THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE #296

October 18, 2005

Produced by Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327 USA, (401)351-0287

Accessible through Internet at burgess of world.std.com (all E-Mail addresses are reported in this format, replace the " of " with "@"; if you bounce try sending to me from another account. Some of you have been getting bounced messages from my ISP's spam protection, if that happens to you, USE my backup E-Mail at jfburgess of gmail.com!!! Don't complain that my E-Mail keeps bouncing without forwarding the bounced message to that address. Then I can forward it to the ISP help to get it dealt with.

Web Page Address: http://www.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html

This is a bit late, but I'm going to keep the deadlines, to try to get to 300 issues when I want to. I'll work with the players on these deadlines to make sure we keep moving or delay games if I have to.

Some random thoughts on life, the universe, and everything....

- Today, right now, the life and the future of the Diplomacy hobby has changed. Believe it!!! Paradox has released the new computer version of Diplomacy. As far as we can tell, they "solved" the Diplomacy AI problem with a high dose of randomization AND giving the computer AI's some fake personalities (which seems to make most of these personalities [they give these avatars evocative names] VERY easy to offend). They also actually know the rules (a simple idea that has proved to be difficult for some AI's in the past) and as long as you follow what I think is an overly prescriptive negotiation language that would NOT be good for players to put in their thought processes and use in negotiation with humans, you actually can negotiate with the AIs. Of course, in good tit-for-tat fashion, they can get offended and then refuse to talk to you for the rest of the game. And yes, there's too much flashy "Computer Risk like" graphics for attacks, but that is forgivable. It is an entree into the hobby that will dominate the hobby's future. BUT, more than all that, you're going to hear from Paradox. In a complete 180 from Hasbro's attitude, marketing people from Paradox are going to start appearing at tournaments near you, doing demos, boosting financial viability, and being responsive. And they WILL try to convince you, all of you, to purchase their product. I might even do that - at this writing, I intend to do it. And I don't say that lightly. Check out http://www.diplomacy-pcgame.com/. And see a note from their marketing manager below.

- Every man, woman, and child in the US has been borrowing $2500 from other countries each year for the last five years or so, adding up to a debt from that period alone of more than $10,000 for each of us. Each and every one of us, rich or poor carries this implicit debt, and that is on top of all the personal debt that we're running up. Some people think they can predict what that means for sure. Anyone who tells you they can do that, is a fool. What it really does is dramatically raise uncertainty and the POSSIBILITY of some really bad things (eventually these other countries may decide to stop buying up our debt and substantially deferring their own consumption - which would dramatically raise our interest rates and toss our economy into private and public crises - or they might eventually use their leverage over us to dismantle our position as the sole superpower, or we might be seriously handicapping our ability to deal with very serious health care financing problems that we're finally going to have to face later this century after exhausting every single last way of dodging the real issues - this calls to mind, very often lately, the famous Winston Churchill quote that Americans will do the right thing, but only after making every single possible mistake). By the way, the hurricane is not the problem, especially since (for the first time, I believe) we're going to hold our poorest states accountable for paying back whatever we lend them to rebuild, instead of forgiving this debt later as we've done in most all previous disaster relief situations. The problem, or two edged sword, is our belief in consumption. Of course, it also would be a disaster if we stopped consuming (both personally and as a government) since that would also be a shock to the system that could cause all the worrisome things to happen. Be careful and sleep tight, America.

- Who's going to run for President from the Republican party in 2008? I find it fascinating that we know that there will be precisely 11 challengers for the Democratic nomination, we also know that two of these will be John Kerry and Hillary Clinton (seriously, the 11 number has been confirmed by a number of people who would know, including Howard Dean, but they are explicitly leaving the announcements of course to each individual challenger and most of them probably will wait until after the midterm congressionals to go public). But who knows who any of the Republican challengers will be? I don't know either the number or any of the people who will be running, haven't even heard much speculation on who they might be, and most importantly I don't think we'll know until Bush decides to tell us who he will endorse to succeed him. It would be interesting if the race came down to Hillary vs. Condolezza with everyone calling most of their attention down on their political history with their respective husband/mentor rather than their gender. I think that's possible. But my key point is how one party leaks all sorts of things that perhaps should be strategized and the other strategizes almost all of its leaks. We'll see shortly if that strategizing in the Plame CIA outing case will come back to haunt them - although I'm not Karl Rove's biggest fan, I think we need to see the sticky lines that they're on. If he and Scooter get indicted for "perjury" (same issue basically as Clinton), we'll have something similar to Whitewater.... a long expensive government investigation where you have to indict SOMEONE for SOMETHING. That, to me, is a problem when there are so many larger white collar crimes to investigate and prosecute where REAL profits are at stake in the private sector. What I think the pundits are missing is that, as usual in American history (see the Whigs and Tyler to Republicans and Lincoln and McKinley

- Sticking with the politics for one more point, long term planning vs. short term interests. Everyone knows, or should know, that most businesses are plotting and maximizing in the short term, building long term gains out of the chain of short term gains that SOMETIMES accrues from that. The larger the corporation or organization, the more the influence costs within the organization push toward short term interests (this equally affects IBM, General Motors, AND government, more or less). In most cases, long term planning requires a HUGE amount of leadership and drive. There is a shortage of that in all politics in Washington and around the world, and this affects our reaction to impending natural disasters, epidemics, global warming, politics, China, and almost everything. Worse, what you have to do to get attention (witness the avian flu issue) is make something SEEM imminent and short term in order to do long term planning. Taking that example a bit farther, you have hundreds of TIMES more people around the world dying of tuberculosis this year than are EVER going to die from the avian flu, UNLESS it mixes with one of the human flus and mutates like it apparently did in 1918. It's been almost 100 years, and might be another 100 years. And that's long term planning. BUT it's being treated like a short term problem, and that's leading to unwarranted hysteria and bad planning decisions. Like 9/11, once out there in the public, I'm LESS worried about avian flu NOW, I'm really worried about tuberculosis that is getting less attention. We have a crying need for leadership right now and we're not getting it. Remember when Al Gore once talked about global warming? That was when he WASN'T running for office.

- Text messaging in theatres: this long has been a problem in movies, where it bothers the audience, but I go to a lot of live theatre and dance and in the last six months or so, there's an epidemic of text messaging going on around here in live events. This is an obnoxious insult BOTH to the audience AND the performers. You think they can't look out there in the darkened theatre and see all these dull green lights going up from the audience? We've all seen the standard curtain speeches (at least they're standard in all the Providence venues, one of our local friends has a line "set cells and pagers to stun" that I kinda like), but no one specifically mentions text messaging. I think it's time to INFORM these Neanderthals (intentionally making it sound retrogressive rather than progressive) that if they're going to attend a LIVE event, they shouldn't be multitasking. Anyone else notice an uptick in this where you live???

The postal sub price is still $1.50 per issue in the US and Canada, with double that for other foreign subbers(or $3.00 per issue sent airmail). Players in current games and standbys will continue to get the issues for free, and future game starts (except for Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy, which is free) cost $20.00 ($15.00 for a life of the game subscription and $5 for the NMR Insurance.n play in subszines for free and just jack up the issue page count. See the revised game start announcements below!

Check out the connections in the Diplomatic Pouch with all of the information you need to play Diplomacy on the Internet at: http://www.diplom.org/DipPouch/

I also have taken over the Postal portion of the Pouch: http:/evel.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/

and TAP on the web is there at: http://www.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/TAP/index.html

where the szine resides in html format. Presently, issues from #190 to the current issue are there, and I will be updating the back issues gradually someday. Also, check out Stephen Agar's more extensive efforts at: http://www.diplomacy-archive.com and http://www.diplomacy.co.uk

Peter Sullivan's subszine is out of stasis, and all the back issues can be accessed via :

http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/index.html.

Peter was saying that he would be unlikely to be starting any new games in the Octopus until "at least the start of 2002." He had been hereby declared to be in official indeterminate stasis and that date was now a "whenever". But Peter is now clearly back!!! See Octopus' Garden in the print edition below, or on the web at the above address. In the meantime, Rip Gooch and Dave Partridge have been picking up the choo-choo game slack in TAP. Contact Rip at xyropedes of canada.com or Dave at rebhuhn of rocketmail.com for more info. Rip has been traveling this summer also, but he is trying to get his act back together soon.

The TAP mailing list has moved! It now is even BETTER protected than it was. I even have a bit of trouble posting to it. To post to this list, send your email to: tap of diplom.org. But this is completely moderated, it won't go out to the list unless I approve it. In general, I intend to keep traffic down to just the szine, as we've been doing.

General information about the mailing list is at: http://www.diplom.org/mailman/listinfo/tap

You can sign up from there, or send E-Mails to: Tap-request of diplom.org; with the word `help' in the subject or body (don't include the quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions. You must know your password to change your options (including changing the password, itself) or to unsubscribe. Normally, Mailman will remind you of your diplom.org mailing list passwords once every month, although you can disable this if you prefer. This reminder will also include instructions on how to unsubscribe or change your account options. There is also a button on your options page that will email your current password to you. A big, big thank you for Millis Miller for setting this all up!!

THE SEARCH FOR KEVIN TIGHE

There is a very special "search for" coming up in issue #300, and I'm going to offer a hundred buck reward for that one, so I'm also going to up the ante on Kevin through issue #300 to $1 billion dollars.... no, make that $100, can't quite afford to be THAT generous. There have been some recent "sightings" of Kevin Tighe. And he's the reason I first started this feature (for those of you who don't recall) and he's the one I continue to be most interested in finding. This may take a bit of real detective work, but as a hint, like many of us Diplomacy players, I believe he is out there making money on some of the poker circuits. I also would like ALL of the previous found people who are still getting the szine to write me SOMETHING for the 300th issue for this section. I know I've been having Doug Beyerlein write me lots of little notes along the way, not all of whom I've been printing, and so I have some things from him already. But he may want to send me something else. What should you write? Something on what you've been up to, a reminiscence of Diplomacy times or friends past, whatever, it's up to you, but I want something from as many of you as possible. While we're at it, some of you other old timers still getting the szine (you know who you are, but I'm thinking most particularly of people like Tom Nash, Dan Stafford, Bruce Geryk, and Steve Hutton, most of whom were once szine editors) also should write me something!!! I plan to have issue #300 be the first issue of 2006, so you have the rest of the year. I'll save them up for that issue, but get writing now!!!

Feel free to spend the time looking for some of the backlog. Let's get Derek, Sylvain, Steve, Ed, Tom, Bill, Gregory, and ESPECIALLY Kevin found too!!! This is a regular continuing feature of the szine and I will be introducing a new "search for" every five issues. Moreover, you can win a $25 prize for finding some previous target who went unfound in the original $50 period. That means that if Steve Heinowski or Ed Henry or Tom Hurst or Bill Quinn or Gregory Stewart or Derek Nelson or Sylvain LaRose or John Smythe is "found" from now on it is worth $25.

Winners will receive credit for Dip hobby activities that I will pay out as requested by the winner. Subscribe to szines here or abroad, run your own contests, publish a szine, finance a web page, GO TO A DIPLOMACY CONVENTION or whatever. Spend it all right away or use me as a bank to cover hobby activities for years. What must you do to win? Get me a letter to the editor for TAP from the person we're searching for.

This is very important, just finding them doesn't do it. They have to write me a letter. The final judge as to the winner of any contest will be the target himself and I reserve the right to investigate the winning entry. When you find someone I'm looking for, you should ask him to send me a letter for print that includes a verification of who "found" him.

INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION EXCHANGE NEWS

The British representative is the editor of Mission From God, John Harrington. John may be contacted at 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex EN1 3UW, UK.

E-Mail: fiendish of operamail.com, John.Harrington of tfeurope.com

Please include the full name and address of the foreign publisher with your order, if possible, as well as the szine title. Make your check in US dollars out to me personally or in GBP to John if you're doing things from that end. I will conduct business for Canadians as well, if I can, but prefer to deal in US dollars with them if possible, or Canadian dollars cash. To subscribe to American szines, the system works in reverse.

We have added a European continental representative, most of this traffic likely will occur between Ronald Camstra (in the Netherlands) and John Harrington, but if anyone here in the US wants to get money into Euros, we'll try to help you out. Ronald Camstra can be contacted at siedler of zonnet.nl and his home address is: Wielingenplein 48, 3522 PE Utrecht, the Netherlands. But in Holland it is most common not to send checks but to transfer money by bank. Dutch people can pay directly to Postbankaccount 4652247 of Ronald Camstra in Utrecht. Since he can see the name and address of the sender in his bankreceipt, people only have to mention the name of the zine and the editorial address along with their bank order. Ronald is obviously a huge Settlers of Catan fan. If you're interested in playing that game internationally by mail, I think Ronald can help you out.

We also have reopened a branch office of the International Subscription Exchange in Australia!! Brendan Whyte, the publisher of the excellent szine Damn the Consequences will be doing the honors, taking over in some sense from John Cain, who was the Australian rep for many years. You can contact Brendan to sub to Australian szines from the US or to sub to US szines from Australia, converting Australian dollars into American ones. We are now maneuvering deals to Europe from the other reps as well. You can find Brendan Whyte at bwhyte of unimelb.edu.au (note that this is a new E-Mail address for Brendan) or by mail to send checks at: Map Collection, ERC Library, University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA.

WORLDMASTERS02 AND WORLDMASTERS04 SECTION

WorldMasters 2002 Email Diplomacy Tournament Finals are over, and in a game that went to 1914 (nice idea here to let the finals go on for longer, a feature of WorldMasters that I applaud) Julio Pereira gets to 14 centers as Russia and TAKES the 2002 WorldMasters Tournament. Congratulations to Julio, and salutes and felicitations to the growing impact of the Brazilians in the Diplomacy hobby. Julio is a fierce player and a good guy to boot. See http://www.worldmasters.net/wm02/ for full details. Since I didn't get sufficient interest to get a team in for 04, I am back on the WorldMasters Tournament Management Committee again. See:

http://www.worldmasters.net/wm04/

for details on that, the Round 2 draws are out and games are going. Some of the notable matchups include the WM04R221 draw that includes Lee Harmon (G), Andy Bartalone (E), and Glenn Ledder (F). I don't think I could come up with three more diverse personalities who are all great players! That will be quite a battle. Glenn Ledder also is in the feature gutsy3 game that you can observe in process by joining the gutsy3 observers group on Yahoo. It's started a bit slowly, with Tamas Hauer playing (in my biased view) a very poor Italy, but is starting to look a bit more promising. Toby Harris has a reasonably easy draw in WM04R220 as Germany against players who are rookies in top competition. WM04R218 might be the toughest draw in Round 2 with Steve Ray, David Malloch, Ben Cranie, Adam Silverman, and Jerry Fest among the luminaries. Smacko is Dave Partridge's (Russia) GM with a dangerous Tim Sweeney hiding out in Italy. THAT will be a game to watch. Here's to good games in all quarters.

It is helping now that I've joined the Yahoogroup WM04-Chat where this discussion is happening. You can join too! But most of the talk there has been about Yann Clouet and the French Hobby's new "World Palmares Evaluation" of FTF Diplomacy Play. Of course, Yann Clouet comes out #1, further backing up winning the John Koning award, and I am 1442nd (in a tie with Mark Nelson and Tony Dickinson, among others!). This uses lots of tournament results, more than 750 of them, and really is quite comprehensive. See those rankings at: http://www.18centres.com/SPIP3/article.php3?id_article=199

DIPDOM NEWS SECTION (with letters)

Obscure and not-so-obscure ramblings on the state of the hobby and its publications, custodians, events, and individuals with no guarantee of relevance from the fertile keyboard of Jim-Bob, the E-Mail Dip world, and the rest of the postal hobby. My comments are in italics and ((double quotation marks)) like this. Bold face is used to set off each individual speaker. I should also make a note that I do edit for syntax and spelling on occasion.

The game Diplomacy is a copyrighted product owned by Hasbro and all reproductions or other use of that material in this szine is intended to be personal use and not infringe on those rights in any way. All reproductions are done at a heavy financial loss to the editor and thus are without the remotest possibility of commercial intent, except to promote THE game, the Game of Diplomacy, which you all should purchase from Hasbro or other duly licensed distributors.

Stephen Agar has matched the Hasbro rule lists and more with some of the even older rulebooks. Check these out if you like:

http://www.hasbro.com/default.asp?xcc_gameandtoyinstructions

http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy.PDF

http://www.hasbro.com/instruct/Diplomacy(OlderVers).PDF

Nice of them to make BOTH of these available. And all seven different US rulebooks for Diplomacy can now be found here courtesy of Stephen Agar (relatively new address for this):

http://www.diplomacy-archive.com/diplomacy_rules.htm

Check out current and back issues of Diplomacy World - www.diplomacyworld.org

We are back on solid track, Tim Haffey has agreed to be the Production Editor that I needed. We always need more articles, Issues #94 AND #95 both are out NOW!!! If you think you should have been on that list and weren't, let me or Dave Partridge know. Help us out, write an article for a future issue!

Also, I'd be interested in hearing any Hobby Award Nominations for:

The 2005 Don Miller Award for Meritorious Service;

The 2005 Rod Walker Award for Literature;

The 2005 John Koning Award for Player Performance;

The 2005 Fred Hyatt Award for GM Performance;

A 2005 Kathy Byrne Caruso Award for Lifetime Achievement (if warranted).

The award ballot for this year will be publicized in my Issue 300 in January.

Upcoming Diplomacy World Issue Deadlines:

Deadline Winter 2005, Issue #96: December 1, 2005

Editorial Board for Diplomacy World:

Tim Haffey, 810 53rd Ave., Oakland, CA 94601 USA; trhaffey of aol.com - Lead-Editor, Demo Game GM, and Publisher

Jim Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, USA; burgess of world.std.com - Co-Editor

Stephen Agar, 4 Cedars Gardens, Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM BN1 6YD; stephen of stephenagar.com - Webmaster and Non-US Postal

Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852, USA; rick_desper of yahoo.com - Demo Games

Dave Partridge, 15 Woodland Drive, Brookline, NH 03033, USA; rebhuhn of rocketmail.com - US Postal

ATTENTION: There is a new company doing a new PC Diplomacy game:

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/news.asp?ArticleID=239&Page=News

See this issue's masthead note and the lettercol below for more details. This is out and available. You all should read the interview in the Spring 2005 movement issue of the Diplomatic Pouch (and I mean ALL!!!!!!! of you!!!!!) that I think you can find at: http://www.diplom.org/Zine/S2005M/

Public Relations - Paradox Interactive (Tue, 11 Oct 2005 14:06:00)

Dear Diplomacy community,

I'm forwarding this to keep you informed of the latest Diplomacy news. I have already been in touch with some of you for prizes to your tournaments etc. but please feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have not yet been in touch and would like to talk about an upcoming event.

Kind regards, Susana Meza, pr of paradoxplaza.com

DIPLOMACY has shipped to stores in North America and the meta server for multiplayer has been launched! To access the server after buying the game, please go to http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/mygames.php? and enter your serial-number.

Registered users will receive:

* An account on the Paradox meta server, letting you play Diplomacy with other players over the Internet.

* Access to regular patches and updates, as well as full access to beta patches as they come.

* Technical support from the internal staff, with a fully coordinated bug-report forum.

Registered users will already be able to find an introductory patch where:

- The overall polish has been worked on.

- Multiplayer is easier to use and players can transfer ownership of the games on the meta server.

- The AI works smarter in supporting its own territories and is also more tactical when retreating.

To find out more general information on DIPLOMACY please visit www.diplomacy-pcgame.com or contact pr of paradoxplaza.com

Paradox Interactive, Hitech Building 921, SE-101 52 Stockholm

Phone: +46 (0)8 566 148 00

Fax: +46 (0)8 566 148 19

http://www.paradoxplaza.com

((I suppose this all falls in the category of a free ad, but I have to admit that I was very, very skeptical about Paradox's ability to pull this off and maybe that makes me more amazed than I would have been otherwise. Make no mistake, there are still problems with this product. But Paradox is going to send people out to conventions, do demos, and contribute marketing resources for prizes and the like. This is a level of attention that Hasbro never even dreamed of. Remember my comment above about long term vs. short term planning? Paradox is small and nimble. They have a long view, and I applaud it. Next up, there are a couple of neat videos on the Internet that I want to publicize, check these out, nothing earthshattering, but fun, taken from the Usenet group rec.games.diplomacy.))

**World Dipcon 2002 video**

I placed the dip file at this site (it wasn't working proerly at blogger.)

http://media.putfile.com/wdc2003.

- - - - - - - - - -

Diplomats Video and the extra interviews files avail for anyone who wants them.

Broadband is recommended as each is just over 500 Meg. Good news is that it's a high quality 720x480 size file in Mpg2 format.

The Diplomats Video is a my final, edited video. It takes the viewer to a Diplomacy tournament, gives some overview of what Diplomacy is, shows it being played, gets comments from the players about what they are trying to accomplish, gives you fly on the wall access to negotiations and some post game interviews with players answering such questions as why they play Diplomacy.

For those that are gluttons for punishment, you can also download two additional 500MB files which have the full interviews off about a dozen subjects. Each answered an identical questionaire.

http://www.cat23.com/html/movies.htm

Click the Downloads Link and the movies are in the Indythought Category

MUSIC AND MOVIES SECTION (WITH COMMENTS ON OTHER ARTS AND SOCIETY)

Tell me anything you like about the recent past in music. List a top two, a top ten, or a top 100, I don't care, just tell me something!! We're beginning to gear up for a "best of 2005" section.

((Warning, I'm going to amuse myself now by printing all the baseball playoff dialog between our little baseball group. Apologies to Alexander `Smiley' Woo for missing one of his notes that should have been in last issue.))

David Partridge (Wed, 28 Sep 2005 06:54:44 -0700 (PDT))

Well, the one good thing to say for the AL is at least these last games mean something. Got to get that that heart rate up. Think how boring it would be if someone clinched it!

BTW, there is no truth to the rumor that Jennifer Garner is the father of my baby.

Dave, rebhuhn of rocketmail.com

Warren Goesle (Wed, 28 Sep 2005 08:44:54 -0500)

I've been pretty sure that the White Sox would make the playoffs, stumbling or not, ever since Jim-Bob said they wouldn't.

Note on the standard Goz complaint: while Boston may be smaller than Chicago the Red Sox fan base is much larger, both geographically and population-wise than the White Sox fan base. The Red Sox get most all of New England. The White Sox get anyone in northern Illinois who isn't a Cubs' fan. That's a number that might not get to 7 figures, and as a whole the Sox' fans are a lot less affluent than the Cubs' fans. The Indians might actually have a bigger market than the White Sox do.

Further local notes on the White Sox...they played in Minnesota on, I think, the 17th of September, in a game that started at 11AM and had no local TV coverage, due to a wide variety of reasons (Humphrey Dome had to get cleared for a college football game, Fox took too long to waive their exclusivity rights, etc.). So Sox fans got the short end of that. Couple that with a huge snafu for the last game of the Cleveland at White Sox series (not that it was a big game or anything) on the 21st, where the Cable provider lost the signal until the end of the 5th, by which time the game was out of hand (sattelite viewers weren't affected). Some day there will be professional baseball in this city.

I personally think it's marvelous that San Diego can go to the playoffs with a sub-.500 record. It just further points out the silliness of the setup. Call me when that happens in the AL East.

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Warren Goesle (Wed, 28 Sep 2005 07:33:32 -0500)

Certainties of life: Death, Taxes, The Cubs, The Braves.

Right now it looks like the hottest team in the AL is actually the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim brought to you by Budweiser (hereafter referred to as EE#3), but for obvious reasons no one is noticing. How can the Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox and Indians all lose at the same time to teams that are a combined 58 games below .500?

On the other hand, the two hottest teams in the NL are the Astros and (better sit down) the Padres. The Cards are limping since they clinched (if Cleveland hadn't gotten so hot the last two months we'd be saying the same about the White Sox) due to injuries and possibly lack of interest, and the Braves now have another post-season to look forward to with dread.

I'm petitioning Bud Selig to have the Cubs moved to the NL West, just so they can lose a division on the last day again. He's not returning my calls or removing the restraining order, in case you were wondering.

BTW, there is no truth to the rumor that I'm the father of Jennifer Garner's baby. Ok, that's not really a rumor, but I'd like it to be one.

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Overcaffeinated, due to a 6AM conference call. Overmedicated, due to a cold. Oughta be a great day.

((I still think that Chicago won't win the division, but they pretty much need to lose out all five remaining games to miss the playoffs. So, ya "got me again, Goz", perhaps, I still think Cleveland is going to sweep the White Sox come this weekend.))
((And having people lose in the pennant race to the also rans has always been and always IS part of the equation. They're loose and swinging free and easy, the contenders are tight and tense. In the AL, the three game series this weekend are where it's at and where we're getting to. The White Sox have to win two while the Indians lose two to make that one not matter, the Red Sox Yankees one already must matter. I think it will be neat if the Red Sox, Yankees and Indians ALL win two while the White Sox lose two so we go into the weekend with all four teams tied. That's not exactly a prediction, but it is what I need for my earlier prediction to come true.... ;-) ))
((Damn, I'm still rooting for San Diego to lose out and miss the playoffs, but it doesn't look like it will happen. If it doesn't, it would be "nice" if they made it back to .500.....))

Rick Desper (Wednesday, September 28, 2005 7:57 AM)

In the Red Sox defense, "they won before they lost" yesterday, to borrow from John Kerry.

Looking at tonight's starters, I wouldn't be surprised if all four of these teams won. I still think it's unlikely the White Sox will miss the playoffs...they only need to win 2/5 to clinch at least the wild card (since the Yankees and Red Sox play each other, one of the two will have at least 67 losses).

The Angels are finally playing well. Good for them.

Going by demographics, if Cleveland misses the playoffs, Boston will be the smallest city with an AL playoff team, behind the Big Three of Chicago, NY, and Los Angeles.

[insert standard Goz complaint about large market teams here] ((See above, with just the slightest nuance....))

What really fascinates me is that San Diego is 78-79, which is good enough for last place in the NL East, behind five other teams, but if they win tonight, they've clinched the NL West! If I were the MLB commissioner, I would modify the rules so a sub-.500 team could not make the playoffs. If the entire division is below .500, take a second wild card team instead!

The NFL could do the same thing, to address the problem of one division with the Bears, Vikings, Lions, and Packers, who all seem hapless right now.

I want to also unconvincingly deny the rumor that I'm the father of Jennifer Garner's baby.

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

Warren Goesle (Wed, 28 Sep 2005 09:56:19 -0500)

Jim-Bob, You haven't told us whether or not you're the father of Jennifer Garner's baby.

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

((Hi Goz, Jennifer Garner is not my type and so no, I'm not and never would be the father of her baby. ;-) ))

Rick Desper (Sat, 1 Oct 2005 07:07:46 -0700 (PDT))

Last night's game was a must for the BoSox. The victory by the White Sox bench was a bonus. Now the Red Sox achieve the meta-postseason with one victory in two games.

I think today's game is a must for the Yankees. If they can't beat Wakefield with Randy Johnson pitching, how will they beat Schilling in a big game, even with Mussina on the mound?

I'm thinking that the broadcaster's dream has a high likelihood of happening. Namely, if the Sox and Yankees split these two games, and the Indians win the last two against the White Sox, the Sox and Yankees meet on Monday for the division crown, with the loser getting the Indians on Tuesday for the wildcard. Aye caramba!

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

((Looking likely, especially with the high scoring start to this one. This is going to be a 14-12 game.... a real time note during that game....))

Warren Goesle (Sat, 1 Oct 2005 15:30:45 -0500)

I know a bunch of White Sox' fans, just in case you guys want to send "Thank You" cards...

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

((Bow, bow, bow, thank you White Sox..... so, can the Red Sox lose a game to the Yankees that the Yankees don't have to win? Yes, see the White Sox.... Can the Red Sox lose a one game playoff in Fenway Park? Yes, see Bucky Dent.... but WILL they? I don't think so, just as Friday night was Wells' game to win, this is Schill's game to win.))

Rick Desper (Sat, 1 Oct 2005 15:59:03 -0700 (PDT))

Let's face it - the Indians have no chance. Not because the Yankees won't play hard tomorrow, or because they'll be unable to beat the White Sox. No, they face the karma of having Burgess pick them to win the division!

Thanks to the Indians' choke, the Yankees have clinched, and have apparently decided to save Mussina for the playoffs, leaving the Sox with the tempting task of facing Jaret Wright and his astronomic ERA and WHIP. Also, Schilling will be on the mound.

I was unimpressed with Wakefield today until I remembered (or rather, was reminded by news accounts) that he was pitching on 3 days rest.

Managers should know that nobody can pitch on 3 days rest anymore!

I caught the tail end of the game at a sports pub near Piccadilly Circus. It was populated almost entirely by Red Sox and Yankees fans from the States. It's a pub that features North American sports - a very nice discovery. For some reason 'Cheers', my first stop, featured a Red Sox jersey and wall-to-wall TVs with English football. What would Sam Malone say? But the bouncer was kind enough to direct me around the corner.

Anyway, the one thing all the Yankees and Red Sox fans could agree on was that it was great that the White Sox won. We were all White Sox fans today. :)

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

((Addendum added "now", this is looking prophetic, isn't it.....))

Warren Goesle (Sun, 2 Oct 2005 08:35:17 -0500)

It's not just Jim-Bob. I picked the Indians to win the division too (see Goz picks: beginning 2005). Hmm, I also had the Angels & Yankees winning their division, & the Red Sox as WC. How'd your picks do Jim-Bob?

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

((Well, just for fun, let's look at all our picks....))
((NL West: Goz picked the Dodgers, I picked the Giants. We were both wrong, but I picked the Padres to be second and as my sleeper pick to win (Advantage Jim-Bob) ))
((NL Central: We both picked the order right, but both of us thought the Wild Card would come from the East. I did predict that Ken Griffey, Jr. would make a comeback this year, but that wasn't enough to help the Reds - and he was injured at the end. (Push) ))
((NL East: We both had the Braves winning. I thought that the Marlins would be second and the Wild Card, you thought it would be the Mets. Phillies were my sleeper. I really thought AJ Burnett really tanked at the end, the Marlins shouldn't have been that bad, but they were. (Very weak advantage Jim-Bob) ))
((AL West: We both had the Angels winning, but I had the order of the division right. (Weak Advantage Jim-Bob) ))
((AL Central: You had the Indians winning (my sleeper) and I had the Twins. You had the White Sox higher (Weak Advantage Goz) ))
((AL East: It really was a tie, and I said that the Yankees needed to acquire five new players to survive that would make major contributions. They got Cano, Giambi (who they already had, but was a surprise!), Small, Chacon, and.... uh they never really did get a CF unless you count Crosby (was he on the team at the beginning of the year???). (Very Weak Advantage Jim-Bob for seeing the Blue Jays would be third). By the way, I think this is the EIGHTH straight season the order has been Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays. That must be a record.))
((You predicted that the Braves would lose to the Yankees in the WS, which could still happen. I had Boston beating the Marlins, the second part of which can't happen. We'll see, if you ask me right now, ANYONE can win. I'm still sticking with Red Sox repeat, but I really won't be surprised if even the Padres go to the WS.))

Rick Desper (Mon, 3 Oct 2005 04:05:29 -0700 (PDT))

To compare... my predictions from May

I had Sox AL East, O's WC, Twins AL Central, Angels AL West. 2/4 :( (I'm counting the Sox.) I was not a believer in the White Sox and didn't think the Orioles would collapse completely.

NL, I had Braves, Cards, Dodgers, and Marlins in WC. I had Astros 2nd behind the Cards, FWIW. I said the Padres were 'almost there', so I placed them correctly in terms of their win total, but overestimated the Dodgers.

I had Sox vs. St. Louis in World Series. I still think the Cardinals will be there, and in fact think they should be favored. They get an easy series with the Padres and then should be able to handle the survivor of the Braves/Astros series.

The AL is harder to pick. I'm still not impressed with the White Sox, and think the Red Sox can take them. But overall, the Red Sox don't have enough pitching, and neither do the Yankees or the Angels. Look at Game 2 between the Yankees and Angels: Shawn Chacon vs. John Lackey. None of the AL teams has more than one intimidating starter. In contrast, consider the Braves/Astros series: Pettite vs. Smoltz in Game 1, Clemens vs. Hudson in Game 2...and Roy Oswalt is still in reserve for Houston. If Houston's pitching gets hot, everybody else needs to be wary.

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

((Rick and I miscalculated, and it seems like the WHITE SOX pitching that has gotten hot - and as usual in the playoffs, pitching wins.))

Warren Goesle (Mon, 3 Oct 2005 15:44:02 -0500)

First off, a correction on Jim-Bob's: For 6 years the AL East order was NY, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto, Tampa Bay. That continued until last year when Toronto dropped behind Tampa Bay (!). This year the Blue Jays climbed over Tampa Bay and Baltimore. However, I don't see how you figure a tie for the AL East. NY won, did it not? Otherwise they'd be going to Chicago, no? A tie-break counts the same as a 1-game playoff for the spot with some lightweight named "Bucky" hitting a 3-run homer to win it, doesn't it?

Next, now that the matchups are set, it's time for the actual playoff picks. I'd like to say that I think things will happen as I said they would in April, with the Yankees over the Braves, but I don't (What?!?!? Goz is backing off on a prediction that hasn't even been proved wrong yet?!?!? Hey, it happens. More often in football than baseball...).

NLDS:

St. Louis vs San Diego: Cardinals in 4, but only because San Diego isn't really all that bad (are they?). Too much O & D from St. Louis.

Atlanta vs Houston: This isn't an ordinary Braves' team. They have enough young players who don't really care about the history, even the relatively recent history, of Braves' postseason failures. I think this series goes the limit, and won't be entirely surprised if Atlanta pulls it out. However, I'm picking Houston. They get so many key pitching & hitting efforts, I can't dismiss them, so I say Houston in 5. Maybe the 14th inning of the 5th game.

ALDS:

Chicago vs Boston: It's starting to look like the Red Sox are reading Jim-Bob's diatribes on them, and believing them. They really look set up for a fall against a good team, emphasis on "team". White Sox sweep (you heard it here, from a Cubs' fan, first).

Wandering Angels vs New York: The Yankees have the experience. They have the hitting. I think Aneheim (or wherever they play now) has everything else, including the fact that apparently the Yankees are distracted by what went on in Texas on Sunday. I look for the Yankees to blow a 2-1 game lead when they see the Red Sox are swept, and fall in 5. Then, when Buck Showalter is fired as Texas manager, the Yankees pick him up as a bench coach for 2006.

NLCS:

Houston vs St. Louis: Goes 7, with the usual intrigue. Might be the best series of the season. I look for the Astros to pull it out this year, with a little deeper bench.

ALCS:

Angels vs White Sox: Angels in 6. Colon wins 2 against his former team. White Sox season declared a disaster by the local media (who happen to own the Cubs, BTW). Ozzie disappears for 18 months, and is found in a Caracas flop-house, though not in time to manage anyone at the start of '07.

World Series:

Angels vs Astros: Houston barely heard from. Angels in 5. Very few people in California care, outside of the Governor and the makers of some ugly mascot figures.

Ok, take your best shots.

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Rick Desper (date lost in the shuffle, but right after Goz....)

Can you explain to me how whether NY won the AL East or not depended on whether Cleveland won or lost their last two games? Cleveland's not in the AL East, after all.

((If I read you right, I've had loads of people ask me this question in the past few days, and I think I actually do understand it. Are you asking, how come the Yankees win on a tie break ONLY because the Indians lost and so are NOT tied with the Yankees and the Red Sox? In other words, if the Indians had won two of three against the White Sox, then we'd be playing a game today.))
((ANSWER: In baseball's infinite wisdom, you play extra games in order to be IN or OUT of the playoffs. You do NOT play extra games in order to decide who is Division Champ and who is WC. Simple as that. In practical terms it meant this: Since the Yankees and Red Sox were the only ones left standing at the end, USE the tiebreak. If Cleveland were tied with them in a three way tie? THEN, if we let the Yankees win the division they would have NOT had to play an extra game, but would have been IN the playoffs. That violates the first rule. So Yankees and Red Sox must play for division title and then whoever loses is tied with the Indians and plays for the WC.))
((And I stand corrected by Goz on the division. Well, the Yankees and Red Sox have finished 1-2 for 8 straight years.....))

NLDS:

St. Louis in 3. Because somebody has to sweep.

((I think it will be St. Louis in 5, but only because Lawrence isn't quite enough of a pitcher to win in the playoffs. St. Louis will have a tough time with this series.))

Astros in 5. Or Astros in 3.

((I agree Astros win, so I'll say Houston in 4.))

ALDS:

Chicago vs Boston: Pshaw! Last I heard, the White Sox' ace was Jose 'Fenway scares the crap out of me' Contreras. Sox in 4. Red Sox, that is.

((I think it will be tougher than that, Red Sox in 5.))

Wandering Angels vs New York: Angels in 5. Simply because they are better.

((I think the Angels will sweep in 3.))

NLCS:

St. Louis in 7. Similar to last year, but Houston now has Pettite, while Cardinals now have Carpenter and Mulder.

((Cardinals in 6, mostly just to be contrary. It probably will go 7.))

ALCS:

Angels vs. Red Sox. I think the lack of a bullpen will hurt the Red Sox a little too much here. The Angels are the most balanced team in the AL right now.

((I will stick with my early season prediction, Red Sox in 6 or 7, but if you guys are right, I won't be shocked.))

World Series:

Angels vs. Cardinals. I think the Astros have the best chance at beating the Cards, actually. I don't think the Angels have a starter good enough to shut down the Cardinals' offense, with all due respect to Bartolo Colon. And the Cards are better.

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

((Red Sox win in 7 in a tense and exciting series.))

Goesle, Warren (Monday, October 10, 2005 7:29 AM)

Ok, I can't get a zinger through to Jim-Bob. I know he can't be dead...he's still waiting to tell me that I'm either wrong on my preseason pick of the Yankees winning the WS, or my postseason pick of the Angels winning the WS.

Hmmm, and now your server won't acknowledge you. Something I said, or you said?

Just curious.... At what point does it get renamed, "The Roger Clemens Award"?

(Brief pause while Jim-Bob tries to ignore the point and think up some Red Sox-centric remark over how Clemens was never that good of a pitcher...)

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Rick Desper (Mon, 10 Oct 2005 06:14:27 -0700 (PDT))

The Red Sox-centric view wonders why Clemens was a great pitcher from 1986-1990, got lazy when he hit 30 and put up mediocre numbers, and then rediscovered his desire to be a Hall of Famer when he left for the Blue Jays (with an illegal deal in place in Toronto to allow him to leave his contract after two years if the Blue Jays were still languishing out of contention...)

From 1993-1996, Clemens' last year in Boston, he went 40-39, his ERA was over 4.00 twice, and his innings were way down. Then he went to Toronto and won more in 2 years than he had in the last four in Boston. That's why Red Sox fans are less than enamored with him (that and his secret deal with the Blue Jays management).

((Though I still believe that he wouldn't have been this good if the Red Sox had gotten him back instead, and it would have meant we never got Pedro... which is of course its own story....))

Funny thing about yesterday's game: I turned on my laptop to watch the MLB feed about 9 p.m. local time, figuring I'd watch the end of the Astros/Braves game after catching up with the NFL scores. It was the 8th inning. "Oh, I see the Braves are up 6-1", I thought, "this shouldn't take long".

I had to turn it off at midnight, having already watched nine innings, because I figured I needed to get a good night's sleep to get some work done today.

Clemens did pitch well - I'll give him credit for that. So did a lot of other people last night.

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

((Sorry, guys, Doug Beyerlein has been sending me pictures for my superduper never to be forgotten Christmas 300th issue of TAP and he blew out my space. I've cleaned it up now. You guys have anything special you want to put in for the 300th issue, start planning now.... it will appear in January.))
((The latest TAP is under production now which will feature my baseball playoff predictions and the "zingers"..... I was not impressed by the White Sox earlier, but hey it really was the case that the BEST TEAM WON and the White Sox, dispatching the Indians and sending them home, the Red Sox, then the Angels/Yankees, and then the winner of what promises to be a slugfest between the Cards and Astros (without too many of the home runs.... who's the latest slugger for the Astros, some backup infielder???) may leave the Cubbies ALL alone in infamyville. When someone beats the team who I say is going to win, I have the right to switch horses to them.... of course one could say that I rooting for the White Sox is a curse of death, but tough.))
((And I qualify, as a kid I was a huge Dick Allen, Bill Melton, and Wilbur Wood (especially Wilbur Wood that year that he pitched on two days rest for most of the season!) fan.))

David Partridge (Mon, 10 Oct 2005 06:24:57 -0700 (PDT))

Boston fans never give up, we're still sticking by our pick of the Red Sox to win the world series!

Dave, rebhuhn of rocketmail.com

((I've always said, Roger Clemens ahd become lazy with the Red Sox and that the best thing that ever happened to him was Dan Duquette... and having Dan Duquette "disrespect him". He arguably had the best years of his career hiding out with the Toronto Blue Jays and hasn't stopped WORKING and PITCHING since. He still isn't my favorite guy, but he is amazing. We have our own Roger Clemens in the making here in Boston with Jonathan Papelbon. Yes, he's that good......))
((If you send me again the things my server bounced with the full account, I'll be pleased to respond to them. Possibly not today, I have to dry out my waterlogged cabin, bring in the boats, coax the furnace into operation and head home today.... I think I did end up missing a few messages.))
((I wonder how the 'Stros will deal with the tired pitching vs. the Cards. When do they start playing, by the way?))

Rick Desper (Mon, 10 Oct 2005 07:21:14 -0700 (PDT))

Game 1 isn't until Wednesday, and Pettite will be well rested for that. If Rocket's too tired for Game 2, Oswalt won't be. Don't worry too much about the Astros. That's part of why winning last night's game was so vital for them. In contrast, the White Sox are going to be ready to ambush whoever the survivor of the Angels/Yankees series will be. I've been picking the Cardinals to win it all for quite some time, and don't think I'd abandon them quite yet. But this Astros team is very good.

El Duque simply killed the BoSox. He's done it before and I fear he'll keep doing it in the future. When he's on his game, he is truly an elite pitcher.

So of course he's not in the starting rotation for the White Sox for the LCS. Let's see...Freddy Garcia, El Duque, Freddy Garcia, El Duque. How can anybody choose Freddy Garcia there???? I know that, if the Yankees make it to the LCS, Joe Torre will be thankful that he won't have to face El Duque.

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

Warren Goesle (Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:25:21 -0500)

According to Ozzie, and backed up almost unanimously by local Sports' commentators (print and radio), a playoff series is precisely why Garcia was brought to town. FWIW.

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Warren Goesle (Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:21:58 -0500)

((On the Astros in extra innings:)) I was in and out of the TV room yesterday (and flipping from MLB to NFL to NASCAR), and left in the bottom of the 8th. Then 3 hours later I logged onto ESPN.com and the headline suggested that they were still playing, and it was in the 18th. So I dragged Nathan into the room, since I knew that, when he's a lot older than nearly-3, he'll want to know he saw a part of the longest playoff game ever, and turned the TV back on (there was a game early this year when Maddux was pitching against Clemens and I dragged him into that one too, since I didn't think he'd ever see another game started by two 300-win pitchers). I think it was on for about 8 minutes until the game ended. Nathan left after the top of the inning. I suspect he's a closet Braves' fan.

(( On: I wonder how the 'Stros will deal with the tired pitching vs. the Cards. When do they start playing, by the way?))

They don't start playing until Wednesday. Based on recent past performance, Clemens can apparently start Game 1.

Goz Hypothesis for how the ALCS starts out, based on no data but fuzzy feelings about physiology and sports: whoever wins the Angels/Yankees Game 5 tonight heads to Chicago, and since they're still on adreneline and the White Sox are rusty, the visitors win Game 1. However, after a day to acclimate, the White Sox pound whoever is in town for Game 2, when fatigue really hits them. Then a day off Thursday and they pick up Game 3 Friday, when things are more normal (well, normal for when a Chicago team is in the playoffs).

So what's with the waterloggin? I thought that was more up Dave's area? ((My summer house is in Maine, which is closer to Dave's area, and I got 10 inches of rain there on Saturday of Columbus Day weekend! Back here in Providence, we're about to have the most rain in any single month ever. And they got three feet of early snow on the top of Mount Washington.))

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

David Partridge (Mon, 10 Oct 2005 07:59:00 -0700 (PDT))

Nothing around my house, but the pictures from some of the nearby towns looked very familiar, people in boats going down main street. There are a number of towns not far away where whole sections are cut off, but not being below sea level to start with, now that the rivers have crested and started down again there won't be any long term stranded people, they can always walk out. Over 8 inches of rain in some places. Doesn't compare to NO, but still did some damage.

Dave, rebhuhn of rocketmail.com

Rick Desper (Mon, 10 Oct 2005 07:26:31 -0700 (PDT))

Having a Chicago team in the playoffs is itself abnormal. Unless somebody named 'Jordan' is involved. BTW, who was that tall guy at the end of the bench? I think it was #45.... :) (The Braves could have used Jordan's leaping ability in the 9th last night. I bet he could still jump higher than Andruw Jones did, and snag the Ausmus homer.)

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

Warren Goesle (Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:51:15 -0500)

The local White Sox' version of Jim-Bob asserts that:

A. No, there's no #45 on the White Sox and

B. El Duque folded as a starter at the end of the season, and has done long-relief in the playoffs before. The surprise is more along the lines of: Why is McCarthy not on the roster, as he was a rock as a starter the last few weeks? Again, the answer comes to Garcia's experience as a big-game pitcher.

All rebuttals can be addressed to Ozzie. Good luck in the translations.

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Warren Goesle with RICK and JIM-BOB comebacks (Tue, 11 Oct 2005 12:31:41 -0500)

Let's see...shall we go over our playoff picks?

St. Louis vs San Diego:

Goz: "Cardinals in 4, but only because San Diego isn't really all that bad (are they?)."

Rick: "St. Louis in 3. Because somebody has to sweep."

Jim-Bob: "I think it will be St. Louis in 5, but only because Lawrence isn't quite enough of a pitcher to win in the playoffs. St. Louis will have a tough time with this series."

Advantage: Rick

((RICK: Yes!))
((JIM-BOB: Didn't realize there would TWO somebodies that had to sweep. I really thought it would take the Cards awhile to ramp up to playoff baseball, wrong, wrong, wrong....))

Houston vs Atlanta:

Goz: "I say Houston in 5. Maybe the 14th inning of the 5th game.

Rick: "Astros in 5. Or Astros in 3."

Jim-Bob: "I agree Astros win, so I'll say Houston in 4."

Advantage: Jim-Bob, although I think I can claim a close 2nd.

((RICK: Hey, I had them bracketed! Well, they played 45 innings, so I think I was closest. :) ))
((JIM-BOB: I kinda think Goz gets extra credit for the extra innings comment.))

Anaheim vs New York:

Goz: "I look for the Yankees to blow a 2-1 game lead when they see the Red Sox are swept, and fall in 5. Then, when Buck Showalter is fired as Texas manager, the Yankees pick him up as a bench coach for 2006."

Rick: "Angels in 5. Simply because they are better."

Jim-Bob: "I think the Angels will sweep in 3."

Slight advantage: Rick, unless Showalter gets fired.

((RICK: And gets hired by the Yankees...since the Angels had the 2-1 lead, not the Yankees.))
((JIM-BOB: Yeah, yeah....))

Chicago vs Boston:

Goz: "White Sox sweep (you heard it here, from a Cubs' fan, first).

Rick: "Sox in 4. Red Sox, that is."

Jim-Bob: "I think it will be tougher than that, Red Sox in 5."

Advantage: Goz

((RICK: Was I going to pick against the Red Sox in the first round???))
((JIM-BOB: Ditto, in retrospect, I was clearly going for all heart as the White Sox really did dominate.))

Now that the salad course is out of the way, on to the LCS.

I think that the Angels arrive in Chicago full of adreneline, and win Game 1, while the White Sox are rusty. Then in Game 2, fatigue hits and the White Sox win in a blow out. The series heads to Anaheim, and the Angels win Games 3 and 4, only briefly getting interrupted by a good Contrearas outing in Game 5, then come back to Chicago and win Game 6 to punch their ticket.

((RICK: I think the White Sox look good.. Angels just announced that Colon won't even be on the roster for this series. When I picked them earlier to make the WS, I was counting on a healthier team. Don't be surprised if the Angels win. I really don't feel like changing my picks, so I 'll stick with Anaheim... in 7. Contreras will pitch well, but Garcia, Buehrle, and Garland are all hittable. Angels have better bullpen and more playoff experience. And they have Thunder Stix.))
((JIM-BOB: I'd say White Sox in 5, but I wouldn't be surprised by a sweep. Tonight, if the Angels win it is on pure emotion.))

Houston wins in 7. Clemens gets 2 wins, 2 saves and hits a game winning homer in Game 3.

((RICK: *chortle* Calm down, you can remove the shrine to Clemens now. Again, I don't feel like changing my picks. The Cardinals have better hitting. While the Astros have a deeper rotation, the Cardinals do have good pitching, too. Clemens loses two games as a starter, and blows two saves. Actually, since you can blow a save in a game your team wins...Clemens loses two games as a starter and blows five saves. :) Sets the record for blown saves in a playoff series. And then, after losing Game 7, his head explodes. :) (Cards in 7) ))
((JIM-BOB: Cards in however many I said before, since I also don't want to change my pick. I think the Cards will win in less than 7 at the moment though, perhaps I'm too swayed the other direction by the sweep.))

World Series: Other than a brief hiccup in Game 3 when some old fart throws a two-hitter against them, the Angels dominate and win in 5. Garrett Anderson drives in Guerrero 8 times during the series.

((RICK: What did I say before? I don't remember. I know I picked the Cards. I'll say 6 games. Bartolo Colon comes back for the WS, and loses two starts.))
((JIM-BOB: I picked the Red Sox, but now I'm picking the White Sox!!! In a sweep over the Cards, yes two in a row!))

Your thoughts/snide remarks/denials? ((I thought I'd stick them in above for ease of reading....))

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Goesle, Warren wrote:

I get a lot less emails from you guys when the Red Sox aren't playing (Yankees too, now that I think on it). What's going on in baseball now? Why do I keep seeing locusts around here?

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Warren Goesle (Mon, 17 Oct 2005 10:37:47 -0500)

Headline in this morning's Chicago Tribune: "Party Like It's 1959!".

There's an ugly thought.

I've heard sentiments from White Sox "fans" similar to those of Jim-Bob's and Rick's today...that is, they seem extremely pleased to see the Yank...er...the Cubs fail. Any year that the Cubs don't get in the World Series is a good year in their book, so they're already on a 97-year winning streak. Lord knows what would happen if the White Sox actually won the WS. I'm not certain many of them can comprehend that situation (after all, it's been a while for them too).

So to see the previous notes just reminds me that between 1919 and 2003 the Red Sox' fans went 59-26 and kinda puts it into perspective.

Based on the way everything is going now the White Sox should win it. Of course that's likely to change between now and (long pause while I flip through the calendar) Saturday night.

Goz, Warren.Goesle of CMCElectronics.us

Rick Desper (Mon, 17 Oct 2005 06:07:28 -0700 (PDT))

Allegedly a Chicago team made the World Series. For my Cardinals prediction to come true, they need to be Clemens, Oswald, and Pettite in succession, though not necessarily in that order.

The White Sox have hit the 'perfect storm' where all of their starters are pitching well at the same time. We should give credit to their pitching coach.

And clearly, as we saw in the LCS, the key for the White Sox to win is to not use their bullpen. At all.

I want to see how George Steinbrenner reacts to seeing Contreras, El Duque, Clemens, and Pettite all in the World Series. Wait - didn't they all used to be on the same team somewhere? It was pretty recent, you think I'd be able to remember where.

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

((Hey, I was about to write a note.... I nailed my prediction of the Chicago/Anaheim (hehe) series to the letter, even including the "Angels might win the first one on momentum". It looks like I will be wrong about the other series, but it will be worth it to see "George's Perfect Storm" with all those formet Yankee starters pitching in the World Series, while "his team" trotted out that mess of starters that they ended up with that early elimination (though all things considered, Cashman was a genius, a genius who might well be plying his trade in Philly next year).))

Rick Desper (Mon, 17 Oct 2005 08:43:57 -0700 (PDT))

This bit concerns me...

And apparently Kid Theo may be leaving the BoSox, too. Which makes me wonder if these guys sabotage(d) their teams' futures to make life easier for their future employers. I'll be very suspicious if Manny Ramirez and Theo Epstein end up going to the same place...

Rick, rick_desper of yahoo.com

((Theo is going through the same thing that Ken Macha just went through in Oakland on the field manager side. Theo wants to be paid in the multimillion dollar range if he thinks he can get it. He won't, and then he'll sign with the Red Sox for about a million a year. Cashman and the Yankees are more complicated for George reasons. But Theo is not going to move up the level to take the top job yet, he's still a bit young.))

Mark D Lew (Thu, 6 Oct 2005 22:00:39 -0700)

Thanks for the kind words about the A's. I'm not at all bitter about them missing the playoffs again. They played pretty well this season, considering - other teams have one or two years of rebuilding; Billy Beane has one or two *months* of rebuilding - but ultimately they didn't deserve it.

Going into the last series with Anaheim, we were counting the games as the A's fell farther behind: If the A's sweep the Angels, then they're even for the last three games; if they take three of four, we still have a chance but not a good one. Everyone was focusing on how it was an uphill battle against the odds. But the reality is it wasn't just the numbers that were against us. The Angels were simply playing better baseball than the A's in September. The odds of us winning four games out of four was considerably less than the straight coin-flipping 1 in 16. The better team won the pennant. That's as it should be.

You've probably heard by now that Macha won't be back as manager. By the time you read this they may have already announced his successor, or Macha may be hired somewhere else. The story has been spun in a wide variety of ways, depending on the writer's take on the whole Beane/Moneyball drama, but it was really very straightforward. Macha's first contract has run out, and the standard procedure in baseball is that a successful manager gets renewed with a nice big pay increase, just like players do. Beane doesn't believe in that. He thinks of the manager in the same category as the scouting director or head trainer - a specialized middle manager within the organization. Yes, he matters, but no he doesn't embody the team, as the baseball romantics like to believe. As a result of the general mis-estimation of a manager's importance, any manager with a reputation is overpaid. So long as Macha was cheap, he was fine. As soon as he wants to get anything more than that, even if it is modest compared to the manager market at large, the A's are no longer interested in him.

So Beane put out an offer which was as much as he intends to pay any manager. Macha's agent came back with a much larger offer, as if there'd be a negotiation. Beane said, "No, that *was* the final offer", so Macha walked. In spite of all the happy talk - "He/this is a great manager/job and we'd love to be/have him back again next year" - both sides telegraphed their intentions pretty clearly, and anyone who could read between the lines was not at all surprised.

For Macha's replacement, two names are getting all the play. Ron Washington gets mentioned because he's a great coach, a great guy with lots of charisma, and everyone in any way associated with the A's loves him. Bob Geren gets mentioned because, barring calamity, he's the guy who's gonna get the job. Washington is the current 3rd base coach who also trains the infielders on defense. He is universally praised for the job he does, both for teaching fielding - he's the guy Eric Chavez gave one of his Gold Gloves to - and for mentoring the young guys psychologically.

Some say that Washington is too "old school" to be a good fit for the A's organizational philosophy, or - again depending on the writer's viewpoint - that Beane is an egotistical bastard who won't dare hire anyone who isn't a yes-man, which Wash isn't. I don't quite believe that. If Washington had a problem with the A's organizational philosophy, he'd be gone by now. There have been plenty of other coaches who've strayed from the path and been exiled. I think the real problem is that Wash has no virtually no experience in a managerial role. He's very good where he is now, but whether that skill would carry over to the manager role is less certain.

Meanwhile, Geren was very successful managing the AAA team in Sacramento for a few years, and then he put in two years in Oakland first as the 1B coach and then as the bullpen coach. He's worked with most of the players on the team both in Sacramento and in Oakland. Oh, and he happens to be one of Beane's closest personal friends. The A's like to promote guys through the ranks and it's obvious that it's Geren's turn. So obvious that insiders were predicting this more than a year ago.

Meanwhile, Macha is likely to get hired somewhere else if he wants it. All the talk is about Pittsburgh, since that's his home. Ron Washington is mentioned a lot for the Tampa Bay job, which seems like a particularly good fit for him. I think the A's would love to keep him as 3B coach, but if he gets a better offer elsewhere and moves on, he'll go with the team's blessing. If he becomes Tampa Bay's manager, the entire Athletics Nation will immediately become avid Devil Ray fans - not much of a stretch, since they already hate both the Yankees and the Red Sox.

But I wouldn't be much good as TAP's A's correspondent if everything I tell you is what you can read in the sports pages yourself, so here's a few outside-of-the-box ideas to chew on. By definition, these aren't really predictions, as neither of them is even 50% likely to happen. But I'd say they're much more than 0% likely, which is about what you might otherwise think.

(1) Huston Street could be traded. Yes, we know that Beane doesn't like to give up a huge potential talent who is young enough to have many years of cheap salary ahead of him. Then again, who does? Precocious talent is a recognized commodity now - recognized to the point that it is perhaps no longer underrated. Street was a highly esteemed college prospect, but in his final year his stock dropped a little, so that Beane was able to get him at the end of the first round rather than the beginning. Then he bounced back and surprises everyone by not only zooming through the minors to make it to the big leagues in one year, but also stepping right into the closer role and showing every sign of being top-notch at it.

My point is not that Beane doesn't value Street; surely he does. My point is that Street might be more valuable in what another team would give up for him than he is staying with the team. The meteoric rise could be evidence that he's the new Mariano Rivera ... or it might be that he's a good pitcher who just had a particularly good season so now it's time to move him while his stock is at its highest. If Beane is going to go after a big bat or some other hot commodity that everyone else is after, he's going to have to give something up. Street could well be the extra piece that makes it happen.

(2) Rich Harden could end up in the bullpen. Yes, we love Harden, and we've already signed him to a contract extension. But the one thing that Harden has yet to prove he can do is stay healthy for an entire season. Maybe that's a fluke and when he finally gets a complete season in good health he'll be a Cy Young candidate. Or maybe it means he's good but fragile. If it's the latter, I think they'll contemplate moving him, possibly to be the closer. He, too, has the sort of stuff that could be the new Mariano Rivera.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

P.S. Normally you'd hear about it in my long overdue mass email, but since you're one of the few who actually does send me stuff in the mail, I guess I should tell you my new address: 10546 Fremont Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133.

((Hi Mark, more on the details later, but I've heard that Macha may have miscalculated based on the jobs available and may be "stuck" with Tampa Bay. This may not be entirely bad, he may do a good job with that team, but he also won't get THAT much more money than he would have gotten with the A's. I'm not surprised about that assessment. We are going through the reverse here in Boston right now as Theo Epstein views himself as the GM in the Beane mold, so he should be the "guy who gets the credit and gets paid" but the Red Sox brass view him more as another of the team of middle managers. So Theo might walk in basically the same fashion. I agree with Billy Beane and thus the Red Sox would be making a huge mistake. LATE WORD: Beane hires Macha back!!!))

Mark D Lew (Sat, 15 Oct 2005 01:19:27 -0700)

Wow, I sure didn't see that coming. When I first saw mention of it, I thought it was a joke!

Crazy stuff. I guess this is how it must have been when Beane went to Boston and then didn't. For that one I was out of the loop for a few weeks and missed it entirely.

gotta run, mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

Mark D Lew (Sun, 16 Oct 2005 04:42:08 -0700)

This probably doesn't mean much to you outside of the Bay Area media market, but looking back over the stories I see that: (1) Susan Slusser had an editorial on Macha's rehiring up on the web less than an hour after the public announcement was made; (2) in the newspaper that same day, Ray Ratto had an editorial speculating about what outsider might get hired. Guess who's in touch with the team and who's not. Ratto is a windbag. I don't think he has any sources at all.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

((I basically think the story was the reality in this case. Macha intended to get another job, but saw that it was likely that Tampa Bay was going to be the only opportunity, with that knowledge, and the knowledge of the cold calculating style of Billy Beane, he knew that it was going to be a difficult phone call, but he could get back in with a contract at what Billy Beane was willing to pay. I'm not really that surprised.))

Mark D Lew (Mon, 17 Oct 2005 23:54:05 -0700)

But around here the "story" was that Macha's phone call really wasn't intended renegotiate. It came out of collegial post-employment communication (which the A's organization is known for) that eventually turned around to the idea of a rehire, even though that wasn't anyone's original intention. Whether that's actually what happened, I don't know, but that was the story.

POSTSCRIPT: It seems that what "the story" was depends on whether the writer interviewed Macha or Beane....

Today A's picked up Payton's contract. If I'd had to guess on this I probably would have guessed no, but it was close to 50-50, I thought. Yabu is gone, which is zero surprise. Still no word on Hatteberg's option, but everyone knows they won't pick that up. The question is whether they let him go outright or renegotiate a new one-year contract at a lower rate. If Hatteberg is signed it would be as a bench player and veteran presence. I think it's pretty clear his days as a starter are over, but they might still like him on the team as a backup.

POSTSCRIPT: People are already speculating that we signed him just to use as trade bait. We'll see how that plays out. At this point, probably even Billy doesn't know; he loves to keep his options open.

mdl, markdlew of earthlink.net

THE ABYSSINIAN PRINCE GAMES SECTION

"So I called up George and he called up Jim, I said let's make a deal.

He said he'd talk to him. Gonna start a church where you can save yourself,

You can make some noise, When you've got no choice...

You told me useful things, what people think of me, I guess I should thank you.

It's true, then I agree... I'm all alone, I've got no choice,

I'm all alone, I've got no choice."

From "Got No Choice" by the incomparable Mark Cutler, from the CD Mark Cutler and Useful Things.

If you want to submit orders, press, or letters by E-Mail, you can find me through the Internet system at "burgess of world.std.com". If anyone has an interest in having an E-Mail address listed so people can negotiate with you by computer, just let me know. FAX orders to (401) 277-9904 if you let me know in advance to be sure the fax machine is set up.

I am continuing to note cut or failed support orders with a small "s" instead of a capital "S". This will make it easier on the E-Mailed version of the szine to see what happened, since the italics don't show there. The italics DO show on the web page just fine.

Standby lists:

Mike Barno, Dick Martin, Brad Wilson, Jack McHugh, Glenn Petroski, Steve Emmert, Mark Kinney, Vince Lutterbie, Eric Brosius, Paul Rauterberg, Bob Osuch, Doug Kent, Sean O'Donnell, Vern Parker, Heath Gardner, Paul Kenny, Jeff O'Donnell, and Dan Gorham stand by for regular Diplomacy.

Let me know if you want on or off these lists, especially OFF. Standbies get the szine for free and receive my personal thanks.

GAME OPENING INFORMATION

We've got lots of openings in the subszines, check them out!!! Especially, contact Rip Gooch for Railway Rivals, see Rip's subszine elsewhere in most issues of TAP. Come on, help me out!!! Contact Rip Gooch directly at xyropedes of canada.com. Rip has been a bit missing in action lately, but I am assured that he SHALL return.

I'm ready to start a new Breaking Away game, who's interested??? Challenge David Partridge again as he is in, so is Alexander Woo. Anyone else?

I am willing to open another new game if there is enough interest!!! Also, is there any interest in another game of Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire 7x7 Dip? I know it may be getting tired, but I really like it. We have Karl Schmit and Sean O'Donnell on the list, let's get seven!! It's FREE!!!

I also am starting a game of the variant I designed, Spy Diplomacy. Signups for that are now open. I'll publish the rules shortly or you can look at them at www.variantbank.org. Bruce Edwards and Eric Ozog are signed up. I'll try to remember to punch in the rules in the next issue.

John Harrington is offering to guest GM a game of Office Politics. Any interest in that?? Let me or John know! Jody McCullough and Bruce Edwards are interested, anyone else?

And since Colonia is over, Harold Reynolds is looking to start something else.

Also, I am going to design some postal rules for Devil Take the Hindmost, and we have an opening here: Bruce Edwards, Mike Barno, and Eoghan Barry are signed up. Postal rules from me will be forthcoming shortly, on my never ending to-do list. I will get them in SOON! I'm more likely to get these things started if I see some interest..... I've GOT to do this now, Eoghan is getting tired of waiting....

Right now, the other thing going is the Modern Diplomacy game with Wings. Sean O'Donnell, Bob Holt, Rick Desper, Alexander Woo, Dave Partridge, and Eric Ozog are signed up for that. I will start it when I get a full complement of players, the other Modern game is now done!

TAKING OVER ISHKIBIBBLE'S REGULAR DIPLOMACY GAMES

I'll be taking over Phil Reynolds' two regular Diplomacy games somewhere in TAP. One is going to Harold Reynolds' subszine, since Colonia is over and I'll take the other. YOU WILL HEAR FROM ME BEFORE NEXT ISSUE ON THIS!!! I call for orders from everyone NOW, and whichever game looks easier to start I will give to Harold. I have Phil's last issue, #44, but that was published way back in December of 2003. I'm not sure if people have moved or whatever in that time, so a little help would be appreciated. And I hope everyone comes back, but I might need some standbys. I am STILL not hearing from too many of you!!! I'm going to start nagging so I can get these restarted. Please let me know if you care playing, thanks to Karl Schmit for responding each time that he's in....

Us and Them: Winter 1901 was published and it was early on, but I think I can find all the players. Hank Alme (Austria), Karl Schmit (England), John Power (Germany), Tim Snyder (Italy), and Fred Wiedemeyer (Russia) are all here already and Paul Boymel (Turkey) and Marc Ellinger (France) are locatable. Please let me know if you plan to continue!!!

We are the Champions: This one is even earlier, ONLY Spring 1901 had been published. But again, most of the players are around here, and I've located Paul Boymel (Italy) and Marc Ellinger (Turkey). Dave Partridge (Austria) is here of course, Graham Wilson (England) is just joining us, Fred Wiedemeyer (France) and Kevin Wilson (Germany) are here. Paul Risner probably is not going to be able to continue in the game.

You can find that last issue of Phil's szine at:

http://www.diplom.org/DipPouch/Postal/Zines/ishkibibble/ishkibibble_44.pdf

Call for orders is NOW, the next season after the results above. You should already have submitted these before. Then I'll give one of the games to Harold.

SPIRALS OF PARANOIA: 2005A, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1902 IS OCTOBER 29TH, 2005

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1902 IS NOVEMBER 19TH, 2005

Spring 1902

AUSTRIA (Rauterberg): a vie-GAL, a SER S f alb-gre, a BUD S a vie-gal, f alb-GRE.

ENGLAND (Wiedemeyer): a edi-YOR, a nwy-SWE, f NTH S f nwg-nwy, f nwg-NWY.

FRANCE (Tretick): f mar-SPA(SC), f bre-MID, a spa-GAS, f mid-IRI, a POR h.

GERMANY (Ozog for Tallman): a KIE-ber, a MUN-sil, f BER-bal,

a hol-RUH, a BEL h, f DEN S ENGLISH a nwy-swe.

ITALY (O'Donnell): a ven-TUS, a APU-gre, a tun-NAF, f ION C a apu-gre.

RUSSIA (Sundstrom): a WAR-sil, a sev-ARM, f BUL(EC)-bla, a RUM s AUSTRIAN a ser-bul (nso),

a FIN S ENGLISH a nwy-swe, f GOB-bal.

TURKEY (Biehl): f ANK-bla, f AEG S a con-bul, a con-BUL.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Paul Rauterberg, 3116 W. American Dr., Greenfield, WI 53221,

(414) 281-2339 (E-Mail) trauterberg of wi.rr.com

ENGLAND: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,

(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net

FRANCE: Buddy Tretick, 9607 Conaty Circle Spotsylvania, VA 22553-1953

cell (540) 226-5771 (E-Mail) berniebuddy32 of aol.com

GERMANY: Terry Tallman, PO Box 782, Clinton, WA 98236, (360) 331-5698 ($2)

terryt of whidbey.net

GERMANY: Temporary Standby is Eric Ozog, PO Box 1138, Granite Falls, WA 98252-1138,

(360) 691-4264, ElfEric of Juno.com

ITALY: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728,

(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell)

RUSSIA: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,

Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net

TURKEY: John Biehl, #8 - 11530 84th Avenue, Delta, BRITISH COLUMBIA, V4C 2M1 CANADA,

(604) 591-1832 ($7); jrb of dccnet.com

Game Notes:

1) Terry is still having some medical problems, but rather than hold up the game anymore, Eric Ozog has agreed to pay attention to the game and negotiate and submit orders for Terry. We all hope this will be a brief interlude. Eric originally brought Terry into the Diplomacy hobby all those many years ago, and so I'm glad he's agreed to do this.

2) Buddy Tretick is preparing to move, but his new address is not active yet, so I continue to list the current one. If he moves in between deadlines here, he may wish to let other players know directly.

Press:

(PARIS): The overwhelming demands made against the French Government by the English has caused us to reconsider our best hope, thus declaring war against the English. Sorry that the deadline past us by before we made that decision, otherwise we would have sent our declaration earlier, which would have benefited out ally, Russia.

(STAR TREK PRESS, EPISODE TWO, "MESSAGE RECEIVED" (Captain Pike's Log)): I received a communication from the Cardassians requesting a non-aggression pact and that's fine with me. We both are going to send an expedition to Cetae Alpha 6 to search for dilithium but I think the Cardassians will get there first. We are short on resources so we have to try.

(A CONVERSATION BETWEEN 7 OF 9 (7) AND CAPTAIN PIKE (P)):

7: I'm curious how you got away from Talos 4?

P: Talos 4?

7: In my universe, our history shows that you went there twice, the last time as an invalid to live out your life?

P: In this universe, I never went to Talos 4. The Enterprise led by Captain Jim Kirk went there and was never heard from again. The Andorians also sent a ship there, and it also was never heard from again.

7: Then this universe is an alternate reality?

P: Apparently I've been transported 75 years into the future. Maybe we should see who our shipmates are? (At that moment, a young boy about 10 years old walks into the Conference Room with a mechanical robot at his side.)

P (A little confused, looks at him): Who are you and who is your friend?

THE BOY (Looking a little puzzled himself, looks at Captain Pike): My name is Will Robinson, and I'm the Chief Engineer. This is my assistant, Robby the Robot. (bad Trek music!)

7: Wait a minute, you can't be Chief Engineer.

WILL ROBINSON (W): Why not?

7: First, you're too young! Second, this is a Star Trek spinoff series! You belong on Lost in Space! And third, we need a warp engine specialist, not a jump gate specialist! ((Did they really have Jump Gates on Lost in Space.....?))

W: I think it's a Union thing!

P: Wow! I really miss Gene Roddenberry!.... (Bad Lost in Space music) ((Well, I don't know, I think Gene got in lots of Union trouble.... especially with the pot smoking.... and the casting couch fooling around.))

P: I guess it doesn't matter, the children of Tamari are just going to wipe us out anyway....

(OZOG-WORLD): I am merely the steward of Germany until the Toadfather's return, and will carry out his orders. All previous arrangements, relationships, (and lack thereof) are still valid.

(JIM-BOB to OLD FRIEND ERIC): I cannot think of another person who would be better to fill in for the Toadfather than you and I thank you profusely for doing it!

(ERIC-UNCLE BERNIE): And the Toadfather says you still speak with forked tongue, no matter how you package it.

(BOOB CAN'T HELP COMMENTING): It seems like EVERYONE wanted England to have Sweden, isn't that strange??? I'm not sure in all my years of dipping if I've seen quite that set of moves.

FLIP FLOP: 2003G, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR WINTER 1905 IS OCTOBER 29TH, 2005

THE DUE DATE FOR SPRING 1906 IS NOVEMBER 19TH, 2005

Fall 1905

AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer): a apu-NAP, a ven-ROM, a gal-UKR, a stp-nwy (d r:fin,lvn.otb),

a ukr-MOS, a tri-VEN.

ENGLAND (Schmit): a HOL h, f ENG-mid, f POR S f mid-spa(sc), a bel-BUR,

f MID-spa(sc), f NWY S a mos-stp, f NTH-eng, a mos-STP.

FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell): f wes-TUN, a BRE prays (holds), f GOL S a gas-spa,

a spa-MAR, a GAS-spa.

GERMANY (Sundstrom): f BAL S f den-swe, a kie-DEN, a pru-WAR, a SIL S a pru-war, f den-SWE.

ITALY (Williams): f ion h (d r:apu,adr,eas,otb), f TYH h, a PIE h.

RUSSIA (Sean O'Donnell): a war h (d r:gal,lvn,otb).

TURKEY (Levinson): f aeg-ION, a bul-SER, f GRE S f aeg-ion, f BLA S a rum,

a SEV S AUSTRIAN a ukr-mos, a RUM S a bul-ser.

Supply Center Chart

AUSTRIA (Wiedemeyer):

TRI,VIE,BUD,ven,rom,nap

(has 5 or 6, bld 1 or 2(r:otb))

mos

ENGLAND (Schmit):

EDI,LVP,LON,nwy,stp,bel,

(has 8, even)

hol,por

FRANCE (Jeff O'Donnell):

PAR,MAR,BRE,spa,tun

(has 5, even)

GERMANY (Sundstrom):

KIE,BER,MUN,den,swe,war

(has 5, bld 1)

ITALY (Williams):

none

(out)

RUSSIA (Sean O'Donnell):

none

(out)

TURKEY (Levinson):

ANK,SMY,CON,bul,sev,rum,

(has 6, bld 2)

ser,gre

Neutral:

none

(Total=34)

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Fred Wiedemeyer, Box 92010-Meadowbrook RPO, Edmonton, ALBERTA CANADA T6T 1N1,

(780) 465-6432, wiedem of planet.eon.net

ENGLAND: Karl Schmit, 1509 O'Keefe Road, DePere, WI 54115, (920) 338-8402,

diplomacy of new.rr.com ($4)

FRANCE: Jeff O'Donnell, 402 Middle Ave., Elyria, OH 44035-5728,

(440) 322-2920 or (440) 225-9203 (cell)

GERMANY: Matt Sundstrom, 1760 Robincrest Lane South, Glenview, IL 60025, (847) 729-1882,

Matt.Sundstrom of bbdoch.com or mattandzoe of earthlink.net

ITALY: Don Williams, 27505 Artine Drive, Saugus, CA 91350, (661) 297-3947,

wllmsfmly of earthlink.net or dwilliams of fontana.org

RUSSIA: Sean O'Donnell, 1044 Wellfleet Drive, Grafton, OH 44044, (440) 926-0230,

sean_o_donnell of hotmail.com

TURKEY: Alexandre Levinson, 1, allee des Marniquets, 78430 Louveciennes FRANCE, don't need phone,

levinson7 of hotmail.com ($5)

Game Notes:

1) Note that Sean still should submit a retreat as it might affect an outcome in the game. But thanks, Sean, for playing!!! Don's retreat matters less, but thanks also to Don for playing. That's two players out in Fall 1905, five of you remaining. I think this season ranks among some of the largest center shifts among all the powers I've seen in a dip game, not necessarily the most builds and removals, but lots of center trading and jockeying, even among those who nominally are even for Winter. Now what?

Press:

(SEAN-JEFF): Well, it looks as though I've beaten Dad in making bad decisions for marriage. Kinda funny if you look at it in a certain point of view because now it makes Russia and France look oh so good.

(JIM-BOB to SEAN): I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means.....

(CAPTAIN'S LOG): It's just a matter of time. The Romulans are coming and we have no allies. The Klingons are about to get exterminated, we have lost one starbase to the Romulans and have a 50-50 shot at losing another. The only good news is that our Breen allies are wiping out the Tribbles and we might pick up a starbase. Mr. Spock estimates our chances of that are about 1 in 3. We don't have the resources to stop the Romulans and 7 of 9 is still missing. There will be no help from the Ferengi. The only good thing is the Tribbles will fall before we will (Yippee!).... Kirk Out.

(BOOB to JEFF): I just had to add that, it needed to be said....

I CAN'T FIND MY MONEY!: 2001F, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1911 IS OCTOBER 29TH, 2005

Summer 1911

AUSTRIA (Parker): has f ALB, f TYH, a VIE, a GAL, f ION,

a PIE, a BUL, a TUS, a VEN, a SEV, a NAP, a SER, a STP, f GRE.

ENGLAND (Kinney): has a LON.

FRANCE (Kent): has a PAR, a SPA, a LVP, f PIC, f TUN.

GERMANY (Wilson): R a pic-BEL; has f HOL, a MUN, f NTH, a BUR, f ENG,

a BEL, a NWY, a MAR, f EDI, a RUH.

TURKEY (Miller): has f AEG, a ARM, a CON.

Addresses of the Participants

AUSTRIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139

VernDip of aol.com is preferred

ENGLAND: Mark Kinney, 4830 Westport Road, Apt D, Louisville KY 40222

alberich of iglou.com

FRANCE: Douglas Kent - Unit E, #30694-177, Federal Correctional Institution McKean,

PO Box 8000, Bradford, PA 16701

GERMANY: Kevin Wilson, 18623 Santa Maria Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70809, 225-751-3857,

ckevinw1 of cox.net

ITALY: Formerly was Heath Gardner, 1510 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro, NC 27403-1207

metaphorman of gmail.com

ITALY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883

mpbarno of lightlink.com

RUSSIA: Rick Desper, 5440 Marinelli Road, #204, Rockville, MD 20852

(301) 977-7691, rick_desper of yahoo.com

TURKEY: Tim Miller, 258 New Mark Esplanade, Rockville, MD 20850,

tim of webjudge.net

GM: Jim-Bob Burgess, 664 Smith Street, Providence, RI 02908-4327, +1 401-351-0287

burgess of world.std.com

Game Notes:

1) The GA-GA draw proposal has been defeated. We now have the GA-GA reproposed, along with a GAFT and a FAGET. Please vote with your fall orders. If you think I don't know your vote, be SURE to tell me, otherwise your vote is NO.

Press:

SECRETS: 1999D, Regular Diplomacy

THE DUE DATE FOR SUMMER 1920 IS OCTOBER 29TH, 2005

THE DUE DATE FOR FALL 1920 IS NOVEMBER 19TH, 2005

Spring 1920

ENGLAND (Brosius): f LON h, a GAS S FRENCH f mar, f NAO S f mid, a KIE S FRENCH a mun,

f MID S FRENCH f spa(sc), f ENG S f mid, f HOL S a kie, f POR S FRENCH f spa(sc).

FRANCE (Sasseville): f MAR s f spa(sc), f SPA(SC) s f mar, a mun s a bur (d r:ruh,otb),

a BUR S a mun.

GERMANY (Barno): a CON s ENGLISH f mid-bul (imp, no coast specified ;-) ).

RUSSIA (Parker): a MOS S a pru-war, a lvn-STP, a BER S TURKISH a sil-mun,

f bal-DEN, a stp-NWY, a pru-WAR.

TURKEY (Linsey): a ank-ARM, a UKR h, a war-SIL, f WES-spa(sc), a SEV h,

f GOL S f wes-spa(sc), a sil-MUN, a GAL S a war-sil, f NAF S f wes, f smy-AEG,

a TYO S a sil-mun, f PIE-mar, a BOH S a sil-mun.

Addresses of the Participants

ENGLAND: Eric Brosius, 53 Bird Street, Needham, MA 02492

eric.brosius of comcast.net

FRANCE: Roland Sasseville, Jr., 38 Bucklin Street, Pawtucket, RI 02861, (401) 481-4280 ($0)

roland6 of cox.net and ICQ: 40565030

GERMANY: Mike Barno, 634 Dawson Hill Road, Spencer, NY 14883, (607) 589-4906

mpbarno of lightlink.com

RUSSIA: Vern Parker, 337 Winter Hill Place, Powell, OH 43065, (614) 402-5139

VernDip of aol.com is preferred

TURKEY: Bruce Linsey, PO Box 234, Kinderhook, NY 12106

GonzoHQ of aol.com

Game Notes:

1) The FREGT draw is rejected and then reproposed. We now require everyone to vote every season, no perpetual draw votes. And failure to vote would be a yes. So actually technically you don't HAVE to vote, since this does NOT mean the game will just be ended by the GM, it just means someone must veto the draw every turn. So it is just draw vetoers who must vote. At least one person continues to veto the proposal. This proviso will be in place at least until the Fall turn. At that point, we'll see if anything substantial actually changes.

Press:

FINDING THE COMMUNITY: Breaking Away, Designer's Rules

CONGRATULATIONS TO RICK DESPER WHO HUNG ON FOR THE VICTORY!!!

Game Notes:

1) The rules are on the TAP website in the Tinamou section. Ask if you have any questions. New game start in this, who wants to play again (or for the first time)??? We have two signed up so far, see the list in the game opening section. I want to start this up soon, so sign up!!!

Press:

Personal Note to You:

File translated from T_EX by T_TH, version 3.35.
On 20 Oct 2005, 14:53.