Class Note 1985
Thinking of column themes is tough. The challenge of weaving together common topics from amongst various classmate updates is so difficult, so daunting, so laden with potential pitfalls, it is best left to trained professionals. It takes seasoned veterans with a track record of management success, a demonstrated record of results and the skills to make the right moves at the right time. In other words, people with tons of time to devote to online fantasy sports. Are you one of these people?
Wait, who’s that I see blazing across the ESPN NBA Fantasy landscape. It’s Chris Gagnon, winner of this year’s league, Cold Beer XIV. Gags took home the honors with a strong late-season surge to earn bragging rights until next October. Relying on savvy preseason scouting and shrewd drafting, I finished in second place (for you Vince Lombardi fans, this is not a case of second place being the first loser). Refusing to let fatherhood, work and family life get in the way of fantasy sports pursuits, Mikey Lehman secured a respectable third-place showing. Proving there is an inverse relationship between time spent on reviewing stats and actual success were Eric Wilinski and Barry Bass, who finished further down in the standings, though ahead of Hubert Smith, whose team was evidently named after the Michael Cera movie, Superbad. What’s nice about this league is that I have very little idea what any of these guys do for a living, but I am very clear on their propensity for two-for-one trades and interest in shooting percentages.
I’m sure Manus Clancy plays fantasy sports. In fact, I heard from Manus, not with really any sort of update of his activities, but rather with a roster question he had while watching a Dartmouth hockey game online. Manus asked whether a Goggin player was perhaps the son of Mark and Sally Goggin. After some quick emails we discovered that was the case, but the important thing here is the phrase “watching hockey online.” Manus was one of us, though this did not surprise me as I fondly recalled our days on the Dartmouth College radio together talking sports trivia. I remember our vast listening audience (if you consider four guys in South Fayer vast) and can’t help but think we were ahead of our time. Today you have Mike and Mike. What about Manus and MacManus? I hope some of those same four listeners would tune in.
Speaking of South Fayer, I heard from past resident Scott Erdman recently. Picture a small helicopter in the British Columbia mountains with 15 people prepared to go cat skiing. Would you imagine two ’85s would be in that copter? Probably yes, since I am writing about it now, but Russ Mitchell and Scott (with their respective sons) were part of this crew! Alas, this happy reunion was somewhat dampened when Scott tore his ACL, but I did learn he lives in N.Y.C. and works for a fashion.com, The Daily Candy. Scott’s rehab will certainly give him some time for fantasy sports.
Who else has read the reunion book? Having memorized the freshman book, I turned my attention to this keepsake. What did I learn, you ask? Well I realized that Janine Wollis Tabas lives in the Philly area. Now I know why I recognized her on the Lower Merion Little League fields cheering for her son. Clearly Janine prefers reality sports.
Fantasy: This was a good column. Reality: Deadline is tomorrow.
—John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com
