I want to publicly spank all of my wonderful league commisioners.

[asamford]

edit did I really type spank? oh jeez, I meant THANK. This damn message board won't let you edit subject lines so what was intended to be a serious post might now be looked as something other than such.... christ, what was I thinking about?

on third look, it also appears that I can't spell either. that should be good for a few replies, I thought my spelling was above average, but for some reason the word comissioner is giving me problems today.

anyways, the post:

*

Reading that last thread about good leagues and commisioners and all of that just made me want to comment about the leagues and commishes that I am fortunate to be a part of. I'm a member of 6 leagues now, and every one of them has been a great experience, and lots of fun. I read about how some guys have had leagues fold or die and I don't know what that's like, so I just felt fortunate and wanted to recognize the hard work and great job that these guys are doing. Some of them are extremely well known, some not as known, but they all deserve kudos and recognition for the work they put in for mine and many others' entertainment.

JBL Fictional Players, Real Japanese Teams, Founded 2002, 12 teams expanding to 16 in 2004, 5th season in progress - This is the first league I ever joined. What was I looking for in an online league? A small league, that was just starting up including an initial draft with fictional players. As the 12th of 12 owners to join I got in just in time. The original commisioner, Devaneyfan, put in a lot of effort to create a unique league and he created a monster. After expansion, d'fan turned the league over to our current co-commishes, Marmel and Shorty. This league is always fun and sets a high standard for message board participation, and with at least one, sometimes two live sims a week, there is a lot of interaction which has created a tight knit group of owners. Great commish(es) + great owners = great league!

ABA Fictional, Founded 1987, 24 teams, entering 4th season - This was the 2nd league I joined, and I was interested in this league because of the solid reputation of the commish. Sure, Cooley has started many, many leagues, but you can pretty much count on any league him having a hand in to be solid. This league has been Mark's baby and boasts a high level of competition, and the fictional players and teams have begun to take on a life of their own. Ok, so maybe I padded my OOTP resume just a bit when applying, but I wanted in this league bad, to prove that I could duke it out with some of the veterans of the OOTP world. I don't know if i've proven anything, but this league is top notch due to the dedication of the owners and it's two commisioners, Mark Cooley and Bob Monroe, as well as the 24 owners.

NAHHBL Historical, Founded 1980, currently 30 teams, finishing 8th season - The third league I joined provided me the unique opportunity of drafting an expansion team. Unfortunately this league boosted my OOTP ego maybe a bit too much as I took my first year expansion team all the way to the 2nd round of playoffs. Although this league doesn't boast as much participation in the way of message board postings and articles, it is one of the best because of the hard work and preparation of the commish, Big Phesta. The schedule is always posted for up to 2 weeks in advance on the front page, and it is always strictly adhered to. Sims ALWAYS happen when they're supposed to (well unless there's a one game playoff to foul everything up), free agency goes exactly as planned, and the ammy draft is knocked out in one evening in a chatroom, you're either there, or you provide a list, or you take what the cpu gives you, period. This league also boasts smart, competitive owners, and the most comprehensive rules set of any league I'm in, rules that are very effective in solving many of the common problems that crop up in online leagues.

ORB Historical, Beginning 1982, beginning 3rd season I've been aware of commish Matt Rectenwald's group of leagues since back in the days of scouring the net for FPS files, long after the boom of FPS, when they weren't as eas to find (I hadn't found the OOTP light yet). So when I saw that Matt was going to run an OOTP league, I decided to get involved, because knowing the commish is stable and is going to stick with a league is very important to me, as I like building extensive histories and enjoy getting the chance to do that online against other humans. This league boasts a high number of quality owners many of whom write many insightful reports on their team quite regularly. Although this league has the feel of a work-in-progress, in that it's not as good as it can be yet, with the recent addition of some respected OOTP veterans to the ranks, the league continues to grow.

RWBL Modern Day, founded 2002, beginning 5th season - If you don't know the saga of the RWBL, well, you missed out on an entertaining soap opera that I'm not going to repeat here. Needless to say, this league should've folded 3 times by the time I got around to becoming a part of it, but the strength of the group of owners (many of whom are well known to each other via the FOFC boards) has kept this league alive and thriving now with it's 4th set of commisioners, Neuqua and Raven. Although I was hesitiant to join, I was won over by the immense challenge presented by the 2004 Montreal Expos, whose previous owner took a bad 2002 Expos team, and somehow managed to make it worse, including a legendary Vlad Guerrero and Javier Vasquez for Raul Mondesi, Eric Hinske, and Chris Carpenter deal. I am extremely glad I joined this league because of all of the great and high-profile leagues that I am a part of, I think I have the most fun with this one. With an assortment of great writers contributing to the league with hilarious and sometimes biting columns, as well as 30 active, enthusiastic, and sometimes eccentric owners, this is definitely the league that I spend the most time chatting with others about this player or that player, this team or that team, and this owner or that owner.

UBL Historical, founded 1927 - This league hasn't even really begun yet and it's already grabbed the attention of the OOTP community with it's unique player set: a mix of major leaguers, negro leaguers, and pacific coast leaguers. I feel honored and privaleged to have been invited to join this league and once I saw the details it took me about 3 seconds to decide whether or not I wanted in. Not much else to say here except that I can't wait for this league to start, and I can't believe how much work Cooley has put into this one...

OK, so that was really long-winded and all, but after reading 4 pages of people wondering why their league wasn't great, or what quality owners were looking for in a league or commisioner, I figured that my little ancedotes might provide a few clues to what makes a great league.

So, thanks to Cooley, Phesta, Marmel, Shorty, Neuqua, Raven, Matt, and all of my fellow owners in all of the above leagues for providing me with endless hours of entertainment and challenge, and making this great game of OOTP even better than it already is!

Oh yeah, thanks Markus for creating this wonderful game!

[Aussie Mark]

OK, my turn to p!ss in the pockets of the commishes of the leagues that I'm in -

Let's start with Cooley, since he's such a legend around here :-)

HHBC - Cooley started the fictional Home Town Baseball in the 1918 season with 10 teams, and expanded to 12 teams a couple of seasons later. By 1926 the interest in HBL was sufficient for him to create the sister 12 team Heritage Baseball League. Along the way, with such a solid owner base (I think HTB only lost 2 owners in 12 seasons) Cooley was able to move on to his next projects and pass on the Commish duties to other owners. For the 1931 season the HTB and HBL merged to form the HHBC, commished by the aforementioned Bob Monroe. This league continues to be a fantastic league, and remains my only fictional league, since I am a historical nut and never thought I'd ever stick out a fictional league beyond 2 seasons. Much kudos to Cooley, Bob Monroe and Dan Nicol, who was the HTB commish for several seasons.

UBL - As Andy mentioned, this is Cooley's latest baby, a league starting in 1927 featuring MLB, Negro league and Pacific Coast league players. Each team starts off by keeping 2 players, then it's into a fantasy draft. Bring it on!

MLB1966 - as the name suggests, this league commenced in 1966 with Don Krause (King of Diamonds) as the Commish. Don passed the baton to Drew Baltzley, who ran the league for many seasons before personal circumstances saw Drew hand over to Shane Hoffman (and his trusty sidekick Paul Derbyshire). Now in it's 15th season, this league is a classic example of a league where the owners are bigger than the league itself. No fancy website, but a solid core of long term owners and new faces who make an effort to make the league as realistic and historically accurate as possible.

BBDL - Started in 1984 by Jeff Hazlett, this league is now in 1992. Of all the leagues I've been in, Jeff is the most consistent and clearest communicator I've encountered. He plays hardball when it comes to league rules, but he is known as being tough but fair which again has resulted in a strong loyal core owner group. One of the few leagues to use scouts and coaches, BBDL also has an innovative participation points system and cash bonuses for team and player milestones.

Crackerjack - Commish Bill Traxler (most people know him as Bird) is one of the nicest guys in the online OOTP league world. A great family man, Bird is no website guru but nevertheless has created a very informative league website that looks the part and reflects the nature of this league, which started in 1970 and is now in 1980. This league has an extremely stable owner base - there have only been 2 vacancies in the last 4 seasons, which speaks volumes for the respect that Bird has.

Shiba - Mark Dillard runs this little known league that started in 1947 and is now in 1952. Having a geeky commish like Dillard means that we have the latest Cato Gazette and History utilities, plus an innovative contract extension Excel spreadsheet to make resigning those FAs a piece of cake. This league also uses the supplementary rookie database that imports rookies 3 years before they made their MLB debut. An extremely accurate historical league with a touch of madcap humor and whacky website additions at times. Appeals to eccentric fans of historical leagues (just like me)

TMSL - We made it to the second sim before the Commish Jay Thomas went down with a serious illness. We're currently on hold waiting for him to return from his sick bed. This league started with a bang, lots of interest, several league reporters, not an AOL email address to be seen, very literate owners - all good indicators. A present day (2002) league.

ORB - Started in 1982, currently in 1984. Very active owners, cash earned for posting on the message board helps. Commish Matt Rectenwald has his fingers in a few pies, but appears to run a tight ship in this league. I've only just joined (in the offseason) so am looking forward to the real stuff soon)

[Recte44]

Thanks you guys. It's good to be appreciated.

[Cooleyvol]

Thanks to both of you for the kind words.

Owners like you are pleasures to have!

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by asamford
... including a legendary Vlad Guerrero and Javier Vasquez for Raul Mondesi, Eric Hinske, and Chris Carpenter deal.

For the record, I'd like to point out that I also gave up Pat Mahomes in that deal.

(Toronto RWBL GM)

[Raven]

For the record, Bryan Bass is going to kick ass this year. Thanks, Andy!

[Shorty]

I appreciate it Andy. Thanks budddyyyy.

[crackpott]

what's curious is that the t and h aren't really anywhere near the s and p respectively.

[Maple Leafs]

At least he didn't offer to pubicly spank them.

[crackpott]

actually... that's exactly what he did.

And for the record, I must commend you on the post even if it accompanied your naughty thoughts. Commissioners rarely actually get any appreciation for their efforts, and mainly just a lot of badgering if something isn't done immediately on time. I'm under the impression people think commissioners are machines with no lives.

[LeeSkye]

Hey!!! false advertising or something. I was attracted to this thread because of the "spanking" reference [nothing wrong witha little cyber-spunking uh spanking!]

[Kurtis R.]

Hmm.... I wonder what he was doing while typing that thread title? Can you say BUSTED?...


Kurtis

[Old Man]

Now now. There is nothing like a little pat on the commish's butt for a job well done.

[asamford]

ok, i fess up, it was an intentional typo to get cheap laughs and grab attention for my thread!

[bigphesta]

Thanks for the words asamford.

[Cusefan95]

thanks Mr. Rathbun.