The passing of The Last Druid

We are deeply saddened today to learn of the passing of The Last Druid (Bruce Steffek) from our midst. In the ATG forum, Frank posted a link to his obit - better than the one I found.

https://wjrockefeller.com/tribute/detai ... tuary.html

As we (I) let this sink in,we will at some point need to try and come up with a solution to fill the spot in the Finals that this will leave. Right now, I just have so much fog in my brain trying to process this news.

Druid will forever be the BEST OF US and quite obviously the best player to have ever participated in the Barnstormers Tournament.

At minimum I will declare Bruce the first inductee into the "Barnstormers Hall of Fame"

If it didn't exist before, it certainly does now. Rest in peace my friend, you have "stolen HOME"

Mighty Moose

I have a suggestion to make...

You all know that Bruce's team, The Wrong Stuff, is already qualified for this year's Barnstormers Finals...

Since Hack Wilson was one of Bruce's closest friend here, if not the closest one, I suggest that Hack be chosen to finish the job and honor Bruce's memory...

What do you all think...

Thank you, Chabriel, those are very kind and generous words, but those would be awfully big shoes to fill -- holy cow, no one could do the Last Druid justice -- and I think he'd be looking down at us and strike us with a bolt of lightening for screwing his teams up, lol! It just doesn't feel right to assume his identity owning a team in Barnstormers. He was all too unique and talented.

I think it's better to let Mighty Moose invite the "next up" owner who missed the playoffs, but I'll leave it up to Moose.

And yes, we should consider more memorial leagues. Perhaps a one-time re-titling for next year's Barnstormers as "Bruce Steffek's Barnstormers Memorial Tournament."

I disagree Hack... the next up owner who didn't already qualify already got his chance in the semi-finals...

I was very recently with Bruce and you in that league I was talking about in my previous reply... most certainly one of Bruce's last Titles...

I could see and feel the true friendship and respect and complicity between both of you guys...

Bruce's Wrong Stuff MUST be in this year's Barnstormers Finals...

And there is no one better than you to guide it to the ULTIMATE VICTORY...

Noted. This has been "mentioned" to the board.

Well, it's up to Mighty Moose. I would think ordinarily the losing finalist in one of the three semi-finalist leagues with the most points in the preliminary round would get it. But I don't think anyone is going to object if he does it some other way.

I think Bruce would have advocated for whoever finished 10th in the tournament standings to get his finals spot.

In this case Goreds54.

I would say it should be the highest ranked player that does not win one of the semi finals leagues.

I'm very honored that chaberial would suggest me, but like I said, I'm not worthy. I think Bruce would likely suggest the next one up. This seems fair to the legacy of the Last Druid, who I think in the spirit of fair play and opening it up to quantitatively the best, would welcome next one up in the standings (or however people think it's best to do, I haven't figured it all out who's next, if people think it's Goreds54, then so be). Knowing Bruce a bit, I think he wouldn't exactly like the idea of someone else constructing and managing his team, if in name only. It's sorta of like when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, the eventual consensus was not to rebuild the exact same thing, but to do something different in memorial form at that site that spoke to the times, the emotions, the feelings, the situation. Bruce was a highly competitive guy, as we all know, and I think he'd look at this is in terms of who's the next best competitor, give them a shot. That said, i don't presume to speak for him in any way, of course, just my two cents. RIP dear Last Druid. I'm still in shock and very sad, this has really shaken me up. He was so full of energy, brimming over with insights and rapier wit, curmudgeonly with a soft heart underneath, just feels like a huge, big empty void without him in SOM.

With all due respect to Hack, the board * is * considering something along these lines, just not HW. If and when this gets agreed to, an announcement will be made. If it doesn't happen, plan B and C are already in place.