Fight Fiercely Harvard

[Wayne23]

5/1: We purchase the Eastern Gold, and both the national and international basic scouting reports.

6/5: Little used soph PF Ty Ande has transferred out of our program.

6/12: We garner a transfer, Dan Rose, PG, junior from Miami (FL), 3.9 GPA.

6/26: 6 scholarships. We are losing 5 seniors, most, or perhaps even all of them starters.

Looking at 23 recruits.

8/7: I am delighted to announce that two of our lads have been nominated for the Norton Award: Dee Kell, PF/C is #8, and Jay Burk, PF/C is #39.

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

FensBaseball has been released.

Here’s what fabulously well to do gaming magnate Gerry Gorky had to say:

“We are very excited about this release. The game is terrific fun. We were delighted when Marius Heineken brought his incredible baseball game, Over the Fence Baseball, here to Wolfbane Studios a few years ago. Adding the academic component to the game makes it an absolute winner for students who love baseball.

“Soccer will be with us shortly, as will the academic component to our other fine WS games. We have a team of scholars working with Fenny on all of this. Oh, sales of FenTennis have surpassed our expectations, and really, our wildest dreams. And each of the games is priced to sell at only $29.95. We can sell at this bargain basement price only because we are doing so much volume.”

Gorky thanked us, lit a Havana, and left in his chauffeured Rolls.

The support for the games within the academic community has been nearly unanimous, and most enthusiastic.

Josiah Ranzili, the world’s foremost authority on differentiating assignments in the classroom praised the games.

He said, “When I first heard about this I assumed we’d be dealing with a game that featured review of basic skills- math, spelling, language, and the like. All of that is here, but there’s so much more. I absolutely love the project based learning component that weaves game play in with the study of literature and history. The science component includes on line demonstrations and even science projects which can be completed as part of the game.

“The math word problems alone are worth the price.

“There’s an art education component, music education, eleven foreign languages- you name it, it’s here, and it’s sophisticated learning, compiled by the very best educators in their various fields. Oh, and the game is available worldwide, and in all eleven of those languages I just alluded to.”

The academic game is for students from the fifth through twelfth grade levels, and may even be helpful to undergraduate college students, especially those at two year colleges. Be cautious with fifth and even sixth graders. The company recommends that students in those grades may be in over their heads unless they are truly among the very best scholars, or unless they have a passion for a certain academic field. But from grade seven up these games are for everybody!

9/18: We are encouraged by the enthusiasm of several of the recruits we are courting.

We have a schedule. We had dared to hope for inclusion in a tournament, but it was not to be.

9/25: SF Mal Sand, #194 has committed.

10/2: Center Josh Myra, #70 has committed.

First day of practice.

10/9: PG Matt Coll, #538, has committed.

11/6: We still have three unfilled scholarships. It may be that we shall need to wait until SAT scores come out before taking aggressive action.

Our lineup is as follows: Senior Jay Fred and junior Ray Jeff start at guard, supported by senior Ad Loyd, and if need be, by sophomore Duke transfer Lou Camp.

Senior Don Phil is back at SF.

Senior Dee Kell and junior Jim Ware start inside. Backing up the big men is freshman Jay Burk. We will endeavor to get minutes for senior Tony Robb as well.

Wolfbane Studios President Gerry Gorky announced that with today’s release of FenSoccer, the catalog is, at least for now, complete.

“We have baseball, pro football, pro and college basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, and golf. We are contemplating auto racing- we’d include NASCAR, Indy, and Formula 1 within the game if we produce it. Other possibilities are track and field, boxing, and really, anything that has enough demand to make it worthwhile. Let us know what you’re interested in!”

Wolfbane Studios is heavily marketing the soccer, pro hoops, golf, and tennis games worldwide. The others are mostly for the domestic market.

[Wayne23]

11/15: Our season premiere was a 2 point win over VA Tech. I did some things late that worked really well in a game where we needed to come from behind twice in the last minute. The refs were horrendous, calling 14 fouls against VA Tech and 27 against us- and the game was at our home facility! Dee Kell led us with 22 and 14, including the winner, with 1.8 left, and sub Jay Burk had 14 and 7.

11/27: 4-0, RPI #99, which is too low. It is too early to fret about such things.

Our inside play is marvy. We have four excellent inside players.

12/4: Ranked! #25, RPI #31. 6-0.

12/11: 6-2. No longer ranked. We lost our last two to good teams.

A lineup change. Ad Loyd will start at guard in place of Ray Jeff. He has been playing much better than Jeff.

12/19: Sixth man Jay Burk breaks his leg. Tony Robb will get his minutes.

12/25: 10-2. #21, RPI #15. 4 wins in succession including a 13 point win AT UCLA!

We are 6-2 vs. good and very good teams. One more game before Ivy League play commences.

1/1/’20: 11-2, #21, RPI #8 moving to Ivy play.

+13.2 PPG, +7.5 RBs, +6.6 TOs, +3.7 assists, +2.2 steals. 3rd in PPG defense, 2nd in RBs, 5th in TOs.

Fenny is a 13 year old millionaire. As of last week he is worth a little over 1.2 million dollars, all of it coming from sales of his games.

The soccer game exploded worldwide, both in the school market and in the regular gaming market. NASCAR sold enormous numbers of games, and all of the other titles did well. Schools are buying “subscriptions.” Wolfbane Studios worked out an arrangement whereby a school could acquire the rights to all of the games for an entire school year, for the entire school- every computer and electronic device in the school, for a given price, depending upon the number of students in the school. The rate is quite reasonable. Since many students’ families also purchase one or more games for home use sales are booming.

Gerry Gorky, WS President, speaking from his vacation home in Cyprus, indicated that the company is working on a college football game, as well as games based upon such youth favorites as MMA and WWE.

“I’ve been amazed at the number of people who are asking for a curling game.”

When asked about quality Gorky said, “As you know, we put out an updated version of each game at the beginning of its season. Our staff of game developers works year round to make each new edition a little better than the previous, and similarly our academic staff works to add more and better academic components to each game.”

We asked about the fact that the exact same academic components are included in each game.

“Of course! First, we only include proven academic programs, the best in the world. We want them available on every single game. The real bonus is that if your child is playing soccer and switches over to NASCAR, he or she can continue the academic program at the new game. The games automatically slide over into each game you own.”

Gorky reports that the ever growing home school market has embraced the games wholeheartedly.

“Every association of home schoolers recommends our games very highly. Many state that in 21st century America you simply cannot home school effectively without our games.”

As to Fenny, he hasn't changed. He's a serious kid, and he loves working on the games. He's a bit frustrated in that there really are no new games to invent, but he continues to add to those already available.

He says he is working on a text based adventure game, not sports related.

"I hate shooting games; it won't be one of those. It will be all about the strategy. To win you solve a crime, or reach a destination, or build a society, or something like that. It's all over the place right now."

[PointGuard]

Hey! And the geography component of Fen's games (what an imaginative way to learn about cities, states, and countries and their demographics and ethnicities, etc) and the social studies aspects of the games (e.g., greed of players and owners pricing out those who aren't financially well off) ain't bad either!

Talk about freakin' DEEP games!

[Wayne23]

DEEP, man!

[Wayne23]

1/8: 13-2, 2-0, #14, RPI #15. Two easy wins t5o begin Ivy play.

Sean Smith, C, #360, has committed.

1/22: 15-4, 4-2, #18, RPI #25. We could be playing better.

1/29: 17-4, 6-2, #18, RPI #20, tied for 1st.

+12.9 PPG, +8.1 RBs, +6.5 TOs, +4.0 assists, + 1.9 steals. #2 in RBs, #3 in PPG defense, #4 in TOs.

One of our recruits, and another to whom we offered did not hit our SAT score, as expected.

Dee Kell is #14 on the Norton list.

2/12: 21-4, 10-2, #12, RPI #11. We hold a two game lead in conference with 2 to play..

Jay Burk, our #3 big man, is back from his broken leg and he played in our most recent game.

Dee Kell is #11 on the Norton list.

2/26: We finish the regular season at 22-5, 11-3, #14, RPI #15. We finish 1 up on Princeton, 3 or more over the rest.

+12.5 PPG, +7.1 RBs, +6.7 TOs, +2.3 steals, +4.0 assists.

Game sales continue to exceed all expectations, Gerry Gorky reports from his yacht.

Fenny says he is making progress on his latest game, a Sherlock Holmes detective game.

“I’m also working on a game where a group of people head out for a new planet with the idea of establishing a colony and creating a new civilization. Both of these will take some time.”

Cissy is excited about her work with U. S. Olympic tennis. The men’s and women’s teams were selected some time ago, of course, but she follows the players from tournament to tournament, keeping them focused, and making certain that doubles partners work together.

[Wayne23]

3/1: Quarter Finals:

1 Harvard 84–52 Yale 8. Never competitive.

2 Princeton 68–57 Columbia 7. Closer than the score would indicate.

3 Penn 75–62 Cornell 6. Easy peasy. Not nearly as close as the score would indicate.

4 Brown 81–61 Dartmouth 5. Close for 25 minutes.

3/2: Semifinals

1 Harvard 93–57 Brown 4. Complete domination. +28 RBs.

2 Princeton 84–71 Penn 3. Close for nearly 30 minutes.

3/3: Finals:

1 Harvard 71-48– Princeton 2. Close for a half.

3/12: 25-5, 12-2, #18, RPI #12.

#6 Midwest. We play #11 Utah, 16-12. This is rather a difficult first round match up.

3/16: 85-64. 51-31 at the half. +25 RBs. 6 players in double figures.

For the third year in succession we go to the 2nd round. We have yet to go beyond this point.

The prospects are less than stellar this time as well. Our opponent is #3 seed, #6 ranked Kentucky, 25-9.

3/18: We were overmatched… and overwhelmed, 60-73. It was 32-45 at the half, and 20 or more for much of the 2nd half. Guard play was our downfall. Their guards were very, very good.

3/26: PG Marl Rogg, #115, and PG Dan Brit, #276, commit. One to go!

4/4: #1 Florida defeated #3 Maryland 91-72 for the championship.

Awards: Senior Dee Kell is Ivy POY, Defensive POY, and 1st team. Senior guard Jay Fred, and junior C/PF, our only returning starter, also made 1st team. Senior Don Phil made 2nd team. I was once again named COY.

4/9: Penn St is rather aggressively recruiting me to fill their head coaching position. I am honored to be pursued by such a distinguished academic institution, but I do not foresee leaving the lovely green fields of Harvard.

4/23: We seek a facilities upgrade. Approved! We move from C to B-.

We are losing four starters. A few very good players are returning, including outstanding C/PF Jim Ware, sometime starting guard Ray Jeff, excellent sixth man PF/C Jay Burk. We have hopes for transfer guard Dan Rose, from Miami (FL0, and there are two or three others who may help. However, it will take very major contributions from incoming freshman in order for us to maintain the high standard of success to which we have become accustomed. Time will tell.

We finish at +11.9 PPG, +6.2 TOs (#2 nationally at 10.9), +7.4 RBs (also #2 at 38.0), +3.9 assists, and +2.0 steals. We were #5 in PPG defense at 60.8.

My record for five seasons stands at 126-36, .778.

My Coach Skills numbers are advancing apace. Regretably, I did not note initial numbers but it seems Recruiting has advanced far too rapidly- now at 95 (I would have placed it at about 50-55 unless I hit the wrong key), and Scouting is advancing too slowly- now at 43 (I would have begun at 40). Other categories seem about right.

Cissy’s excitement grows as the Olympics are only a few months away.

Fenny remains hard at work on Fenwick Holmes, Boy Consulting Detective. As it stands the game will be a journey through history. Fenwick Holmes is a detective with a time machine. He travels back to important historic eras and solves crimes as well as problems of all sorts. This game, obviously, is closely married to history and geography education. Science, literature, music, and art also can be taught and learned through the game. Fenny and the educational consultants create problems which require research in the appropriate discipline(s) in order to solve the crime or problem. Fenny loves the game and feels it will be immensely popular.

The outer space based game is moving forward, but at a slower pace.

“Father, there is an issue.”

“Yes, lad, do tell me.”

“I have earned something in excess of 25 million dollars, after taxes and such, from the creation of these games.”

“I knew you were doing quite well. I was not aware of HOW well. Congratulations, dear boy!”

“Yes, thank you. The education community, and the parent organizations and such have completely embraced our work, both here and abroad, and the soccer game is selling in insane amounts all over the world, both with and without the educational component. But you see, this poses a bit of a problem…”

“Do go on.”

I have no interest in excessive wealth. After a certain point it serves no purpose other than to assure that there are ever more people struggling to barely subsist.”

“And so?”

“And so I wish to establish some sort of trust or something in order that all further earnings go to help people in need.”

“… I have some…news for you, Fenny…”

“Yes?”

“We do not normally deliver this news until a Smythe has attained his- or her majority.”

“Go on.”

“The Smythe family is very old, and very well to do. Several generations ago a sort of noble tradition, well you will need to decide how noble-”

“Father, you digress.”

“At any rate every Smythe, upon his or her birth, is gifted with an endowment in the sum of forty million dollars.”

“Good grief!”

“Yes, Smythe, Smythe, Smythe, Smythe, and Rabinowicz manage the fund until the child has reached the age of majority, at which time it is his or hers to do with as s/he pleases.”

“So I was born ridiculously wealthy.”

“You were.”

“In that case I wish to establish a fund to include all monies, past and present, derived from the sales of these games.”

“Done. You and I shall arrange a visit to the family firm in New York post haste. They can do all of this.”

“Will they attempt to dissuade me?”

“Doubtful. I expect that they shall do as you wish in the most efficient, financially remunerative manner possible. They may be able to advise regarding how the moneys might best be put to good use, but do feel free to do a bit of research to see how others have accomplished this noble end.”

“I shall. There is one more thing.”

“This has been quite a lot for one day.”

“Still, bear with me, papa.”

“Go ahead.”

“I have already spoken with mother about this. I wish to begin college in the fall.”

“I beg your-”

“I have successfully completed the state of Massachusetts requirements for a secondary school diploma, and I have passed the examination for same.”

“But you’re 14.”

“Yes, I know. There is an excellent program at Wheaton College in Norton, MA. It takes early admission students and the work is done in combination of on line and on campus formats. I would be required to attend a few sessions of each class that I take, the first, the last, perhaps 2 or 3 others, depending upon the subject matter. In the sciences there are weekly labs that must be attended.”

“Good grief!”

“I could be transported as necessary. I estimate that I could finish a combination Bachelor’s in finance and computer science in three years, given that I would take course work during the summer, actually beginning this June.”

“Fenny, for generations, every Smythe has-”

“Attended and graduated from Harvard. Yes, I know, and I have a plan for that.”

“Enlighten me, by all means.”

“Upon my graduation from Wheaton, I shall apply to, and I have no doubt I shall be accepted by, the Harvard School of Business Master’s Program in finance, or possibly in economics. Ergo, degree from Harvard!”

“And your mother approves?”

“She wanted to be certain you would concur, but she seemed more than enthused.”

“Very well then.”

“It’s settled?”

“It is settled.”

[PointGuard]

“I’m also working on a game where a group of people head out for a new planet with the idea of establishing a colony and creating a new civilization. Both of these will take some time.”

FOUL!!!! On #27 for Deju Vu All Over Again!

[Wayne23]

No, no, it will never actually appear here. Although it will eventually be for sale at Wolfbane Studios!

[Wayne23]

5/14: Cissy and I have returned from the French Open. Members of the U. S. Olympic Squad did very well in singles competition, but less well in doubles, especially men’s doubles. Cissy is concerned.

While I was away Dizzy Phrytch purchased the usual three scouting reports.

5/23: Fenny and I visited the family law firm this week. Cousin Tenzy is working on the details of setting up the fund for Fenny.

6/5: We failed to fill one of our scholarships last season, and little used forward Day Lark has decided to transfer out of our program. That leaves four open scholarships, two of which are available for use with transfers should we so choose.

We are looking at seven transfers.

6/12: None of the transfers seemed to meet our needs.

6/26: 5 scholarships, which does not match up with my reckoning; I had assumed there would be four. Ideally we would land two guards and two big men, and whatever for the purported fifth.

Dee Kell was drafted at #24, and Jay Fred at #51. They are the first two graduates of this institution to be drafted by the NBA.

7/11: “Father, I met this girl at Wheaton, in summer school.”

“That is to be expected, lad. At your age-”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

“Go on.”

“She’s a programmer and... she’s a gamer!”

“That’s nice, Fenny, but-”

“Father! Girls are NEVER gamers. Anyway, we got to be sort of chums, due to our mutual interest. She wants to help me to do a couple of games that would be of interest to girls.”

“But if girls are not gamers, I don’t see-”

“Girls are not gamers because the games are written for boys. She- oh, her name is Abigail Rothschild-”

“One of THE Rothschilds?”

“I’ve no idea- oh- yes, yes. At any rate she surmises that if games were written that capture their interests girls would play.”

“Interesting theory.”

“Yes. We’re offer the next month so we’re going to see what we can come up with.”

“Wonderful, Fenny. Good luck, dear boy!”

8/8: Cissy and I have returned from our stay at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The men's and women's tennis teams acquitted themselves admirably, winning two gold and a silver.

8/21: We offer to 2 PGs, 2 PFs, and a C, all of which are, as they say, long shots.

9/18: We have six at home to begin the season. Our schedule is a bit more challenging this season.

Fenny and Abigail are here working on the new game on an almost daily basis. There is a good deal of laughter to be heard.

Fenny continues to develop both the Sherlock Holmes and the space games.

9/25: Jule Book, C, #401, commits.

10/2: Jay Cope, PF, #44 commits, as does Buck Frost, PG, #91.

First day of practice.

Abigail continues to spend a great deal of time with Fenny, here ay our home. I believe they are together at school a great deal as well.

10/9: Max Eddy, C, #184 commits. One more to go!

11/6: Senior Ray Jeff and frosh Dan Brit will start at guard with redshirt frosh Cris Hite backing up, and junior Lou Camp in reserve.

Frosh Sean Smith starts at SF. Senior Jim Ware and soph Jay Burk start inside, and Dan Rose, a junior transfer from Miami (FL) backs them up. Frosh Josh Myra is also available inside.

I feel that we may be a bit less strong than in the past few seasons, although we are predicted to win the Ivy.

[Wayne23]

11/14: We won our first game at home vs. Akron rather handily but two of our little used players were injured. PG Lou Camp strained a hamstring and is out for 9-10 days, and C Josh Myra pulled a groin muscle. He is gone for about two weeks. This makes the bench rather thin.

11/27: 4-0. C/PF Jim Ware had been little short of amazing, averaging 24.3, 11.0. Here are his two games: 11/21: 32, 15, 5, 3; 34, 15, 2.

Dan Rose will now start at SF in place of Sean Smith.

Wolfbane Studios released Fenwick Holmes, Boy Consulting Detective today. There is great excitement.

Fenny is calling his space based game Fenwick to the Stars.

"But it might be Fenny and Abby to the Stars. We’re trying for that girl angle again.”

The other games Fenny and Abby are working on are also progressing.

11/28: In his first game as a starter Dan Rose was both our leading scorer and our leading rebounder.

12/11: 7-1. UCLA beat us by 3 there. We are a better team with Dan Rose starting.

Cissy tells me she is bored, and looking for a new interest.

12/25: 10-2. RPI #21.

We’re giving Lou Camp many of Cris Hite’s minutes. Hite is sloppy with the ball.

1/1/’21: We end pre-conference play 11-2, RPI #23.

+11.9 PPG, +4.5 RBs, +5.8 TOs (9.8 per game, #2), +2.4 assists, +4.1 steals.

Fenwick Holmes, Boy Consulting Detective seems to have opened an entire new market for both Wolfbane Studios and gaming related education. The schools purchased the game in the same kind of quantity, and at the same reasonable price, as they did the sports based games. This one appeals to the kids who are not interested in sports, a large group, or so it would appear. The “adventures” are deep and complex, but solvable, and solving academic problems, experiments, completing assignments… provides the player with clues to help solve the mystery.

An unexpected development is a gigantic interest from the adult gaming community. Fenny and Abby, and they are now most decidedly a team, are contemplating an adult spin off.