Cleaning out the Inbox

The sports inbox cleaning concludes with a few notes from outside the baseball world.

The recent documentary on Michael Jordan was one that I had no problems skipping because I had seen that film before.
Mainly because it almost always ended with Jordan leading North Carolina over Maryland, the Bulls getting by the Cavaliers and I didn't need to see those endings again.

However, one episode covered Jordan's "Shot" that began his dominance over Cleveland and placed the Cavaliers firmly in a group of teams that could have been great but were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ron Harper claimed that he told Cavaliers coach Lenny Wilkens that he would "take" Jordan defensively on the inbounds pass that led to Jordan's shot over Craig Ehlo for the Bulls win, but Wilkens refused Harper's request and placed Ehlo in the defensive position.

Sports Illustrated writes of what Really may have doomed those Cavaliers against those Bulls as SI discusses the story behind Cleveland's trade of Harper to the Clippers for Danny Ferry.
Most of this story has been written in a book that is over twenty-five years old now, but it is essential history to getting to know the Cavaliers of the 70s and 80s.
Cavs from Fitch to Fratello by Joe Menzer and Burt Graeff isn't available on Kindle, but for a Cavalier fan, it is a must for your library.
As for the poster, I had this at one time and I am not sure if it is still around somewhere or not.

The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix writes about the CFL simulation board game "Sports Action" and the cult following that the game continues to have with players even today.
The article talks to Terry Appleby, the creator of the game that sold the game out of his home from 1974-89 before selling his game to another company, who promptly shuttered the game thereafter to eliminate a competitor as well as a man named "Garth" who provides downloads of ratings for players from every season since to keep the game up to date.


The Athletic writes of the one-season record holder in passing yards in B.J. Symons of Texas Tech, who threw for 5,833 yards in 2003 for the Red Raiders.
Symons, who played in 13 games that season, held off Joe Burrow's run last season to keep the passing record, although Burrow did take Symons' total offense record in his 15 game season.
As a Tech fan, I saw many of those games and Symons was the first to prove that in the Mike Leach system that a quarterback with a quick release can thrive as Symons had sat behind Kliff Kingsbury for three seasons in Lubbock before getting his chance to play.
Symons injured his knee midway through the season, which cost him his mobility against the rush and a small drop in his play before finishing tenth in Heisman voting.
Symons would be drafted in the seventh round by Houston and played one year for the Texans before bouncing around various minor leagues.


I am going to add one goodbye to this post as it's the one person that really doesn't fit into the subjects of the two tribute posts in the words as Pepper Rodgers passed away at the age of 88.
The colorful and media-savvy Rodgers was a fun coach to watch and listen, but you wonder how good he was as a coach in college stops at Kansas, UCLA, and Georgia Tech, Rodgers compiled a record of 73-65-3 with only two bowl teams.
To be fair, two of his three UCLA teams would have been bowl teams had the archaic Pac 8 (at the time) rule of only the champion could make the postseason, but still not an outstanding record by any means.
Pepper was much better known to me as the coach of the two seasons of the Memphis Showboats in the USFL and the one year tenure of the Memphis Mad Dogs in the CFL.
Rodgers took the Showboats to an 11-7 record in their second year, won a playoff game over the Denver Gold before losing in Oakland in the league semi-finals.
Rodgers might have been a better personnel man than a coach as many of the Showboat players would move onto NFL careers after the two-year life of the Showboats, including players such as Reggie White and Tim Spencer among others.
Rodgers also was the coach/personnel man that discovered Joe Horn with the CFL Mad Dogs before Horn would become a star with the Chiefs and Saints.

Title Bout

I've written before about playing various games through the years and even yesterday with what I've been playing with Action PC during quarantine, but I'm not sure that I have ever written about the game that I played before any other.

Title Bout was a board game from the company Avalon Hill and had licensing for their sports games from Sports Illustrated.
SI often carried ads in their magazine for the sports games from Avalon Hill, which had some popularity, but not to the degree of their top competitors in Strat-O-Matic and APBA. Even at that age, I was a rabid boxing fan, so it was Title Bout that I wanted most.

The first edition came out in 1979, and strategy games were usually something that didn't hit stores in Hagerstown in an era of only a few places to shop.

Hagerstown did have two toy stores, neither of which would remind anyone of Toys R Us, but an occasion to visit either was one to relish.

One was located on the outskirts of downtown and wasn't really a part of retail shopping, as it wasn't near the downtown shopping area.

At the turn of the decade, Hagerstown's downtown area was already showing the signs of deterioration from the Long Meadow Shopping Center's arrival in the late '60s and the Valley Mall's 1974 opening, but still, Juvenile Sales wasn't even a convenient stop from there, as anyone familiar with the one-way maze-like streets that plague the Hub City to this day.

My mom might have taken me to Juvenile once or twice a year as a kid, and I only remember bits of information about the store.
I remember more about their move to the North End, into what was then vacated by the Safeway grocery store, in an attempt to stay alive.
I took Ryan there a lot as a small child, but they didn't last more than a few years before going out of business.

The other store was KB Toys, which would file for bankruptcy in 2009, but at its peak, KB Toys seemed to be in every mall in the country, and if your town didn't have a Toys R Us, KB Toys was the closest thing, even though it was small and somewhat limited in its stock.

However, KB Toys must have signed an agreement with Avalon Hill as they sold a few of the sports games, but mostly the company's war and historical games, which could be quite hard to understand at my age (or even older, as I remember my buddy Greg and I buying t

heir Vietnam game and being so confused that we returned it!) were the main portion of the supply.
One day, as I looked around KB, I discovered Title Bout in stock, and it was at the top of my want list.

I don't recall the expense, but it was a bit salty for me at the time to just purchase or have my mom buy for me without a reason.
My guess is that it was around 15 dollars, so in the early 80s, fifteen dollars was equal (to this chart anyway) to 47 dollars today.

I do recall how I bought it, though.
As a kid, I always wanted to work in sportscasting, and although I was a pretty decent player in Little League, I had no illusions of being a future pro.
Still, I was moving up to senior league (then ages 13,14, and 15) and was on the field warming up during tryouts, when my dad called to me.
The senior league had just two teams and I was afraid I'd get drafted by one that was managed by a gentleman with an agenda- I had made the All-Star team over his son the previous year and we both played first base and my dad had told me that this fellow had told him he wanted to draft me and "with my son and Shawn" we should be set.
Dad knew how that was going to go- his son would be at first base and I'd be exiled to the outfield, which didn't exactly fit my less-than-nimble skillset!
Dad told me this, but he had other news- I could leave right now and talk to a league president to be the "voice" of the league from the press box, announcing the game, keeping score, and not to be underestimated- earn twenty dollars a week!

That was a huge sum, and having money in my pocket to do something I loved (did I mention money?) certainly beat playing out of position and seldom behind someone that I had proven to be the superior player.
I never played another organized baseball game again, but I spent four years in the booth and loved every minute of it.

Title Bout was my purchase with my first payday, and that game traveled with me everywhere.
It was in the booth as I held matches between innings.
It was on my lap on vacations to Ohio, Arkansas, and Florida (watch the video below to imagine the two boards across my lap in the back seat) and it even (along with other games) traveled with me in the car to help pass the time between the end of the school day and dates with Cherie, if I couldn't find a pickup basketball game to play in.

I won't get too detailed about the game itself because you can watch the video below ( if interested, you'll understand the logistics of the game) and get a feel for the game and what the board and fighter cards looked like, but the one thing that I didn't like about the game was the gameplay without dice.
Using "action" cards as Avalon Hill did, you could start expecting certain results to happen in the deck (if they had not been played to that point), and it took some of the spontaneity from the game that dice rolls can bring away.

This was a trademark of Avalon Hill games, as we played Statis Pro football a lot with Greg, Ryan, and me over the years, and you could almost feel a big play coming up (Handoff to Bruce Harper) from the card deck.

I had eight-man tournaments, sixteen-man tournaments, title defenses, and supercards brought to mind from the greats of the fight game and the stars of the late 70s (remember my card set was 1979 or 1980), which would often be named by whatever place that I was playing at or watching on TV.
I had tons of this stuff that is either gone or in the attic somewhere, and I remember playing after work with two guys that I worked with inside the restaurant (Super Show at the Burger Dome?) as we fried up various burgers that never hit the menu at Burger Chef.

Title Bout was the first of many sports games that I've played, and what I like best about sports games is that they are only constrained by the imagination, even to this day, with the computer games that I play.
Title Bout is still in the attic, and I think Ryan even played it some when he was still at home, and even if I never play it again, I don't have the heart to move it along.

Too many memories and too many nights spent with the company of cards like Alfonso Zamora, Yoko Gushiken, and Danny "Little Red" Lopez to recall to give to Goodwill or sell for a few quarters on eBay.

The passings are already filling up sadly, but I'll be cleaning the inbox next time with a few articles of interest.

Strat O Matic-the game I love....

I like video games.
Not ashamed to admit it,after all-I was part of the first generation to make home video games a huge success having had the less popular,but far superior Intellivision to the more mainstream Atari 2600.
I am sure that I can make a future post out of just Intellivision,but even as a gamer to this day-Mainly MLB the Show right now,but I have others,there is one game that ranks above the rest and it is soundless with the exception of dice clinking on a table.Strat O Matic baseball.

I have always loved sports simulation games,starting with Title Bout,a boxing game made by the Avalon Hill game company.
Title Bout tended to go almost everywhere I went for years and even though the game cards are not sold anymore,there is an online version available even today.

Ultimate College Basketball and Statis Pro Football were other passions of mine and I remember many a night filled with Statis Pro marathons,but the one constant from the day I started to this very day is Strat O Matic baseball.
Seasons replays,leagues drafted in various formats (usually either a six team with draft picks of players I wanted in the league from the unused teams or a league that combined each team with an AL and NL affiliate),you name it-I likely have either done it or at least started it.
I play the advanced or super advanced version and the game usually travels with me wherever I go with the dice,pitchers hitting cards and a few teams.
It all fits into a baggie,so space is not a factor at all.

I enjoy players that play similar to actual performance and as close as MLB the Show can get,it still comes down the skill with the thumb!
Strat O Matic does just that and is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary of being in the business.
I have seasons ranging from 1941 to 2004 (I just don't enjoy the newer seasons as much) and I have "Friended" SOM on Facebook as they have an item of the week at 50% off.
This week was the 41 season,but I am hoping that sooner or later that one of the seasons that I really want hits the half off sale,such as 1948 (Indians title),1960 and 1971 (Pirates title) or any of the great Sandy Koufax seasons are eventual musts as well.
The current replay at work is the 1978 Indians,a dull team to most,but the dull teams are the most enjoyable for me.
It is fun seeing if you could improve a bad teams record over their actual record.

The game ranges from very simple to quite detailed,but either way there are players that generally perform to their real life statistics.
Sometimes I play more than others,but SOM is usually around my life in some way and I cannot imagine it ever going by the wayside.
If you love baseball,I mean truly love it and all the numbers that the game brings with it,I could not recommend the game more.
Nothing makes one think of spring more on a snowy night than a game of SOM where 1951 comes to life with the Giants taking on the Dodgers.

Photo Credit
Game Cards;Austin Gisreil
Dice:Strat O Matic.com