Introduce Yourself

[KG Erwin]

Perhaps this could be made a sticky. We already know you're a baseball fan, but where are you from? What's your favorite team? What drew you to PSBB? That kind of stuff.

I'll start: I'm a 49-year-old tax auditor from West Virginia, married, with one child, and a historical buff. Some of you know me from my association with Steel Panthers:World at War, but I'm also a huge fan of baseball, especially the post-war era. I sometimes think I should've been born twenty years earlier, as I'm a Pirates fan and hold a fascination with the classic ballparks, in particular Forbes Field. If I could time-travel, I'd be in the grandstands as a 23-year old when Bill Mazeroski hit that HR in the 1960 WS. [:D]

[SirWolf1960]

Great idea!
 
I'm Steve, a 46-year-old radio talk show host and programming director, living in Topeka, KS. I grew up in Northern NJ, the only Mets fan in a house full of Yankee lovers. But my Grandfather took me to Shea Stadium for the first time when I was 4, and I was hooked ever since.
 
One pleasure I have each year is doing some play-by-play of high school baseball each spring on the station. There is just something about being at the ballpark, and watching this wonderful game being played, no matter at what level. And to get to describe the action on the radio makes it even more fun.
 
I am married. We have 4 wonderful daughters between us (3 mine, one her's). And our family want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.
 
Steve

[legendsport2k]

I agree with Sir Wolf - this is a great idea.

I'm 37, was born and raised in New Jersey, did a stint in the Air Force before college and now - get ready - I work for Major League Baseball. MLB.com to be specific, doing video work. I admit it's the perfect job for a lifelong baseball fan. I get to do a lot of traveling and see a lot of baseball, and believe it or not it actually is work, though I realize there are a lot of things I could be doing that I wouldn't enjoy nearly as much.

I've always been into sports sims. Played a lot of Statis Pro, Pursue the Pennant, Strat-o-Matic etc as a kid & teenager before moving on to the computer games. I've commished leagues in football, basketball, hockey & of course baseball with various sims over the past ten years or so. Right now I have three active OOTP leagues and am just really getting into Puresim after being disappointed in OOTP 2006. I'm plan on setting up a Puresim historical league as soon as the multiplayer issues are ironed out.

[rowech]

30 year old high school math teacher from Dayton, Ohio.  Married for 2.5 years with no kids.  Reds fan forever.  Introduced to sports board games about 15 years ago but the sports sim market became interesting to me over time as its something I always hoped to find in a game.  Started with Baseball Mogul but it was too simply.  Went to OOTP but when the latest version came out, it was just too much.  Puresim offered a heck of a sale and I took a chance.  Haven't played with it since the summer but my gaming is pretty cyclical. 

[Jliven61]

I'm a 45 year old banker from Pekin, Illinois. Been married 25 years this past April. Graduate of Bradley University..GO BRAVES! While I love all sports, baseball is top. Received for Christmas in 1972 the Sports Illustrated line-up of sports games. Games sat in my closet for about a year and then I decided I would give them a whirl. Been hooked on sim-sports games since.

Played about every kind of baseball/basketball/football board game from Statis-Pro to Strat, etc. Now play lots of Diamond Mind Baseball, and Action PC Sports games as well as Puresim.

Big Cardinal fan!

Jeff

[RandyChase]

I'm 54, and a game designer and writer.  My first sports game was something I designed myself about 43 years ago using a deck of cards, a pair of dice and a lot of Topps trading cards.  I've played almost every card, table top and computer sports sim that had came down the pipleline over the last 40+ years.  Strat-O-Matic was my first real obsession, and I began playing that in '69.

While I've actually lost my interest in baseball (due to free-agencies, team identify becoming too fluid, and the combination of steroids and ego-mania) in the real world, I remain infatuated with the what-if realm of simulations.  And while current day baseball has lost its appeal for me, my favorite sports sim is PS BB because I can shift back in time and enjoy those fascinating days (and heroes) of my younger years.  I never seem to get tired of starting new associations and watching Henry Arron, Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew evolve and come to life on the screen.

[puresimmer]

38 Year old Baseball game designer here

I grew up in Massachusetts (Boston area) have been with my wife for 20 years, and have 4 children (3 sons, 1 daughter). PureSim is not my full time job, by day I am the CTO of a mid-sized software company -- I've been with the company 18 years and love what we do. In many cases, when I go "dark" on these boards it's due to the demands of the real job, which obviosuly must take priority. I travel a *lot* for work. We currently live in Mt. Pleasant, SC (Charleston) and love it -- we've been here for 15 years.

Been playing baseball board and computer games ever since I remember, starting with Longball (board game). The fever really hit in 1986, when I became obsessed with Earl Weaver Baseball on the Amiga. See the November 2004 blog post here for the complete story

Graduated college with a degree in computer science where my senior programming project was guess what? Yep, a Baseball simulation My professor was skeptical at first until he played it

I am super into playing sports as well, I played college hockey (most certainly the only comp sci major on the team!) and to this day still play in multiple Hockey leagues.

Unfortunately, the last few months have been a bit stressful on the personal front, but it looks like most of that is behind me, and I can get back to committing some time to PureSim!

Shaun

[Nukester]

Hi everyone. Im a 37 year old "application developer" (the new name for computer programmer ) programming in Visual FoxPro, Oracle, Java, and C# for a medical claims clearinghouse.

Born, raised, and still living in upstate New York (Newburgh....an hour north of NYC and an hour south of Albany). Been married for 15 years and have a 12 year old daughter and a 9 year old son. Also have two dogs, a boxer mix and a bassett hound/Shi-Tzu mix, two tree frogs, a cat, and a uromastix lizard. Played football and baseball my whole life, starting football when I was 8 years old in Pop Warner, and going right through high school football (at Newburgh Free Academy). Still play as many sports as possible, mostly confined now to playing in two softball leagues.

Been playing baseball simulations since I was about 7 years old, starting with the old "flick the spinner" All Star Baseball Game, moving on to Charlie Brown Baseball (which taught me how to keep a scorecard), then a game called Longball (my first real baseball simualtion), then on to Strat-O-Matic. First computer baseball sim was Microleague Baseball, then played them all after that. Currently play just about every CRPG and baseball/football simulation that comes out.

Im a diehard New Yawker, so I follow the Yankees and Giants religiously, and am afraid to admit Im a Knicks fan. Dont follow hockey much, but like the Rangers. Not a big Mets fan, but I like to see them win, unless it affects the Yanks [:)]. Grew up in a split household, where my mother and one brother are Mets fans, while my father, other brother (no sisters), and I are Yankee fans. All of us are Giants and Knicks fans. At 9 years old, I have my son being as big of a baseball fan as I am. He lives and breathes baseball. My daughter is a dancer/actress, whom just missed out on the part for Robin Williams daughter in the movie RV (was down to her, one other girl, and the girl that got the part, a teen singer named Jo-Jo)

Shaun, you are one of only two other people that I know that has ever played Longball. That game was great for its time.

[Fanshawe40]

Nukester, I'm glad to see someone mention Cadaco's "All-Star Baseball" -- my first sim game, and one that I retain some nostalgic affection for.

I'm 42, a college administrator/teacher in Boston. I'm in the middle of a divorce, unfortunately, but at least we don't have any kids to make the situation even more stressful.

I've always enjoyed sports sims, and as a kid, played the Sports Illustrated games and Statis Pro. Growing up in New England, I became a Red Sox fan, and for reasons I can't explain, a Dallas Cowboys fan. (Go Tony Romo)!

In my spare time, I write, and I'm currently working on an essay about Puresim and why "grown men" enjoy sports sim games.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[XCom]

Guess I'll chime in while the turkey is in the oven. [:D]

I'm a 32 year old research chemist for a flavor and fragrance company in Northeast New Jersey and have an M.S. in organic synthesis from Villanova University (go Cats!). Married for 8 years with a 5 year old daughter and 1 year old son and live in Washingtonville, NY (about a stone's throw from Nukester) which is several miles north of West Point.

Born and raised in the Southern New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia, so I'm pretty much a suffering Philly fan who has to listen to these New Yawkers all the time. [8|] Played baseball and basketball when I was a kid but was never good enough at anything to move on with it.

So, I started playing simulations around 1986 when I got my first Strat-O-Matic set (and still have the card set around here somewhere). Spent a lot of time playing Strat and then when I got a computer my horizons expanded into Tony Larussa baseball, Front Page Sports BBPro, and now to Puresim. I've also played simulations in other sports like the FPS:Football Pro series, Lance Haffner college hoops, and APBA and Strat hockey. I've been in several online leagues over the years and am currently running a couple of different leagues.

I've been following Puresim for years ever since I became familiar with Shaun from his superb BBPro utility BBEdit. Never took the plunge until this version when full multiplayer support was introduced. Overall, I love the game and plan on being a part of this community for a long time.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

[URett]

I'm a 30 year old German now living in the UK. As I was already following other American sports I decided to give baseball a shot. As my favourite basketball team are the Phoenix Suns I made the Dbacks my favourite team. Thw 2001 World Series was the second time any of "my" teams won a championship (the Packers were the first), and what a moment it was beating the Yankees with Mariano on the mount. That will never be topped. Randy Johnson was my favourite player and he will be again as soon as he leaves the evil empire.

I stumbled across PureSim many years ago when it was in it's early stages and I have been hooked ever since. I always liked management games, mostly soccer sims, but also games like Ports of Call, MadTV, Civilisation, Settlers, Railroad Tycoon....

[Beach23BoyP]

56 year old Machine Tool Salesman. I live in Spring, Texas between Houston and The Woodlands. My favorite sport is by far and away -- Golf. I'm about a 3 to 4 handicapper on my short Tomball CC course (I don't have to use woods -- only a driving iron).

I started playing Strat-O-Matic in 1963 (SOM first year!). I couldn't afford APBA. My first computer BB sim was "Computer Baseball" for Apple II. I then moved on to a Mac Plus in 1986 (or so). The Mac adaptation of Computer Baseball was so poorly done (and the support was non-existant) that I had to learn a bit about basic programming so I could fix it.

Because of my Mac experience I met Vance Cook of Access Software (he converted World Class Leaderboard Golf from PC to Mac -- and he became the brains behind Links, PGA Golf and Tiger Woods) and I then left the baseball world for computer golf sims. I ended up working with the Jack Nicklaus 5 and 6 programmers (I focused on AI development -- I was always unpaid, but I was there from the alpha beginnings). Also, I beta tested for Links and PGA Golf. I've never worked on any Tiger projects. I guess I got blacklisted from EA.

Anyway, I was tired of golf as a sim and wanted to go back to Baseball. I then started playing every baseball sim made. Mostly I played APBA's Ernie Harwell's Broadcast Blast. Great program.

Then I found OOTP 3.2 and later Shaun's Pure Sim beta. But then I fell absolutely in love with Soccer and the English Premier League. I then discovered SI Games' Football Manager -- the best sport's text sim game made! However, it demands all one's time!

So now, I prefer to play golf, watch Soccer on TV and play BB sims on computer. I almost never watch baseball on TV. I fall asleep before the third inning. However, I might attend an Astro's game two or three times a year.

I love BB text sims because you can create your own world. No one but me is connected or in-charge. My BB world comes alive more and more with each game I play out. I like to play at least 4 to 5 seasons a year. My OOTP league lasted 10 years and my PS league lasted 8.

[PadresFan104]

I'm a 38 year-old Program Manager for Qualcomm in San Diego, CA. Been with Qualcomm for almost 14 years, working my way up the chain from Technical Support to Software QA to Program Management. I received my BS in Information Science from Pitt in 1990. Actually, I just created this page this week with more info about me...

http://web.mac.com/sixwilsons/iWeb/FranchiseHQ/Bio.html

Before my first computer (TRS-80), I was playing Strat-O-Matic and Statis Pro with my friends and solitaire. I've always been a huge baseball and football fan, with a minor interest in hockey as well. The only time I get interested in basketball is during March Madness or anytime Pitt is playing on TV. My hobbies now include coaching Little League baseball, fragging friends on XBOX Live, playing computer games and I'm trying to get a bit more serious about photography as well.

I've always envied those folks in the computer/video game business, but I know they work some crazy hours due to unrealistic schedules published by their PM's (lol). So I've been fortunate these past couple of years to work with a couple of great independent game designers and work my way into the credits for their games. First, is PureSim, where I contributed the voice of the umpire. I also put a lot of work into a "fansite" for PureSim, where I host all of the popular mod files. To date, it's had over 11,000 hits!

http://web.mac.com/sixwilsons/iWeb/Pure ... /Main.html

The game that's getting my attention now that football season is underway is another PC Sim called "Second and Ten Football." My friends on-line and I just started another league, using teams from the 80's that didn't win the Superbowl. The game just received a major upgrade and I would recommend it highly to anyone who likes football. I had the opportunity to contribute to this game as well, helping to design the system that selects game and season MVP's. Good enough to get into the credits of another game! Here's a link to the website I developed for our current season:

http://web.mac.com/sixwilsons/iWeb/DFL/Season3.html

Other than that, I've got a turkey in the oven, and a bottle of wine that is begging to be opened. Looking forward to many more years of PureSim and hanging out with all of you!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

[acm14850]

56. Born and grew up in Brooklyn, went to Ithaca, NY to go to college in 1967, graduated in 1971 and still haven't left. Just retired from Cornell University after 20+ years in information systems development, having done everything from programming to business analysis to functional specification to application design to project management to user interface design to quality assurance to whatever else needed doing on a project.

I've had a lifelong interest in sports. My father took me to a game at Ebbets Field when I was 5 or 6, so I'm at heart a Brooklyn Dodger fan, but these days I follow the Yankees. Other rooting interests in professional sports include the Giants in football and the Rangers in hockey, but my main interest for the past 25 years or so has been college hockey. I've been an off-ice official at Cornell games since 1981, the PA announcer since 1987. I also announce at Cornell's home football games. I was the lead researcher for a book on Cornell hockey (go to Amazon.com and search for "cornell hockey"), I wrote a sports column for a local weekly paper for nearly 20 years, I've broadcast softball and hockey on the radio, and I was the commissioner of the local softball association for a year.

Been playing games since I was a kid, way too many to remember all of them. Designed a few games of my own, including horse-racing and hockey board games and a hockey game for the TRS-80 (back in the days when programming was still fun). These days I'll download and try out virtually any sports management demo. I play PureSim solely with fictional players--set up an association, let it run unattended for 20 seasons or so to create history, then take over a team and see what happens.

Shaun, where did you play your college hockey?

[puresimmer]

ORIGINAL: acm14850

Shaun, where did you play your college hockey?

I played at Nichols College, a division 3 ECAC school. We were pretty decent when I was there. I was actually the team captain my senior year. Really good speed, pretty good hands, but NO size at all (I am only 5'8). So I was the annoying guy hiding behind all the big guys on my team, chirping away

[mking55]

It is so wonderful to see all the "old" people playing this game. I feel like a kid at 51.

I was a systems designer for about 20 years before awaking one day in January and feeling like a life change. So I moved to South Korea (no little changes for me) and teach English here. I was married for 25 years and have 2 beautiful daughers, one who is 20 and lives in Austin, Texas and the other is 24 and lives near Toronto, Canada.

My first baseball game I played was the Sports Illustrated Baseball game. Then when living in Isreal (1980) a friend sent me a Strat-O-Matic game and I loved that. Earl Weaver baseball for the PC was a revelation and I was addicted. I've pretty much tried all the computer baseball sims over the years and I enjoy PS the most for it's easy of use and just the relaxing feel of the screen. Sometimes it's hypnotic. (I did like Time Machine Baseball because it had old players).

I used to be a huge sports fan but that changed when I got to be about 14. Before that I could telll you every player in the NHL by their face. I lived and died with the Maple Leafs. When the Blue Jays came into existance I went to about 40 games the first season. But as the games have become more about money, my interest has diminished. I don't begrudge anyone what they can get, but it does kill the interest for me when the sports pages are more like the financial pages.

I went to one baseball game this year here in Korea and it was a blast. The fans were loud and enthusiastic from the first pitch to the end of the game, never letting up. There were cheerleaders too. The closest thing I've ever seen to it was American College Football but the Korean baseball game had the energy level for the whole game. And of course it's a real treat to have the vendors selling squid and octupus instead of peanuts and crackerjack.

[cdvalenta]

I'm a 31 year old research analyst for an insurance company. I live in Middletown CT but grew up in Massachusetts and I am a big Red Sox fan. My first baseball sim was back in the day with Statis Pro baseball. I remember setting up leagues and having to play all the games myself. I spent hours compiling stats and leader boards by hand. Really enjoy Puresim and the support it recieves from its developer and user community.

[DandricSturm]

I know there was a thread like this before. It is the kind of thing that keeps getting lost on a forum like this, which is why I'm trying to start a PureSim Baseball Wiki. Click on the link, type your screen name into the box, then write all this stuff and it won't get lost. Include somewhere on the page [[Category:PureSim Baseball]] and [[Category:PureSim Biography]].

I copied Shaun's as an example.

[KG Erwin]

Dandric, that Wiki page looks fantastic.  Not sure if "Player Profiles" belong, but a generic description ("Who Plays The Game") may be an addition.   I'm not too keen on establishing stereotypes, but if you wanna try, be my guest.

[robpost3]

I am a 39 year old business Manager in Logistics, living in Westfield MA.  Married.  Rebuilding a 126 year old house (keeps me busy).  Born in NY was not allowed to leave the womb until it was ascertained that there was indeed pinstripes on me...Grew up in queens by Fort Totten...for 3 years Birchwood apartments, about 3 blocks away summered Mookie Wilson and Lee Mazzili meanwhile by the Clearview Sparky Lyle and Thurman Munson spent some time during the summer of 1976-77.  I think my greatest memory ( well one at least), was my family knew Sonny Rosano a A player for the Mets who got  me and my pop into batting practice at Shea in 1978 when the phillies were in town, Mike Schmidt etc....wow!!!!  Spent some years as a Japanese art studio Manager for Studio Marz, was an active paramedic at both tower incidents (was graduating at the 1st incident).  Opened for the Ramones at the old Palladium when I was 13, got my butt kicked by Matt Dillon who then got his butt kicked by Harley of the Cro Mags-sweet revenge!  Love Hockey, my buddy is now teaching how to shot black powder and if the weather would become normal again I would love to start ice fishing!  Drawn to puresim by being jaded (way overpaid, whining, self-centered, dont know what the term team or respect means,  babies who would make Gehrig, Damaggio and Robinson shake there heads in disbelife)with real baseball and enjoy depth its offers....ok I am getting a liitle long in the tooth here...Anyway grettings all!!!!!