Getting to Know you

Name - Nate Feuerer
Lives - Cedarburg, WI, about 30 min N of Milwaukee
Age - 38
Fav MLB Team - Milwaukee Brewers - I grew up as the were coming down off their '82 WS appearance, but remember the 1987 Team Streak (13-0 to start the season), went to games in 1992 when they won 90+ games again. Was a season ticket holder when I lived in Milwaukee from 2005-2014, went to all the playoff games. Always did like the Royals though, as they seemed to be part of my Pepsi Brewers Kids Club ticket pack every year. So I grew up those mid-1980's Royals teams, really liked Mark Gubizca for some reason. Favorite Player was always Will Clark though. 
Fantasy Background- I got Pursue the Pennant computer game as a gift in 1988, and played the shit out of that game, adding the 1990 and 1991 seasons too. Always liked the sim games better than arcade style. Joined a DMB replay league in 2001 that I'm still in, as well as a Dynasty League Baseball League where 1/2 the guys still use dice and cards. Was always looking for a Salary League I liked, and this one has been great for the realistic-ish salaries and caps, as well as the minor league systems. 
Family - Wife of 3 years, an 18 mo old son, and another on the way in March (which will likely screw my FA bidding plenty)
Occupation - Pharmaceutical Rep. I sell drugs, so Twins trade block might be my kind of place.
Fav Band - Jimmy Eat World. Also, I have a unhealthy obsession with Kesha
Star Wars or Star Trek - Neither, fucking kill me 

Name: Joe Clark

Lives in: Parker, CO (suburb of Denver). Grew up primarily in Las Cruces, NM, but was born in Washington State. Also lived briefly in Alaska and California. Moved to Colorado in 2003 a couple months before turning 27 to get out of the shithole that was NM.

Age: 41

Favorite MLB Team, player(s) & why : II didn't get into baseball until the Summer of 1988 when an uncle who was a big Dodgers fan got me into baseball cards. Summer of 1988 was a big summer for the Dodgers if you recall. I became a Mariners fan though since I spent my early youth in Washington (also a Seahawks and Sonics fan). I became a Cubs fan in the 90s when there was very little opportunity to watch baseball regularly on television in New Mexico, even with cable. You had the Dodgers on KTLA, Braves on TBS, and the Cubs on WGN. Best friend was a Cubs fan, so I gravitated that way. My favorite player of all time is Griffey Jr of course, but over the past 15 years I've had a lot of runner-ups. Prior, Lincecum, Arenado, Bryant. No one can compete with The Kid though.

Background in Fantasy Sports (other leagues, how long): I think my first fantasy league was in 2001 and was football. Sean got me to join in like Week 2 when another owner had to drop out. Rich and (former Twins owner here) Jay were in that league too. I think I started playing baseball fantasy the following Spring. After moving to Colorado in early 2003, I was bumming around the net late one night looking for keeper leagues and found the MSN Group that NSBL originally started on. I applied to join and got Sean too as well. Jay and Scott came with us, as did Howard (their father, RIP) soon after. Rich I think joined mid-season 2003 when the Dodgers owner dropped out. I played fantasy football a little more after joining this league, but then I stopped. And I stopped playing fantasy baseball altogether. I think I've played maybe six seasons total of fantasy baseball/football since joining NSBL. Fantasy just doesn't hold a candle to Simulation, imo. I joined MLBSA just over two years ago, during the last month of the 2015 season. I've tried to join in-depth keeper fantasy leagues too, but I just don't have the time to learn a whole new process and format.

Family & Pets: Married my wife in January 2014. Our daughter was born in June of 2014 and we had a son in July of 2016. I also have a couple illegitimates from my Roarin' 20s. My wife and I don't have any pets, but my daughter has a beta fish. My wife is practically allergic to anything with fur. I keep telling her it's because she was over-cleaned as a child and wasn't allowed to develop an immune system. "Strong German stock"... us half-breeds as where it's at. We're like dogs. Cross-breeding gets rid of the weak genes, while staying within "your own kind" just reinforces the weakness. I don't think she appreciates when I tell her that.

Occupation: I got my BA in Criminal Justice at New Mexico State University in 1999 (should've been 1998, but I was way to drunk to graduate that year). Since moving to Colorado I've been working mostly in community corrections facility (halfway houses to the layman). I've been with my current company for almost eight years now and moved up to PREA Coordinator. PREA stands for Prison Rape Elimination Act, it's a Dept of Justice set of standards that was enacted by a bipartisan measure to help reduce sexual assault in correctional facilities. So I make sure we are meeting all the standards, while also investigating any allegations of sexual abuse, misconduct, or harassment we receive. It's actually not as much fun as it sounds.

Favorite Band: Growing up it was always AC/DC, but I don't know who it is now. I don't take as much time to listen to music as I should.

Favorite Film: The Godfather (I'm a Basic Bro), but I am also a huge fan of the movie "Brick" by Rian Johnson, who directed this new Star Wars movie coming out tonight. Brick was his first movie, starring JGL.

Favorite Book: Also The Godfather. Excellent book. Makes the movie better after reading it.

I'll play along.

Name: John McGee

Age: 36

Lives in: Hermitage, TN, which is basically Nashville. I pay Nashville taxes, so may as well say I live in Nashville. Born and raised in a small town just north of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Lived there until 2006 when I moved here.

Favorite MLB team: Tigers. Been a Tiger fan for as long as I can remember. Even though I was only 3, the '84 World Series celebration is one of my earliest memories. I had no idea why people were celebrating, but I liked it. The '87 Tigers and their down-to-the-wire finish with the Blue Jays is my actual first baseball memory. Next thing I remember is '89, which I'd rather forget. I like all players from that team and era of Tiger baseball. I grew up thinking that Cecil Fielder, Mickey Tettleton, Travis Fryman, Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Rob Deer, and Matt Nokes could do no wrong.

Background in fantasy: I started my first fantasy league back in middle school, so it would've been early 90's. I got 6 neighborhood kids to start this new thing that I read in a magazine called "Rotisserie Baseball." We didn't have a computer. Every Sunday the Detroit Free Press would print the full stats for every MLB team, so every Sunday I would sit for hours counting stats and writing out scores and standings by hand. Needless to say, that league only lasted half a season. Did the same with fantasy football in high school. Once the internet came around, I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands. My first keeper league was with Marlin, starting in probably 2005 or 2006. Then I saw a random post from Philly John about NSBL, and bam, here I am.

Family and pets: Happily divorced with an 8 year daughter. I've got primary custody, so she takes up a lot of my time. It's worth it, though. She's pretty fun. No pets because I just don't have the time to take care of one. Being a single guy living in Nashville, I am rarely home when my daughter is at her mom's, and I don't want to change that because I have to come home to take my dog outside. My daughter and I tried the fish thing, but I'm not investing a bunch of money into that.

Occupation: I teach high school. Right now, I'm teaching British Literature and AP World History. I've taught all of the English classes and AP European History, as well. I started out as just English, but am slowly moving towards all history, which I prefer. For one, it's AP, so it's the kids that actually want to be there, and for two, I now get to bring students on overseas trips for free. Last summer we went to Dublin, Wales, London, and Paris. This coming June we're headed to Italy and Greece. 2019? Not sure. I'd like to do Australia and New Zealand. When I have time, I also drive for Uber and Lyft. Being here in Nashville, I meet a lot of really interesting people from all over the world, and I can make an extra $200-$300 in a weekend.

Other hobbies: Triathlons. I've been running marathons and half-marathons for about 5 or 6 years now, and got into triathlons two years ago. I'm not fast, and am always worried that the lake monster will come get me during OWS, but I have a blast doing it. Been fighting a knee injury that comes and goes since January. Really bad right now. Hoping to do a half-ironman this coming summer, so may want to go to the doctor before I commit to that.

Favorite Band: I'm not really a music guy, but my two favorites are definitely Dave Grohl and Chris Cornell. Saw Foo Fighters once, and was lucky enough to see Chris Cornell do an acoustic show at the Ryman about a year before he passed. A guilty pleasure of mine, though, is Little River Band. Odd choice, there, I know.

Favorite book: I'm an English teacher without a favorite book. I like several books, but don't have an absolute favorite. Anything by Oscar Wilde is cool.

Favorite film: Same as books. I don't have one that I can call my favorite.

Star Wars or Star Trek: Star Wars. Definitely. Star Trek is for nerds!

And she's cute as a button. My wife thinks so too from all the pics on Facebook. I can mention you by name because of something you post on Facebook or I'll say, "John from my baseball league is driving U/L too" and she'll have a blank look on her face. But if I say "Julia's dad" she knows exactly who I mean.

Nice idea! We seem to do these every few years or so, and it's fun to get a bit of a background on the new GMs, plus seeing how the lives of the more tenured GMs have changed.

Name: Connor Reed

Lives in: Santa Cruz, CA. Born here, grew up here, went to college in Quebec, but now I’m back in Santa Cruz.

Age: 25

Favorite MLB Team, player(s) & why: SF Giants because my brother/parents/friends were all Giants fans. That said, I still like the A’s (I don’t really get the Bay Area fans who like one team and hate the other with the Giants/A’s or 49ers/Raiders). Growing up, my favorite player was Ichiro (I’m half Japanese) but I also loved Barry Bonds/Jeff Kent/Noah Lowry/. Currently, it’s hard to say who my favorite is, there are a number of players I really like, but nobody at the top (maybe Shohei Ohtani can take the throne?). For what it’s worth, the only professional sports jersey I’ve ever owned is a Matt Tennyson #80 Sharks jersey.

Background in Fantasy Sports (other leagues, how long): My first fantasy league was in 2005. I played fantasy baseball/hockey/football that year, and continued doing so for a couple of years. In 2008, I saw a post from Joe on minorleagueball.com, and quickly joined here. Since then, this has been my primary league. I joined another sim league for a few months, but realized I was more of a one-league type of sim leaguer (I can handle multiple fantasy leagues just fine, but the multi-season aspect of sim leagues made it hard for me to juggle multiple teams). I still play fantasy baseball and hockey, fantasy football (poorly), and have recently started dabbling in fantasy basketball.

Family & Pets: I really like cats. I have 2 of them right now (Tuxedo and Lump).

Occupation: I do statistics/data science type stuff centered around sports analytics in the daily fantasy sports world. That said, I’m still not very good at fantasy sports (my stuff isn’t centered around the day-to-day operation). Thankfully, the person I work for is.

Favorite Band: Not very big into music. More of a podcast/silence person myself. That said, if I had to choose a current favorite...Oddisee, listened to him a bit on my last road trip.

Favorite Film: Hmmm, I really like this animated movie called The Point. I also love South Park, so BASEketball/Orgazmo are up there. And I also love parodies, and Wet Hot American Summer is near the top of that list.

Favorite Book: That book Jonah Keri wrote about the Rays, The Extra 2% was awesome. I also recently read “Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan” and that was awesome.

Star Wars or Star Trek: Haven’t seen either, but I have seen Spaceballs.

Tom Cruise?:

One day we may actually get together for a beer IRL. I mean, when I go back to Michigan, I'm probably no more than 30 minutes away from you.

Name: Tim Farmer
Age: 41
Lives In: Utica, NY (spent my first 22 years all over Maine)
Favorite MLB Team: Red Sox. Lifelong fan passed down from my dad. My first favorite player was Yaz (I had a stuffed wind-up turtle I named Carl that played Take Me Out To The Ballgame).
Fantasy Sports history: Ran a fantasy basketball league in college in 1996. Did my first sim fantasy baseball league in 1997 using Tony LaRussa Baseball 3. Have been in DMB leagues since that league switched to DMB in 1998. I also wrote and was Editor-in-chief for Dynasty Sports Empire in 2013-14, and am seriously considering launching my own fantasy baseball blog/podcast after the first of the year.
Family: Divorced with a 16 year old son who is much more interested in Pokemon and video games than sports.
Occupation: I've been a night auditor for the last 10 years at various hotels in the area, but am looking for an accounting job as I earned my degree in 2013.
Musical interests: I have too many to mention.
Favorite sports film: Major League
Favorite non-sports film: Spaceballs
Star Wars or Star Trek? Star Search.

Name: Pat Padula

Lives in: Northwest NJ, outside of Morristown, NJ

Age: 35

Favorite MLB Team, player(s) & why: NY Mets.  Favorite current player is Jacob DeGrom.  Favorite player of all time is Howard Johnson.  Was a huge HoJo guy as a kid.

Background in Fantasy Sports (other leagues, how long): My first league was an auction league with my dad in 1993.  We had a fax machine in the house and it was a roto league where the stats were hand calculated than faxed every Sunday.  The player we spent the most on that year:  Jose Canseco.  I run my own fantasy football league with all my boys that I grew up with, plus am in 2 other leagues (though one is more of a drinking league, that happens to have fantasy football).  Also involved in 4 fantasy baseball leagues, 2 keepers, 2 regular.  I am on the admin board of another sim league.  I have been in that league since 1998.  Its run on OOTP but its basically like being the GM of a real major league team.  28 teams, 225 man rosters.  Amateur draft, international draft, options, rule 5 draft, minor league free agency, I don't think we miss one aspect of being an MLB GM in this league.  I love it.

Family & Pets: Married, 1 son, 1 dog (Shea, after Shea Stadium)

Occupation:  I rent and sell construction equipment.  I guess I am pretty good at it, really I just drive around listening to sports radio and buy people breakfast and lunch.  But it seems to be working for me. 

Favorite Band: Live - Seen them once (I think, I was really drunk and don't remember the concert ever starting)

Favorite Film: Not much of a movie guy, but I prefer comedies.  Dumb and Dumber was my favorite as a kid.

Favorite Book: I read alot of John Feinstein.  Currently reading Keith Laws new book

Star Wars or Star Trek: Never seen either.

Tom Cruise?: Cocktails and dreams

Been here almost 20 years.  This was supposed to be a layover when I moved here but I ended up starting a family and settling down.

I can confirm both parts of this. It is his favorite, and it is terrible. He's subjected me to it multiple times.

It also stars the pie-fucker.

Yeah, I missed a lot because I didn't want go down that black hole either. I have a "coming of age story" problem. A lot of movies in my regular rotation fall into that genre sub-type.

I enjoy these types of threads.

Name: Ian Hall
Lives in: Reading, PA
Age: 33
Favorite MLB Teams & Players: Baltimore Orioles. I grew up just outside the city, and lived there until 2013. My uncle worked at the old Memorial Stadium, so we went a LOT. By my guess, I've been to over 200 Oriole games. They've been incredibly frustrating to root for most of my life, but I can never give them up. As for players, I've had a bunch of guys that have been great to root for. Mike Mussina, B.J. Surhoff, Brian Roberts, and of course Adam Jones and Manny Machado (though Machado is kind of a hot-headed, instigating jerk).
Family & Pets: Married for 5 years to wonderful lady that puts up with my baseball addiction, as well as my other flaws. Side note: Orioles clinched first playoff berth since 1997 on the my wedding day in 2012. 3 year old daughter (Madison). Twin 1 year old boys (Brian & Declan). No pets, but the kids keep us plenty busy. At this stage of life, NSBL is basically my only hobby...
Occupation: Manufacturing Engineer in Pottstown, PA. I plan projects and program machines (laser-cutting, welding, etc.). Agriculture. Architecture. Bridge work (new Tappan Zee span). Entertainment (Fast & Furious ride in Orlando). We get into a little bit of everything at my company. Been there 2 years. Really enjoy what I do.

Background in Fantasy Sports: Can I just say it's great to read stories from your nerdy childhood and realize I wasn't the only one! As a kid, we had a huge brick grill on our patio. I could throw a tennis ball at the grill (20-ish feet away) and by the time the ball bounced back to me I was ready to hit it. I took the box score from the previous day's Oriole game, and played the entire game in my backyard. I was Ripken, Griffey Jr, Albert Belle, the Big Hurt, Jim Thome. Learned how to bat left-handed to make it as real as I could.

I also made up some sort of football game by rolling a quarter up and down our hallway. I wrote the schedule, played the games, etc. Super nerdy...

My uncle (same one that worked for the Orioles) was SUPER into APBA baseball. If you're not familiar, look it up. It's awesome! We replayed old seasons, kept stats, collected/traded cards and really made it fun for a young baseball fan to play along. I hit a walk off triple off of Gossage to win a World Series one year (maybe 1981-ish).

As for fantasy, I played a salary cap type league on the Sporting News in the early days of internet fantasy sports (1999-2000 maybe). You game the system buy alternating buying/selling Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez during their 5 day rotation cycle.

Got into fantasy football & baseball on Yahoo in 2005. Played in my first baseball keeper league in 2006, Playing for Keeps. The league fizzled, but one of the other guys in that league was Mark Karpinski (Texas GM). He joined NSBL a year (i think) before me, and he had been telling me that it put fantasy baseball to shame, with everything that was involved in running a team. So in late 2011, I jumped in, and he was absolutely right.

Favorite Band: Don't really have a favorite band. I listen to some Christian music, a lot of country, and I'll always listen to some late 90s, early 2000s alternative.
Favorite Movie: I can sit and watch Lord of the Rings as many times as time will allow. Empire Records reference brought back memories.
Favorite Book: Don't judge, but I've read through the Harry Potter series 3 times.
Star Wars or Star Trek: Star Wars, but not terribly passionate about that decision.

do you have the extended alternate ending one?? 

Name:Mark Karpinski
Lives in: Adirondack Mountains, NY
Age: 55 (respect your elders)

Occupation: Director of Sales for a major wine cellar / wine racking company.

Family: I'm a single Dad of two beautiful young ladies, 17 and 11. Girlfriend of some 8+ years.

Hobbies: I'm a low handicap golfer who is addicted to the sport, but the crazy work and family life limits me to a 9 hole league and 18 very early on Sundays. I've also been consumed with learning how to play guitar. I had a fairly major heart attack in the summer of 2016 and playing guitar has always been on my bucket list. I play every day now and it's starting to sound like real music. I am now a proud owner of a Martin acoustic/electric guitar and way more equipment than I can use. I would call music a hobby of mine too, as I have an album collection of some 900+ albums dating back to the late 60's. I also love collecting and drinking wine, but had to give up my passion for good cigars.

Favorite Music: I'll listen to just about anything and attempt to play most anything on guitar. My favorites back in the day were Led Zeppelin and The Who. Pete Townshend is my musical hero, but, today, I listen to most any singer-songwriters that inspire me, Amos Lee, Shawn Mullins, John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett, James McMurtry and Bruce Cockburn among the list.

Fantasy Sports history: Baseball only. I grew up playing Srat-O-Matic leagues with my buddies back in 1970 and played in fantasy baseball leagues back when you had to mail in your line-ups, trades and transactions, pre-internet.

Favorite Baseball team: Long suffering baseball fan of the Pirates, dating back to 1968. Willie Stargell was my favorite player and sports hero, still to this day. I even got to see him inducted in the HOF, a mecca for me. I've been there at least 25 times.

Favorite Movies: Love Godfather I and II, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, Shawshank and Mystic River. I'm more of a book junkie and enjoy history, books about war and biographies. And, no, I've never seen a single Star Wars movie, as I was hooked on Star Trek as a kid and very much consumed with Ray Bradbury science fiction books.

Goals: To stay healthy enough to see my girls grow up, get married and have children, the Pirates win another WS and to win it all in this damn league.