First if you’re a baseball fan I have openings in two leagues that I hope to have drafts for before the end of this month.
Our 1972 league of Dynasty baseball (162 games) has the following teams available: Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs
Our 1997 league (80 games) has the following teams available ( Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Pirates)
In both leagues you can relocate the franchise you take to a new location if so desired and if the franchise is open.
Contact me in comments if you are interested.
Secondly while it’s a day late here the Indulgence Calendar for February is now available for download here. Be aware if I’m late again on this it will be always be available at the WQPH Web site.
As some of you might know back in 1980’s when I was in my 20’s I owned a store that sold comic books, baseball cards, board games Mostly Avalon Hill and VERY EARLY PC games (Sid Meyer’s Pirates flew from the shelves). The store closed in 1991 but the baseball league that was founded at the store in 1987 has continued on and until I got my current job where I worked on third shift and then second shift I was part of a mostly board gaming good that has met continually on a weekly basis since about 1979.
For 25 or 30 years I have had people from my game group I should attend The Total Confusion Gaming Convention which takes place annually in Massachusetts. Those requests predate the internet, they started while Avalon Hill was still making games under their own banner. They predate Magic the Gathering and they certainly predate the online version of Dynasty Baseball which I run my leagues on.
Oddly enough there was always a reason why either couldn’t or didn’t go. I frankly can’t remember them at this point but I never managed to get there.
Meanwhile Total Con has done just fine without me and now boasts of being the largest gaming convention in New England. It’s on its 38th year and will take place Feb 25th-Feb 28th at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel in Marlborough, MA the same place where Pintastic NE was last year and will be in April
Well I’ve now been at my current job long enough that have extra vacation days to spare, I don’t have a big wedding anniversary to keep days in reserve.
Furthermore I have friends who live under 10 minutes from the Hotel who keep offering me a place to say for Pintastic NE that I regularly turn down because of the 24-7 aspect of the event. But while I’m sure there are some overnight games that take place in people’s hotel rooms the convention’s game rooms are NOT 24-7 so there is no reason why I can’t drive down the road to crash and be back by by 9 or 10 to play. That saves several hundred dollars.
In short the time constraints and the cash constraints that might have held be back in the past don’t seem to be there this year.
So it seems this year I will be attending the Total Confusion Convention and playing some games.
I notice that the old Milton Bradly Game Dogfight from 1962 my youth will be played there and I note that what I consider one of the greatest board games ever made Advanced Civilization (which predates and I suspect inspired the PC game) will be played. There are three spots left but as it takes 8 hours and starts at 8 AM on the first day I’m debating if I can make it.
In addition to the hundreds of game events they have open gaming and a large game library that you can access to play. (I highly recommend Kremlin btw) hey also have a large game library
I’ve decided to take two games of my own but not have them “Official Events”
Source of the Nile
It’s 1820 and you are leading an expedition to the unknown wiles of Africa. Map the blank board as you Combat unknown diseases, wild animals, dangerous terrain and natives and raiders who may or may not be friendly on your expedition. Survive and return to England to publish your finding (earning VP and making your map permanent) and equip anew. Play as an Explorer, Geologist, Zoologist, Missionary, Doctor, Ethnologist, Explorer, Botanist or Reporter. Different professions earn points in different ways.
Solo to up to six players
Source of the Nile
It’s the golden age of piracy. Sail the seas of the Caribbean or the gold coast or around the horn and Madagascar. Raid shipping and towns, take on cargos and sell them at friendly ports (or at a pirate haven). Upgrade to a better ship or take a captured ship as your own and celebrate with drunken debauchery, but watch out for warships on the prowl, rivals who wish to supplant you or as your fame grows beware of the King’s commissioners sent by the crown to hunt you down. Take advantage of pardons and take care of your ship but don’t forget to keep your crew happy or you might be marooned. Retire wealthy or strive to be the most notorious pirate on the Spanish main.
Solo to up to four players
My plan is to play both of them solo while allowing people to join in if they wish. I may also take a copy of Dynasty Baseball to demo it and recruit players for our face to face league in Fitchburg.
But either way I’ll be there. Hope to see you too, there is more to life than politics and arguments..
I have a lot of little things to say but not enough for an under the Fedora Day so today we’re going to give Don Surber the sincerest from of flattery and imitate his Saturday Link Fest with a few other thoughts:
First at Stacy McCain’s site we have a story about how thanks to a family squabble an iconic business will close:
The litigation later forced the family to change the name of its original location to Tony and Nick’s Steaks in 2022. Anthony Jr.’s two sons — Anthony III and Michael, who were also employed at the sandwich empire — followed him out the door, taking copies of the company’s financial records with them and turned them over to federal investigators. Those documents revealed that Lucidonio Sr. and Nicholas Lucidonio hid the success of their business from tax collectors by keeping two sets of books almost from the day the sandwich shop opened.
While one might have an opinion of members of an Italian (Sicilian?) family turning in another member of their family to the feds may I humbly point out that if they weren’t cooking the books it wouldn’t be an issue.
As my Sicilian parents who owned business taught me young, “Always pay the government first because they’re the only ones who can take from you before you go to court.”
2nd: Was at the bank today figured it would be an easy time since I needed to convert three $20 bills into two 10’s six 5’s and ten ones so I can make change if people at St Cecilia’s church want to buy tickets to the WQPH 89.3 FM Shrove Tuesday Brunch on the 13th (Details here). I figured it would take about 30 seconds invoving:
Opening the draw
Counting the bills
Giving them to me
Not anymore. Now a machine is involved so instead the teller has to
Take the last four of my social
Feeding my bills into the reader
Do tons of typing into the computer
Wait for the machine to spit out the bills when the typing is done
Print a receipt for the bills
Give me the bills and receipt
Machines don’t make everything easier
3rd: Over at Pirates Cove Mr. Teach notices climate folks trying to link “climate change” to ancient plagues. to wit:
While modern medicine has advanced considerably since the time of the Romans, this data offers insights into how diseases might change in our own changing climate. “Within the scope of the current climate change it is of major importance to understand the links between climate and human health and we unfortunately do not understand these links as well as we would like,” Zonneveld said. “Investigating the resilience of ancient societies to past climate change and relationships between past climate change and the occurrence of infectious disease might give us better insight into these relationships and the climate change induced challenges we are facing today.
One would have thought that an empire that could conquer so much of the known world, invent formalized sanitation, arches, pioneered early medical tools, concrete, the first bound book, and so much more, would have known not to use fossil fuels, hair dryers, ice makers, and plastics
It never ceases to amaze me that tens of millions have absolute faith in the never ending predictions of doom to come in 30 years when my own local forecast for Sunday has changed three times in the last 72 hours.
4th: I’m told the Doctor that I’ve had for the last 30-40 years or so is about to retire. Baring a major accident/incident before July I will likely not see him again.
This means I will likely have to get a new doc who doesn’t know me or my family or my past. This is normal but I’m not looking forward to it. If there was one thing I had no doubt about with my old doc it’s that he cared if I lived or died. Given what we’ve seen from the medical profession the last few years it will be very hard to get that impression from a stranger.
Of course as I’m in the back nine it more a question of what do I want to die from because in the end I have to die of something.
5th: The New Neo has some thoughts about the Jean Carroll defamation case and the type of precedent it sets:
I don’t think lawsuits like this one should be actionable, whether they be against Trump or anyone else. It should not be legally actionable defamation to say your accuser is lying about you and that you’re not sexually attracted to her. Nor was Trump ever found criminally liable for raping her, because the statute of limitations had run out by the time she made her accusations. I doubt her rape case would have held up in a criminal court anyway – unless it was a court composed of jurors or a judge who hated the defendant.
I predict that once leftists and left leaning institutions like universities are charged with defamation for insisting on their innocence in cases and have judgements made against them the injustice of this will suddenly become clear to the left.
Unexpectedly of course.
6th: If anyone is interested we have some openings in both the 1972 and the 1997 league for Dynasty Baseball.
If you’re up to it and have an interest give me a shout because the window for all of this is closing.
7th: Since I quoted Don Surber for the title of this post it behooves me to mention an interesting twist to the old “learn to code” crowd:
ITEM 14: What the nation needs is coders who learn to mine.
CNBC reported last month, “The U.S. is running out of miners. More than half the nation’s mining workforce, about 221,000 workers, is expected to retire by 2029, according to the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, and the number of candidates willing to fill those slots is shrinking.”
Smart people are urging and/or putting their kids into trade schools where basic “manly” skills are taught as it’s becoming increasingly clear that the American left has basically evolved into the passengers of the B Ark of the Golgafrinchan fleet
8th: Since we mentioned the need for coal jobs it’s worth noting more layoffs of Journalists: First this week at the LA Times (Via Legal Insurrection):
As a general rule, most people are sympathetic when they hear about others who have lost their jobs due to layoffs, company closings, and the like.
But in the case of the now-former employees of the Los Angeles Times, that sympathy is in short supply among conservatives and others who were frequent targets of the paper’s agenda-driven news and opinion divisions.
On Sunday, Legal Insurrection reported that the left coast newspaper had announced that staff cutbacks were imminent, with around 100 people set to be let go. In response, unionized employees staged a one-day walkout and demanded, among other things, “to swap traditional seniority protections for those related to diversi
In an internal email this morning, Business Insider CEO Barbara Peng announced that the company is laying off 8% of its staff pic.twitter.com/VY6HIt7ktc
I look forward to the plethora of articles from those journalists remaining insisting that the economy is better than ever. Perhaps AI can write them at the LA Times and Business Insider.
The NFL league championships are this week and from the NFC we are guaranteed a great story of overcoming adversity no matter who wins, either Detroit FINALLY making it to the Superbowl with a rejected QB or San Francisco making it led by the very last pick in the draft born the year Brady was picked and drafted 63 places later than him (262nd).
In the east you have Lamar Jackson the pre-emptive MVP facing Patrick Mahomes who now has made the AFC title game in his first six seasons as a starter. Comparisons to Tom Brady and questions if he will beat Brady’s six titles and ten Superbowl appearances are already flying but in the end no matter what he achieves when people ask who was better the record will show that when facing Tom Brady in the AFC Championship game or the Superbowl he was 0-2 against a Tom Brady at age 40 or over.
10th and last at Elder of Ziyon which is a must visit during the Israel Hamas war they note a rather amazing phenom at the UN, collective memory loss:
Q: Given the UN’s big role in Gaza, UNRWA, has there ever been any indication to the UN that tunnels are being built under the city?
UN: Not to us. I mean… it seems to me that all this infrastructure was built in a highly secretive way. I mean, I see it just as an observer… To think that the UN had any understanding of what was… any information about those operations, I think, is… No is clearly the answer to that.
This is even though the UN has admitted in previous years that tunnels were found underneath their own schools.
In fact, former UNRWA Gaza director Matthias Schmale admitted that it is a “safe assumption” there were extensive tunnels under Gaza, in a 2021 interview:
If it wasn’t for the fact that Hogan’s Heroes was a fictional show I’d swear that the UN was recruiting heavily from descendants of the guards at Luft Stalag 13 for their uncanny ability to know nothing and see nothing.
Well our Dynasty 1971 league playoffs were slow in starting but we have finally reached the world series which finished before I finished writing this post: Here is a rundown of how the playoffs went:
AL Wildcard Series: Washington Senators vs California Angels
The Senators came in as big favorites winning game one 4-3 needing one more win at home to clinch but the angels rallied to win game two Tommy John beating Jim Kaat 7-5. Game three was a shocker as Juan Marichall who came in 3rd in the Cy Young voting collapsed and the angels held back a Senators rally to win game 3 7-5 to take the series.
NL Wildcard Series Atlanta Braves vs Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies behind MVP Joe Torre took game one at home 7-6 but the Braves 1-2 punch of Jenkins and Cuellar were too much for the Phils as they took game 2 6-5 and game 3 11-2 to coast to a wild card win.
AL Divisional Round Baltimore Orioles vs California Angels
Tom Bradley shut out the O’s in game 1 3-0 and it looked like another upset was in the works but Baltimore outlasted the angels winning game 2 2-1 in 11 innings and Mickey Lolich and Ray Culp combined to finish them off winning game 3 5-3 and game 4 11-2 to get to the League Championship series
AL Divisional Round Oakland A’s vs Kansas City Royals
Oakland led the AL West from start to finish on the back of excellent pitching but they had nothing on the Royals as Lew Krausse and Bert Blyleven shut out the A’s back to back to start the series winning game one 1-0 beating Vida Blue and game two 2-0 stopping Sonny Siebert. In game 3 the A’s finally got on the board for three runs but the Royals scored five to sweep the series three games to none.
National League Divisional Series
New York Daytraders (mets) vs Chicago Cubs
The Daytraders won 110 games this season and were a heavy favorite vs the wild card cubs and Tom Seaver’s game one win 3-2 put them on the right track. The Cubs won game 2 7-4 to even the series but the Daytraders behind Steve Carlton took game three 7-5 and needed only one more to get to the pennant game. It was not to be, the Cubs took game four 4-2 and managed to hit Tom Seaver in game 5 to pull off the upset 5-1 to clinch the series.
National League Divisional Series Los Angeles Dodgers vs Atlanta Braves
The Dodgers won 111 games in the series and dominated almost every team they faced and this series was no different. Cy Young winner Don Wilson won game one 5-2 and while the Braves managed to score six against Hoerner the Dodgers shelled Catfish Hunter and took game two 8-6. Finally Don Sutton 3rd in the Cy Young vote shut down the Braves again and the Dodgers got to Cuellar beating then 6-1 in a clean sweep.
NL Championship series Los Angels Dodgers vs Chicago Cubs
The Cubs fairy tale ride ended with the Dodgers as the Dodgers pitching staff held the cubs to 7 runs the entire series With Don Wilson winning two games (Game 1 3-1 and game 4 4-2). The only Cubs win came in game three when Clyde Wright shut out LA to give the Cubs a 1-0 win. The Dodgers took game two 6-3 and Don Sutton shut out Chicago again to put the finishing touch with a 7-0 win.
American League Championship Series Baltimore Orioles vs Kansas City Royals.
The American League East was the only Division in the league that was still in play in the final month of the season and it came down to the last two series before Baltimore outlasted the Royals for the division title but in game one the Royals got four in the 3rd (two thanks to a rare Mark Belanger error) and three more on a Harmon Killebrew shot on their way to a 9-6 win. In game two after trading homers between Stargell, Powel & Tenace the Royals broke loose with Stargell driving in another in the 5th and one of two in the 7th which was enough to hold off another Baltimore comeback to win 7-5. While the Orioles behind Lolich doubled up KC 6-3 to make the series two games to one three KC pitchers combined to shut out the birds in game four 3-0 and then jumped to a 4-0 lead that held up against the Orioles 3rd determined 9th inning rally of the series (The Orioles outscored the Royals 9-1 in the 9th inning of the series) to hang on for a 4-3 win and a trip to the series.
World Series Los Angeles Dodgers vs Kansas City Royals
Game one at LA: Blyleven vs Wilson
It was a pitching duel for the ages Cy Young winner Don Wilson only gave up one run on five hits in seven innings and the LA bullpen didn’t give up a hit but Bert Blyleven still got the win as he shut down the Dodgers for 5 innings on two hits before coming out with a stiff arm and the bullpen took over giving up only two single and no walks over the final four innings
Royals 1 Dodgers 0 WP Blyleven LP Wilson Royals up 1-0
Game two at LA Stoneman vs Nolan
The game went back and forth with the teams trading single runs the KC in the top of the 1st, LA in the bottom of the 1st & 2nd, KC in the 4th and LA in the 5th to take a one run and then a two run lead with one in the 7th until Darryl Evans three run shot off Roger Nelson put the game out of reach.
For the 2nd time in the series LA put a top 3 Cy Young vote getter on the mound and for the 2nd time he came up the loser as the Royals scored 4 in the first three innings and capped things off with a Killebrew HR in the 8th wasting Lou Brock’s 3 RBI 2-5 game as the Royals behind Hedlund 7 innings and three runs doubled up LA.
Down two games to one the Dodgers brought back Cy Young winner Don Wilson on three days rest and he didn’t disappoint going the full nine innings and again giving up only a single run. While the Royals were able to shut out the Dodgers in 8 of 9 innings a one out single by Leo Cardenas followed by a 414 foot shot from of all people Andy Etchebarren capped a four run 4th which was more than enough support for Wilson to even things up.
Dodgers 4 Royals 1 WP Wilson (1-1) LP Splittorff Series tied at two
Game 5 at KC Blyleven vs Nolan
A three run shot by Killebrew in the 5th off Nolan gave Kansas City the edge. LA answered with two off of Blyleven in the 6th to make it a one run game. The Royals added insurance with a one out single off of Fingers in the 7th but the Dodgers took advantage of an Enzo Hernandez error to start the 9th the Dodgers to load the bases off of closer Fred Scherman who gave up a pinch single to Dave Campbell to tie the game. Ironically Scherman would get the win when after a Mike Hershberger walk with one out Dave Cash put a Ron Klimkowski pitch into the gap which rolled all the way to the wall allowing Hershberger to score from first and put the Royals on the verge of an upset.
Royals 5 Dodgers 4 WP Scherman LP Klimkowski Royals lead series 3-2
Game 6 at LA Stoneman vs Sutton
With their backs against the wall the Dodgers jumped all over Stoneman with five runs in the first three innings and added another 3 on Darryl Evans 3 run shot in the 6th. That was more than enough for Sutton who despite giving up 3 in the 8th (1 earned) held on to both even the series and his record in it and force a 7th game.
Don Wilson made this 3rd start of the series and his 2nd on three days rest and the Dodgers again gave him some run support as Willie McCovey hit a solo shot off of Hedlund to start the game and the Dodgers added 2 in the bottom of the 2nd , a solo shot by Evans added a solo shot to start the 4th and another run on a key error spotting them to a 5-0 lead. And while AL MVP Willie Stargell (.200 avg) finally homered for his first RBI of the series and Killebrew drove in a run in the 9th that was a few feet from making it a one run game Wilson hung on with the tying runs on 1st and 2nd with two out to get Jerry Kenney to ground into the final out of the series and secure both the victory and the series MVP
LA 5 KC 2 WP Wilson (2-1) LP Hedlund (1-1) Dodgers win series 4-3.
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