still room for both you guys. Still need 5 more. Lets get things moving quicker.

Sorry I've been delayed. Just bought a house and about to lose job, so Aprils been good so far.

And the Mets are 2-0.

Posted by italyprof on 4/4/2012 7:12:00 AM (view original):
Is there room? 1989 Yankees if so. Team is ready to go if there is a hurry to start. 

no hurry. We are all laid back in here. In fact the long time members of this league expect slow starts.

You, on the other hand, have jumped into whatif with both feet. I can't remember the last time I had 1/2 as many active teams as you do right now.

79 Astros

Back to top. Need four more bump.

emperorp, I appreciate the concern, it is true that if I were really trying to manage all these teams to the same degree it would be pretty hectic. But the first 7-8 teams were all created in a short time and were so bad that after trying to fix them up a bit with the WW as I learned some basics, I put them on auto pilot, and just check in now and then. 

So I am really actively managing only about half as many as I have, and the ones I am signing up for on theme leagues will take a while to get started playing, by which time all the early ones will have ended their disastrous seasons, from which I learned much and am grateful (including to a few great players whom I use or will use in the future), and the newer ones, which are doing better (a couple contenders, the rest hovering around .500) will be past All-Star time as well. 

I have long work hours, but with a very flexible schedule, that allows me to check in very frequently. I am a fast learner, in fact I needed to jump in, since if you learn what you did wrong, but wait two months to start another team, you get rusty by the time you are ready to test it and see how well it works out. So each team represents some lesson. 

Many of the people here on WIS have helped me understand my mistakes and given me good advice. Plus I learned to use an Excel spreadsheet to help keep track of teams, which really helps the organization. 

So, both feet it is. I would feel bad toward fellow players about not being more active in managing the early teams I set up, but they are all WAY behind in last place and are little factor in the races in those leagues. So I don't think I am harming much. Though in the future I make it a point to actively manage all the teams I have created since the second round that are now playing and doing somewhat better. 

Don't know how many of you have gone through mid-life crisis yet, but believe me it happens at some point, and since for years all this hyper-energy has gone into writing books, research and other related intellectual activity, and I need a break from it, I have some to spare. At some point I will moderate it probably. But remember what Oscar Wilde said, "moderation for me is as difficult as abstinence is for you !"

Well said italyprof.  And welcome!

Posted by forte4him on 4/11/2012 1:30:00 PM (view original):
Well said italyprof.  And welcome!

italyprof. I hope you weren't getting the wrong idea about what I said. I was not putting you down in anyway.
When a new owner wants to join the league, I take a look at the owners stats and whatnot to get an idea of the kind of owner Wannabe is getting.
I saw that you had a ton of teams, most of them new, and was making a comment about the quantity of teams that you were running.

I think all of the owners in this league have been in your situation before (with tons of teams at the same time and being gung-ho about WIS). Right now most of the owners in this league have been in Wannabe for 30-45+ seasons and (I think) enjoy the laid back approach and timetable that has crept into this league over the last 10 or so seasons. Many of the same owners keep coming back, so I guess they enjoy it.

Also, having an incredibly long black list of teams makes it more exciting as you have to dig to find a team that can even come close to $100 mil. We used over 40% of all teams possible, and I think the black list is the only thing that separates Wannabe from all the other leagues out there.

Thanks for joining, and hopefully you will stick around.

Thank you, I will. Don't worry, I was not offended, and yes, I am probably reproducing the mistakes a lot of other people made long ago. Right now I have divided my teams into three kinds: 

1) The first bunch, when I created teams from enthusiasm without knowing what strategies worked or were disastrous in WIS and these are all around 100 games into their seasons, burning and crashing. I nurtured them with love when I realized their inevitable destiny, got them some decent pitching or a better hitter on the WW, or in a couple cases gutted them to use them for experiments, and as I said before, I am not going to make it a habit to let teams run on their own, but there is not much left to do for these - I check them every few days, occasionally rest a pitcher, but they pretty much lose every day. 

which was the incentive to create the second tier of teams that I am actively managing daily

2) The second bunch. Partly, it was pride as the guy says in "Pulp Fiction" messing with my head. Sitting around watching 6-7 teams lose every day, way back in last, having learned a lot but unable to use it for around 2 months was not my way of doing things. So I created a new set of teams designed specifically for different parks, using what some people here had taught me about how to use advanced stats, what worked, etc. These are all right around .500 which for me means that at least I learned to build competitive teams. Three or four might contend, though it is early in the season, (ca. 50 games so far give or take) and these are the ones I am managing closely. One has been winning a lot, but is in a league with a very strong div. leader and a wildcard race leader with a strong record. My one effort at building a pitching/defense team with a pitchers' park but using mostly modern pitchers is tied for first right now at 20-17. 

3) Theme league teams, which, as probably for many WIS players, is something you are not interested in at first. But eventually you get tired of Joss/Raines etc. and as a practical exercise in learning started experimenting with drafting teams for different themes that I thought were interesting or clever.

Except that then two things happened: first, some of the teams seemed good and I liked them and so instead of just the exercise while I waited for my second round OL teams to complete their seasons, I popped the theme team into a league thinking it would sit there for a few weeks and by then round one teams would be finished with the season and round two teams would be into the last 1/3 of theirs. Mostly that is true but one or two leagues filled faster than expected; second there is almost what I would call a movement I noticed, where a lot of people, myself included started being interested in seeing more "ordinary" players and fewer superstars, and a bunch of leagues with various methods of trying to capture that interest sprung up (Average Joe, Below Average Joe, Balanced Team, Unsung Heroes, No Hall of Fame, and my own Wider Rotation and Platoon) and I found these to be a lot of fun, much more than the nth version of OL teams. 

So I ended up with a lot of teams and at least one league I started. phew. I will slow down though, now, as I think I have gotten most of it out of my system. Drafting is too much fun, very addicting- but I have started just fiddling, without leagues, playing with how high I can get OBP for one team, then dissolving them, (taking notes though), or with SLG, or with whether I can do away with a starting rotation/bullpen split altogether (in radical sociology we call this "abolishing the division of labor") and getting pitchers with 100-200 IP each down the line - which is how I got the idea for the Wider rotation league, that and experimenting with whether I could maximize the positions played by all position players and thereby cut PAs to a minimum and try to maximize value in a different way (that last part didn't work, but everyone is having fun so far setting up teams with platoons and position-by-committee in the league). 

It has also been an unusually slow time for other projects in life, so at some point I won't be able to keep doing this, and will have to settle on 2,3, 4 active teams at a time like everyone learns to do. But I have fewer courses this year to teach, just finished the first draft of a long book and can't look at it to edit it yet for a while, and finished translating another from Italian. So a lot of things that had, and will again have me working late into the night and on weekends are slowed down for a couple of months, and I am indulging myself. When busier work schedules hit I will have to cut back on creating new teams. 

But I appreciate your desire and commitment to be sure of the kind of owners you are getting into an already successful league and I promise that with the exception of that first round which are now fading to embers in their late (non-) pennant races, I will be actively engaged with all my other teams and leagues, esp. theme leagues, since the personal relationships among owners in these are important. 

What's the plan for when we run out of available teams in Occupation?

I thought about this a season or two ago. Before we run out of teams I think lowering the salary cap would open up a whole range of teams.

Still need four. Join one of the top 3 longest running leagues in WIS. Close to 8 or 9 years.

Does anyone know when season 1 was?

wish we could link all league together.  would be cool to see some players with 1000 HR or 5000 hits

Yeah but there would be 9000 Addie Joss' pitching as well !

I think I'll come out of my 8 month WiS hiatus and take the 2011 Tigers

Posted by italyprof on 4/12/2012 4:05:00 PM (view original):
Yeah but there would be 9000 Addie Joss' pitching as well !

I meant just all of the Wannabe Leagues

I think I'm going to switch my pick. Going with the 72 Yankees. It's the least I can do after the 71 Bombers made a surprising run to the World Series.