We're coming to the end of the regular season for Winter 2024. That reminds me; someone asked why we use Winter instead of Spring. By the time this season's playoffs are done, the temperature is going to be in the 90s, so Winter seems a bit off. The answer is that when I started using the computer to keep track of things, it was back in the 1990s when computer memory storage was limited. Some of you are old enough to remember the Y2K scare, when people thought that the world was going to grind to a halt when the calendar changed from 1999 to 2000. Storage space was so limited back then that early programmers tried to save space by just using the last two numbers in the year (instead of 1994, it was just 94). But then they realized that when the calendar moved to 2000, the computers would read 00 and think that it was 1900. In a scrambled rush, programmers had to go into every computer system and tell the computers to use all four digits in the year. And, at the time, I was already using S for Summer, so I would have had to write out Spring and Summer. Instead, I went with W, S, and F(all). Wow, that was a long time ago.
Someone else asked me about the names of the Divisions this season. They're actually albums by the Rolling Stones. When I was a little kid, everybody just listened to the radio and the radio played everything. In a brief span, you could hear the Beach Boys, followed by James Brown, followed by The Byrds, then Aretha Franklin. A lot of people liked The Beatles and Elvis. I preferred The Temptations and Marvin Gaye. When it came to the British groups, I actually preferred The Animals. They were basically the British version of ghetto kids. They sang gritty songs like, "We Gotta' Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life (And I Can Do What I Want)," and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." But back then, people would ask "Beatles or Stones?" The Beatles made nice pop tunes, but the Stones had a hard edge. The Beatles sang "I Want To Hold Your Hand," while the Rolling Stones sang "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." That says it all.
People in younger generations had the choice "Michael Jackson or Prince?" (The correct answer is Prince. He brought the funk.)
Anyway, we're coming to the end of the regular season (just when I finally got the equitable scheduling down!). Consider:
Heat Check 47, Los Barberos 45
Icy Hots 70, Bandits 67
The Hawgs 62, Fleet 56
Dragons 65, Air Jesus 63
Above Average 55, Rim Reapers 50
Remember, there are no games this week because of Easter. If you don't celebrate Easter, that's fine. I'll do it for you. I'll open my Easter basket full of fried chicken.
The following week, April 7th, will be the final week of the regular season. We have 40 or so teams that need to get in their final regular-season game and there will be a few make-up games, as well. The playoffs will start the following week. The teams that play on the 7th will not have a playoff game on the 14th. Their first-round playoff games will be on the 21st.
As I have said, I (and all of you) are incredibly frustrated with the number of byes this season. I promise you that there will not be another Winter season like this one. I have a couple ideas. I'll run some simulations on them to see what works best. Thank you for your patience.
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Beginning with the Fall 2024 season, ALL TEAMS in the TBL must have matching jerseys with numbers. These days, they're not that expensive. I've been patiently waiting for the past 25 years for it to evolve that way on its own and it hasn't happened. Many teams have jerseys (some even have full uniforms), but other teams show up looking all raggedy. That ends in the Fall. Having matching stuff will lead to better officiating, better scorekeeping, and better games. Teams have five months to get that done.