Obscure seasons that I need!

   I've written in the past about my love of simulation sports games.

I used the "tabletop" dice version for years to the point of always having dice and a few baseball teams with me in my bag. But transitioned to the PC version (and from Strat O Matic to Action in a different story for another day) mainly for one reason - the ease of keeping statistics!

I used to have Ryan keep them for me as a way to work on his math skills (and I hated doing it, wink wink), but the age of PC gaming allows stats to be kept on the go and avoids all the tedious record keeping, which makes the game fun but takes time away from playing the game!

Dave Koch Sports has a strong community of players who create what they call "Homebrew" seasons. which are seasons that don't have enough interest to be worth creating by the company, with the time involved, yet are created by others for the game to use.

They might not be quite as accurate as one created by the Action company, but they are pretty close and are still enjoyable to play!

Here are a few obscure seasons from leagues that aren't available from the company or homebrews that I'd love to see someone make.

Keep in mind that I have all four team sports that DKS develops games for, but some sports have more oddball leagues than others!

Baseball doesn't have many leagues or seasons to offer the oddball player, as the sport has few upstart challengers.

For Baseball, I'd select a Japanese baseball season from the early 2000s when Daisuke Matsuzaka and Koji Uehara were at their best, and I'd add the 2014 South Atlantic League when the Hagerstown Suns won the SAL Northern Division title before losing the title series to the Asheville Tourists in a full five-game series.

I also wish DKS would consider adding a College World Series edition each year, with all the teams that played in the regionals on the "Road to Omaha".

Football has many seasons, but I'd love the 1999 CFL season, although when you play CFL seasons on Action, some of the Canadian flavor cannot be adjusted, as you have to play four-down play rather than the CFL's three-down version.

I also wish there were a version of the Alliance of American Football that played eight games of a ten-game season before going out of business in 2019.

Editor's Note: Someone just did an AAF season as of July 2025!

My top choice would be a 1974 WFL season; someone did a homebrew, but much of the information is wrong, and a better version would be welcomed!

The basketball game has the NBA and the ABA seasons available and college seasons of interest, but I would like to see some Olympic tournaments offered.

Someone made the famous 1972 tournament for the game, but no others have been created, so any from 1976 to the present would be appreciated.

The NHL and WHA are available for play, as is the 1980 Olympics for the hockey game, but I would like to see other Olympic tournaments or the old Canada Cup tournament for additions.

An AHL season or two would be welcome to add some new logos to the game, also!

Dave hasn't seemed interested in adding games to his roster, but if I had to choose new games, I would add Boxing ( I sorely miss the old Title Bout game!), Soccer (the teams from all the English leagues), and horse racing, especially if the great runners from history were involved.

If you enjoy sports like I do and need more than button pushing to enjoy them, take a look at the DKS website. It has brought a little bit of fun at times when I've needed it most, and even when I haven't! 

A little of this, A little of that

Well, since the manager of Mikkel LesPierre couldn't bother to stay Covid-Clean while entering the Top Rank bubble, the main event of the card and the only boxing challenge bout of the evening was canceled, I'll try to add a few notes on some various topics.


My frustration with baseball grows and deepens as the owners continue to shove a shortened and gimmicky season at players and fans as one of many things that cause me to feel like the game is eating itself on the way to disinterest.
Forcing the universal DH for the 2020 season is one thing, it's another to keep it for 2021.
When you work any job or deal with a government, you realize one general rule- Something added is seldom to be taken away.

There is almost a one hundred percent chance that we have seen the last game played under the original player lineup with the nine players on the field all in the batting lineup and I think that is sad.
I know there is a place for the designated hitter and I'm not really a DH hater, but I do prefer the National League game.
There is more than one flavor or style of anything, and there could be room for both versions of the game, and if it shortchanges a few teams (from both leagues) during interleague play, so be it.

Take this, the changes that have been sampled in the minors (but not installed), the looming destruction of the minors, and the other ridiculous ideas that Rob Manfred's office has considered and you have a recipe for a game that I don't recognize.
Rob Manfred continues to chase a fan that baseball will never catch as he snatches the game that long-time fans love away as Lucy moves the football from Charlie Brown.

Ohio State signed an agreement to play Alabama in football for the 2027 and 2028 seasons as the best programs of their conferences will battle in the regular season for only the second time and for the first ever at their school site.
The two played in the now-defunct Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium in 1986 with Alabama winning.
The 2027 game will be in Columbus with the return engagement in Tuscaloosa in the following season.
I always like these games as it's good for the best to try to play the best, but the best part is the campus sites as often these are the dreaded neutral site games that take away from the grandeur of the game.

The Athletic ranked the various local broadcasting crews for baseball and the folks that I like fared well in the rankings.
The Giants team of Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, and Amy Gutierrez ranked a very close second to the Mets team of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez as the two were only 0.03 apart for the win at 4.91 to 4.88.

Other favorites- Brewers play-by-play man Brian Anderson helped the Milwaukee team to a sixth-place finish, Cubs analyst Jim Deshaies and his unit ranked in seventh, Tampa's extremely underrated group of Dewayne Staats, former Indian (the other)  Brian Anderson, and Tricia Whitaker landed in the eighth spot overall.

Two TRS favorites that received excellent reviews despite their team finishing deep in the pack were Bob Carpenter of Washington (23rd), Emily Jones of Texas (25th), and Dan Shulman of Toronto (26th), all were mentioned fondly by their fans voters.
The Indians team of Matt Underwood, Rick Manning, and Andre Knott finished in the middle of the league in the 18th position.

As for me and what I've been doing since baseball isn't around and despite the easing of some of the Covid restrictions, I still don't really want to test the other people right now.
I don't see where wearing a mask hurts anyone and it seems like it is more of a "don't tell me what to do" thing than it is a real issue in wearing it.
Feel free to take your chances, just stay away from me (within reason).

I've messed around with the metal detector once, working on clearing the yard of brush that has accumulated for years and nuisance trees that weaken and fall during winter ice and snow and summer thunderstorms, and believe it or not- I did get a reading of something metal under the brush!
I figured that for just a dirt patch, and I haven't been able to access the area directly, but I am excited to test that area when everything is moved out!

As for television, I'm still watching the same shows as I mentioned last time out- Once Upon A Time (Just started season six), Without A Trace (middle of season two), and the Spanish with sub-titled Monzon (episode three).
I have to really have time to concentrate when watching Monzon as I have to read the subtitles, so I usually watch alone and not when doing anything else.

In the gaming world. I've been stuck in the basketball world with the ABA and the Kentucky Colonels.
The Colonels had to win their last game to finish in a tie for second in the Eastern Division with St.Louis and hold homecourt advantage in their first-round playoff matchup against those Spirits.
They did so and grabbed the second seed clinching a winning record at 43-41.
Considering in real life, those same Colonels won 58 games (losing only 26) and won the division over the New York Nets (the division winners by six games over the Colonels and Spirits in this replay) by winning a one-game tiebreaker against the Nets.
The coaching by your humble author likely contributed far more to the sixteen extra losses than the luck of the game, but as the season moved on, I improved in my in-game coaching.
I'm interested to see the results of my next basketball project to evaluate my coaching.
Anyway, I have been playing the entire playoffs and of this writing, I finished the Western semi-finals earlier tonight at the road office.
Here are the playoff results

Eastern Division
Semi-Finals-Best of Five
New York (1) over Memphis (4) 3 games to 2
Kentucky (2) over St.Louis (3) 3 games to 0

Finals-Best of Seven
Kentucky (2) over New York (1) 4 games to 2

Western Division
Semi-Finals-Best of Five
Indiana (1) over Utah (4) 3 games to 1
Denver (3) over San Antonio (2) 3 games to 2

Finals-Best of Seven
Indiana (1) over Denver (3) 4 games to 3.

This places Kentucky against Indiana in the ABA Finals- the exact matchup that the real finals saw.
The real fun was in the Western regular season where Indiana and San Antonio finished with the exact same record (52-32) with Denver only one game behind.
All three would have easily won the Eastern Division.

I've played two hockey games with the 1974-75 Kansas City Scouts since the last update, losing to the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in Chicago and stunning the eventual Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers with three goals in the first ten minutes and holding on desperately for a 3-2 win at home.
The Scouts are 6-18-1 for 13 points and last in the Smythe Division, trailing the next team above them, the St.Louis Blues by nine points.
The Scouts and fellow expansion team Washington have the fewest points in the league with the California Golden Seals one point ahead, but Washington has played two more games and California three more at this writing.

I haven't played baseball, but I've been working on adding players, logos, and ballpark pictures as a gentleman that helps at a site for Action fans made "homebrews" of all the 2019 minor leagues.
I've never seen those before, so I downloaded the South Atlantic League, Carolina League, and Eastern League to be able to play those leagues!
I'm really looking forward to giving those a shot, particularly since it looks like it will be the last year of the Hagerstown Suns.

A little of this, a little of that.

In these times when very little news from the sports world is available after the NFL Draft as the other three major sports are in the midst of a roster freeze, it can be a grind after a while to come up with topics to write about.
I've come up with an idea to kill a few columns if the people close to me that I've asked to participate choose to do so.
I'll have no idea how that will turn out, but it might be interesting at a minimum.

Here are a few notes and opinions on items that didn't quite make into Cleaning out the Inbox, but are newsworthy on their own.

Boy, I thought the Indians trade of Corey Kluber was light in its return as it was, but the 80 game suspension of the main piece coming to Cleveland in pitcher Emmanuel Clase for a PED, makes the trade even more questionable.
I know Kluber battled injuries last season, but he was on track for full recovery on the last time that I heard about his status and what looked to be a pure salary dump in December looks awful now with Clase's suspension.
With Clase on the sidelines, the Indians only have another light-hitting outfielder (Delino DeShields Jr) to show for a Cy Young contender as recently as two years ago.

The Browns picked up the fifth-year option on Myles Garrett and David Njoku, which would have been a mild surprise a few months ago in the case of Njoku.
The option doesn't mean more than the Browns will have the pair for the 2021 season, although the Browns are likely to work on a long-term extension for Garrett.
Njoku will be a wait and see candidate for an extension beyond 2021.

The Browns also made a popular move with the fanbase by agreeing to a one year contract with Rashard "Hollywood" Higgins to keep Higgins with the team.
Higgins had fallen deeply out of favor with former coach Freddie Kitchens and rarely saw the field after returning from injury.
Higgins took less money to remain with Cleveland, which will endear him to fans even more and will fight for the third wide receivers spot on the roster.

Since today is supposed to be Kentucky Derby Day and there isn't a Derby to run, Churchill Downs and NBC are running a virtual Derby involving all the Triple Crown winners that you can even bet on.
While I would bet on Citation, such races tend to favor the best known (Secretariat) or the most recent (Justify), but often the winner is one that you wouldn't expect.
I remember attending a computer race at Pimlico for the greatest horses of all-time and the winner in an upset was the great handicap horse Kelso.

What have I been watching during the Covid-Hiatus?
Been mixing up a few series from Netflix and the Roku Networks that aren't on the networks anymore, but I've never watched either at all or from beginning to end.
ABC's Once Upon A Time, CBS's Without A Trace and a Spanish Language mini-series on former middleweight champion Carlos Monzon have been my home viewing while I've been watching the various Star Trek shows at the road office and I'm now starting Deep Space Nine.

And the games?
Well, I've been in a basketball mode and I haven't played any of the other games of late, so it's been a lot of the 1974-75 Kentucky Colonels.
I've rallied the Colonels since the last notation and they have moved into a tie for first with the New York Nets with a record of 19-16, percentage points ahead of the Nets and a half-game ahead of the Spirits of St.Louis.
The Colonels had won five in a row before a blowout loss to the Spurs in San Antonio.
Artis Gilmore leads the team in scoring (25 PPG), rebounds (14.7), and blocks (3.3) while Ted McClain leads the Colonels in assists with 5.1 per game.
Dan Issel is averaging 18 points and 7 rebounds a game, while Louie Dampier is averaging 16 points and just under five assists a game.

Counting Flowers on the Wall

Covid-19 certainly has made keeping busy a challenge without sports.
While I've been working regular hours (and extra this week), I've been trying to follow the edict to stay inside and away from the vulnerable folks.
Decisions to follow or not has to be a choice made by each individual and I respect that, if not agree.

However, I'm not going to live with ending someone's life because I  think Covid-19 cannot reach me, so I've visited no one and seen few other than Ryan, going to work and whomever I would see while gathering supplies.
When I type that, I sound like I'm Radar O'Reilly getting ready to hit Kempo to trade a case of beets for some penicillin to keep the 4077th afloat!

To a certain degree and without live sports and the roster freeze that baseball has enacted due to the virus, it seems like all I've been writing about of late has been tributes.
And while I think of the tributes posts as just that, I can't lie and say too many in a short period isn't pretty depressing.
Many times I feel like I'm just killing time with sorting 2020 Topps Heritage ( If anyone reading this has any of the short prints, let me know as I'm trying to make those as part of my set), binging television shows, playing games, and what seems often to be counting Flowers on the wall.
Hence, the above picture of the Statler Brothers and contrary to popular belief, that photo is not a 1971 Heimberger family outing!
BTW- The Statlers made some great music, but once Lew DeWitt got sick and the little short guy with the shrill voice came in, the Statlers became more of a comedy team that sang rather than a great singing group.


So, what have I been watching and doing specifically?
I've watched the entire run of the CBS program "Under The Dome" which I thought was pretty good for the first two seasons and its final season was pretty weak and I barely finished the season.
I've also finished a long-time favorite in "Cold Case" and Cherie and I have begun "Without A Trace", another past favorite that Cherie and I haven't seen in quite a while.
I've been watching "Star Trek" on DVD at work, finishing the original series and moving on to the 1973 animated version before I'll start "Deep Space Nine".
I always like to bring the shows that lasted a while to the road office because it enables me to skip watching for a bit if I need a change occasionally.
Work has also added "Criminal Minds" as it's on every night as I work and it's pretty good from what I've seen, although some seasons are better than others.
Unlike Cold Case and Without a Trace, Criminal Minds was hit off and on with cast changes and some characters I like better than others, so when they aren't around, those episodes aren't quite as good.

I've also been watching YouTube videos with people who treasure hunt with metal detectors and underwater diving.
I've mentioned that Cherie and Rachel purchased me a detector for Christmas and I'm trying to learn more about how to use it before I take it out seriously.
I might be using it more often this year than I expected with the minor league baseball season heavily shortened at best and eliminated at worst, so I'm enjoying getting to know how detectors work and what to expect.

You might have noticed a lack of sports at this point.
To my surprise, I haven't missed things as much as I expected.
That doesn't mean that I don't miss sports, but that I have been able to fill that hole thus far with other programming.
Let's see if that continues as the quarantine drags on.

And with all this time, I've been playing various seasons of Action PC sports.
I just finished a replay of the 1967 NFL season that ended with the Los Angeles Rams of George Allen defeating Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys in the NFL championship game 20-14 in double overtime to win the title when Rams linebacker Maxie Baughan intercepted a Don Meredith pass and ran twenty-five yards for the championship-winning score.
I was in the middle of that project when the quarantine hit, so that wasn't a new season.
I'll likely be beginning the 1968 AFL season next as I played the 1967 AFL season last year with Joe Namath and the New York Jets winning that title over the Oakland Raiders.

I haven't started a baseball project as I am trying to decide just what season I'd like to play.
When you play a 154 or 162 game season, you see these teams for quite a while, so I want to make sure that I want to play a certain team for a while.
Contenders are the 1951 Giants, 1971 Indians, 1977 Rangers, 1979 Indians, and 1990 Pirates along with a possible "Ball Four" replay in which I replay the 1969 Seattle Pilots until Jim Bouton is traded to Houston and when I would then jump to the Astros.

I've started a hockey season months ago and I've played in starts and stops with the expansion 1974-75 Kansas City Scouts.
The Scouts were terrible and finished ahead of only fellow expansion mate Washington in the standings with a record of 15-54-11.
My version of the Scouts has played about as bad as one would expect with five wins, seventeen losses, and a tie.
The funny part of these Scouts so far- four of their five wins were over Atlanta and Vancouver, both of whom are in first place in their division.
I don't score a lot with the expansion Scouts and as I attempt to compete, I play a much more defensive game to keep the games close.
Kansas City's first-round pick Wilf Paiement, who is one of two players on the team to have a nice career, is tied for the team lead with Ed Gilbert with only seven goals.
Paiement scored 26 goals on the season to tie Simon Nolet for the team lead in the actual season.

I started a basketball season yesterday and decided to move oppositely from the Scouts as I'm playing the same 1974-75 season with the ABA champion Kentucky Colonels.
The Colonels lost their first game 118-113 at home to the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets finished the regular season with the league's best record, so that's not an awful defeat.
Kentucky rebounded to even their record at 1-1 with a 126-117 home win over the Indiana Pacers.
Artis Gilmore scored 28 points in the win with Louie Dampier adding 27 for the victorious Colonels.

There you have it- how I've been running the Four Corners offense to wind down the clock.
Next time, I'll have some recent links of note, and if any of these interests you, let me know.
I might be able to work another post out of this.