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Big Daddy Baseball League

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slant.gif (102 bytes) From the Desk of the Commish

Commish

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June 3, 2004

FTDOTC Special Edition:
A Tribute to the Lightning

On Tuesday night, my longtime friend Phil Geisel announced that he will be resigning at the end of this chapter.  Since this resignation struck a little closer to home than most, I thought it would be appropriate to pay a little tribute to a franchise that will be forever remembered for as long as this league exists.

Phil was the third official member of the BDBL, following myself and Paul Marazita.  He joined this league on November 11th, 1998, just three days after the league's web site had been posted on the internet.  Here is his official application to the league:

Name: Phil Geisel
e-Mail: Geiselp2@aol.com
Home Town: New Milford
Team nickname: To be announced
Age: 21 (Note: he was really 31 at the time)
Profession: Contractor
Favorite MLB team: World Champion New York Yankees
Fantasy Baseball Experience:
Reason why he should be accepted into the BDBL: I should be accepted to bring star status to this league and raise the level of compatition (sic) in the league.   And more important, if I'm not accepted someone is going to get their ass kicked!

It didn't take long for Geisel's unique sense of humor to permeate the rest of the league.  On December 6th, while we were still scrambling to find 24 good owners for the upcoming draft, I received the following application in my e-mail in-box:

Name: Mike Fitzgerald
e-Mail: Fitzzy20@aol.com
Home Town: Lakewood, CA
Team nickname: Expos
Age: 38
Profession: Retired Major league catcher
Favorite MLB team: Still love my Expos!
Fantasy Baseball experience: Helped my son with a Roto league the last 2 years.  And we think this looks interesting hoping to get the chance to play.
Reason why he should be accepted into the BDBL: I can bring some real major league experiance (sic) to the BDBL, and my son will be upset if we don't get to play, almost as upset as myself.

FitzzyI was so excited that a former Major League ballplayer wanted to join our new league, I phoned Geisel and told him all about it.  He seemed excited, too -- a little too excited.

I immediately replied to "Fitzzy," telling him what an honor it would be to have him in the BDBL, and how greatly I respect him as a former Major League catcher.  Shortly thereafter, I got another e-mail from Fitzzy, stating that he wouldn't be able to make it to the live draft, but his son would be filling in for him.  I asked how old his son was, and I received the following response:

Subj: Re: BDBL
Date: 12/8/98 6:05:37 PM EST
From: Fitzzy20
To: Bdbl1999

I will be 8 in March and my favorite major league player is Ken Griffey Jr so I will draft him first.  I have all of Ken Griffey Jr baseball cards and my dad took me to meet him so he signed a jersey for me and his baseball card also.  he gave me one of his bats too.

I was instantly crestfallen.  We couldn't have an eight-year-old in charge one of our 24 franchises during the most important draft of the league's history.  As I was trying to figure out what to do next, I saw Fitzzy on-line, so I sent him an IM.  He told me how excited his son was for the upcoming draft, and I gently tried to tell him that his son may be over his head, and would need some help drafting his team.  Fitzzy then explained that this league really means a lot to his son, as the boy is confined to a wheelchair, and this league will provide him with a great deal of joy and entertainment throughout the summer.

At around that time, I began to get a little suspicious.  So I did a little digging on Fitzgerald, then asked him a couple of simple questions, such as where he played ball before Montreal.  When he couldn't answer those simple questions, I knew I'd been had.  And I knew without asking who the real "Fitzzy" was.

Barry BondsThe Litchfield Lightning enjoyed a great deal of success in the early stages of the league's history, winning 292 games in the first three seasons, despite making only a handful of trades and free agent pick-ups during that time.   The reason was that Geisel's inaugural draft of 1999 was remarkably successful.  Despite having the 18th pick in the first round, Geisel was able to walk away with Barry Bonds -- one of the best players in the league during that three-year timeframe, and the league MVP in 2001.

With his next pick, Geisel selected David Cone, who went 16-10 with a 2.69 ERA in 1999 and 15-12 with a 3.89 ERA in 2000.  His next five picks were solid, but unspectacular: Pete Harnisch (22-19, 4.37 ERA over the next two years), Denny Neagle (35-21, 3.98 over the next three years), Jeff Shaw (3.38 ERA with 128 saves in four seasons), Scott Brosius (.321/.404/.530 in 1999) and Eric Young (.268/.336/.376 in three seasons with the Lightning).  But it was his eighth pick which became the bargain of the draft.

For the next three seasons, Edgar Martinez established himself as one of the elite players in the Ozzie League.  He hit .306/.419/.536 in 1999, .370/.485/.610 in his MVP year of 2000 and .333/.431/.593 in his final season as a member of the Lightning.

The Lightning went on to win 94 games in 1999, finishing five games behind the Los Altos Undertakers.  Litchfield was then set to face the Undertakers in the '99 OLDS when controversy struck.  By the end of the regular season, it was discovered that Litchfield had overused no fewer than ELEVEN players, including their ace (Cone), their #5 hitter (Brosius), their leadoff man (Otis Nixon, who stole 61 bases in 70 attempts), their #2 hitter (Young, who stole 61 bases in 91 attempts), their starting right fielder (Marquis Grissom) and middle reliever Armando Reynoso (who went 5-2 with a 3.94 ERA in 82+ innings during the regular season.)

That watered-down Lightning team limped into the post-season with a roster of just 21 players and only one hitter available on their bench.   Beating a team that many predicted to win the Ozzie League title, in a best-of-five series, seemed nearly impossible.  But in Game One, with Harnisch on the hill against Los Altos ace Ramon Martinez, the Lightning managed to stay in the game, and trailed by a score of 1-0 heading into the eighth.

Of course, even back then, the Undertakers owned the best bullpen in the league.  With two outs in the eighth, and no one on base, Los Altos skipper Jeff Paulson summoned his closer, Trevor Hoffman.  Hoffman's numbers (4-2, 1.37 ERA, 51 saves, 79 IP, 34 H, 26 BB, 85 K) that year were phenomenal -- so good, in fact, that he actually placed third in the OL Cy Young balloting that year, ahead of Litchfield's ace, Cone.  But in the '99 OLDS, Hoffman was anything but automatic.

The first batter Hoffman faced, Mark Grudzielanek, lined a two-run double to the gap, putting the tying run in scoring position.  Edgar Martinez then followed with a two-run blast, giving the Lightning the lead.  Shaw then closed out the ninth with a scoreless inning of relief, giving the Lightning an improbable victory.

In Game Two, Litchfield took a 3-0 lead in the third inning, then cruised to a 4-2 victory thanks to a solid effort by Neagle, who allowed just two earned runs through 7 2/3 innings.  Finally, after two of the most unlikely games ever to be played in league history, the Undertakers woke up, winning the next two games to force a fifth and final game.

Game Five of the 1999 OLDS will go down in history as one of the best games ever played in the BDBL (at least, to anyone outside of Los Altos.)   With the Undertakers leading by one run and needing only four more outs to advance to the LCS, Paulson once again turned to his closer, Hoffman.  The first batter he faced, J.T. Snow, ripped a base hit up the middle, plating the tying run from second.

In the bottom half of the eighth, Mo Vaughn led off the inning with a single.  Paulson then called for pinch runner, Rich Amaral, who swiped both second and third.  But with the go-ahead run ninety feet away and nobody out, Shaw coaxed both Bill Mueller and Mike Lansing to fly out to shallow left, ending the threat.  After an intentional walk, Hoffman was due to bat.  Paulson once again stuck with his closer, who grounded out for out number three, with the go-ahead run still standing on third base.

After rewarding his manager's confidence in him by pitching a scoreless ninth, Litchfield's bullpen corps tossed a scoreless bottom half of the frame to force extra innings.  In the tenth, Litchfield used their one and only pinch hitter, Damian Jackson, to lead off the inning, and he whiffed for out number one.   Hoffman then walked Brady Anderson and Martinez, and struck out Grudzielanek, bringing Bonds to the plate with runners at first and second and two outs.  This time, Paulson took no chances, walking Bonds intentionally to load the bases.

Once again, Snow (who hit below .200 against lefties) stepped to the plate.  And once again, Paulson stuck with Hoffman rather than turning to a lefty out of the bullpen.   In a way, the move worked, as Snow struck out.  But in a more important way, it didn't, as strike three passed through the legs of catcher Tony Eusebio, scoring Anderson from third.

Geisel wins!With no other options left, Litchfield was forced to place the fate of their season in the hands of Eric Plunk, who had amassed a 4.70 ERA during the regular season.  The leadoff batter that inning was Albert Belle, who was easily the MVP of the Undertakers during the regular season.  Belle recorded his fifth out of the game, flying to center.  The next batter due to hit would have been Vaughn, had he not been removed for a pinch runner two innings before.  Instead, it was Amaral, who grounded out for out number two.  Then, with the hushed Los Altos crowd watching in stunned silence, Mueller struck out to end the season for the Undertakers and propel the Lightning into the first-ever OLCS.

For the series, the Lightning hit just .167 as a team, and scored just 17 runs in 5 games.  But in the end, it was enough.  Their work, however, was far from over.  In the OLCS, the Lightning faced off against the Stamford Zoots, who had themselves beaten a superior team to get to the OLCS.   Despite fielding a full team, the Lightning struggled against the Zoots early in the series, and limped into Game Six needing a win in order to stay alive.  They got it when the newly-reactivated Brosius clubbed a two-run homer in the sixth inning to put Litchfield ahead by a score of 2-1.  That score would stick, and a Game Seven would be played to decide whether or not the Lightning would advance to the first-ever BDBL World Series.

In Game Seven, Zoots short-usage superstar Luis Alicea (who hit .180 during the regular season for the Zoots) clubbed two home runs in the game off of Neagle.  In total, Alicea hit three homers in the series, knocking in five runs on his way to the OLCS MVP award.  The Lightning lost by one run, as both Grudzielanek and Snow left Anderson stranded in scoring position in the ninth.  It was a disappointing ending to what had been a triumphant post-season for the Lightning.

Ohio LightningFollowing his defeat in the OLCS, Geisel shocked the entire league by announcing his resignation.  After it became apparent that he was serious, I began searching for a new owner for the Lightning.   Soon afterward, I received an application from Kevin Lowary of Akron, Ohio.   He seemed like a good guy, and I thought he would provide a good rival for the other Ohio-based owners in the league.  I accepted him into the league and moved the Lightning franchise to the Eck League, where they could develop a rivalry with the Akron Ryche, Massillon Tigerstrikes and Cleveland Rocks.

Lowary was an active member of the league for several weeks.  Then, five days before Christmas, I received a rare phone call from Geisel that went something like this:

Geisel: "Hey."
Me: "Hey."
Geisel: "I want back in the league."
Me: "No way, dude.  You quit, and I already gave your team away."
Geisel: "To a guy named Kevin Lowary, right?"
Me: "Yeah..."
Geisel: "Well...the thing is...that's really me."

Later that day, a news item was posted on the web site:

December 27, 1999
Geisel Issues Apology
NEW MILFORD, CT - As part of his deal with the Commissioner's Office allowing his official re-entry into the BDBL, Litchfield Lightning owner Phil Geisel issued an apology today following a routine caning on the front steps of New Milford Town Hall.

Listing his reasons for resigning from the league in November, Geisel mentioned: "Work, living at home, looking for a home of my own, and just the every day pressures of life that we all have." Several days after his resignation, Geisel realized he had made a mistake.

"I realized that I not only had removed myself from something I enjoyed doing, but I also hurt a few of my friends who are like family to me," said Geisel. "I knew (Commissioner Glander) was probably more irate than the time I threw him out of my moving Jeep on a cold winter night (in 1990), but I also knew I wanted back into the BDBL. When I saw my team was available on the home page I immediately wanted it back. Knowing Glander would probably not give it back at the time, I decided to get it back the easy way by making up an imaginary person - someone Glander would let into the league. Knowing Glander's weakness for baseball freaks made it easy for me to acquire the Lightning. Thus I became 'Kevin Lowary from Ohio.'

"I didn't do it to pull a fast one on anyone. I did it because I wanted the team I drafted, and I wanted to be in the league. I realized I could not go unnoticed because Glander would be turning in the owners' names to Diamond Mind to make sure everyone had a registered copy of the game and 'Kevin Lowary' didn't. So, I came clean.

"At this point, I would like to apologize to Mike Glander...and to the rest of the league. In closing, I would also like to say that I never said that walking through downtown Litchfield was like walking through Beirut! That was a misprint!"

In a statement issued by the Commissioner's Office, the Commissioner acknowledged that the use of false identities on the internet is an increasingly disturbing trend in American society. However, he refused to confirm the rumor that the person who used the name 'Bryan Sakolsky' in order to gain access into the BDBL last season was really Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker using an alias.

"While the similarities are eerie," said Glander, "we can neither confirm nor deny those reports." An investigation is currently being launched.

In 2000, the Lightning enjoyed their best season ever, winning 102 games.  Unfortunately for Litchfield fans, the Undertakers were two games better, costing the Lightning a division title.  However, unlike the year before, the Lightning did not overuse all of their best players during the regular season, and thus were able to field a full lineup against the Zoots in the Division Series.

Once again, Litchfield found themselves needing a win in order to stay alive in that best-of-five series, and once again, they received some late-game heroics.  Trailing by a score of 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and the tying run on first base, Erubiel Durazo (one of only three mid-season free agents ever acquired by the Lightning organization) connected for a game-winning, walk-off homer off of lefty-specialist B.J. Ryan, forcing a fifth and final game of the series.

Like Carlton Fisk's home run in Game Six of the 1975 World Series, however, Durazo's homer turned out to be bittersweet.  The Lightning jumped all over Stamford's co-ace, Kevin Brown, and took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth.  But at that point, Litchfield's pitching finally fell apart.  They allowed four runs in the bottom of the sixth, allowing the Zoots to jump ahead by a score of 6-5.   Lightning bats then flailed away helplessly at the filthy Stamford bullpen trio of John Wetteland, Yorkis Perez and Bobby Chouinard, ending their dreams of advancing any further.

The following season, the Lightning engaged in yet another hard-fought battle for the Griffin Division title -- only this time the team to beat was the Gillette Swamp Rats.  In an effort to gain ground on the 'Rats, Geisel made a rare trade just prior to the season's deadline, acquiring Derek Jeter from the Allentown Ridgebacks as part of a 12-player trade.  Jeter would hit .297/.372/.409 the rest of the way, but it wasn't enough.  Litchfield finished the regular season just one win out of first-place and two wins ahead in the wild card race.  It was enough, however, to advance to their third post-season appearance in three years.  And for the third year in a row, they would once again face the Zoots.

Although the Division Series changed to a best-of-seven format in 2001, the Zoots only needed five games to dispatch of the Lightning.  The Stamford offense pummeled Litchfield pitching to the tune of .306/.390/.517 through those five games, scoring 34 runs.  With Cone no longer in the picture, Litchfield's Game One starter had become Neagle, and Neagle responded by allowing 11 runs through nine innings in his two starts.

Geisel recognized at that time that it would be impossible to advance in the playoffs without good pitching.  So, in an ill-fated deal with the Ridgebacks in the winter of 2001, he traded Barry Bonds to the R-Backs in exchange for Bartolo Colon, Sean Casey and Jerome Williams.  Colon would go 7-17 on the season, with an ERA of 5.04.  Bonds would go on to win the EL MVP and carry the Ridgebacks to their first league championship.  The Bonds trade marked the beginning of the downfall for the Lightning franchise.  The problem is, Geisel either failed to recognize it or failed to care enough to act upon it.

Instead of using the opportunity to rebuild the team into a winner, Geisel sat on his hands and watched as his team decomposed.  With Bonds gone and Martinez's contract expired, they were replaced in the heart of the Litchfield lineup with Jeter and Sean Casey.  That downgrade, combined with downgrades at nearly every other position in the starting lineup, resulted in the Lightning scoring just 645 runs in 2002, which ranked 10th in the Ozzie League.

The pitching staff, which was once led by a legitimate Cy Young contender, was now led by Colon.  The team leader in wins was Doug Davis, who went 11-12.  Neagle (7-15, 5.99) was no longer an effective starter, yet he was given 171 innings to prove it.

Despite being outscored by their opponents by nearly 200 runs, the Lightning managed to finish in second place in an extremely weak Griffin Division.  However, they trailed the first-place Undertakers by a whopping 44 games, and went just 70-90 on the season.

Though the franchise was in desperate need of an overhaul, no serious rebuilding effort ever got underway.  All of the players on the team with the highest trade value (Colon, Jeter and Casey) were kept.  Only two players (Luther Hackman and Steve Karsay) were traded during the season.  And management sat on their hands while other teams reloaded with valuable free agents such as Johan Santana, B.J. Upton, J.C. Romero, Tony Fiore, Quinton McCracken, Delmon Young, Kaz Matsui, Dave Roberts, Jeremy Affeldt, Latroy Hawkins, Alan Embree, Stephen Drew, Khalil Greene, Scott Kazmir, Oliver Perez, Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez, Cliff Lee, Kris Honel, Scott Shields, Dontrelle Willis, Mark Ellis, Mike Koplove, Brendan Donnelly, Damaso Marte, Mike Crudale, Rich Harden, Chris Woodward, Andy Marte and many, many others.

After a year of inactivity, the Lightning were faced with a roster that had few players worthy of a roster spot.  And with Jeter, Colon and Casey tying up $26.5 million in salary, they had little money left to spend in the first-ever BDBL free agent auction.

Heading into that auction, Geisel made what is perhaps the biggest bonehead decision in league history, protecting just seven players from his 35-man roster.  By doing so, the Lightning were penalized $1 million for each player under the 15-player minimum, or $8 million.  In total, the Lightning were penalized $12 million that winter, and went into the draft with just $15.3 million to spend on 28 players.

The Lightning didn't have enough money to participate in the auction, and when the draft rolled around, Geisel was more concerned with finding enough innings and at-bats to last a full season than he was in finding good values for 2004 and beyond.  He was forced to pass on the first ten rounds of the draft, and in the process of filling innings, he stumbled upon a couple of gems in Carl Pavano and Esteban Loaiza.  By the time the draft ended, the 2003 Lightning roster was comprised mostly of players that no one else wanted; players that were eligible to play often, but weren't good enough to make the starting lineup for any other team in the league; players like Rondell White, Terrance Long, Jeromy Burnitz, Brett Mayne, Fernando Tatis, Aaron Sele and James Baldwin.

Yet once again, despite fielding such an atrocious team, the Lightning managed to finish in second place in their division, thanks mostly to horrendous competition (the 66-94 Blazers and 62-98 Swamp Rats), the most drastic Pythagorian difference ever posted by any team in league history (a whopping 13 games on the plus side) and the most drastic home/road split of any team in league history outside of Stamford (22-58 at home, 47-33 on the road.)

Once again, while every other team in the league made moves to bolster their depth for the 2004 season, either through trading or free agent acquisition, the Lightning roster remained stagnant.  Not one free agent was acquired throughout the entire 2003 season.  At the trade table, Geisel turned down several offers for Bartolo Colon, opting to hold onto him instead.  He also fielded several inquiries for Arthur Rhodes before finally trading him just prior to the annual deadline in exchange for middling C-grade prospect Francisco Cabrera (who is currently sporting a 7.14 ERA in Double-A ball, with 25 walks in 29 innings.)

Last winter, Geisel met his ultimate undoing in that now-infamous, ill-fated trade in which a system of checks-and-balances amongst longtime friends was circumvented in the name of winning at all costs.  That trade sparked a heated debate over whether or not Geisel was capable of making the best decisions for his team, and whether or not his ownership of the Lightning was in the best interests of the league.

Geisel's defense on the league message board at that time read:

First of all. I thank all of you that have supported me and to those who still are not convinced well, once again "I care about my team" But, your entitled to your opinion and I respect you for sharing it.

I didn't think it would be nessacary to have to explain myself this much but I feel somewhat obligated to more for the guys who have supported me.

First of all Mike is one of my best friends and is really like family to me that said I can see ones concern there. I do not and would never stay in this league for the reason of friendship It would be a crappy thing to do as a friend of Mike, Paul, Billy and even the guys I have meet personally Jeff, John, Tom, Mike S., Tony D, Jim, Shark and Tony C. they are all great guys as are the other owners.

Those who question why I'm in this league don't know me but those who do know me know I'm a stand up guy and especially after all this crap I would never stay in this league for reason of friendship. I stay in this league because I am a Huge Baseball fan I have said this before and I'll say it again. I still play hardball in two different leagues I'm a Yankee season ticket holder (though with the price hike that might come to an end) I have traveled to many different ball parks not just on BDBL weekends either. I love the game but, as I now see it I don't love the game in some ways many of you do. I can't match every player to his BDBL team and I think it's scary that some can do it in a split second (sorry Glander) I don't know when Peter Gammons is having his next bawl movement and I'm not big into minor league players or Little league players (sorry Jeff had to throw that in)

I do the research on them when I make a trade and I get what I can out of baseball weekley. I still get the paper version because unlike most all of you I do not have access to a computer at all during a normal work day. Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN in NY supply me with 85% of my hotstove league knowledge on my ride home. Being a contractor I am on a job site from 7am to 5am average. By the time I get home most of you have already read the 2 million posts on your lunch breaks (or if your like Glander you do your actually work at lunch break) and are spending time with your family. It's hard for me to keep up on the board that's just the way it is and I don't think I should be black balled for that and I'm glad the majority agrees there.

...Having said that I still found the time to play as many of my games H2H. I have fun during the live draft believe it or not and I love to manage my team and I'm into the games. I have destroyed many things on my desk over the past 5 years especially when Jeff has moved his lefty pitcher to second base so he could bring him back in to face Bonds. I jump out of my seat pumping my fist into the air when Glander is beat by a Fernando Tatis game winning RBI. I feel sick to my stomach when the Rats put 10 runs on the board in back to back games. I like playing the game my team has never finished below second (or above but, trying to change that) I won the wild card 3 years in a row coming as close as you can to knocking the Zoots out as you can in 1999.

I want to win I just have different ideas on how to go about that. I really am happy with the trade I made, I like Edmonds in my lineup. I came really close to pulling the trigger with Posada too but, I really wanted to keep Colon, Loaiza and Pavono I feel I can compete with Glander and Marazita this year in a division I don't want to be in. If you think I'm out of my mind thinking this way that is your opinion but, its my team and I feel it's in my best interest. This is the first trade I have ever made with Paul and believe me he has wanted guys from me before. Last year alone he made offers for A. Rhodes every chapter until I ended up trading him to DJ because I liked his offer better.

OK, my wife is becoming "unhappy" now.

I hope that this clears up how I feel about my team. Don't be mad if I don't post for another year because I'm drained now, time to start the spell check!

Three chapters into the 2004 season, the Lightning are sporting a record of 28-34, 13 games behind their trading partners in the reconfigured Butler Division.  Edmonds is hitting .255/.377/.514 on the season, and teams are loading up on lefty pitchers against him (against whom he is hitting .177/.280/.456.)

For the third year in a row it appears that Geisel incorrectly assessed his team's place on the success curve and overestimated his team's chances of being competitive.  Thanks in part to Edmonds' $11.5 million salary, the Lightning had little money to spend in the auction, and once again failed to sign a single free agent in that auction.  Once again, the Lightning were forced to use their top picks in the draft to fill innings and at-bats rather than search for quality players for the future.  And once again, that formula has led to a dreadful showing in the standings.

Despite another poor season, and despite the looming prospect of having no money to spend in next year's auction thanks to the $32.5 million allocated to the trio of Edmonds, Jeter and Colon, Geisel has once again stood pat in terms of rebuilding.  Three free agent pick-up periods have passed, and he has yet to participate in any of them.  Trade inquiries have been made for players like Colon, yet Colon still remains on the roster.

It is simply not possible to build a losing team into a winner without making smart trades, picking up good free agents and making sound financial decisions.  That statement applies to the BDBL as much as it does to real-life baseball.  Those actions, however, require a bit of effort, and unfortunately, Geisel has simply been unwilling to make that effort.  As I stated recently on the board, time is not the issue here.  The issue is passion for the hobby.  No one could deny that Geisel has passion for the game of baseball.  And if you've ever seen him manage a game in this league, you cannot argue that he has no passion for the managerial aspect of this game.  But when it comes to the day-to-day operation of his team as a GM, that passion simply is not there.  I think that once he realized this himself, his resignation was inevitable.

I'm greatly saddened by Geisel's departure, but in the end I believe it may be best for everyone involved.  I will encourage him to remain a part of this league by attending BDBL Weekends, keeping in touch with league members by e-mail and contributing to the message board (at least as often as he has been while he's been a member!)  And if the day ever comes when he discovers a passion for the GM aspect of this hobby, and he wants to return to the league, I'll be more than happy to save him a spot.

In the meantime, the Lightning legacy is now etched in stone.  Five and a half seasons.  Three playoff appearances.  Three seasons of 90 or more wins.  Five second-place finishes.  It is an impressive track record no matter how you slice it.  Just imagine what he could have accomplished if he had only had some passion!

Keep in touch, G-man.