Florida Strat World Presents The:

Second American Basketball League

SABL

Scott Ellis, Commissioner

League LeadersPast NewslettersRecordsAll-StarsDraft Preview 20022003 Draft PreviewMessage/Chat Board/Yahoo!

Standings MembersRosters2003 Draftable PlayersBasketball Resources2003-04 League DiskTeam HighsHome & Away Records

Email The Commissioner 2003-04 Constitution2003-2004 Schedule Of EventsLine Scores2003-04 Team Preview

Past Draft Results Trades2002-03 Season Preview2001 Draft2002 DraftTeam Stats2003 Draft2003 Post-Draft Analysis

League Totals2000 Draft HistoriesSomWorldStrat-O-MaticPlayers Cut2003-04 Season PreviewWon-Loss GridScoring Grid

The SABL BS

Issue 110 January 2004

FROM COMMISSIONER SCOTT ELLIS, 2^ND AMER. BASKETBALL LEAGUE

Who's Trading?

THESE DEALS TAKE EFFECT MARCH. 1, 2004. DO NOT ADJUST ROSTERS UNTIL YOU'VE PLAYED YOUR JANUARY & FEBRUARY GAMES WITH THESE TEAMS. I WILL NOT ADJUST ROSTERS ON OUR WEBSITE UNTIL MARCH 1.

41. Holcomb trades Brian Grant, J. Crawford & T. Thomas to Bakersfield for Billups, G. Robinson & Battier

40. Holcomb trades Vladimir Radmanovic to Bettendorf for Ruben Patterson

39. Galactic trades Prince to Chapel Hill for Eddie Jones

38. Galactic trades Fox & its 2005 1st pick to Cave Creek for Prince & its 2005 3rd pick

37. Galactic trades Zach Randolph, Wells & Davenport's 3rd to St. Lucie for Webber, Hamilton & Holcomb's 1st

Bettendorf (5-11) beats Blades in Bakersfield (1-3)

Bettendorf was ahead the whole way and staved off a last minute Bakerfield comeback, hanging on for a 95-94 victory in a Jan 26th game. Vashon Leonard scored 18 on 9 of 17 from the field for the Druids, and the foul plagued Shaq scored 18 and pulled down 8 boards.

Who's Trading??

THIS DEAL TAKES EFFECT MARCH. 1, 2004. DO NOT ADJUST ROSTERS UNTIL YOU'VE PLAYED YOUR JANUARY & FEBRUARY GAMES WITH THESE TEAMS. I WILL NOT ADJUST ROSTERS ON OUR WEBSITE UNTIL MARCH 1.

40. Holcomb trades Vladimir Radmanovic to Bettendorf for Ruben Patterson

39. Galactic trades Prince to Chapel Hill for Eddie Jones

38. Galactic trades Fox & its 2005 1st pick to Cave Creek for Prince & its 2005 3rd pick

37. Galactic trades Zach Randolph, Wells & Davenport's 3rd to St. Lucie for Webber, Hamilton & Holcomb's 1st

Louisiana (8-12) 86, Bettendorf (4-11) 87 in Louisiana

Bowen jams basket over Mutombo at buzzer for win. Harpring leads all scores with 20.

DRUIDS (3-11) edge ROOSTERS 89-87 in New Orleans (7-26)

A great game between two of the weaker teams. Amare missed two shots at the very end of the game. Nash scored 25 for New Orleans. Bettendorf was led
by Drew Gooden with 17. McCarty hit a desperation shot at the end of the 3rd Q.

ROOSTERS edge QUAD CITY (12-8) in New Orleans

102-99 behind Steve Nash who had 26 points.

Druids (2-11) lose three to Brooklyn (8-14) in Bettendorf

The first two games were blowouts of 9 and 32 points, but game 3 was interesting all the way to the wire. Bettendorf jumped out to a 10 point first quarter lead and went into the half up by 9. The third quarter was all Brooklyn as they went up by 9 going into the 4th. Bettendorf fought back with a 27 point effort by Voshon Lenard, but it wasn't enough. Brooklyn won 116-111 and swept the 3 game series.

McLEAN (11-10) EKES OUT WIN OVER FINNEY (7-12)

In a thriller in McLean, the Nats held on to sweep the season series from Finney, 85-84.  No team ever had a ten point lead, and the game was nip and tuck down the stretch.  Jerry Stackhouse drove for a basket and a 83-82 lead with 0:40 on the clock, but Ron Artest immediately put the Longhorns back in the lead.  Stackhouse drove again, was fouled, and hit the two free throws.  Finney had one more chance, and called a time out.  McLean guessed that the computer would try to get the ball to Alan Iverson, (who was held to 18 points on seven for 21 shooting), so they double teamed him.  He was forced to pass, and the pass to Theo Ratliff was stolen by Dasagna Diop (who played only the last few seconds for his shot blocking).  Stackhouse led the Nats with 25 and Artest led Finney with 21.

Stats, standings & more are now posted!!!!

The Bakersfield franchise has now played its first games of the year and that means every SABL team has played games. And that also means it's time to start posting standings and stats! Check out our League Leaders, Standings, Team Highs, Team Stats, League Totals and Won-Loss Grid to find out what's happening!

Iowa, Quad City, St. Lucie, Cave Creek lead in early going

It's early to tell where things are gonna end up, but so far, Iowa (12-6) has a healthy lead over McLean, Richmond and Akron in the East Division. Quad City (12-7) is ahead of River and Tri-City in the North. St. Lucie (32-2) is already running away with the South, while Cave Creek (10-3) and Holcomb (17-10) are duking it out in the West.

Allan Houston leads SABL in scoring (34.8 ppg)

And the River City shooter is closely followed by Finney's Allen Iverson (32.4). Holcomb's Ben Wallace leads in rebounds (15.2 ppg) and Blocks (3.3 per game), while St. Lucie's Kobe Bryant (58) and Tim Duncan (56) lead the league in defensive stops. Holcomb's Jason Williams (10.9 apg) is nosing out St. Lucie's John Stockton (10.1 apg) in assists, while Shaquille O'Neal of Bakersfield is blowing everyone away in field goal percentage at .692. Tri-City's Shawn Bradley and Akron's Wally Szczerbiak haven't missed from the free-throw line, while Bakersfield's Shane Battier is shooting .750 from three-point land. River City's Caron Butler is first in steals (3.0 per game).

St. Lucie has the best offense so far, at 123.9 ppg. Finney has the best defense, allowing only 94.8 ppg.

Longhorns (7-11) lose to McLean (10-10) in Finney

Mclean leads from start to finish. Iverson goes for 42 in losing effort.

NATS (9-10) HOLD ON AT HOME VS. HOLCOMB (17-10)

After a scathing lecture by their coach for not holding a lead at Holcomb, McLean took the lesson to heart and pounded the Heat, 120-93. Holcomb had early foul trouble as both Jason Williams and Michael Jordan had two fouls in the first four minutes. When Jason did come back, the Nat press disrupted the half court offense and led to 23 Heat turnovers. Arenas, Stackhouse, and Maggette all were over 20 points among six Nats in double figures. Jordan did come back to lead Holcomb with 34, but Williams was the only other Heat in double figures with 12 (four three pointers).

Quad City (12-7) beats Blades in Bakersfield (1-1)

Quad City defeated Bakersfield 113-104 in a Jan 24th game. Quad City led most of the way in an exciting game. Rashard Lewis led the Rimrockers with 26 points and the foul plagued Shaq scored 22 for the Blades.

Heat take McLean in Holcomb

Mclean led by Richard Jefferson takes a 16 point lead after the first quarter 28-12. Holcomb comes back and outscores them the next three quarters to win 107-100. Ben Wallace had a huge game with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Jefferson was unstoppable for McLean with 23 on 10 of 12 shooting. Arenas had 25 and Stackhouse 22 for Mclean. Jamal Crawford led Holcomb with 19

Blades win over Davenport (3-17) in Bakersfield

Shaquille O'Neal scored 30 points and pulled down 15 rebounds leading Bakersfield to a 104 to 90 win over Davenport. The Blades pulled away from Davenport in the fourth quarter, outscoring them 28 to 17. Elton Brand chipped in with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Leading scorers for Davenport were Morris Peterson with 22 and Troy Hudson with 21 points.

Tri-City (1-2) wins in Bakersfield

The Blades opened their season under new Coach Tom Bell with a loss to last year's North Division champs, the Tri-City Blackhawks, coached by that Amazing Feeney Chris. Here's Tom's report:

Tri-City fights off a furious late game Blades comeback to pull out a 103-100 victory. Ricky Davis was all over the court in collecting 37 points and Chauncey Billups spearheaded the Bakersfield comeback with 24 points. Shaq was held to only 13 points and 7 rebounds.

Who's Trading??

THIS DEAL TAKES EFFECT MARCH. 1, 2004. DO NOT ADJUST ROSTERS UNTIL YOU'VE PLAYED YOUR JANUARY & FEBRUARY GAMES WITH THESE TEAMS. I WILL NOT ADJUST ROSTERS ON OUR WEBSITE UNTIL MARCH 1.

38. Galactic trades Fox & its 2005 1st pick to Cave Creek for Prince & its 2005 3rd pick

37. Galactic trades Zach Randolph, Wells & Davenport's 3rd to St. Lucie for Webber, Hamilton & Holcomb's 1st

Tulsa (11-13) wins in Brooklyn (5-14)

The Tigers and Twisters were neck and neck for most of the game. Cuttino Mobley who led Brooklyn with 35 points had 16 after 6 minutes of the 1st. Gasol added 24, with 10 rebounds and Ginoboli had 20. But Shawn Marion 30-11, 2 blocks, Jermaine O'Neal 21-9, 6 (5 in the 4th) blocks took over and Tulsa pulled away to win.

McLEAN (8-9) TAKES TWO OF THREE FROM QUAD CITY (11-7)

The Nats evened their home record at six and six, by taking two of three from the Rimrockers. In game one, the Nats held a twenty point lead early in the fourth quarter, saw Quad City cut it to five, but held on to win, 120-111. Gilbert Arenas led the Nats with 33 and Rashard Lewis had 27 for Quad City, but was only one for nine from three point land (real Rimrocking!). The Nats also hit 26 of 51 free throws as 33 fouls messed up Quad City's rotation.

Quad City had the early lead in game two, and had their own twenty point lead in the third quarter. The Nats came back in the fourth, cutting the lead to two and had three chances to tie with under four minutes to play. But, 23 turnovers doomed them and they fell 108-103. Lewis again led Quad City with 34, while Jerry Stackhouse led the Nats with 28.

In game three, there was no comeback, and the Nats waltzed to a 119-99 win, shooting 62 percent from the floor and 34 for 41 from the foul line. Lewis led the Rimrockers with 28 and Arenas led seven Nats in double figures with 30. For the series, Stackhouse was 23 for 37 from the floor (62 percent) and 20 for 23 from the foul line, primarily against Lewis.

Twisters took 2 of 3 from New Orleans (6-25) in Tulsa (10-13)

Game 1, 106-104. Jason Terry made a "dazzler" to Amare Stoudamire with literally 1 second left in the game to win it for New Orleans! All told for the game, between them, Terry and Steve Nash must have had at least 8 dazzlers.

Game 2, 108-85.

Game 3, 112-104.

ROOSTERS (5-23) finally crow by defeating DAVENPORT (3-16) 90-84

Jason Terry led New Orleans with 22. Peterson scored 31 in a losing effort.

The Buzz (7-11) breaks a winless drought

Louisiana 108
McLean 95

Mash has a double double with 28 pts and 10 boards

Galactic (10-3) 96 Quad City (10-5) 95

Great game as Lewis kept hitting from outside 14-25 for game 3-5 on 3's as Pippen, playing him close, couldn't stop him. Lewis lead all scores with 33. Eisley had 12 assists. Foyle had 10 with 11 rebs in 24 mins.

Galactic followed up their last game after missing 11 FT with another 12 misses. Payton had 13 with 12 assists but 6 turnovers.

After a 3 pointer my Lewis with 56 seconds left to give Quad the lead 95-94 Marshall made, what turnout to be, the winning shot with 10 seconds left.

Quad City takes 7 of 8 from Davenport

Chapel Hill (9-10) takes two of three in Holcomb (15-9)

Game 1: Finney builds a 28 pt lead in the third and coasts to a 112-96 win. Iverson has 26, Artest 21 for Finney. Chapel Hill had 7 in double figures with Van Exel and Wallace leading the way with 16 each. There were 51 3ptrs attempted and 27 made. Finney hit 5 of 27 and Chapel Hill 12 of 24. Finney won the game at the free throw line, hitting 25 of 30 to 4 of 10 for Chapel Hill.

Game 2: Just the opposite of Game 1. Chapel Hill had a 30 point lead at one point in the fourth, coasting to a 114-89 victory. Iverson had 26 for Finney, but on 8 of 30 shooting. Jamison had 29 to lead 5 Chapel Hill players in double figures. Chapel Hill dominated this game at the free throw line, 37 of 44 to 9 of 12 for Finney.

Game 3: Best of series. Game was tied with 3:12 to go. Iverson had 39 for Finney and Chapel Hill had 6 players in double figures led by Kirilenko with 18. Chapel Hill pulled away at the end to win 100-93

Davenport 126, Twisters (8-12) 97 in Tulsa

NATS (6-7) GET JOB DONE AGAINST NEW ORLEANS (4-23)

In McLean, the Nats hit 58 percent from the floor and strangled the Roosters on defense, winning 108-85. In addition to the 14 turnovers in the box score, there were easily another half dozen 24 second violations, and the Roosters were held to only 20 rebounds. Corey Maggette led the Nats with 29 and Pat Garrity led New Orleans with 20 including five for ten three point shots.

McLEAN RALLIES PAST LOUISIANA (6-11)

In McLean, the Nats put on an impressive fourth quarter rally to beat the Buzz, 105-95.  Extensive double-teaming of Jamal Mashburn held him to four points before he fouled out, but Matt Harpering went wild with 38, including four for four on threes, and added nine rebounds.  He ended the game exhausted, and seven Nats in double figures carried the day.  The Nats also drew 36 fouls.

Galactic 97 (8-3), Davenport (1-8) 89

Galactic was lead by Payton with 16 and 9 assists. Davenport was lead by Hudson with 26 and 8 assists. For the game Galactic missed 11 FTs and Davenport only made 6 of 27(22%) 3 attempts.

Louisiana (6-10) 77, Quad City (3-3) 110 in Louisiana

Lewis with 40.

Louisiana 98, Davenport (1-7) 111 in Louisiana

Peterson with 29; Mash with 31

TULSA (8-11) completes the sweep at NEW ORLEANS (4-22)

100-85, led by Shawn Marion's 31 points. Steve Nash topped the ROOSTERS with 23.

Do not use the game's email function anymore. Use the website listings

Two reasons:

1. It's bugged anyway.

2. We have a new email address for Bob Storey. It's listed on the website. But some of you are using his old email address listed in the game, which is wrong. I can't send out a new league disk every time someone changes their email, so I've added this new line to our constitution:

DO NOT USE THE GAME'S EMAIL PROGRAM. USE OUR WEBSITE TO GET THE CORRECT COACH'S EMAIL ADDRESS.

If you continue to send emails to incorrect member addresses, whether through the game or otherwise, you could be subject to penalty points for lateness.

Welcome Tom Bell as the new Bakersfield Blades coach

Let's all give a great big SABL welcome to new Bakersfield Coach Tom Bell. Tom is an oil refinery operator on California's coast and he's taken over Bakersfield, beginning immediately. Bakersfield has played no games or sent out any instructions this year, so send everything to Tom right away.

Tom's vitals: 1420 Greenmont Dr., Vallejo, CA 94591, Phone: 707-648-7330, Email: TBINTHEMIX@aol.com

Tom has told me he wants to try and make some trades before the Feb. 1 deadline, so start those emails flying!

David Squires resigns as Bakersfield Blades coach

David's had to take on a second job recently and he just doesn't have time to play in the SABL. I've accepted his resignation. We wish him good luck!

TULSA (7-11) defeats NEW ORLEANS (4-21) 119-116 in OT

The Roosters led 116-109 with less than 2 minutes in overtime. Tulsa proceeded to score ten straight points for the victory. O'Neal and Terry both scored
30 points. The Rooster coach took the loss hard.

"What do we need to do to win one? We need a rated shooter like we need oxygen. Turnovers are killing us."

Jams (7-9) top Richmond (4-6) 115-100 in Chapel Hill

Aces (33-2) lose first game in St. Lucie to Quad City (2-3) 113-107

Rimrocker Coach Kathleen Feeney was Amazing by being the first to defeat the Aces in St. Lucie this year behind 29 points from Rashard Lewis and 13 assists from Jamaal Tinsley. Quad City broke out to a lead from the start and never gave it up, shooting 59 percent from the field to St. Lucie's 49 percent. St. Lucie only shot 25 percent from three-point land, while Quad City shot 44 percent.

Kobe Bryant led St. Lucie with 23 points.

Aces 107, Davenport (0-7) 80 in St. Lucie

Tulsa (6-11) destroys New Orleans (4-20) 118-84 in New Orleans

Behind Shawn Marion's 33 points.

Heat (15-9) win 3 of 4 vs. Tulsa (5-11) in Holcomb

Holcomb wins game 1, 114-106 behind 26 points each from Jordan and Williams and a 10 pt, 18 rebound effort from Wallace. Marion tough for Tulsa with 28.
Game 2: Holcomb out-rebounds Tulsa 63-30 in a 112-96 win. Corliss Williamson had 32. Marion had 31 and O'Neal 22 for Tulsa.
Game 3: Jordan goes for 38, Williams 33, and Grant 20 as Holcomb pulls out a 124-107 win. Marion again tough with 39, O'Neal goes for 20.
Game 4: Tulsa wins, coming from behind in the fourth to win 96-101. Marion hits for 30 and O'Neal for 22. Jordan has 32 points and Williams 17 assists for Holcomb.

McLEAN (4-7), RICHMOND (4-4) SPLIT FOUR IN McLEAN

Game One. Raiders Romp 133-101 as everything goes wrong for the Nats including 20 turnovers and FOUR technical fouls. (I was irate.) Dirk Nowitzki had 25 and Baron Davis 22; Corey Maggette had 30 and Jerry Stackhouse 22.

Game Two. The Nats came back to take the second, 110-94, behind Gilbert Arenas' 31 points on 11 for 15 shooting. The Nats took a 15 point half time lead and held it throughout the second half. Maggette added 24 while Lucious Harris led the Raiders with 22 points in 20 minutes.

Game Three. This was the thriller. Richmond came back from six down in the final four minutes helped by two outside shots from Davis. Brad Miller hit two foul shots to put the Nats up by two with :38 seconds to play, but Eddie Curry tied it with :20 left. The Nats went for the last shot, but Davis stole the ball and scored at the buzzer for a 106-104 Raider win. Nowitzki led the Raiders with 19; Maggette had 24 for the Nats.

Game Four. The Nats took a 33-17 first quarter lead and the lead went from ten to 22 the rest of the game, with the Nats winning 121-104. Maggette led seven Nats in double figures with 25; Nowitzki had 21 and Michael Finley 20.

For the series, Richmond outscored the Nats 437-436 and the Nats out rebounded the Raiders 176-175.

Jams (6-9) top Blimps (2-3) in wild 3 point battle 131-127 in Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill and Akron combined to hit 25 of 43 three point shots! Antawn Jamison (Chapel Hill) led all scorers with 35 points.

Chapel Hill defeats Iowa (12-5) 122 - 115 in Chapel Hill

Behind Jamison's 33 points and Kerry Kittles' season high 26 points.

RICHMOND (1-2) 109 NEW ORLEANS (4-17) 92 in New Orleans

Stojakovic scores 25 to lead Richmond. Jason Terry pumps in 26 for the Roosters.

Standings and stats coming as soon as Bakersfield plays first games!

Everyone has played games now except Bakersfield Coach David Squires. As soon as he checks in, a plethora of standings and stats are coming your way!

Thunder (5-3) beat Richmond (1-2) in Galactic

Galactic 127
Richmond 99

Galactic had 7 men in double figures lead by Payton with 29 and 8 assists. Cassell had 17 with 9 assists.Galactic out shot Richond 58%-42% and handed out 39 assists. Richmond was lead by Finley with 19. Nowitzki had 18 and B.Davis had 18 with 7 assists.

Quad City (1-3) defeats Tulsa (4-8) by double digits

Aces (30-1) nearly lose to Richmond (0-2) in St. Lucie

It went right down to the last minute, but St. Lucie barely beat defending Royal Conference Champion Richmond 112-109. Tim Duncan led the way with 17 rebounds for St. Lucie and Kobe Bryant had 20 points. For Frank Rowley's Raiders, Baron Davis scored 20 points.

Louisiana 109, Richmond 112 in Louisiana

Nowitski with 24 and Harpring with 27.

Two teams still haven't played games, stats on hold until they do

Due to computer problems, Frank Rowley's Richmond Raiders have only played one game, against the Aces. And Bakersfield still hasn't played any games at all. Once they check in, which hopefully is soon, I'll be uploading all the standings and standings for your perusal.

River City stomps Tulsa in Tulsa

Galactic 130, Akron 116 in Galactic

McLean Gives Aces Slight Scare

In McLean, the Nats hung with St. Lucie most of the game, closing within four points with two minutes to go, but they couldn't stop the Aces and Kobe Bryant hit four foul shots in the final minute after intentional fouls to account for the final 114-104 victory margin.  Bryant led the Aces with 26 and Jason Kidd had 21.  Duncan got his usual double double with eleven points and eleven rebounds.  Corey Maggette led the Nats with 29, including five of eight from three point range.

CHAPEL HILL SPANKS NATS IN McLEAN, 114-105

The Nats spent the afternoon trying to come back from deficits ranging from one to 12 points, but a poor shooting fourth quarter doomed their chances. Gilbert Arenas had 31 and Troy Murphy had 16 boards for McLean while Antawn Jamieson led six double figure scorers with 23 for Chapel Hill.

McLean defeated the Chapel Hill Jams 121 - 110 in Chapel Hill

With a big 4th quarter that wiped out a Chapel Hill 3 point lead. The Nationals dominated the boards 50 - 35.  Leading scorers were Richard Jefferson (24) and Rasheed Wallace (20).

McLean wins 100-72 in New Orleans

Behind Troy Murphy's offense and a great team defense.

Galactic 133, McLean 109 in Galactic

Galactic won rebounding (55-36), assists (33-23), turnovers (17-25) and outshot McLean (52%-44%). Mclean made 31-34 free throws.

Galactic had 7 men in double scoring. Payton lead way with 25. Cassell 21 and Rose 19. Thunder had 10 men with 4 or more rebs lead by Coleman with 7. All players playing less than 30 mins.

Mclean was lead by Stackhouse with 22 and Jefferson with 20. Divac had 13 points, 8 rebs and 5 assists. Arenas had 17 with 6 assists.

Akron beats Buzz in Louisiana

Akron wins 122-107 as the blimps canned 13 three's.

Longshots win over Druids in Cave Creek

Cave Creek wins 97-77 and outscored Bettendorpf by 19 in the 2nd half.  Again, Cave Creek wins a game at the FT line (attempting 41 to 17) and rebounding (55-25).    Snow was solid with 11pts, 7 reb, 9 asst.  Richardson off the bench went 9/13 and scored 19.

Louisiana 123, Brooklyn 118 at Brooklyn

Blimps fly over Roosters 120-87

Despite foul trouble by Kevin Garnett. Kevin and Wally "world" both score 29 apiece.

Twisters beat Druids by 3 in Tulsa

Welcome our newest coach, Knox Bardeen, who takes over the Druids

Let's all send an email welcome to the man taking over the SABL's Evil Empire, Knox Bardeen, who takes control of the Bettendorf Druids effective immediately. Knox is a newlywed and 30-year-old commercial real estate broker from Atlanta that has 10 years of APBA and Action PC Football league experience. Here is his address and email:

Knox Bardeen, 4849 Helga Way NE, Woodstock, GA 30188

Phone - (770) 485-2000

Email - KnoxB3@comcast.net

Instant Messaging - AIM – KnoxB3

Yahoo! – KnoxB3

Please send all your results and instructions to Knox, effective immediately. He will probably take a couple of weeks to get up to speed, but he also wants to get started right away, too. Any help you can give him, I'm sure he'd appreciate.

Strat computer basketball and the SABL is his first Strat-O-Matic experience, so please send Knox some tips along with your trade offers! Let's make him feel at home in the best Strat basketball league in the world, the Second American Basketball Association - where you are free to be the best that you can be.

Bettendorf Coach Mark Feeney resigns from the Druids

I deeply regret to announce the SABL no longer has an Evil presence. Mark has resigned from the league, effective immediately. A firebrand competitor and an excellent coach that always got the most out of teams that seemingly didn't stand a chance, he will be missed so much.

A few years ago, ex-SABL Coach Tom Jargo of the Miles Bulldogs (now the Louisiana Buzz), sent me a picture of Mark, calling him the "Face Of Evil." Druids were pagan worshippers from Great Britain whose ancient rituals were sometimes misinterpreted as evil. Tom, who we also still miss, was a good friend of Mark's and he used to poke fun at him constantly via write-ups he would send to me. If you check our past newsletters, you will see them, along with Mark's "evil" face.

But I'm really the evil one, not Mark. And I'm really sorry to see Mark go. He is always welcome to come back any time we have a team open. We all wish him the best of luck.

First official SABL protest is resolved - Druids win replayed game

Bettendorf Coach Mark Feeney has replayed the Galactic-Druid game he played earlier and once again, Bettendorf won 129-117. Here is Mark's report:

"In their final game with me as owner, the Bettendorf Druids defeat the Galactic Thunder (unless there is some flaw in the way I played this one) 129- 117. The emotional Druids scored a phenomenal 81 points in the first half, then coasted."

Since the actual protest has all thoroughly hashed in emails to you from Mark Feeney and I, I see no compelling reason to rehash all that again. If any of you wish to discuss this issue further with me via email or telephone, you are always free to ask me about it.

And since the won-lost result was the same as before, following SABL tradition, no new stats will be imported or re-imported.

URGENT - Make sure "No Auto Rest" & "Static Fatigue" are chosen

This tip came from New Orleans Coach Jeff Perigoni, who also had the same problem Galactic Coach Steve Walters has seen with weird fatigue anomalies:

Jeff says to check the Rules tab under League Options and make sure No Auto Rest and Static Fatigue are chosen. He said on his SABL league, they were not and he had the same crazy fatiguing on his player Pat Garrity, which was the last player listed on his roster.

Do this before you play any more league games!

Aces (28-1) beat Akron 147-130 at St. Lucie

Kevin Garnett got in foul trouble and that doomed the Blimps as Kobe Bryant scored 29 points, with 9 rebound and 4 steals to lead St. Lucie to the win. John Stockton had 19 points and 14 assists, while Tim Duncan had 25 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Kidd scored 22 points with 11 assists and Chris Webber made 23 points.

Ilgausakas played a career game vs. the Aces, scoring 30 points. Ray Allen scored 28 with 11 assists and Garnett scored 27 with 11 rebounds.

Jams (3-7) beat Brooklyn (2-11) 109 - 97 with big 4th in Chapel Hill

Aces 116, Bettendorf 101 in St. Lucie

URGENT - Something wrong with fatigue system in Windows game

This seems to sometimes happen when you play a team for the first time. This was caught first by Galactic Coach Steve Walters, but it has been reported on SOMWorld.com forums, too. It's just never been reported happening in our league - until now.

Steve sent me three box scores of games reflecting things that just can't happen when you play Static Fatigue, and you have to play Static Fatigue in our league.

First, in one game Scottie Pippen played only five minutes total, but had a Fatigue of 5, the max. He was programmed to play over thirty minutes by Steve. Toni Kukoc played only 1 minute, and had fatigue of 3. Neither player had a foul, which rules out the game taking them out because of foul trouble.

In another game, Gary Payton was programmed to play 40 minutes, but only played 26. He didn't have a foul, either.

In another game, Pippen had fatigue of 5, even though he only played 7 minutes and had just one foul.

I suspect that what's happening is that when you play a team for the first time in any draft league, for some reason, the game may switch to Dynamic Fatigue for that first game by default. I say "may," because I have not noticed this happening in the games I've played with my team here so far. Dynamic Fatigue, which is for straight replay leagues only, is wacko and can cause these kinds of anomalies.

The good news is that Steve Walters has found a fix - if you notice playing fatiguing way too early (it's in the "S" column, for "Strength) and the computer substituting for them way too early or just not letting them play because of it, STOP PLAYING THE GAME. DO NOT SAVE THE SAVE. RESTART THE GAME FROM SCRATCH. This seems to fix the problem.

Of all the bugs found so far, this is by far the worst. Please be vigilant when playing your games. Our stats could be all screwed up if we have to replay a game. I'd have to use Liquid Paper (lol) and hand-change the won-lost records. I won't do that for the stats, though. I have a life outside Strat.

We are all gonna have to watch our games much closer until this gets fixed, which will probably be next year. This sounds like major programming to me.

It's weird that this was not noticed in the old DOS game. If it was a direct DOS port to Windows, this should not have happened.

Roosters (4-14) beat Buzz (5-5) in New Orleans

Roosters Win 114-103 behind Jason Terry's 27 points.

Tri-City beats Twisters (3-6) in Tulsa

Cave Creek (9-3) takes 3 of 4 in Tulsa

Bettendorf (2-3) has a rough Kansas swing

Losing to Finney109-91, after having a 15 point lead in the 2nd qtr. Ward just missed a triple double with 12 pts, 11 boards, and 8 assists. Iverson had 41 for Finney. Artest had 27.

Holcomb held Bettendorf off in the last qtr to win 99-94. Holcomb had a 14 point lead in the 2nd. Jordan led all scorers with 23. Holcomb out-rebounded Bettendorf 49-33.

Druids fall short against Aces (26-1)

Bettendorf had two shots at upsetting the Port St. Lucie Aces. Both of them rimmed out, giving the Aces a 109-107 victory.

With 45 seconds to play, Walter McCarty launched an open three-pointer that rimmed out. After an Aces miss, McCarty got a second chance with five seconds left, but missed again. He grabbed the long rebound, but didn't have time to put up a shot.

"We decided to play for the win on the road," Druids Coach Larry Eustachy said. "We wanted to go to Charlie Ward, but he was covered; Walter had good looks both times."

Ward, back in the state where he won the Heisman Trophy, had hit all five of his three-point attempts. He finished with 18 points. Kobe Bryant led the Aces with 28 points.

Druids silence Thunder

A 36-point fourth quarter carried Bettendorf to a 117-110 victory over Galactic. Fred Hoiberg hit all four of his three-point attempts and finished with 16 points in 18 minutes for the Druids. Sam Cassell, who was in a Druids' uniform last year, had 26 for the Thunder. Gary Payton had a tough night, hitting only 1 of 13 shots.

Druids lasso Longhorns (5-8)

Bettendorf jumped out to a 28-18 lead after the first quarter and held on for a 100-91 victory over Finney, despite an impressive performance by Lorenz Wright. Wright finished with 23 points on 10-11 shooting. Allen Iverson led all scorers with 25.

Roosters (3-14) crow as they beat Buzz (5-4) in Louisiana

Roosters crow as they hit 60% from thew field in beating the Buzz 118-110. Nash had 23 and Mash had 25.

Longshots (6-2) destroy Quad City (2-14) 127-95 in Cave Creek

Cave Creek gets first laugher of the year, 127-95 over Quad City. Rose scores 32 and adds 6 assists, including 5/9 from three point land. Pierce adds 34pts/8 rebounds. Cave Creek shoots 62% to 41% for Quad City, outrebounds Quad City by 8, and outscores Quad City 34-12 at the foul line. Quad City led by Lewis with 22.

Aces (25-1) defeat Roosters (2-14) 112-75 in New Orleans

Roosters actually led at half 46-44, then ran wild with a 68-29 second half advantage. Kobe scored 35.

Longhorns (5-2) defeat Davenport (0-5) 99-88 in Cave Creek

Davenport come back falls short. Cave Creek leads by 8-10 most of game, but Davenport behind Horry's 16 pts and 4 of 6 3-pointers, comes back to tie it. But down the stretch Davenport can't hit a shot and Cave Creek pulls away to a 99-88 victory. Pierce leads the way with 22, Williams added 9 pts and 12 boards, and Dampier had a quiet but effective 11 pts and 7 boards.

Aces (24-1) defeat McLean 121-99 in St. Lucie

Kobe Bryant led St. Lucie with 29 points and 7 steals. John Stockton had 14 assists and Tim Duncan had 11 boards. Corey Maggette led McLean with 17 poins and 8 rebounds.

Longshots (4-2) beat Tri-City (0-2) in Cave Creek

Rose scores 24, including a late clutch 3 pointer as Cave Creek squeeks by Tri-City 113-110. Pierce fould out and so did Hilario, but not before doing damage with 27 and 15 points respectively. Jerome Williams was the Good (13 rebounds) the bad (1 for 6) and the ugly (6 turnovers).

Aces (23-1) beat Roosters (2-13) in New Orleans

ROOSTERS hold Duncan to only 13 points. ROOSTERS break 100 points. Nash scores 26 but some guy named KOBE scores 53 as Aces romp 133-101.

Iowa (7-1) beats Thunder (2-1) 138-131 in Galactic

Galactic played well but couldn't stop Tracy Mcgrady(Double teamed must of game) who scored 48 with 4 rebs and 6 assists. Tyron Hill(Left unguarded because of DT on McGrady had 14 with 12 rebs in 22 minutes. Francis added 13 with 15 assists. Another big part of Tornadoes victory was out rebounding the Thunder 49-31. Iowa also was 7-15 on 3's.

Galactic got a big game from Malone with 37. M.Rose added 20 in 16 mins. Payton had 14 and 10 assists. Galactic made 30 free throws and shot 56% from the field but just could not make up for McGrady and the rebounding debit.

Longshots (3-2) split 2-2 with Tulsa in Cave Creek

Game 1: Cave Creek led by bench play of Richardson (20 pts), Hilario (10pts/10 reb), Taylor (14 pts/9 rebs). Cave Creek wins 123-113

Game 2: Cave Creek ouscores Tulsa 14-5 in OT. Nene off the bench with 19 pts, Pierce goes for 33.

Game 3: Cave Creek never in it and looses 104-85. Shooting 35% and Marion's 30 sink Cave Creek.

Game 4: Cave Creek just about tosses computer out the window. Trailing by 1 with 2 minutes left, the $&*#^$*(#$ computer manager decides to start intentional fouling! Now, Cave Creek might have lost anyway, but several intentional fouls, while trailing by 1 point, is not a winning strategy. Hopefully this bug will be fixed ASAP. Its a bug that virtually ensures any team up by 1-2 with 2 minutes left is going to win.

Overall Marion had an improbable series averaging 30 pts and 12 rebounds. Seems to me he seriously outperformed his card every game, not that his card is bad, but the guy never missed.

New email for McLean Coach Bob Storey

Make sure you use this instead of the email address in our official league disk: storeyrc@juno.com

Tigers (2-10) beat Chapel Hill (2-7) in Brooklyn

The Tigers stage a big 4th qtr. comeback fueled by Ginoboli. Trailing by as much as 19 early in the period they pulled to within 2 with 1-1/2 minutes left. But the magic disappeared. Jamison (36 points0 and Wallace entered the game and Chapel Hill held on. Derek Anderson had 22 for the Jams. Brooklyn had 5 men in double figures, Ginoboli 23 and Bowen 17 both had their biggest games of the season.

Longhorns (5-7) take on three North Division teams

Finney beats Quad City 99-76, loses to River City 90-103, and beats Davenport 94-77.

Holcomb (11-8) beats Tri-City at home

Tri City had leads by 13 in the 1st and 15 in the 2nd only to watch Holcomb come back and win by 5 110-105. Marbury went crazy with 46 points and 8 assists. Jordan had 31 for Holcomb.

Aces (22-1) take all four from New Orleans (2-11) in St. Lucie

Game 1 - St. Lucie 141, Roosters 85

Kobe Bryant scored 31 with 9 rebounds to lead St. Lucie. Tim Duncan scored 27 with 11 boards. Jason Kidd made 27 points. For New Orleans, Jason Terry scored 24.

Game 2 - St. Lucie 135, Roosters 100

Duncan led St. Lucie with 25 points and John Stockton added 21. For the Roosters, Steve Nash scored 30.

Game 3 - St. Lucie 112, Roosters 90

Duncan again led St. Lucie with 21 points. Stockton had 13 assists and the Chinaman had 11 rebounds.

Game 4 - St. Lucie 107, Roosters 85

For the third time, Duncan led St. Lucie with 27 points. Terry had 14 assists for New Orleans.

Aces (19-1) take three of four in Chapel Hill (1-7)

St. Lucie took 3 of 4 from Chapel Hill 114 - 94, 120 - 104, 137 - 144 and 138 - 99.

The win by Chapel Hill, the Aces first loss of the season, was a wild game marked by a 62 point outburst by Kobe Bryant (23 - 29 FGs). Kobe missed by one point tying the all-time SABL single-game scoring record of 63 points in a game set in 2001-02 by Allen Iverson of the Finney Longhorns. The Aces lost despite hitting on 58% of their FG attempts. Derek Anderson had a career night for the Jams with 32 points in 26 minutes of action.

Anderson followed this amazing night (6 - 9 on threes) with an 0 - 8 performance in game 4 of the series. Kobe had 157 points in the series. Stockton had an amazing 14 assists in only 20 mins for St. Lucie in Game Two.

Buzz (5-3) 101, Roosters (2-8) in Louisiana

Buzz uses a 30 point 4th qtr to bounce back against the Roosters led by Mash's 29 points.

Aces (15-0) 117-100 over Roosters (2-6) in New Orleans

Aces win 117-100 but the game was close until the fourth quarter. Roosters attempted 34 three point shots. Duncan and Kobe lead St. Lucie with 25 apiece. Jason Terry was high for the game with 31.

Holcomb (9-8) beats Quad City & River City in Holcomb

Cave Creek 104, River City 99 in River City

Nail-biter throughout. CC kept getting 4-7 point leads only to have River City come back. For Cave Creek there were no outstanding performances, however, Richardson's clutch late free throws solidified the game. The game was won at the line where Cave Creek outshot River City 35-16 and scored 25 points to 12 for River City.

For River City- Caron Butler was a 100% pest. His offense was severely lacking, but his 5 steals all seemed to come when I had a chance to blow the game open. Houston was a stud, but late I double teamed him and Battie missed 2 shots when he was left open to double teams. Rebraca was another pest with his 5 offensive rebounds in limited play.

BUZZ (4-3) BOUNCE BACK 117-90, beat New Orleans (2-5)

The Buzz had an incredible 14 offensive rebounds in the first half. The Roosters could not recover. Mashburn scored 29 for Louisiana.

Aces (13-0) sweep Heat (7-8) in Holcomb

Heat Coach Charlie Dillingham reports:

Game 1: Close game, 2nd qtr the difference. Kobe and Jordan had a shootout with 31 apiece. St Lucie 123 Holcomb 110 Game 2: 2nd qtr again the difference, as St Lucie outscored Holcomb 31-14.

Game 2: How often can you lose when your center (Wallace) has 25 rebounds, your point (Williams) has 16 assists and your shooting gd (Jordan) has 26 points. When you're playing St Lucie, that's when. Duncan goes for 21 points and 20 rebounds to lead 4 Aces in double figures. St Lucie wins 106-86.

Game 3:Holcomb leads for 3 1/2 qtrs only to lose 104-96. St Lucie has huge 4th qtr with 37 to outscore Holcomb by 14. Duncan again led all scorers with 22, Webber had 19 and Bryant 18. Jordan had 25 for Holcomb.

Aces (10-0) sweep Holcomb (6-5) in St. Lucie, 138-103, 118-95, 118-86

Second trading period over, all deals now take effect March 1

We are now in the last trading period of the year. Beginning Feb. 1, all deals made will take effect next season. So far, no mid-season trades have been made, which is unusual for us.

Roosters (2-4) run over Buzz (3-3)  93-80

22 turnovers stings the Buzz.

Iowa (5-1) takes two more at Brooklyn (1-7)

As soon as everyone plays enough games for them to be meaningful, probably in another three weeks or so, I'll be posting standings and stats.

The Three Amigos

McLean Coach Bob Storey (center) was vacationing last month during the holidays near my Port St. Lucie, FL home. Also horning in on the fun was my foe -er, friend, Galactic Coach Steve Walters (left). The bartender on the right is your friendly neighborhood commissioner.