Through the years...

As for podcasts, love them. Definitely a plus side to the technological dystopia we are all trapped in (that and online stratomatic).

I'm a reader first and foremost (looking forward to a certain biography of Hack Wilson to arrive in the mail any day now). I wake up at 4:45 and read on my porch until my kids wake up every morning (well, most mornings), and if I can keep my eyes open, I read after the kids go to bed.

But I go to sleep to podcasts every night, and listen to podcasts on my commute. The commute is for escapist stuff (sports and pop culture) and bedtime is intellectual stuff.

As for The War of 1812, turns out the invasion of Canada was the first thing that happened. America was responding to a British blockade of trade to Europe (as well as other indignities), declared War on Britain, and the closest British thing they could attack was Canada. They halfway expected to be "greeted as liberators" (sound familiar?), but they weren't, and had poor organization, morale, and leadership, and Canada had this badass British General named Brock.

One of the crazy things was, this being 1812, it took weeks to communicate back-and-forth across the Atlantic. So 5 days after America declared war, Britain actually lifted the trade blockade. At this point Britain didn't know America had declared war, and America didn't know Britain had addressed the major grievance that motivated them to do so. But the die was cast so the war played out anyway. Similarly, after the peace treaty was signed, there was another whole battle due to the fact that the combatants hadn't got the memo.

Well I guess in all things: balance. And what I failed to share as my reawakening was I noticed that I was not reading for pleasure anymore, and I don't mean understanding the finer details of whale communication. I could say Adam Carolla's and Mike Rowe's podcasts were guilty pleasures, but reading....I was no longer reading fiction. Not sure when it started--but it has been a while.

So my balance was in not just reading about the untold truths of history, but mixing in some fiction and poetry. And then I picked up my guitar again...

...And I have learned that among many other things Matt knows about--I'll add that in all things War of 1812: Ask Matt.

Wow. I'm late to this thread.
Todd Stough, ctstough, formerly known as Fluffyman* on Strat.
57 y.o
Born in Dallas, raised in Ca (San Jose, Westlake, Newport Beach), adulted in Tucson, moved back to Texas when I was 40. Moved to China when I was 52. Started out as an addictions counselor for 7 years and then joined the Army at 30, did a 2 year hitch (1st Division, 1/16th, Mechanized Infantry) and switched to teaching- which is a much better fit.

I'm a History teacher, and a brand new father of 100 day old boy, who is in Thailand with my future wife.
You see, there was this thing called a pandemic, and I got stuck for nine months in Thailand while on vacation, then finally got back into China and then found out my girlfriend was preggers. We'll be separated until this pandemic quites down and China chills on its re-entry procedures. Phew. Just get vaccinated so I can get my family into China and we can prepare for the next nightmare.

Anyhow, I did NOT grow up playing Strat. My Pop and I payed this horrible baseball game with a spinner and cards, and blah blah blah, but we kept tons of stats, so baseball has always been a history and numbers thing for me. As well as being a radio and a couple of times a year live MLB game thing. (I've been to every MLB stadium with my Pop). I love going to the ballpark- especially East of the Mississippi. (The fans are rowdier).
I was all school yard but never got into organized ball. Which is a shame as I think if I had worked at it, I would have been a decent High School player, but the beach was so close.
I LOVE soft ball but am not that good. Had some good times in my 40's playing softball- had a skinned knee for about 6 years running, which made me plenty happy.
But I love the game.
I was a fair weather fan growing up, (Big Red Machine, anti-dodgers. God knows I tried to get behind the Rangers and the Angels, but I just couldn't do it) although I've stuck by the Astros for a while now.

I think I started playing Strat with ATG3, took a break during IV and came back for the end of ATG7.
Love the history , love the math.
I play about 4-5 teams at a time and exclusively in Andy's ALT leagues.
I used to play in public leagues and was trying to make the perfect 80m no dh small ball team. I think a couple of them are still in the top 5 all time team record list.

Give me a team of injury prone, fairly fast doubles hitters, where all 8 hit, with a rickety 5-man rotation and bad ass relief and I'm pretty happy.

I do find that studying the managerial strategies of the 1970's managers is pretty instructive for building a team. The Reds model, Whitey-ball, the Dodger way, the A's team, Billy Ball, and the Oriole way are all pretty viable strategies in Strat. It's fun to model a team on those styles and win.

My Strat complaints are few- making a button to stop stealing 3rd. Be able to relieve immediately with my best reliever (which is what I would do in person) would be nice, but probably impossible to manage under the current format.
The player pool is outrageously enormous. It's to the point now that they should just put every player and all his cards into the pool.
Also, there should be a lot more injuries. Like tons of them. Force managers to have a deep bench and let lady luck screw a couple of teams per season per league with a season ending injury to a star player or two. Would also be nice to have a more realistic schedule, where using days off and double headers forced you to make hard choices. But again, I'm not sure that is possible with this model.

I love dead ball leagues- so feel free to invite me if you have one.

* My friend had a fabric made, man shaped, chew toy for his dog. He would call his dog and say, "Come get your fluffy man!" which I still think is the funniest thing ever said to a dog.

Ahoy,

YettieJohnston here. Also known as Toad or Ted. Been playing Strat since I hoped to roll many 1-5's against my boy's from the 'burgh at my grandmother's yellow kitchen table with the chrome legs which I owned in the late 70's (that I still have today). One of my 'burgh boys introduced me to Barn Stormers in 2013. Grandfather took me to my 1st games and I couldn't understand how after a handshake with a buddy of his that was an usher why we got seats close to the 1st base dugout. Then later in the game couldn't understand why everyone was freaking out about a ball one guy hit that seemed to never come down. Turns out that Stargell had cleared the right field roof at Forbes. Will always be rooting for HAL to roll me those 1-5's.

Yettie/Toad/Ted

Just noticed this thread from a while back while searching for a different topic. These days, I can go months without looking at the boards. I really enjoyed reading the bios. I think we did something similar on the boards years ago, perhaps when TSN still ran this.

I am Joe Allen, 63. Army vet from the 70s/80s, including several years with the Army Rangers (2/75 at Ft. Lewis), hence my handle (which I also use to pay homage to a famous surplus store outside of Ft. Benning, GA). I grew up playing sports. Baseball was my favorite, but not close to being my best sport. In high school, I lettered football and in track & field as a quarter-miler.

I played Strat as a kid, and began playing the 360 when Sporting News ran it with the 2001 cards, and the first ATG cards shortly thereafter (those late-night frenzies). My barely over-.500 (overall SOM 360 record) shows I've had very good teams, very bad teams, and many in between; but I enjoy playing this a great deal regardless. I also enjoy the Windows NFL game; especially the 60s/70s seasons.

Like Bruce, I am not particularly crazy with how MLB is played today, though I remain a staunch Cardinals fan. I live near St. Louis, work from home as a Network Operations Analyst for a company I have been with for 25 years, married to my wife (who hails from Germany) since 1992, recently converted Catholic, dog fanatic, cancer survivor, an avid reader of history and classic literature, classic rock and country, and a lover of old flicks on TCM. Once upon a time ago, I might have referred to someone with that description as a "square."

Glad to get to know you better Joe.

One question, just curious if you knew Tom Davitt. He was my best friend in high schools kid brother who inherited my paper route when I retired after 3 years at age 15. He graduated West Point in 1982 and became an Army Ranger in 1984. I believe he was stationed in Fort Benning around that time. It was with great sadness that I learned of his passing, from lung cancer in December 2020. I figure the Rangers are a fairly small, tight knit fraternity and wondered if you ever met him.

Deeply sorry for the loss of your friend, Bruce. I never had the pleasure of meeting him. They added a 3rd Ranger Battalion at Ft. Benning right around the time you mention, so he may have been with that unit. The Ranger School is located there as well.

Drew Elliott, AKA Sheikyerboudi or "The Sheik" - yes, I'm a fan of Frank Zappa. I'm 70 years old, a retired Frito-Lay Sales Rep and later, Owner-CEO-President of Tres Gatos Distributing. I live in the High Desert area of the California Mojave Desert. I've played SOM in one form or another since 1966. I've been in the same continuous ownership CDROMM League (The TABL ) since 1987 and I've played on this site from virtually the beginning. I 've been playing only in the MFL league on 365 for several years - which is why a lot of you probably don't know me well or at all. Used to play Barnstormers for years, but even quit that format. Don't like where the 365 game has gone and only keep playing in the MFL because I've played more than 100 seasons in the league. I've been a Dodgers fan since I was old enough to know what the Dodgers were, so I still watch and follow the game - but like Druid, don't like the changes in the current game. I have two ex-wives and three cats

- The Sheik

worth a bump for the humans among us

Awesome thread here boys. Dennis Peters, alias dspeters5. Born and grew up in western burbs of Chicago. I am a retired PE and Driver Ed teacher. Taught 22 years in Garfield Park, nasty hood. Thought I was going to be a state champion coaching football. God had other ideas. Always ended up working with underpriviliged yutes. PE classes could look rough at times. Tried many innovative ideas some worked some did not, but I have dozens of cool stories of helping these children. I love teaching Drivers Ed. Instead of yutes telling me to F off, they eat out of my hands and listen intently to my driving instructions. Still work 26 hours a week at two high schools. Of course I dont start til 12pm, so I can sleep in or play softball two days a week in Arlington Heights and Rosemont Dome for indoor. 24/7/365 softball, and of course lunch at Chick fil a or Portillos afterwards.

My dad loved sports, so our backyard was our arena. Football, baseball, basketball in the driveway. He coached our Little League teams. Had baseball, basketball, football cards. In 1960 my cousin, Ralph Lindeman, younger brother and I decided to have an Olympics in our neighborhood. We had short and long distance races. A softball was used for the shot put, old broom handle was our javelin, sandbox was long jump. Kids in the Riverside neighborhood participated. Now years later, I became a PE teacher and coach played college football at a D-3 school. My cousin and best friend Ralph, won a National Championship at Gendale Community College in Cross Country, now he is the head track coach at Air Force Academy. My younger brother was MVP, captain and all conference center at NIU. Huskie U. I marvel at this.

Back to Strat. When I was 12 or 13, I mailed away for my first board game. My brother and I fell in love with Strat. Played entire seasons. We did this thru high school. After I was married I got out the old cards and began playing solo. Around twenty years ago, I discovered our beloved Simulation Strat game. Being thrifty I only handled 2-3 teams at a time. Not being computer savvy, Joe O'Connor(Tinley Snipes) helped me to copy and paste. And joined his Lazyboy and introduced me to Doc X's Armchair. Minnie Minoso, BOBBY, Private Jet Mama, deepdrive were my combatants. I learned from them. After taking seasons of abuse, finally started winning a bit. I love the bombers, so deepdrive and Minnie would thwart me with their pitching and defense, playoff after playoff. Joe would tell me that BOBBY would spend weeks in Vegas and he would look after his teams. Joe said he always had 20-25 active teams. Crazy. Agabriel, wow what a contribution he has made. Penngray's site and slow drafting on ILC got too much, Diamonddope filled a HUGE need. Loved his live drafting and card evals. Yes I us Joethejet's evals, super helpful as well. So many names of coaches; Frank Bailey and Moriarity, Blutarsky, Irish iii, Muadib1950. Saw stevea47, he is in our goldrush, bk7171, Artmaki, Dacelo, Sykes25, Ljs, BDward, Harry Smart, Misterg, Pacoboy, samh, kaviksdad. I talked a math teacher CB 3137 into playing years ago. Great coach, tough to beat Charlie, now he is a principal on the southside of Chicago. And N Texas, my daughter lives in West Dallas, Ric lives in Denton, TX, we began talking on the phone once a month. One year I stopped by and saw Big Ric, had a great visit. Loves college football, his Rangers and he has thousands of old cards. We now have conference calls during our live drafts with Artmaki, it is a hoot, to thrash talk while the 45 second clock is ticking away.

I took over the Armchair for Doc X quite a few seasons ago. Because of my love of hitting, I started the Goldrush, now in our 79 season. And yes still getting schooled by JW4412, DonFesq and N Texas Widowmaker. JW was kind enough to help a struggling dog. Introduced me to CVJS99184 Al's $999 league, now my favorite. Now Nomadbrd, JW and CVJS whoop me, but I have won a few crowns.

Another cool story. We needed a coach for the Armchair. And Jabuending signed up. I shared my background with him. I began playing senior softball, told Jeff Ilived in the western burbs. Found out Jeff played college baseball and was looking for something cool, senior softball and strat! Jeff was living in the town I grew up in. And I still was going to Stellas batting cages in Lyons, so Jeff and I hooked up. Not only do we do Strat, but we eat hamburgers, hit softballs and play softball with old guys. Jeff is a big time Ebay seller of Strat cards and board games. We have had dinner at each others homes, now a good friend. He GAVE me a board game with 2016 cards which I gave to my grandkids in Phoenix AZ for Christmas two years ago their dad is a huge Royals fan. My ten year old grandson and twelve year old granddaugter play board games with me all the time. We spend winter break in AZ.

This community is so cool. Thanks to Joe O"Conner, Doc X, JW and Al,CB 3137, Jeff, Big Ric and so many others.

Dennis Peters