| 01 March 2010
Just a quick note to apologize for the lack of updates these past few days. On Thursday, I flew down to Texas to visit my brother and his family for the weekend. I didn't get back to town until this evening. It was a great time, but it kept me from working on the blog. Not that I'm complaining. I hope you all understand.
I have a few things in the pipeline for the week, though, so it won't stay quiet for long. I hope that works for everyone.
In the meantime, though, I wanted to take the time to mention something pretty cool. Jeff Polman, the genius behind the 1924 and You Are There! blog (which I mentioned before), finished up that great project on Sunday and, on Monday, started a new one. This new project, which he's calling "Play That Funky Baseball", is a Strat-O-Matic replay of the 1977 season. Using the top sixteen clubs from that season, he's playing through a 154-game season with the help of some internet "managers" for each club. Here's how Jeff describes it:
The 1977 season, rewound, replayed, reimagined and put through the wah-wah pedal. Using the classic Strat-O-Matic baseball game, the almost-best 16 teams from that funkified year do battle for 154 games, under the absentee-managed guidance of notorious baseball writers and bloggers from around the nation.
(Click "Read More" to continue reading.)
Among the notorious baseball writers and bloggers are: Scott Simkus, Strat Negro Leagues researcher and manager of the Cubs; Josh Wilker, Cardboard Gods and manager of the Red Sox; Jonah Keri, from Bloomberg Sports (among many others) and manager of the Expos; and Joe Posnanski, everyone's favorite blogger and manager of the Indians. Somehow, I was asked to join the league. I was happy to say yes. I will be managing the real-life N.L. champs, the Los Angeles Dodgers (the Brewers are not in the league and, with my Los Angeles and California roots, the Dodgers made great sense).
The '77 Dodgers are a fantastically balanced team. With a lineup consisting of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Steve Yeager, Rick Monday, Reggie Smith, and Dusty Baker, and with a pitching staff featuring Don Sutton, Burt Hooten, Tommy John, Ron Guidry, and Charlie Hough, it's easy to see why they took the Yankees to six games that October. I'm happy to be participating in this league with Jeff and the others. If it's anything like 1924 and You Are There!, it'll be a fantastic read four days a week. I hope everyone gets a chance to check out Play That Funky Baseball (and, hey, check it out - my Dodgers are already 1-0!).
