The Last Man

[Wayne23]

3/9: #9 seed Wash ST, 14-14, 6-12, won the play in. They are our first opponent.

3/10: 82-61. 5 in double figures, +8 RBs, +7 TOs.

#5 seed AZ ST, 16-13, 10-8, is next in the semis. They beat us by 4 there so we need to be focused.

3/11: 81-64. We were never threatened. +18 RBs. We beat them badly inside and held them even outside.

#2 seed, #9 ranked Arizona, 25-5, 14-4, for the title. We won by 18 here, and we’re convinced we’re the better team, but we need to play our game.

3/12: 76-64 and the title! We led all the way, by as many as 20. Another team effort with 6 guys getting 9 or more.

28-2, 16-2, #3, RPI #1. We’ll be a #1, but #1 overall?

YES! But get this, #2 ranked Memphis is the #2 seed in our bracket- AND they’re #2 in RPI. WTF! Oh well, to win the tourney you need to beat them all.

First up is 15-16 Grambling.

3/16: 64-44. They played slow down. It didn’t work, but they stayed with it. It was never a game.

#9 seed Georgetown, 20-10, in the 2nd round.

3/18: 86-62. A breeze. +22 RBs, lots of contributors.

Next up is #4 seed, #14 ranked Florida, 26-7, in the Sweet Sixteen.

3/23: 84-68. Another rout. 6 guys in double figures+9 RBs, 12 TOs.

It’s #2 ranked, #2 seed Memphis, 31-2, in the Elite Eight. This should be a Final Four game- the title game, really. They have the best player in the country, Torrence James, who gets 37 points a game, rebounds, takes care of the ball, and plays D. He’s a giant of a player. The usual question, stop him, or let him go and stop everyone else. I usually go with the latter, but the coaches haven’t met yet.

3/25: 82-98. Ouch! We didn’t stop James (41), and we didn’t much stop anyone else either. 23 TOs (-15). The worst game we’ve played in two seasons, but to be fair, they were incredible.

4/3: As expected, Memphis won it all.

4/4: Marv Alph made 2nd team All American. I thought he should have been 1st. In the PAC 12 Marv made Def. POY and 1st team, along with Ban New.

4/16: We need a #2 assistant. Hoping for better success than we’ve had with that.

We got a mediocre #2 assistant, yet again.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. Got $23,700.

31-3, Elite Eight, lost to the national champs. Overall, after 17 seasons, I’m 431-135, .761.

Let’s see what next season brings.

[Wayne23]

June, 2144: I’m still chasing the phantom ship, and I still have no explanation for anything about all of this. There are days, and sometimes weeks when I consider just letting the boat go, but I just can’t do it. I need to solve this mystery.

As time goes by there is less and less ice. The average temp seems to be in the 40s these days, with lows in the mid 30s. That won’t lead to any rapid melting but it will result in slow, steady melting. All of that makes everything safer, and I’m definitely happy about it. I’m still tracking ice floes though. A collision with one of those would be all kinds of bad news.

The weather is mostly rainy or overcast. There are no sunny days. The sun makes an appearance now and then but it doesn’t stay around long.

I’ve settled into lots of routines regarding work and meals. There’s nothing routine about my diet. I vary it as much as possible, but meal times and meal prep are routine, as far as time is concerned. Same is true for chores. I find that life is simpler when I do the things I need to do according to a schedule.

Free time is still reading and writing and playing computer games. I get those 4 hours in the HC and work with my tropical fish and do a variety of other things. I find I don’t need to exercise as much. My chores keep me so active that I simply don’t have the energy for hiking or mountain climbing. My weight is steady and I feel good, so I don’t see the need to exercise more than I do. Once or twice a week I go on a hike just to see some
countryside scenery. It tends to be at a slow, comfortable pace though.

I haven’t been spending much time with my hologirl friends lately for some reason. I’m not sure if that means anything, or whether or not I should be concerned about it.

I do things with holofriends, but not a whole lot of that either.

I’m enjoying being in my own space.

Next: Contact!

[Wayne23]

5/1: We buy the usual.

#1 preseason.

6/5: Nobody in the pool.

6/26: 5 scholarships. We want at least 3 bigs, maybe 4. Looking at 14.

8/7: 6 on the Norton list: PF Den Kint is #2, SG Josh Roy #5, C Tom Lyde #14, C Marv Alph #18, PG Russ Port #22, and PG Rob Blan #28.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, an SF, and 2 Cs.

9/11: We lose a recruit.

9/18: We get 2 PGs and a C. We need 2 bigs.

We’re going to the Las Vegas Winter Jam. Tough schedule.

9/25: We get a C and lose another. One more big and we’re done.

10/2: Got the PF, #5 ranked.

1st day of practice. I like what I see!

11/6: Here’s the lineup:

Sophs Russ Port and Josh Roy start at guard, backed by frosh Rob Blan. Senior Pete Hyms will also fight for minutes.

Senior Marv Alph, and frosh Den Kint, and Tom Lyde will rotate among the 3 inside positions. Junior juco Ty Bay and senior Ben Prey will back them up.

Let’s see if we can bring home a title this year!

[Wayne23]

January, 2145: After more than a year of chasing the mystery boat I finally caught it. Late in the day yesterday the boat seemed to suddenly slow down. Darkness was approaching so I decided to just monitor and stay relatively close until sunrise.

I was awake and ready when the sun came up. The day was a little less gloomy than usual and I saw the boat seemingly dead in the water.

I approached slowly and cautiously, hailing regularly in several different ways, but received no response.

Finally we were beside the boat. I threw a bowline across and secured it to a part of the other ship, and sent two robots across.

By this time it seemed pretty certain that I was dealing with a ghost ship.

Over the next hour or so the robots searched every inch of the boat. They found no one aboard, as expected, so I decided to go over there.

I found an extremely sophisticated system of navigation, all sorts of automated equipment designed to keep the boat afloat over a long period of time, an engine that had broken down, and some bones that seemed human.

There were computers, and there was a completely ruined notebook that may have been either a ship’s log or a diary of some sort. It was completely illegible. I checked every single page, but the water damage had made it indecipherable.

After searching every possible nook and cranny I grabbed the computers and headed back to my own boat, hoping that there would be some way to access the computer records and learn a bit about the boat and its crew.

That turned out to be a very complex, difficult task.

Next: The story of the ghost ship

[Wayne23]

11/20: 2-0 start to the season beating 2 ranked teams, #13 Wake Forest by 9, #2 Duke by 10. SG Josh Roy looks like a big time scorer, and the front line is big, quick, and tough.

All 5 recruits sign.

11/27: 4-0. An OT win in Oklahoma in a ahrd fought game where our D and bench play could have been better.

Josh Roy is averaging 20.5, and Den Kint is getting 5.5 and 11.0. Tom Lyde averages 14.3 and 9.5. This is a strong team.

12/15: 7-0 headed for the Las Vegas Winter Jam. #4, RPI #1. We’re the #2 seed in a field that isn’t all that strong. We start with Fairleigh Dickinson, 5-4.

12/16: 85-44. 26 for Kint, 17 for Roy and an absolute rout.

We play #3 seed Wichita ST, 5-5, in the semifinal round.

12/17: 83-55. Another rout. Kint and Lyde both had double doubles, and sub guard Pete Hyms had 17.

Guard Rob Blan hurt his calf and is out about a week. Hyms will get his minutes.

#19 Wake Forest, 7-2, the #1 seed, for the title. We beat them by 9 in the season opener.

12/18: 79-60. All 5 starters in double figures. It was 44-18 at the half.

12/25: 11-0, #1, RPI #1. +16.8 PPG, +13.8 RBs, +3.3 TOs.

We’re feeling pretty good headed into PAC 12 play. Kint leads us with 16.7 and 10, 4, and Roy is right behind him with 16.3. Port averages 12.7, and Lyde gets 11.2 and 8.0. Alph gets 9.0 and 7.2. This is a team dominated by our 5 very strong starters. We’re #1 in RBs and blocks, #2 in PPG, #7 in TOs.

[Wayne23]

July, 2145: It took a lot of digging, most of it by holoexperts, but we have data from the ghost ship computers.

The ghost ship, named the Mary Lou, was launched, with 4 people aboard, in 2080. They had HCs and 3D printers and a plan to just cruise, stay away from land and from any other boats that might be out there, and just to live their lives at sea.

They put together one hell of a boat. It had redundancies of all kinds so that it would be able to stay afloat for decades, possibly centuries. They didn’t have robots as such but they had robotic devices that did most of the work for them. It was about the size of my boat and had every luxury imaginable.

They were two young couples and they were big time party animals. Their idea of the good life involved lots of alcohol, and not much work. They obviously had lots of money to put together everything they did.

The life style worked for a long time, at least 40 years. The last entry we found was dated 2127. By that time the two men had died, from age related illnesses combined with too much partying. One of the women was dying from the same causes. The other woman wrote that she planned to suicide as soon as her friend died. I assume she did so.

During their decades on the water the two couples lived the way they wanted to live. They were able to evade patrol boats and the few other seafarers they occasionally saw in the distance, and they lived the lives they wanted to live.

I find it interesting that I wasn’t as alone as I thought I was for many, many years, and I wonder how many others might have survived the breakdown of civilization. Any survivors would be old to very old now so I am probably all alone… But what if an infant, or a few infants, somehow managed to survive with their families... Any of those would be less than 70 years old. Suppose they reproduced... So it is remotely possible that there are still people somewhere. I don’t think it’s very likely, given all of the natural disasters and other horrors that have occurred over the decades, but it is not impossible.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2046: 2-0 start to PAC 12 play.

1/15: 17-0, 6-0, #1, RPI #2. This team has so many weapons. In the game at Oregon 3 of our guys had double doubles.

1/29: 20-1, 9-1, #1, RPI #2. +18.2 PPG, +12.5 RBs, +5.9 TOs. We’re 1 up on Arizona and Oregon, 2 on Washington. Everyone else is pretty much out of it.

Our starting 5 continue to put up great numbers, but 6th man Pete Hyms is also having a strong impact. Our first big off the bench, Ty Bay, is also doing good work. #8 and #9 don’t hurt us when they go in.

The win streak ended at 19. Arizona beat us 80-77 there. It was one of those nights when the 3 blind mice never stopped blowing whistles- 58 in all. The calls were about even, but it took all semblance of flow out of the
game. I will never understand why this ever happens. No one in the world wants to watch or take part in this kind of a game.

Den Kint is #13 on the Norton list, Josh Roy #15, and Tom Lyde #25.

2/12: 23-2, 12-2, #1, #1. 2 games up on Arizona and Washington with 4 to play. Kint is #10 on the Norton list.

It’s a strange season; UMass is #2, and Seton Hall #3. There are 3 teams with less than 4 losses, and few with either 4 or 5.

2/26: We end the regular season at 227-2, 16-2, +18.6 PPG, +10.2 RBs, +6.7 TOs, +5.1 assists. #1 in TOs, #2 in RBs and blocks, #3 in PPG. #1, RPI #1. 3 up on Arizona, 4 on Washington, 5 or more on the rest.

Den Kint still leads us- 16.3, 8.1. Roy has 14.9, Port, 13.0.

3/5: The dreaded day, and we REALLY got hit this year. We lose 4 to the pros: Den Kint, Tom Lyde, Josh Roy, and Rob Blan. Hopefully our 5 incoming recruits will be ready to roll.

[Wayne23]

January 2146: Now that I’m no longer chasing a mystery boat it’s back to routine. There’s no need to repeat everything you already know about my routine, so I won’t do that.

Let me talk about the weather. The temps continue to slowly rise. Daytime highs are now in the high 40s and low 50s, and it rarely slips below freezing. I see the sun regularly. A true, old fashioned sunny day is rare, but there are days when the sun is out for a few hours. I like those days and enjoy some free time on deck when they happen. Stan and Ollie still refuse to come up on deck though. They stay below even in the nicest weather.

I’m thinking of spending more time in the HCs. There’s so much more to do there. I need to decide whether it’s worth the risk of wearing them out more quickly, but I have had very few malfunctions- with the HCs, the 3D printers, the robots, or any of the important machinery and mechanisms of the ship. I keep everything, or the robots do, immaculately clean, and fix things as soon as there is an issue, no matter how small. Maybe I can get away with more HC time. I’ll ponder it a bit further and consult with my HC experts.

Next time: Trouble

[Wayne23]

3/9: #9 seed Oregon ST, 13-15, 7-11, won the play in. They’re first.

3/10: A real scare, 71-68. They wouldn’t go away. Finally, we got it inside to Kint and Alph three times in the last minute, and we got a hoop each time, but it was a near thing! +10 RBs.

#4 seed Oregon, 17-12, 11-7, in the semis. We won by 23 there, 21 here.

3/11: 82-62. It was back and forth for the whole 1st half. I climbed all over them at the half and they came out and played as they should from then on. 24, 3, 6, 3 for Roy, 20, 9, 4 for Kint.

Tom Lyde hurt his knee. Not serious but he’ll miss the title game.

#6 seed USC 16-14, is hot. They made it to the title game. We beat them by 23 here.

3/12: 99-67. We went small, moving Roy to SF and starting Hyms at SG. Ty Bay played a lot at SF and PF. 24, 9, 4 for Kint, 21, 7 for roy, 17, 15, 4 for Alph. 44 RBs, 5 TOs.

Lyde should be back for our NCAA opener.

We’re 30-2. Can’t see how we could NOT be #1 overall.

#2 overall, #1 Midwest. Duke, #4 in the polls, #2 in RPI, got the #1 overall seed. It makes no sense. We play Liberty, 17-13, first.

3/16: 82-57. 24 for Roy, 38 for the bench.

#9 seed Nevada, 21-10, in the 2nd round.

3/18: 70-50. 20, 9 for Kint, 9 and 17, with 8 blocks for Lyde, 18 for Roy. +17 RBs, +12 TOs.

#5 seed, #18 ranked St. Joe’s, 26-8, in the Sweet Sixteen.

3/23: 91-61. 34, 7, 3, 3 for Roy. 39 RBs, 9 TOs.

#3 seed, #6 ranked Cincinnati, 29-6, in the Elite Eight.

3/25: 80-62. 26, 7 for Kint. +15 RBs. We shot 52.2%.

Back to the Final Four!

Rob Blan hurt his hip but he’ll play.

It’s #5 ranked Georgia, 30-6, in the national semifinal game. Their strength is in the backcourt. If we pound it inside we should be fine.

#11 ranked Michigan vs. unranked Virginia, in the other game.

4/1: 64-65. VERY disappointing. We were down 17-41 at the half. We just couldn’t make a shot in the first half, and their Center blocked 9 shots in the half. Frankly, we didn’t keep our composure. We did all we could in
the 2nd, but the mountain was too tall. At the end they made their foul shots, and we missed a couple of threes late. We got the ball down 1 with 1.1 left but couldn’t get a good shot. Roy threw up a wild one from 27 feet, but it missed. It was all about first half shooting, 4-33. Tough way to end the season but then there’s only one easy way.

4/3: Georgia beat VA by 15 for the title.

4/4: Awards: I got national COY. In conf., Den Kint was Def. POY, and 1st team along with Josh Roy. Russ port, Marv Alph, and Tom Lyde were 2nd team. I got conf. COY.

4/16: We lose our #1 assistant. Not good. We hire a #1 and a #3, but neither is great.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase. We get it.

34-3, but we didn’t win it all. Overall, I’m 465-138, .771, for 18 seasons.

[Wayne23]

July, 2146: Six months of smooth sailing. I did decide to spend more time in the HCs, up to 6 hours a day. I really enjoyed that. It gave me a much wider choice of activities, and it made the time pass more pleasantly.

There were few difficulties of any kind, just a few minor breakdowns, all of which were quickly and easily fixed.

Then, at 3:22 this morning, I was awakened from a sound sleep by an alarm.

I got on deck as quickly as I could to find the boat dead in the water, and the engines turned off. I questioned a robot and discovered that the engines had “just stopped.”

The robots have been working on the engines all day, as I have consulted with the holoexperts. No progress.

The only danger is a bad storm, but there has not been one of those for a very long time.

Day 3: We’re in our 3rd day with no engine power. We’ve reached the point where I’m carrying engine parts into the HC for the holoexperts to take a look. So far they haven’t found a thing.

Day 5: Still dead in the water. The holoexperts have said that the only solution is to 3D print new engines. That will take 3-4 days, once we get the specs loaded into the printer.

Day 10: We finished printing the new engines yesterday. Now we are training a team of robots to install them. That will take a couple more days.

Day 14: It took a while but today’s the day. The robots installed the engines, fired them up, and they started. Looks like we’re good to go.

Day 16: The engines fell overboard this afternoon. We’ll need to print new ones and install them. Meanwhile, I need to figure out how my robots screwed this up.

Day 24: Okay, hopefully we got it right this time. The engines are in place, they are running, and they seem to be VERY securely fastened in place.

Next: Fish