting "refresh". Same goes for the boards...I'd step away for 10 or 15 minutes and it felt like I had pages of comments to comb through. You could always fill a league within a day or two--no problem. Now, sometimes, I am lucky to pick a squad, join a league, and go through waivers within 5 days.

I remember I used to like dropping in a league or starting a new one on Friday evening taking care not to do so too early because I knew it would fill soon and I always wanted to have waivers on Monday afternoon with a week to negotiate trades. Now a futile exercise to try controlling when you will waiver and start a season. I put a team in a league and wait for however many days is needed to get that email notice my team has drafted.

We used to do a live draft every Friday night. Sometimes two in the same night. Then sometimes, people could not wait for Friday so we would do a live draft during the week also. All that plus throwing together a salary cap team. That's how some of us ended up with twenty five or more teams going at once. A little insane but we had no control over the addiction. They need to get that live draft app going quick if they want to see this thing pick up again.

It's there house... We hafta play by their rules. However, back in the good ole days...

... The days when my sign on was Mr. Leo... There was Bobby, Penngray, Arryl, Loobie, Jeep, PBTR, Nev, etc etc etc... We rocked! It was mentioned that we could fill a frenzy in minutes.. that was not an exageration. Truly minutes, and we could have TSN $300 more dollars, assuming we all payed cash, and not with credits.

... When 25 teams was the norm
... When I could come up with all kinda crazy arse theme leagues, and they too, would fill in minutes.
... When we went to the TSN office in Manhatten, and had a live draft with Bernie included.
... When our voice was heard, not suspended.
... When Bernie did the work of 3 programmers
... When there truly was commadre amongst all of us, remember your first time on the boards, when you were welcomed by all of us.
... When yes, there were problems, and we would kick and scream till Bernie fixed it.

Again, its their house, their rules.

The question we hafta ask ourselves, is, do we, yes we, you, I, and everyone that frequents the boards, try to regain those glory days...

... Or make like Poe, and let it go quietly in the night...

When I first started playing over at TSN, it was ATG (1). There was one cap, $80m. There were no waivers. The frenzy would go off around 4am est, give or take. I'd stay up watching movies, drinking coffee and talking to others on the MB, eagerly awaiting the frenzy. W. Mays and R. Yount were the GODS among the player pool. And the pool consisted of around 30 or so great teams from the past, like the 60 Pirates, 27 Yankees, 55 Dodgers, 75 Reds, etc. Probaby about a quarter of the size it is now. And how many of you played the SOM Football game on-line, when it existed? 9/11 was still a very recent scar on the land and in our psyche. The Red Sox still hadn't won a WS in eighty something years. My grandkids hadn't been born yet. My dog sheba still romped around my house. And my sweet wife was still alive. Yep, good ole days indeed.

wow MM... I remember all those things. Please forgive me for not including you amongst the other Generals of strat... OOhhh... and mightymoose too! How could I forget you two!

Not a frequent contributor to the boards. Despite my chronological age, an infant by Strat standards even though now having played for years. Had no experience with the board game so felt, and still do, but to a lesser extent, overwhelmed by the information available from such a knowledgeable, competitive, yet friendly group of people. Treated very well when would post what likely were questions that had been asked many times before by other newbies. Felt embarassed to ask some questions so reached out to Grindl and Petrosian through private messages. Was so impressed by the time taken and their kindness in answering my questions.

Could not afford to play the number of teams I would have wanted. But used to check the boards many times daily to keep from missing some new bit of information which could help me in my own addiction to Strat, and to keep from having to go through so many new posts since my last checkin. Now I can go days without checking and there is little new to review. Used to enjoy the frequent requests for reviews of new teams, even from long-time players, to try to learn from them. Now those happen rarely.

Not having a programming background I could not imagine what was involved in handling the job itself, along with the pressures of the job, and the numerous requests made of him. But despite criticism directed at Bernie I was constantly impressed by his responsiveness, often interspersed with humor, even though often received with impatience. I felt bad when his being so conscientious caused him to become ill, but hope he is enjoying his job as it seemed he used to despite the pressures.

I have not had the pleasure of meeting any of you in person, yet the family atmosphere has caused me to feel the sorrow you would feel when some tragedy would be shared on the boards.

With you all, I too miss those good ole days!

I didn't start until ATG III, but I was really impressed when there were some problems and Bernie gave me a phone call to discuss it. I thought that was great customer service. It kept me there buying teams.