The Last Man

[Wayne23]

11/20: 2-0 to start the season. We beat #5 Temple by 23 here with 6 players in double figures, 6 TOs and +10 RBs. Then we won at #17 Louisville, by 9, with Center Mark Slay getting 14 and 17 with 5 blocks.

All 6 recruits signed.

11/27: A real battle at Michigan ST, 64-63 on a three by Port with less than a second left. Then an easy win over Pitt. Mark Slay has 3 double doubles in 4 games.

12/11: 7-0, #1, RPI #1. We’re playing great ball.

12/25: We end pre-conf. play with a 71-44 win over #7 Duke.

9-0, #2, RPI #1. +21.3 PPG, +14.8 RBs, +4.1 TOs, +7.0 assists, +8.2 blocks. Mark Slay still leads the way.

[Wayne23]

May, 2149: After 6 more months of storms and breakdowns and repairs and overwork I am now in crisis mode. I am down to one functioning 3D printer, and one functioning HC. Both started breaking down faster than they could be fixed, as the breakdowns got to be more and more serious and complex. I don’t know that anything is permanently broken, but I also don’t know that it’s not.

The final disaster involved water getting into the room where I store the extra printers and HCs, and damaging all of the machines I had in there, as well as the solar panels, batteries, and cells.

The robots are drying out the solar stuff, as well as the water damaged HCs and printers, and they’re also trying to bring some of both back on line.

That has become second only to keeping the boat afloat on the priority list. I’m working all robots double shifts in order to increase the odds of fixing at least one HC and one printer before absolute disaster strikes.

Day 4: After going all but 24/7 for the past few days I now have 3 HCs and 3 printers working, and it looks like there’s some hope that others will follow soon.

The storms keep coming, and they use up a huge portion of our time, but every other minute is spent on the printers and HCs.

Day 8: 3 robots were washed overboard and 2 others appear to have permanently broken down, but I now have 6 printers and 6 HCs running, and just about all of the solar panels, batteries, and cells are in working order.

The pace is killing both me and the robots, but we seem to be gaining on the problems. I only print out on new robot at a time. I only want to commit one printer at a time to that task, in order to avoid further breakdowns. I can print a robot every two days this way, and that will just have to do.

We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and hope for the best. But I need to find a way to get more rest. This pace is doing me in.

Day 37: I am back to a full complement of robots, printers, and HCs. All of the boat’s leaks have been repaired, and everything seems to be fully functional.

And, good news for a change, today is day 5 without a major storm.

Next: Calm seas

[Wayne23]

1/1/2048: 2-0 to start conf. play.

1/15: 14-1, 5-1. #12 Oregon beat us 62-76 there. They just plain beat us. They played great D and they made shots all night while we shot 33.3%. Every other game has been an easy win. Just an off night. We’ll get them at our place.

1/29: 18-1, 9-1, #1, RPI #2. +20.2 PPG, +14.4 RBs, +3.8 TOs, +6.2 assists, +6.6 blocks. 2 games up on Colorado in the PAC 12, 3 on Arizona, 4 or more on the rest.

2/12: 22-1, 13-1, #2, RPI #1. 4 game lead in conf. Seton Hall is #1. They’re 27-0.

2/26: 26-1, 17-1, #1, RPI #2. +21.3 PPG, +13.1 RBs, +4.9 TOs, +7.3 assists, +6.4 blocks. We win the conf. by 5. Mark Slay continues to lead us with 18.3, 9.9.

We beat Oregon by 27 in the rematch.

3/5: We lose Mark Slay, Jed Mann, and Lew Jamm to the pros.

[Wayne23]

November, 2149: Six months of calm, thank goodness! There have been some repairs, and some things to replace, but not many. All issues with the boat have been repaired, as well. And on a personal level I’ve gotten the rest I so desperately needed, and I’m back to working only about 4 hours a day.

We’ve had rain, and even wind, but there has not been a single violent storm in half a year.

It’s been so peaceful I’ve even started hiking and climbing for exercise again. Even after all this time there are still trails programmed into the HC that I’ve never hiked, and mountains I haven’t climbed. It’s fun to explore those.

I’m doing more of the physical stuff in the HC. That didn’t happen right away. At first I did a lot of nothing, caught up on sleep and rest, and did very quiet activities. But eventually my batteries recharged and I just needed to be more active. I even joined a football team- no, not that foolish American game, the one the rest of the world calls football. I play midfield, so basically I spend the entire game moving, mostly running.

I’m breeding some new kinds of exotic tropical fish, too.

All in all, I feel that I have my life back.

Next: A new game

[Wayne23]

3/9: #8 seed ARIZONA, 15-15, 8-10, won the play in. They’re first. We won by 20 there.

3/10: 90-59. It was never a game. 46-16 at the half. +14 RBs, 8 TOs.

Oregon ST, 9-20, 4-14, finished last in conf. in the regular season. 2 upsets in the row put them in the semifinals against us. We beat them by 28 twice.

3/11: 85-51. +20 RBs, 7 TOs.

This has been a crazy tournament. Arizona ST, 17-13, 6-12, finished next to last in the regular season. 3 upsets in a row have them in the title game. We built them by 12 and 17.

3/12: 75-56. We were up 16 at the half. 29, 16 for Slay. 51 RBs.

29-1, 17-1, #1, RPI #2. Seton Hall remains undefeated so we may or may not be #1 overall. Given the last few years, probably not.

#2 overall, #1 Midwest. We play Cal-Santa Barbara, 19-11. No surprise.

3/16: 73-54. 22, 12, 6 for Port, 22, 7 for Slay. +15 RBs, 11 TOs.

#9 seed Oklahoma ST, 21-10, in the 2nd round. They’re strong inside.

3/18: 81-64. 20, 10 for Slay. The bench had 40 and 13. +12 RBs.

#4 seed, #16 ranked Duke, 23-10, in the Sweet Sixteen. We beat them by 27 in December.

3/23: 85-72. 48-31 at the half. 27, 7, 12, 3, 2, 3 for Burk.

#3 seed, #13 ranked Oklahoma, 27-7, in the Elite Eight.

3/25: A scare, 74-69. 19 lead changes, 11 ties. We took 21 more shots, but only made 4 more. We shot free throws poorly. Finally, with the score tied and 1:22 left, we got a stop, Russ Port hit a three, we got another
stop, Mark Slay hit 2 free throws, we caused a TO, Oli Crum got his only hoop of the night, and we brought it home. It was a near thing.

#1 overall Seton Hall lost by 10.

We’ll play #6 ranked Indiana, 29-5, in the national semifinal. They have a very solid inside game and lots of bodies that they use inside. They don’t have a great outside game though. We think we can turn them over.

Both teams are healthy.

On the other side it’s #3 UMass, 35-2, vs. unranked #8 seed Virginia, 2012.

4/1: 66-56. 16 lead changes, 11 ties. With just under 5 minutes left we went on an 11-0 run to break it open. To that point it was anybody’s game. 20, 12 for Oli Crum. Way too many fouls called (52), and neither team could make shots- we shot 31.3%, they shot 23.9%. We were +8 on the boards and +5 in TOs. I’ll take it!

It’s #3 ranked UMass, 36-2, for the title. They get most of their points from their SG and SF, and they take good care of the ball. We should be able to control the boards and that is a big key.

4/3: 82-69 and back to back titles! After some early back and forth we slowly built a lead, and slowly extended it. Midway through the 2nd half we got it to 20. 17, 14 for Mark Slay, 19, 5, 3, 2, 3 for Russ Port, 18, 5, 3, 3 for Oli Crum. +11 RBs.

4/4: Awards: Mark Slay was the tourney MOP and conf. POY, frosh OY, Defensive POY, and 1st team along with Oli Crum. Russ Port made 2nd team.

4/9: I’m thinking about moving to a new school just to see if I can build another dynasty somewhere else. Climate change is making this desert really uncomfortable, and that’s another factor. No good offers; maybe next year.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade. No.

35-1 and back to back national titles. Overall, after 20 years, I’m 535-140, .793.

[Wayne23]

May, 2150: Seas remain calm. There’s been more sunshine, even whole days when it was sunny. Given all of that, I definitely am enjoying life a lot more.

About a week ago I dug through the pile of discs and found a game I hadn’t seen before. It’s a fully immersive HC game. I thought I’d pretty much seen them all but this one was different. The objective is to build a fully functional free society that is fair to all of its citizens, takes care of the environment, builds without destroying- in short, builds an ideal society for all. Okay, that sort of thing has been done, in one way or another in lots of games. But this one is more complex. There are people, individuals and groups, who have other ideas, and who try to bend the society their way, for their own greed and profit. In order to win the player has to build alliances, but also has to make some ethical choices regarding how to defeat the destroyers. There are opportunities for graft, for destruction of their property, even for physical violence against them, including murder. The instructions say you can’t win if you stay 100% clean, but that if you go too far in the other direction you lose, as well. There seems to be a delicate balance of when to “go dirty” and how dirty to go.

I find the game is taking up a lot of my time even at this early stage.

Next: The game, continued

[Wayne23]

5/1: The usual reports.

Preseason #1.

6/5: No one in the transfer pool.

6/26: 2 scholarships. We want one guard, one big.

Mark Slay was #1 in the draft, Lew Jamm #3. We also had #13, 14, 35, 38, 46.

8/7: 6 on the Norton list: Pg Uda Burk is #4, C Lan Blon is #6, C Dan Jenk is #12, PF Oli Crum is #16, PG Bob Roy is #17, and SF Jay Zimm is #19.

8/21: We offer to an SF and a PG.

9/18: We get the SF, the #1 recruit overall. Still chasing the PG.

Coaches Classic. We start with Wichita ST. We’re playing lots of ranked teams.

9/25: We get the PG, #12.

10/2: First day of practice. We’ll be in the hunt again.

11/6: We have a strong lineup, 8 very, very good players and 3 more behind them who are almost as good:

Junior Uda Burk and frosh Ted Mart start at guard, with frosh Bob Roy spelling them.

Our only senior, Oli Crum, is at SF.

Soph Lan Blon and frosh Ken Gamm start inside, backed by frosh Dan Jenk and junior Jay Zimm.

[Wayne23]

November, 2150: I am obsessed with this game. These total immersion games always get you to forget that it’s not real and that it can be ended at any second. You get so into it that you forget all of that- at least I do. It’s not so much anything specific as it is the situation I get put into. Making these exceedingly difficult ethical choices really is taxing. Before the choice is made I live through all of the complex situations, meet with my advisors, committee members, partners, allies… Listen to the plans of the “villains” and try to analyze their real intentions since they are very devious regarding their plans. Then comes negotiation, behind the scenes conferences, power plays, trade offs. It gets incredibly intense and complex.

Next: The game, and a break from the game

[Wayne23]

11/13: First round of the Coaches Classic vs. Wichita ST; we’re the #1 seed. 110-68. Uda Burk had 39 on 12 threes. +15 RBs, +9 TOs. You don’t score 110 very often. Not sure I ever had a team that did.

Next up is #9 seed Stanford.

11/15: 87-70. 35 for Burk, who is more than on fire. 15, 12 for Center Ken Gamm.

#5 seed Seton Hall in the semifinal.

11/17: 91-85. They had us by as many as 11 early, and we were down 7 at the half. We made some adjustments in the locker room, and they cooled off a bit, especially outside. 28, 9, 3, 4 for Gamm, 19 for 5th man
Dan Jenk, and 16 6, 4 for Burk.

#3 seed, #8 ranked Kansas for the title.

11/19: 72-59. Sub guard Bob Roy had 18, Burk had 15.

11/20: #1. Both recruits sign.

12/4: 8-0, #1, RPI #1. We beat both the #2 and #3 teams in the past 2 weeks. #6 coming up.

12/25: 12-0, #1, RPI #1. +18.4 PPG, +14.0 RBs, +2.7 TOs, +4.8 assists, +4.0 blocks, +2.9 steals. Uda Burk is getting 19.7 a game. Bob Roy, who is starting at guard now, is getting 13.8, and C Ken Gamm is at 12.8 and 9.2 We’re using lots of guys inside. Only Gamm plays full minutes. Jenk is now starting for Blon but they get about the same amount of PT, and Crum and Zimm get nearly as much.

[Wayne23]

May, 2151: For the past 6 months I’ve continued to play this game in every free moment. The challenge level was incredible, but not to the point where it was impossible. It always felt like I could attain my objectives if I did everything right, but the doing everything right part was unbelievably challenging.

Then I reached a roadblock I just couldn’t get past. So I’ve taken a break for a while.

I still need to supervise and inspect. The robots do a great job of keeping the boat in excellent shape, but it takes supervision. Being machines they miss things.

That entire process has been so much easier since the weather turned mild. We get rain, but only now and then. It’s been mild and beautiful almost all the time since the violent storms finally stopped.

When there are problems, with the ship, the robots, the printers, or the HCs, they tend to be small and easily taken care of.

On a personal level I’m in great shape. All of the intense fatigue I went through during the stormy period is way in the past. I’m fit and energetic, and I feel great. I eat well, get plenty of exercise, and get enough rest. Life at age 151 couldn’t be better.

Next: Another surprise.