I swear, if there was a different name and avatar up there, I'd think I was talking to FS

I expect DC to be calling me "Pee" Lawrence any day now, and instead of hearing about cutting the grass and barbecues and hanging flower baskets, it'll be golf lessons, dance school recitals, and coaching little league teams. :p

Funny, guys, especially you TM.

It's nice to know, though, that there are people who actually take this more seriously than I do, although I suppose you could argue that how much time someone spends on the game is incidental to how they feel about it.

But to those who say that these games can be taken too seriously - and I've obviously heard that song before - I would say what I said to Iceman in the hockey thread when he expressed that POV:

These games - especially the baseball and football, whose seasons pretty much cover the entire year except for a few weeks in October - have become kind of a hobby for me.

And, as I said to Iceman: "You're into guns and hunting and all of that. Don't you take it damned seriously?"

I would ask the same question of anyone with a hobby or an interest, whatever that hobby or interest may be.

I'm sure, for exmple, that Don Cardi's son takes his golf game real seriously, and while he plays for the enjoyment of playing - which, of course, is why we all play any of these games - if he's playing with someone who picks his ball up in the rough and improves his lie without taking a penalty (like I used to do when I played, because I was playing strictly for the fun of it, and although I was breaking the rules, I didn't care because I was just playing for fun) and then when he says something has that person tell him that he's taking the game too seriously.....

We've all played board games, like Monopoly, for example.

Does anyone make deliberately "silly" moves or "wrong" moves because they don't care or because they are playing "strictly for the fun of it"?

I thinkk not. I believe that everyone does their best, and everyone tries their hardest to win because deep down inside, whether they admit it to themselves or others or not, they want to win.

OK....enough amateur psychoanalyzing for one day.....