Today, for the 31st time in history, the owners of the CFCL gather for what they collectively acknowledge is the Greatest Day of The Year: Draft Day.
I'm sure Rich will be recapping the events of the day, as well as the celebrations that took place to recognized the CFCL's 30th Anniversary.
For now, though, let's take a look back for an in-depth examination of Draft Day and what it means, courtesy of Trading the Gator. This clip from the film documents the draft of 2002.
Showing posts with label Tenacious B. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tenacious B. Show all posts
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Trading the Gator: Draft Prep
Spring Training has begun, and soon teams in Arizona and Florida will begin playing preseason games. Elsewhere, all around the world, fantasy baseball owners are shaking off the cobwebs of winter and starting their research and preparation for the Greatest Day of the Year - Draft Day.
Draft Day prep can involve many facets - from reading every bit of news you can get your hands on and watching spring games - live or on television, to arts and crafts and ensuring you have the right foodstuffs with you at the Draft Table.
See all that and more in this latest clip from "Trading the Gator," the fantasy baseball documentary that featured the CFCL (read that story in this earlier post). You'll see CFCL owners Kelly Barone, Eric Lamb, David Mahlan, and Jason Grey, Paul Zeledon, plus Walter Shapiro of the American Dreams League discussing their pre-Draft routines and strategies.
Draft Day prep can involve many facets - from reading every bit of news you can get your hands on and watching spring games - live or on television, to arts and crafts and ensuring you have the right foodstuffs with you at the Draft Table.
See all that and more in this latest clip from "Trading the Gator," the fantasy baseball documentary that featured the CFCL (read that story in this earlier post). You'll see CFCL owners Kelly Barone, Eric Lamb, David Mahlan, and Jason Grey, Paul Zeledon, plus Walter Shapiro of the American Dreams League discussing their pre-Draft routines and strategies.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
The CFCL Awards Banquet
One of the (many) things that makes the CFCL special is the end-of-season Awards Banquet. Since our very first year, the CFCL has traditionally gathered in October or November (and once or twice, December or January as schedules required) to celebrate the accomplishments – and failures – of the recently completed season.
We seldom got full attendance at the banquet – especially in recent years, with a number of owners living out of town – but whether we have three owners present or ten, a good time is had by all.
In the CFCL’s early years, the big attraction at the banquet was the revealing of the final standings. Until 1997, when the CFCL finally modernized and hired a stat service, I compiled the standings by hand and until the final rankings were announced at the banquet, no one knew for certain who the league champion was.
To get a real feel for what goes on at the CFCL Awards Banquet, check out this clip from Trading the Gator, with highlights from the 2002 banquet. Some things to watch for:
Of course, the real attraction of the awards banquet is to spend an evening visiting with the rest of the owners in the league, outside of the usual Draft Day pressure cooker.
Here’s what the CFCL awards banquet looked like back in 2002:
We seldom got full attendance at the banquet – especially in recent years, with a number of owners living out of town – but whether we have three owners present or ten, a good time is had by all.
In the CFCL’s early years, the big attraction at the banquet was the revealing of the final standings. Until 1997, when the CFCL finally modernized and hired a stat service, I compiled the standings by hand and until the final rankings were announced at the banquet, no one knew for certain who the league champion was.
To get a real feel for what goes on at the CFCL Awards Banquet, check out this clip from Trading the Gator, with highlights from the 2002 banquet. Some things to watch for:
- Pizza – the official banquet food of the CFCL. In the early years, we usually held the banquet at an owner’s house and ordered pizza in. After a few years, though, we decided to actually go out for the banquet. Although there were a couple years in the 90s when we met at a Chinese restaurant, most of the time we stuck to pizza. The pizzeria in the video is Giordano’s in Oak Park.
- Awards – In addition to awarding certificates for the final standings, we also recognize a number of other award winners at the banquet. Some of the awards, such as the Dallas Green Award (which was described in an earlier post), are based on the point totals accumulated by CFCL teams, while others are voted on by the owners. We’ll be looking at some of those awards in future posts.
- Championship Trophy – Of course the big prize of the night is the CFCL Championship Trophy. This has evolved over the years, from a photocopied certificate to a customized trophy. Rich described this evolution in an earlier post.
- Baseball Cards – For a number of years beginning in the late 1990s, I started handing out unopened packs of baseball cards from the mid-80s to add some more fun and nostalgia to the proceedings. Each owner would get 3-4 packs to open, and we’d rip through them with the enthusiasm of 12-year-olds. The fact that the cards were from 8-10 years prior allowed some of the old-timers to reminisce about owning some of the players in the past, and it also meant many of the packs included the cardboardy plank of pink gum. Usually the gum was discarded untouched, though in 2002 – the banquet captured in the video below - the owner of Da Paul Meisters accepted the challenge to chew a couple sticks – you’ll see him putting his hand over his mouth in the video in an effort to keep from gagging it up.
Of course, the real attraction of the awards banquet is to spend an evening visiting with the rest of the owners in the league, outside of the usual Draft Day pressure cooker.
Here’s what the CFCL awards banquet looked like back in 2002:
Friday, September 6, 2013
Trading The Gator: The Season Begins
It's time for another installment from the film Trading the Gator, the fantasy baseball documentary that featured the CFCL.
Note: See this post for the background on the CFCL’s involvement in Trading the Gator.
The timing's not exactly right for this clip, as it covers the opening of the baseball season, but you'll notice the filmmakers had some problems of their own with timing here. The shots of Michelle and I crooning "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field were obviously not filmed during on Opening Day as purported.
That aside, the clip also features Six Packs owner Kelly Barone musing about the need to "keep your head in the game" (by the way, for a time during the editing process, the producers were toying with titling the film "Head In The Game") and we see Da Paul Meisters owner Paul Zeledon evaluating his team's chances for the season.
From there, the segment takes an interesting turn with Rotisserie League founder Dan Okrent and the wife of Walter Shapiro discussing (very frankly and matter of factly in Mrs Shapiro's case) the impact of fantasy baseball on the personal lives of those who play it and their loved ones.
For the last portion of this clip, the filmmakers spoke with Harry Witzke, a former co-owner who quit the CFCL after the 2001 season, leaving Bruce Ellman as sole owner of Harry's Witzke a Go-Go, soon to be rechristened Tenacious B.
A couple years leaving the league, Harry was clearly still perturbed about the reasons that had led him to leave the CFCL - a combination of the planned move from standard 4x4 format to non-standard 5x5 in 2003 (the rule changes he mentions) and what he saw as an unreasonable trade by co-Commissioner Mahlan.
I'll admit the trade was imbalanced - a deadline deal in which my Copperfields acquired Shawn Green and Curt Schilling from the Picts for a package of four minor leaguers, only one of whom panned out (a two-cent Morgan Ensberg, who provided the foundation of the Pict offense for the next five years).
I do, however, take exception to the charge of "finagling," Harry's term for the fact that I released the .33 Green and .27 Schilling rather than keeping them the following spring (when, by the way, Harry was already long gone). Given that I already faced going into the Draft with .55 to spend on 8 players, keeping an additional .60 in salary was never really a consideration.
I actually think the producers mainly wanted to include Harry in the film because they were desperate for a stereotypical Chicago accent (I love the "double edged schword" line).
But enough about that ... enjoy this 5-minute clip from Gator:
Note: See this post for the background on the CFCL’s involvement in Trading the Gator.
The timing's not exactly right for this clip, as it covers the opening of the baseball season, but you'll notice the filmmakers had some problems of their own with timing here. The shots of Michelle and I crooning "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field were obviously not filmed during on Opening Day as purported.
That aside, the clip also features Six Packs owner Kelly Barone musing about the need to "keep your head in the game" (by the way, for a time during the editing process, the producers were toying with titling the film "Head In The Game") and we see Da Paul Meisters owner Paul Zeledon evaluating his team's chances for the season.
From there, the segment takes an interesting turn with Rotisserie League founder Dan Okrent and the wife of Walter Shapiro discussing (very frankly and matter of factly in Mrs Shapiro's case) the impact of fantasy baseball on the personal lives of those who play it and their loved ones.
For the last portion of this clip, the filmmakers spoke with Harry Witzke, a former co-owner who quit the CFCL after the 2001 season, leaving Bruce Ellman as sole owner of Harry's Witzke a Go-Go, soon to be rechristened Tenacious B.
A couple years leaving the league, Harry was clearly still perturbed about the reasons that had led him to leave the CFCL - a combination of the planned move from standard 4x4 format to non-standard 5x5 in 2003 (the rule changes he mentions) and what he saw as an unreasonable trade by co-Commissioner Mahlan.
I'll admit the trade was imbalanced - a deadline deal in which my Copperfields acquired Shawn Green and Curt Schilling from the Picts for a package of four minor leaguers, only one of whom panned out (a two-cent Morgan Ensberg, who provided the foundation of the Pict offense for the next five years).
I do, however, take exception to the charge of "finagling," Harry's term for the fact that I released the .33 Green and .27 Schilling rather than keeping them the following spring (when, by the way, Harry was already long gone). Given that I already faced going into the Draft with .55 to spend on 8 players, keeping an additional .60 in salary was never really a consideration.
I actually think the producers mainly wanted to include Harry in the film because they were desperate for a stereotypical Chicago accent (I love the "double edged schword" line).
But enough about that ... enjoy this 5-minute clip from Gator:
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
The CFCL Owners of 2002
2002 was the year the world learned about the CFCL. Or more accurately the 2002 season was when the wheels were set into motion. To start, we had a completely new owner join us and a former co-owner branch out on his own. Jason Grey and the Reservoir Dogs replaced the Maulers. Jason not only brought his Mastersball fantasy baseball experience with him, he also brought a film crew. Jason was approached by the producers of Trading the Gator to see if he knew of a local, dedicated, maniacal fantasy baseball league and he said "Funny you should ask. I just joined a Chicago-based league." The poles you see behind Matt Grage and Nick Hansen's head are part of the equipment used to film scenes of the draft for TTG.
Bruce Ellman was a new old owner. For two years he co-managed the Witzke a Go-Go. In 2002 his co-owner resigned and Bruce unveiled the Tenacious B.
After 13 years in the league, the Lambchops finally found the magic and captured what would be the first of consecutive CFCL Championships.
Once again drafting in the opulence of the Oak Brook conference room, we had the technology available to us for the Ruffins to draft remotely. In years previous and post the Ruffins would communicate via computer screen or earpiece with Rich Bentel, but since we were going Hollywood and didn't want to miss the Ruffin wit, he was placed on speaker so the film producers could directly capture any Ruffin communication.
Monday, July 29, 2013
The CFCL Owners of 2003
As with every year, there are some interesting nuggets. The Lambchops would capture their second consecutive CFCL title. The dynasty Copperfields, who never finished lower than 4th since 1984 would finish in 11th place. We didn't have any new owners in 2003, but unfortunately we would be saying good-bye to the Six Packs and Tenacious B at the end of the season.
Again we drafted in the Oak Brook corporate room complete with internet connection so the Ruffins could draft remotely.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Fox for Jimenez - Captured!
Eleven years ago on this date, in 2002, Tenacious B and Dem Rebels teamed up on a deal that’s gone down in CFCL history. Not because of the players involved, nor its impact on the standings, but because it was the only trade in CFCL history to be captured on film.
It was the month of the trading deadline in 2002, and the producers of Trading the Gator had been anxious about recording trade talks – and hopefully the consummation of a deal – for the documentary.
Note: See this post for the background on the CFCL’s involvement in Trading the Gator.
They had recorded some general discussions between the Lambchops and Da Paul Meisters, though things didn’t get beyond the kicking-some-names-around stage. The also filmed a number of owners who had gathered at a sports bar to watch the All Star Game, but no trade discussions took place (and the background noise in the bar made the footage unusable).
Eventually, the producers arranged to be present on both ends of a phone call during which Dem Rebels and Tenacious B completed this blockbuster:
TENACIOUS B trade Jose Jimenez and their 13th round Rotation Draft pick in 2003 to DEM REBELS for Andy Fox.
The straight forward Saves for Steals swap paid off better for Tenacious B than for the Rebels. Post-trade stats:
Fox: .257 BA – 3 HR – 17 RBI – 11 SB
Jimenez: 4.00 ERA – 1.39 RATIO – 2 W – 5 Sv
The Rebels also received a 13th round pick in the 2003 Rotation Draft, which they used to select first base prospect Scott Thorman. Thorman didn’t appear in the majors until 2005, but by that time the Rebels had cut him.
The trade talks between the Rebels and Tenacious B were included in the portion of Trading the Gator dealing with trade talks. The section also includes the trade meeting between the Lambchops and Meisters mentioned above, as well as footage of the owners of the Six Packs and Tenacious B at a White Sox game, and thoughts on trades from a couple real life GMs. And Baseball Tonight’s Tim Kirkjian says he’s much too busy to play Roto.
Before we get to the video, a quick correction: the video the Fox-Jimenez deal is dated July 29. This was apparently a bit of creative license on the part of the Gator producers (or a mistake in labeling tapes), because the trade was officially reported on July 20.
And now, on with the show…
It was the month of the trading deadline in 2002, and the producers of Trading the Gator had been anxious about recording trade talks – and hopefully the consummation of a deal – for the documentary.
Note: See this post for the background on the CFCL’s involvement in Trading the Gator.
They had recorded some general discussions between the Lambchops and Da Paul Meisters, though things didn’t get beyond the kicking-some-names-around stage. The also filmed a number of owners who had gathered at a sports bar to watch the All Star Game, but no trade discussions took place (and the background noise in the bar made the footage unusable).
Eventually, the producers arranged to be present on both ends of a phone call during which Dem Rebels and Tenacious B completed this blockbuster:
TENACIOUS B trade Jose Jimenez and their 13th round Rotation Draft pick in 2003 to DEM REBELS for Andy Fox.
The straight forward Saves for Steals swap paid off better for Tenacious B than for the Rebels. Post-trade stats:
Fox: .257 BA – 3 HR – 17 RBI – 11 SB
Jimenez: 4.00 ERA – 1.39 RATIO – 2 W – 5 Sv
The Rebels also received a 13th round pick in the 2003 Rotation Draft, which they used to select first base prospect Scott Thorman. Thorman didn’t appear in the majors until 2005, but by that time the Rebels had cut him.
The trade talks between the Rebels and Tenacious B were included in the portion of Trading the Gator dealing with trade talks. The section also includes the trade meeting between the Lambchops and Meisters mentioned above, as well as footage of the owners of the Six Packs and Tenacious B at a White Sox game, and thoughts on trades from a couple real life GMs. And Baseball Tonight’s Tim Kirkjian says he’s much too busy to play Roto.
Before we get to the video, a quick correction: the video the Fox-Jimenez deal is dated July 29. This was apparently a bit of creative license on the part of the Gator producers (or a mistake in labeling tapes), because the trade was officially reported on July 20.
And now, on with the show…
Friday, June 21, 2013
Fantasy Baseball Diva
Yesterday, I wrote about the CFCL’s involvement in the fantasy baseball documentary, Trading the Gator. As I mentioned in that post, when Rich and I checked with the rest of the league about participating in the film, everyone was quick to jump on board. A couple owners asked follow-up questions about the process and extent to which they’d have to open their lives to the filmmakers, but nearly everyone responded very enthusiastically.
Of course, some owners were more enthusiastic than others. Tenacious B owner Bruce Ellman immediately went into full-on diva mode and posted a classic bit of writing to the league message board in which he laid out the demands that the producers must meet in order to ensure his participation.
Enjoy!
======================================================
Posted by Bruce on 1/7/2002, 12:38 am , in reply to “Re: Fantasy Baseball Documentary”
Unbelievable timing! I am currently involved in a project documenting documentary film crews. I am hoping to film the documentary crew filming our league for my own special documentary showing the process of writing, filming, editing and then selling a documentary film. It should be quite interesting. My target demographic is invalids, agoraphobics, people who don' speaka the language good and "in-shape," smokin' female aerobic instructors who're "just looking for a good time."
If the film crew will not agree to be filmed then the following demands must be met in order to ensure my participation:
1. We must, as a "band of brothers," agree to check our egos at the door
2. Our privacy and that of our families must be respected at all times
3. Only the right side of my face can be filmed
4. Spicy, red curry must be one of the catered dishes. If I see or smell one molecule of green curry I will be sick and filming will be immediately shut down!
5. My trailer will feature 2 27" (minimum) TVs with DVD players: One will be playing episodes of "The Flying Nun" and the other will be playing Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" in continuous loops (I will NOT touch any buttons)
6. My personal assistant and stylist, "Remy," will have final approval over dress and makeup for those owners sitting within a 4-seat radius of me
7. The voice of my wife must be dubbed in a Scottish accent
8. Since I do not own a dog one must be provided for my personal use during the course of filming. Dogs have keen senses of earthquakes and the undead (those that crave human flesh, anyway)
9. The roles of my best friends will be played by C. Thomas Howell and Jonathan Silverman
10. The hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold will be played by Brooke Burke (the host of E!'s "Wild On..." series)
11. I will make all bids using the following phrase: "The Owner from the great team of [my new team name TBD] respectfully makes a bid of $X as according to prophesy."
13. The filmed sections of my life focusing on the difficulties of my early years, growing up on the streets of Evanston & Wilmette and then my victory over a severe case of peer pressure to watch "just one episode of Dr. Who because Tom Baker's so cool," will be represented by music from NWA, PE, the Geto Boys and Morrisey. Keepin' it real!
14. For my crying scenes, all extraneous persons (including non-essential crew members and ALL other owners) will be asked to leave
15. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and "Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes." You do the math....
16. Montel Williams, Alan Thicke, Woody Harrelson, Tori Spelling and Boutros Boutros-Ghali will be quoted as saying that I have profoundly influenced their lives
17. At a random point during the draft (that I will determine), all owners will run-around the room in a counter-clockwise direction screaming "Bud Selig and my father are f*&%$#@ liars!"
18. I will use nothing less than a .44 magnum and all action scenes must make liberal use of slow motion owing to the speed of my kung fu (Drunken monkey style)
19. Finally, this must all be filmed in the spirit of fun. If it's not, then my management team headed by Rock Newman will dangle somebody from the ledge of a 3+ story building or at least speak to them in a hostile manner
Of course, some owners were more enthusiastic than others. Tenacious B owner Bruce Ellman immediately went into full-on diva mode and posted a classic bit of writing to the league message board in which he laid out the demands that the producers must meet in order to ensure his participation.
Enjoy!
======================================================
Posted by Bruce on 1/7/2002, 12:38 am , in reply to “Re: Fantasy Baseball Documentary”
Unbelievable timing! I am currently involved in a project documenting documentary film crews. I am hoping to film the documentary crew filming our league for my own special documentary showing the process of writing, filming, editing and then selling a documentary film. It should be quite interesting. My target demographic is invalids, agoraphobics, people who don' speaka the language good and "in-shape," smokin' female aerobic instructors who're "just looking for a good time."
If the film crew will not agree to be filmed then the following demands must be met in order to ensure my participation:
1. We must, as a "band of brothers," agree to check our egos at the door
2. Our privacy and that of our families must be respected at all times
3. Only the right side of my face can be filmed
4. Spicy, red curry must be one of the catered dishes. If I see or smell one molecule of green curry I will be sick and filming will be immediately shut down!
5. My trailer will feature 2 27" (minimum) TVs with DVD players: One will be playing episodes of "The Flying Nun" and the other will be playing Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" in continuous loops (I will NOT touch any buttons)
6. My personal assistant and stylist, "Remy," will have final approval over dress and makeup for those owners sitting within a 4-seat radius of me
7. The voice of my wife must be dubbed in a Scottish accent
8. Since I do not own a dog one must be provided for my personal use during the course of filming. Dogs have keen senses of earthquakes and the undead (those that crave human flesh, anyway)
9. The roles of my best friends will be played by C. Thomas Howell and Jonathan Silverman
10. The hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold will be played by Brooke Burke (the host of E!'s "Wild On..." series)
11. I will make all bids using the following phrase: "The Owner from the great team of [my new team name TBD] respectfully makes a bid of $X as according to prophesy."
12. My background/theme music will be selected from the following:
- Anything by the Sex Pistols (including Public Image Ltd)
- Anything by the Clash (but not including Big Audio Dynamite)
- Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack "The Story of Us"
- Husker Du before they sold out (okay, they never really did so it's all fair game)
- New Edition and all subsequent spin-offs including Bell, Biv, Davoe but not Bobbi Brown
- Prince: especially when he still wore chaps
- Natalie Merchant: not that I've heard any of her new stuff but have you seen the picture on the cover of her new CD? As long as I'm going there, how about Shelby Lynne or Nelly Furtado? Boy, the music the kids these days listen to...Also, for nostalgia purposes, the oft-misunderstood artists Juliana Hatfield and Samantha Fox should be scheduled to make personal appearances
13. The filmed sections of my life focusing on the difficulties of my early years, growing up on the streets of Evanston & Wilmette and then my victory over a severe case of peer pressure to watch "just one episode of Dr. Who because Tom Baker's so cool," will be represented by music from NWA, PE, the Geto Boys and Morrisey. Keepin' it real!
14. For my crying scenes, all extraneous persons (including non-essential crew members and ALL other owners) will be asked to leave
15. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and "Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes." You do the math....
16. Montel Williams, Alan Thicke, Woody Harrelson, Tori Spelling and Boutros Boutros-Ghali will be quoted as saying that I have profoundly influenced their lives
17. At a random point during the draft (that I will determine), all owners will run-around the room in a counter-clockwise direction screaming "Bud Selig and my father are f*&%$#@ liars!"
18. I will use nothing less than a .44 magnum and all action scenes must make liberal use of slow motion owing to the speed of my kung fu (Drunken monkey style)
19. Finally, this must all be filmed in the spirit of fun. If it's not, then my management team headed by Rock Newman will dangle somebody from the ledge of a 3+ story building or at least speak to them in a hostile manner
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Meet The Tenacious B
In 2000 the CFCL expanded to twelve teams for the first time in its history and stayed that way for nine seasons. One of the teams that joined the league that year was "Witzke A Go-Go". It was a co-owned team of Harry Witzke and Bruce Ellman. Hopefully we will meet Harry later on, but today we meet Bruce.
Bruce co-owned the Go-Gos with Harry for two years and then when Harry resigned, Bruce spun out on his own by running the Tenacious B for two more years. As you will see below, Bruce is one of those special owners who has amazing creativity and phenomenal wit. Even though he was only a part of the CFCL for barely more than 10% of the league's existence, the CFCL is poorer for his absence.
I have mentioned this before and will mention it again, our owners (current and former) have a lot more to them than simply being baseball fans. This is clearly evident throughout all the answers Bruce provides, but specifically when he references his travels.
He's one of the good guys and it's time to meet The Tenacious B.
In 2000 you joined the CFCL with Harry Witzke to form “Bruce’s Witzke A Go-Go”. Do you recall any material differences between working with Harry and then ultimately running your own team?
Bruce co-owned the Go-Gos with Harry for two years and then when Harry resigned, Bruce spun out on his own by running the Tenacious B for two more years. As you will see below, Bruce is one of those special owners who has amazing creativity and phenomenal wit. Even though he was only a part of the CFCL for barely more than 10% of the league's existence, the CFCL is poorer for his absence.
I have mentioned this before and will mention it again, our owners (current and former) have a lot more to them than simply being baseball fans. This is clearly evident throughout all the answers Bruce provides, but specifically when he references his travels.
He's one of the good guys and it's time to meet The Tenacious B.
In 2000 you joined the CFCL with Harry Witzke to form “Bruce’s Witzke A Go-Go”. Do you recall any material differences between working with Harry and then ultimately running your own team?
Ø
Harry and I were co-workers and he has/had been
involved with fantasy leagues since the late 50s. I started small—Fantasy
basketball (here’s an aside: Q: What’s the best thing about the start of the
NHL season? A: Basketball is right around the corner! (Further aside: remember,
this was the late 90s))—added fantasy football and then found a void in my life
that only a new father, with a lot of new stay-at-home time, understands.
Since I was new to baseball and
it seemed much more time-consuming, I gladly accepted Harry’s offer to co-own a
team…now where to find a league………..?
We were a pretty good team
though he is a Cubs fan and I am a baseball fan who just happens to like the
Sox—terrible about facts and their Soxy bias—and I was glad to steal his
strategies and then add my own (buy Todd Helton and cheap RP at all costs). It
also freed me to engage in out-of-the-box strategic thinking and research (did
you know that I was the first to utilize GWAR in our league? They ROCK!) and
come up with diamonds in the rough like Deon Sanders and So Taguchi.
As a solo owner, I enjoyed
further honing my own strategies and not having to be so formal about my own FA
submissions—the Harry approval process often involved crushed ice, tropical
drinks (“NO SALT, DAMMIT!”) and, well…I’d really rather not say more. I also
changed the name of the team to Tenacious B and only found out later that Jack
White had made a movie of the same name; I threatened a lawsuit but dropped it
after he changed the name of his band to the Black-Eyed Keys.
How did you and Harry find your way into the league?
Ø
Fleet week, a young dancer named Kelly Barone;
straight off a destroyer with nothing but his dancer’s belt and a tube of
chapstick led us to the CFCL.
You are the only CFCL owner to have visited Macchu
Picchu. Have you done any other
international travelling since leaving the CFCL?
Ø
Wow…excellent memory. I recommend hiking the
Inca Trail (no allegory) to anyone…but be careful not to ask if you can “hike
the Inca Trail” in certain parts of South America or Indiana. I have also been
to Chile and Patagonia since then. Now, that is also a thing!
You had perhaps the most creative team introduction when
you announced your team name as you separated your partnership with the Witzke
a go-gos. How did you come up with it?
(The Team Name and the Introduction).
Ø
Have forgotten the introduction: probably stole
it or came up with it after a night of drinking Peruvian tea made from coca
leaves. The name comes from combining “Whiskey A Go-Go” (famous beatnik place
where I think Harry was conceived; my own conception took place at
Woodstock—further cementing our partnership) and The Go-Go Sox. Also, “Moose
Knuckles,” “Master Batters,” and “Multiple Scorgasms” were already taken in one
of Harry’s other leagues and were, frankly, weird names for a co-owned team.
You’ve participated in both fantasy baseball and fantasy
football leagues. Which one do you
prefer and why?
Ø
Fantasy basketball is my original love and the
one I have had the most successful results. FFB is enraging because it so often
relies on luck, pure chance, and very little skill (yes, I have barely ever
finished in the money but that is not bitterness talking, it is
truth-to-power). Fantasy baseball was a lot of fun although very time
consuming. Since it is so time consuming you really have to have a passion for
it and for the league itself. I have been in other fantasy baseball leagues
since (though no longer) but I found the most enjoyment and frustration during
my time in the CFCL. And can you ask for anything more? (Okay, besides winning?
And not the frustration? And more winning/less frustration?).
Bruce didn't remember the press release he submitted when the Tenacious B emerged from the Go-Go resignation. It was a press release for the ages as Bruce shared with us every possible name he could think of before landing on Tenacious B. Below is the press release he provided in 2002.
Unincorporated Grundee County,
IL—Item: From the new winter headquarters of the team formerly known as Bruce’s
Witzke A Go-Go comes the following announcement from team spokesperson and Head
of Marketing, Lee Elia: "The team formerly known as Bruce’s Witzke A Go-Go
is changing its name to reflect the new, streamlined direction of ownership.
Frankly, we need to shed some of the weighted expectations of the past while
continuing to honor the grand 2-year history of the franchise. Plus, we reached
an out-of-court settlement with the former co-owner regarding licensing and
copyright fees: we cannot disclose the terms except that we will no longer be
allowed to sport mustaches. We considered, and rejected, many names—honorable,
fine names—to ensure that the one we chose would best represent the quality of
the team and the overall reputation of the CFCL. Among the names we seriously
considered but ultimately rejected were:
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