July 3, 2014

     An ongoing feature on the TBBL web site will include monthly interviews with some of our league members.  Catching up with Alan of the World Champion Saints.

TBBL: Hello and thanks for taking the time to be interviewed. How are you doing today?

Alan: Great.  It’s the summer and my kids (boys 13 and 8, a 12 yr old girl) are all home from school.  So it is a bit of a trick to get computer time.

TBBL: Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Married? Kids? Where did you grow up, what college did you attend (if you did), and where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

Alan: I married my college sweetheart almost 22 years ago and we live in my home town.  Brenham, Texas is a very small town of 15,000 halfway between Houston and Austin.  I have taught at my local community college for almost 20 years.  In 10 years, I plan to still be here, working for the college.  My kids will be closer to married and gone by then.  I suppose I will be getting ready for grandkids at that point.

TBBL:  You inherited a very talented team from Chemung and have won the TBBL in both of the years you have been here.  What was your first impression of the team when you joined the league?

Alan: I couldn’t believe that a team so stacked would be available.  God bless whoever put it together and left it for me.  It was like a rich uncle I’d never met had died and left me a fortune in his will.  I made one big trade that first offseason to bring in Adrian Gonzalez and Jose Bautista. It got us over the top, and I think it has been good for both teams.

TBBL:  What’s the toughest part of playing H2H for you in a single series? 

Alan: I love playing online.  Sometimes it is hard to iron out all of the firewall and connection issues.  But Hamachi makes it a lot easier.  The toughest thing about online games are the real-life interruptions of my family trying to get my time while I am concentrating on game situations.  When I first started playing DMB (back in version 5 or 6) I was a poor sport.  I once punched a wall in my computer room when I lost a World Series game in the BLA (I had a fist-sized hole in the sheetrock but missed the stud and didn’t break my hand).  Greg will tell you that I have been a jerk when losing.  But the happy ending is that I think I have mellowed a lot in my old age.

TBBL: How does your team look in 2014 and are you trying to upgrade your roster at this time? 

Alan: Going into the season, I thought we were going to hit the ball but would have trouble pitching.  I traded for Lohse and Nathan to address that and the pitching has been a very pleasant surprise.  I had no idea we would start the year so well (24-3 in April).

TBBL:  Are you looking forward to the release of DMB Version 11 and what might be the best part of this release? 

Alan: I hadn’t heard of it until yesterday.  I like the sound of the game displaying more historical stats.  I love the game engine and hope that DMB didn’t mess it up.

TBBL: You are from Texas, how hot is it down there?

Alan:  We had an unseasonably cold winter and spring (I know, you Yankees wouldn’t think it was cold, but it was colder weather than we were used to) and the summer has been the same.  I don’t think we’ve hit 100 yet, which is very chilly for Central Texas. I think I need to campaign to stop Global Cooling.  If I could rake in even half of the cash that Al Gore has raked, I would be happy.

TBBL: Shifting to the MLB now, who's your favorite team and why?

Alan: I have been a Ranger fan for over 40 years.  Most of that time the team was brutally bad and made horrible trades.  We had some great years this decade and I was so happy with the Series appearances in 10 and 11.  I was just happy that we made it in 10.  I didn’t mind losing to a team that seemed weaker on paper.  But in 11, I could literally taste the Champaign.  I just knew we had won when that fly took off toward Nellie Cruz.  Then when Hamilton hit the HR in the 10^th inning we were up 2 runs.  We had a lock-down lefty on the hill and the Cards had only lefties in the lineup and on the bench.  We had won the game again.  Life has a way of disappointing you, though.  The Rangers are spread out on operating tables all over the state right now.  What can you do when you have the most injuries in MLB history and it isn’t even the All Star Break?  I have hope for next year when we should have them all healthy.

TBBL: Which baseball stadiums have you visited and which is your favorite?

Alan:  I haven’t traveled as much as most TBBL owners.  I saw games in Houston and Arlington in both the modern stadiums and the old ones.  I hated baseball inside the Astrodome.  It just felt so unnatural to be in there, playing an outdoor game.  Like playing baseball in someone’s huge garage.  I think The Ballpark in Arlington is beautiful.  I can see why it is too hot for most people, though.

TBBL: Who is your favorite baseball player, both current and all time?

Alan: Tough one.  I have only one jersey and that is Josh Hamilton’s Texas jersey.  It was heartbreaking to see his final months in Texas play out.  In the 70s, my favorite player was Willie Stargell.  My all-time favorite though is probably a little-known Texas catcher named Geno Petralli.  He played for Texas in the 80s and I actually got a chance to interview him when I was working for a small paper while I was in college.  He was just so down to earth and had driven a Dr. Pepper truck before the Rangers signed him.  My dad was driving for Dr. Pepper at the time so it really helped me connect with him.  Geno was making over a million dollars at the time and was keenly aware that he was getting paid fantasy money to play a game that most of us would play for free.  That was very refreshing.  I will never forget the homer he hit to beat Roger Clemens on Monday Night Baseball (anyone remember Monday night Baseball).  The Rangers were so young and good that year.

TBBL: What is your favorite movie of all time?

Alan: I saw the Princess Bride with my wife when we were just young kids out on a date.  We loved the humor and romance of it all and have seen it a dozen or more times since then.  We can quote most of it from memory.  Lonesome Dove is my favorite TV movie.  If I could step out of my real life to become any fictional character, I would like to be Gus McRae.  I can’t stand surly bartenders, either.

TBBL: Tell us something about yourself that may surprise us.

Alan: I love to cook.  I have never been artistic.  But when I am whipping up a stir fry or something else to feed my family, I feel a little like an artist. What is better than eating delicious art?
 
TBBL: Who do you have the biggest rivalry with in the TBBL and why?

Alan: I moved to the AL this year to get more online play.  Up until this year, Osama’s Camp was always the team that I thought would give me the most trouble.  I have played against Greg for most of a decade in this and other leagues.  His teams are always put together like an expensive Swiss watch or German sports car.  We met in the Series each of the last two years.  Tony just joined the league, but he is a beast to play online.  He never makes the wrong move and is always thinking two moves ahead.  He will be a big rival.  Rob has a great team and will be tough to get past this year.  It is a league filled with quality owners and quality people.  I am blessed to be a part of it.