10/1: “Dan Shagnastie here with Wayne Twothree on ‘Speaking of Sports.’ Unusual name.”
“Wayne? Well yeah, I guess so, but-”
“I meant ‘Twothree.’”
“Oh! Yes, well there’s a story.”
“There usually is. Go on.”
“My heritage is mostly native American. My great grandfather was a member of the Mi’kmaq tribe in Eastern Canada; most people call them Mikmaks. About 100 years or so ago, maybe more, he decided to come to the U.S. His name was Longdog Twotrees. The immigration guy was deaf, drunk, or not paying attention. He wrote it as Langdon Twothree. Great grandpa couldn’t read so he never knew. We just kept it.”
“Interesting. So you’re a big Crimson hoops fan?”
“Oh yes. Absolutely. I bleed red!”
“I… um… uh… Okay, let’s move on. Favorite player?”
“Rich Pointguard. That guy’s the most successful playa I’ve ever seen. Not so sure about those Albanian midgets but-”
“I meant on the Harvard basketball team.”
“Oh! Sorry! I’d have to say Milo Gojk. That guy didn’t get a lot of playing time last year but man, I thought when he got into a game things happened. I’m predicting a bright future for him!”
“So you’re into underdogs.”
“Well, more goats, really but-”
“I MEANT ON THE TEAM!”
“Sure, anybody can root for the guy with the big stats. Say, speaking of big stats, did you hear the one about the waitress at Hooters who-”
“LET’S TALK about hoops… (sighs)”
“I’m predicting this is the year we get to the Sweet Sixteen.”
“Really?”
“IF we stay healthy. So anyway this sweet sixteen year old waitress at Hooters-”
"So what kind of work do you do?”
“I’m right here at Harvard.”
“Professor?”
“No, actually, I’m the guy who puts the little soap cakes in the urinals in the mens’ rooms. Those things taste really weird, especially when-”
“I don’t want to know! Hobbies? Interests?”
“Sure. Although this first is much more than a hobby. I am proud to state that I sit in the second kazoo chair for the Greater Boston Penny Whistle, Kazoo, Washtub Bass, Ukelele, and Accordion Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arthur Fumbler. Why tomorrow night, at the west Boylston theater, we’ll be playing selections from Wolfgang Amadeus Morphatt’s ‘Eine Kleine Phattmusik.’ You won’t want to miss it!”
“Darn! I have another commitment! What else?”
“I collect odd socks. As a matter of fact, I have a Facebook page called ‘Lonely Socks.’ People send me odd socks from all over the world. The only rule is if you have two socks that match you cannot send one in. They have to be truly odd socks. Interestingly enough I’ve matched up an enormous number of socks this way.”
“Why?”
“I beg your pardon?’”
“Why would you match up odd socks?”
“Duh! The name of the Facebook page!!! ‘Lonely Socks!!!’ Seems pretty obvious! Oh, I am also a life master Parcheesi player.”
“How DO you keep up with all of this?”
“I know, right!”
Okay, Wayne, here are your season tickets, and here’s the tee shirt. Thanks for being with us.”
“Remember people, you can find me on Facebook at ‘Lonely Socks.’ Send ‘em in.”
“We are out of time. Back tomorrow (in a very soft voice) if I sober up by then.”
10/2: First day of practice. We’re thin but we have 6-7 rather good players.
We continue to pursue a big man.
11/1: “Dan Shagnastie here on ‘Speaking of Sports.’ We have a very special guest in our ‘Fan of the Month’ spot. I’m with Abigail Rothschild Smythe, partner in AbFen Games. Abby, you and your husband Fenwick Smythe have taken the gaming world by storm with first your text based games with an academic hook which educators all over the world have embraced, and now with Fenwick Holmes, Boy Consulting Detective, released today by Wolfbane VR, a branch of Wolfbane Studios. Busy?”
(Laughs) “You could say that, yes.”
“Tell us a little about the game.”
“Well Dan, for anyone who has played Fenwick Holmes, Boy Consulting Detective, the VR version is essentially that game, with or without the academic component, player’s choice, except that you, the player, BECOME Fenwick Holmes. Oh, there’s an option to become Abby Holmes. You play the game but actually do all the things you directed in the text based version.”
“Wow! It sounds totally immersive.”
“Exactly. We think people are going to love this, and next month they’ll love Fenny and Abby to the Stars at least as much.”
“Now wait a minute, Abby. There’s no way you can actually get people into space.”
“No, but it’s going to feel exactly as if they were in space. Fenny and I are at the stage where we’re field testing and I’ll tell you, this is very real.”
“You guys are practically printing your own money.”
“Well, profits have been amazing, but Dan, we don’t keep them.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Fenny and I were born into the one percent. At birth each of us was set up with a trust account that assures that we are set for life financially. So, when we started to make money we decided that it was crazy to keep money we didn’t need.”
“So where does it go?”
“Three places: Fenny’s mom, Cissy Smythe heads up ‘Hunger Be Gone.’ That’s one. Planned Parenthood is the second. The third is something we started, but I can’t talk about it. It’s research based, and the idea is to do something really big and important for humanity.”
“A mystery!”
“That’s all I’m saying.”
"So you and your husband met when you were both 13, and married in May when you were barely 17.”
“That’s right. Fenny and I happened to attend the same alternative high school/college. We met in a computer science course during our first day on campus and we just hit it off. We started talking to each other and… well, we’ve never stopped. We share common interests, we have similar, I guess you’d call it ways of thinking. Anyway, we became instant best friends for life. The romance part didn’t start for a couple of years but adding that in made it perfect. We simply click- on every level, all of the time.”
“Wonderful.”
“It is. Every day is a joy.”
“What’s next for AbFen Games?”
“Moving our games to the VR platform, and continuing to improve all of our games. In our spare time we work on new games.”
“It sounds like a great life.”
“It is, believe me.”
“Okay. Two tickets to the Crimson home games, and I’m going to give you two tee shirts. I’m guessing your husband will want one, too.”
“Fenny will love it. We’re both alums.”
“Thanks for joining us.”
11/6: Our lineup is as follows: Junior Dan Ecks and soph Jay Sims, a transfer from St. Johns, start at guard.
Senior Dan Brit starts at SF but plays some guard. The 4th guard is junior Ed Cary.
Senior Sean Smith and junior Jess Hart start inside, and they are supported by junior Ron Holm, a transfer from Oklahoma, and junior Jule Book. There will undoubtedly be changes along the way.