After Dystopia

[Wayne23]

1/1/’2579: 2 wins to start conf. play.

77-49 over Vermont here. 11, 9, 3, 2, 4 for Wall, 17, 7 for Baer, 13, 1, 7, 3 for Sacc. 7 TOs.

A war at UMBC, 74-72. 20 each for Baer and Tess, 11, 11 for Wall, 18, 4, 4 for Pry. Only 5 TOs. They stayed in it because they shot 55% to our 43.6%, and because we couldn’t hit free throws, 16-28.

1/8: 2 more wins. 13-2, 4-0. RPI #79. Alone in 1st in conf.

69-41 over UMass-Lowell here. 16, 4, 3 for Pry. 9 TOs (+14).

67-59 at Albany. It was close for nearly 30 minutes. 18, 6, 3 for Pry, 13, 4, 2 for Baer.

I’m seeing someone. I’m not quite sure how it came about. Obviously, we’ve known each other forever but suddenly it’s a relationship, or maybe a romance- something.

Glenna Brie is a… I guess a psychiatric R.N. is the best way to describe it. That’s not her title but it’s what she does. Given the way we live, the struggles, the uncertainty, she sees lots of clients. And she’s good. I refer people to her often.

We started having a meal together now and then, and it turned out we really clicked. Conversation was easy, and she was comfortable to be with. Eventually I started visiting her at her condo, or she came to mine, and it sort of grew from there. We’re not in any kind of rush, but it’s going really well.

1/15: 1 game week. We beat Binghamton 74-62 here. 15, 2, 5 for Pry, and lots of others contributed. 7 TOs (+12).

14-2, 5-0, RPI #76, alone in 1st.

1/22: We beat the 2nd and 3rd place teams in our conf. this week. 16-2, 7-0, RPI #51. 2 game lead.

89-86 in OT at Maine. They led by as many as 12. Al Pry led the way with 26, 4, 9, 4. 18 each for Sacc and Baer. We won it with ball handling, 14 TOs to 27. At the end of regulation, they had the ball up 2 and we managed a steal and a
breakaway layup. At the end of OT they had the ball with the game tied, and with 3.2 left Pry stole it, fired it up court to Sacc who hit a 10 footer at the buzzer.

80-58 over 3rd place Stony Brook here. All 5 starters in double figures, led by 21, 9, 3, 1, 3 by Baer. +13 TOs. We’re #9 in the country in TOs, and #2 in least TOs allowed.

1/29: Ranked! #21. 18-2, 9-0, RPI #33. 2 game lead on Maine, 3 or mor eon the rest.

2 very close road wins. First, 72-69 at Hartford. We were down 12 early. 20, 4, 6 for Sacc, 112 threes for the team, including Sacc’s, with less than a second to go.

94-93 in OT at Vermont. 18 lead changes, 14 ties. 18, 6, 10 for Pry.

Glenna and I are getting closer all the time.

As expected, one of our recruits did not hit our SAT score.

2/5: We finally lost one. 19-3, 10-1, #16, RPI #41. 3 game lead.

81-43 over UMBC here. +16 TOs, 5 in doubles.

Then a 67-76 loss at UMass-Lowell. One of those nights. We shot 37.7%, they shot 57.9%. They went to the line 35 times, we went 25.

2/7: Annie died a year ago today. Tough day today.

2/12: Back on the winning trail. 21-3, 12-1, #15, RPI #29. We have clinched the conf. with 3 to play. We’re up 4 games.

79-62 over Albany here. 20, 8 for Tess, 18, 2, 3, 2 for Baer. 6 TOs.

70-60 at Binghamton. Good team play, +10 TOs. We’re #6 in the country.

2/19: 1 game week. We beat Maine 68-47 here. 27, 3, 2, 2 for Pry. +21 TOs!

Ball handling is really doing great things for us this season.

22-3, 13-1, #16, RPI #27. 4.5 game lead with 2 to play.

2/26: We end the regular season 24-3, 15-1, #14, RPI #26. We win the conf. by 5 over Maine, 7 or more over the rest. +15.8 PPG, -0.8 RBs, +9.7 TOs.

65-41 at Stony Brook. Our best defensive effort of the season. 17, 9, 3 for Baer.

69-51 over Hartford here. 24, 4, 3 for Tess.

Lots of MAJOR things going on. The Philadelphia community is moving, lock, stock, and barrel, to the Augusta, Maine area. It is simply too hot and humid in Philadelphia. The 8 communities get most of their citrus fruit from the Philadelphia and New York communities so this will make New York a really important center for citrus production. It is almost, but not quite warm enough here, and in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Cleveland to grow citrus. Cleveland feels they may be able to do it successfully and they will give it a try. Philly thinks they can do well with fishing, with cranberries, and with crops like potatoes and corn by moving north. They will keep their name.

And a change is contemplated here. The area of Massachusetts we are in is the most geologically unstable of the 8 communities. Our geologists are telling us that regular, large earthquakes are a very likely part of our near future. These earthquakes will likely be very strong, strong enough to knock down so called “earthquake proof” buildings. We are considering a move to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Reports from scouts we have sent to that area indicate that there is a great abundance of fish and wildlife. We feel that we can grow wheat and oats in the area, as well, so we think we might wind up as a major food supplier for the communities. Geologists tell us the area is very stable.

Relocating is a massive task, and it entails all kinds of work. Discussions will begin at Council meetings shortly, and more scouts will be sent to the area so that we can gather more information.

[PointGuard]

Go west, young man, go west!

[Wayne23]

I lost my compass. Hm. Is it left of the North Star or right...

[Wayne23]

3/1: We face #8 seed UMass-Lowell in the round of 8. They’re the only conf. team to beat us.

74-65. It was close for nearly 35 minutes. Then we went on a run and built the lead to 14. Our guards led us- Sacc had 17, 4, Pry had 13, 2, 4, 2, and #3 guard Bo Merr had 10. +11 TOs.

#5 seed Vermont, 12-16, 7-9, in the semis.

3/2: 64-56. Another one that stayed close for a long time. This was a team effort.

#7 seed UMBC, 11-18, 6-10 for the title. We beat them by 2 there, then by 38 here.

3/3: 76-54. This one was never close. 12, 8, 5, 3 for Sacc but lots of players chipped in. 3 TOs (+17).

3/12: 27-3, 15-1, #12, RPI #25.

#6 South. We play #11 Oklahoma, 18-11. Tough 1st round match.

3/14: The Boston community authorized the Council to plan the move West.

3/17: 74-64. After the first few minutes we led all the way, and 10 was as close as it got in the 2nd half. 5 in double figures. 9 TOs (+7) and we held our own on the boards.

#3 seed, #11 ranked UConn, 25-6, in the 2nd round. They have 2 inside players out with injuries. This is a tough match up.

3/19: 87-76, and for the first time ever, we are in the Sweet Sixteen. 27, 5, 8 for Tess, 15, 3, 5 for pry, 12, 3 for Merr. Seemed like every time we needed a basket in the 2nd half, Tess got one for us.

#2 seed, #7 ranked Xavier, 27-6, in the Sweet Sixteen. Tough team.

3/24: 60-80, and our best season ever is finished. 19, 9 for Tess. They were simply the better team. No disgrace in losing to them.

3/28: Things are moving quickly, regarding our move West. The community believes we have no choice and tonight the Council, supported overwhelming by the community, authorized sending 1/3 of our population to the new site as soon as the railroad tracks are restored, and as soon as the scouting party has settled on a site. Both should happen within two weeks.

4/4: Awards: Ad Baer was conf. Frosh OY, junior Flye Tess was Def. POY, senior Rupe Wall and junior Al Pry made 1st team, soph Al Sacc and Tess made 2nd team. I got COY.

Glenna and I discussed the possibility of changing jobs. I’m committed to the Boston community, of course, but I would listen to a good offer.

4/9: No decent offers. We land 2 recruits- Jon Rand, PF, #32, and Wade Tomm, C, #261.

4/16: We get our last recruit, Cord Bosh, C, #190.

4/18: 1/3 of our population left for New Boston today. We sent along as many tools, building supplies, seeds… as we could so that they can begin.

They have a number of goals. They will clear land first, of course, while sleeping in railroad cars, including freight cars with sturdy, temporary roofs.

Then they will build housing and a main building, barns, silos and other storage facilities… As soon as we can the rest of us will follow.

Our fishing boats will travel down to the Gulf of Mexico, and will then navigate up the Mississippi to our new home where they will be put into service at once.

The 2nd 1/3 will leave in a month to join the 1st. I will leave with that group.

The 3rd group will leave in 2 months. By that point we will have temporary housing in place for all of us. The goal for the main building is October 1, mainly so that we can start hoops practice on time! Basketball has become a rallying point in all of the communities, and we want to be certain we are operational in time for the first day of practice.

4/23: 29-4, 15-1, regular season and conf. titles, Sweet Sixteen, ranked #13. Great year!

Overall, after 4 seasons, 94-34, .734.

[Wayne23]

5/1: 4.5-1, 3.5-3, 3-2, 2.5-2, 2-2, 1.5-2, 1-1.

5/18: I left for New Boston with the 2nd group today.

5/20: It was a bumpy, uncomfortable ride, but we’re here. Three 80 car trains comprised our group, which was also true of the 1st, and will be of the 3rd.

A word about getting about getting nearly 50,000 people transported by rail, bus, and anything else that moved. We, of course, moved all of our vehicles to New Boston with us.

We managed to get 252 solar powered buses operational. They were 80 passenger buses so they took a little more than 20,000 per trip, and made 2 trips. Rails took the other 9,000 or so, but the railroad was used more for transporting all of our various types of equipment, and- well, everything we needed- farm and other vehicles, food of all kinds, including surplus grains and other food of all kinds, personal items. We took everything we could possibly take with us, and the trains made a few trips, over the course of several days, during all three waves of the move.

We are pleased with the progress that has been made at New Boston. Very livable housing is in place for all of us, and almost enough for the final 3rd of our party. Work has begun on the main building, and it is coming along nicely. One barn and one silo are up, and crops have been planted.

The 1st 3rd are exhausted and I decreed a 2 day rest for all of them, except for essential tasks. Our people will take over the work for those two days. Then all of us will pitch in, but not at the 12 hour day, 6 day week that was in effect here. We’ll work 8 hour days, and 4 hours on Saturday.

The farm animals are not coming until next month, which helps. We are living on game, and on supplies that were brought with the first and second convoys. We receive fresh fruits and veggies from Milwaukee twice each week, and send them game in return. The fishing fleet will be here at about the same time as the final 3rd of our people. They will leave a week ahead of them.

6/5: No one of interest in the transfer pool.

6/21: The final group left to join us here in New Boston today. One of the railroad engines had a malfunction. Since it was the first in line it held things up for a day.

We now have temp housing in place for all, 4 barns are up, and we have silos and storage buildings up.

Construction efforts now focus on the main building and we hope to have it up way ahead of schedule, hopefully August 1.

Farm animals are here, so that will mean extra effort for our farmers.

The fishing fleet messaged us and they will arrive during the night. After 2 days off the first crew will go out on their first fishing expedition.

Fishing will be very different here. First, the commute from the community to the river is only about 30 minutes. Second, the fishing boats will not need to travel far at all to begin fishing. The fishing day will now be 9 hours instead of the 12-14 it was back East, but we are staying with the same schedule. The fishing crew works hard, and this will be a little easier on their bodies.

New Boston will have more of an emphasis on food production than old Boston did. We will be growing more grain, hunting for food for ourselves and to ship out to other communities, growing more of other crops. Fishing will be at least as big as it was formerly. We will still have a furniture factory, a clothing factory, and a paper products factory, but these will produce only what we need, and workers will actually go from one to the other, since none will need to produce enough to provide full time employment on a year round basis. Most of our paper products are made from hemp, which is all but infinitely better for the environment.

We can never forget that this has been wild country for a very long time. Settling it is very hard work, and there are wolves, wild cats of various kinds, and other dangerous animals. Given the temperatures here it would not shock me to find poisonous snakes and maybe even gators. It does dip below freezing here at times in the dead of winter, and small amounts of snow are not unheard of, but people in other communities have found that snakes and gators drift up here in the heat of the summer, then head further South when it cools off. So we need to be on our guard, especially the hunting parties.

As to the rest, we’ll continue to have weekly Council meetings, and we’ll face issues as they arise. This is rain country. There are very few quakes, hurricanes, and “super storms,” but there’s LOTS of rain. That will be another adjustment.

Construction of permanent housing is slated to begin as soon as the main building is completed. Our current temp housing is apartment style. The apartments are very small, and packed together.

One of the first temp buildings was the kitchen and cafeteria. We’re still cooking centrally, and will for the foreseeable future.

Now that we’re all here we have several of these buildings. You don’t feed this many people in one location, of course.

We know how to feed large numbers of people, since we’ve been doing it for a long time, but large and gigantic are two different things.

The main cafeteria will be in the main building. There will be another in the school/medical center, when we get that built, and there will be others scattered in various locations throughout our new community.

Lots to do, lots to plan, lots to keep track of.

I plan to let the Council know that it’s time to find a new Chief Council. I realize this can’t happen for probably at least two years, given all the changes, but I want the planning to begin as soon as possible.

6/26: 5 scholarships to fill. Losing 3 guards, 2 bigs.

7/26: We continue to make progress. The main building will open for occupancy on 8/3. We will then begin construction on the school/medical care facility, as well as on permanent housing. People are clearly tired of the cramped conditions in the temp housing units.

8/10: We’ve been in the main building for a week. It’s great.

8/21: We offer to 3 PGs, 2 bigs.

Things are going well. About 10,000 people are in permanent housing and they love the condo units. The rest of us can’t wait. It’s done via a lottery system. We expect everyone to be in a unit by the first of the year.

The school/med center will be ready in mid-September, if things keep going the way they are. Classes are now being held in the 4 gyms, and various office space, as well as the temp housing that has emptied due to some of our people being in their new, permanent condo units.

Our schools run, off and on, all year, pretty much. School stops during planting and harvest time, and it goes part time during the growing season so kids can spend a little time each day helping with weeding and such. Everyone does their share in the communities. There’s a month long break from mid-July to mid-August. Our students have plenty of time in school though.

9/18: We get 2 commitments. Ash Kyle, PG, #164, and Cay Joad, PG, #136.

We have a schedule.

The school/med center is open, and classes begin tomorrow.

9/25: Got 2, lost 1. We got Boha Polo, PF, #436, from Czech Republic, and Ad Lemm, PF, #335. We need a PG.

9/27: Our fishing boat didn’t return to port this evening. They are now 2 hours past due, and we have heard nothing from them. There was never an SOS or any signal that they were in any danger.

We have sent the other two boats out to search (You remember that we have three crews. Each has its own boat.). We know where they were fishing- well, the general area. It’s difficult to imagine that any sort of disaster has struck. It’s raining, but it is not windy, and there is no storm activity other than the rain. Winds are less than 10 mph. There has been no seismic activity.

9/28: 12:17 a.m.: I went out with one of the boats. We found a lifeboat a few minutes ago with 7 people in it. We’re just getting it on board.

There's a sort of "failsafe" that automatically launches the lifeboats under certain conditions. Time will tell if it worked for all of them.

1:14 a.m.: The survivors really couldn’t say exactly what happened. There was a gigantic “cracking sound.” The boat sank in less than a minute. These 7 knew of no other survivors but we will, of course, keep searching. We’re running as silently as we can, hoping to hear something from other survivors.

There are often sharks in these waters, but not many. We’re hopeful the sharks were in some other area when all of this happened.

3:27 a.m.: No other survivors have been found. We’ll keep searching. Our boat is staying in the general area where the boat was fishing. The other is looking downriver.

4:55 a.m.: We’ve found debris- a lot of it, but again, no sign of survivors. Our fishing boats carry 6 lifeboats, each of which can carry 15 comfortably. Since the boats go out with 33 people on board, this is definitely far more than necessary. We’ve found what we think are parts of two lifeboats that were split apart by whatever caused this. So that leaves three lifeboats unaccounted for.

7:42 a.m.: Our other boat just let us know that they just found a lifeboat with survivors. Too soon to know how many.

7:59 a.m.: 17 survivors in the overlaoded lifeboat. So, at this point, we have 24 survivors out of 33. Only two have more than bumps and bruises, both on the other boat. One is in poor condition but should recover. The other was dragged into the lifeboat with a head injury. He has been drifting in and out of consciousness, according to the other folks in the lifeboat.

8:33 a.m.: The reports from the other boat echo what we heard. A big “cracking sound” then the boat sank very quickly.

If we had other boats, we would bring the survivors to shore for medical treatment. We have a doctor and an R. N. in each boat, and other medical personnel and equipment. From what we’re hearing, Ned Alston, the man with the head injury, is not going to survive, and wouldn’t even if we were able to get him to our medical facility. They’re keeping him comfortable, but that’s all they can do. Sally Rhoades, the other injured person, has a fractured tibia, and multiple abrasions and contusions, but she should recover 100%.

3:28 p.m.: We found what looked like wreckage of the other two lifeboats earlier today. We will continue the search until dark, but the explosion happened at about this time yesterday. It seems very unlikely that anyone could still be alive if they’re not in a lifeboat. And yes, we’ve seen lots of sharks.

3:44 p.m.: Ned Alston just died.

5:55 p.m.: We’re going back home. We’ve decided that we will send both boats back out tomorrow, in time for them to be out here by sunrise. We’ll search as long as there is daylight. After that we will abandon the search.

9/29: 4:58 p.m.: I don’t believe in miracles but I think we just experienced something that I don’t know what to call. We saw a fairly large piece of debris off to port. We turned the boat and headed for it. When we reached it, we saw that the part above water was about 10’ x 4’. When we got a little closer we saw a woman lying on it.

We sent a crew out. She was unconscious but alive. The EMT on the rescue boat hooked up an IV so she would start getting fluids immediately.

6:19 p.m.: The woman we rescued is Darcy Gorr. She just woke up. She’s weak but the doctor thinks it’s just dehydration and trauma. He sees no injuries except for bumps and bruises. With a little luck she’ll make it.

6:22 p.m.: After finding Darcy I can’t let this go yet. We’re going to give it one more dawn to dusk day.

9/30: 7:33 p.m.: We didn’t find anyone else today. We’re giving our crews the day off tomorrow, and then we’ll begin with our new fishing schedule. One boat will go out on Mon., Weds., Fri., the other on Tues., Thurs., Sat.

Darcy is doing well, as is Sally. The docs expect both to recover fully.

As soon as other construction is finished we’re going to build a new fishing boat to replace the one we lost, and several small rescue boats, which we can also use for recreation. We have this incredible river here. It seems a shame to waste it.

So we rescued 25 of the 33. One died. 24 survivors, 8 missing and presumed dead, 1 confirmed dead. Very likely the 8 missing were down in the hold working with fish that had been caught. Given how quickly the boat sank they likely had no chance to escape.

We may never know what happened. The boat was not completely full of fish when the “cracking sound” happened, so it wasn’t about being overloaded. The boat was 11 years old, which is not old for this type of vessel. We inspect regularly, including going under water via scuba gear. The last inspection was 13 days before the incident. There were no issues.

We have ship builders, engineers, and other personnel coming here from other communities to try to help us to make some sense of this. We have brought into port every scrap of the ship that we have been able to find, and our fishing boats are under orders to continue to bring in anything that looks like wreckage.

10/2: Still trying to land the PG.

1st day of practice in our new gym(s).

First crew went out fishing today. As soon as the 24 survivors are up to it they will be assigned to one of the two crews. We will train 9 people to replace those we lost so that when we have our third boat we will have three crews. The newcomers will be divided three to a crew.

11/6: Here’s the lineup:

At guard we’ll start returning seniors Al Pry and Bo Merr. Juniors Al Sacc and Cal Joes will back up.

Senior Flye Tess will start at SF, backed by junior Cord Bosh.

Senior Jay Hart and junior Jon Rand start inside with soph Ad Baer in support. Sta Cvit is looking for minutes inside.

Most of us are in our condos, about 85%. They are small but well designed, and they have everything we need. There is a bedroom- 12 x 15, a living room- 12 x 15, a study- 10 x 12, and a bath- 5 x 12. If there are children, there are more bedrooms.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 2 home games to start the season. We beat Dartmouth 84-56. 20, 2, 2, 2 for Bo Merr, 16, 8 for Center Jon Rand, 12, 7, 2 for PF Jay Hart. 8 TOs (+15).

63-51 over a good Tulsa team. 17, 3, 4, 2, 2 for Pry, 18 for Merr. We never trailed.

11/27: 2 wins. 4-0, RPI #65.

77-57 at Boston U. Inside players looked really good. 19, 9, 3, 1, 3 for Rand, 8, 11 for Hart, 15 for Tess. +16 RBs.

73-50 over Scared Heat here. 20, 3, 3 for Pry, 11, 8, 5, 3 for Hart. 37 RBs, 11 TOs.

New Boston is subtropical. It’s not quite hot enough, long enough to grow citrus but it’s hot, REALLY hot in the summer. And it’s rainy. We get at least one downpour every day in July and August, and nearly as often in June and
September. The rains are frequent, but not as heavy in April, May, October, and November. The dry season is the other four months.

This is our first year here for the Dec.-March time period but we expect average temps in the high 40’s to low 50’s in Dec. And March, and the high 30’s to low 40’s in Jan. and Feb., when it will snow occasionally, but not much more than flurries except for a possible fluke storm now and then.

The rain is not for everyone. It depresses some people. Toronto, and the New Philadelphia community in what used to be Maine, are the only communities that do not have the frequent rains so some of our people will probably try to transfer there. Transfers, aside from essential personnel, are arranged on a “trade” basis. A person needs to find a person who does their job and who is willing to transfer. If a couple is involved that can get tricky, of course.

Crops are in, and we had a good harvest.

We are told that everyone will be in condos by December 15, and at that point, construction of the boats will begin. We are building our last barn and silo, so construction is nearly completed. When it is many of the construction workers will be re-assigned, to farm work, mostly. Some will remain in construction since repairs and such will always be needed.

12/4: 2 more wins. 6-0. RPI #52.

We beat Yale here, 87-67. 24, 14, 2, 3 for Rand, as good a performance by an inside player as I’ve had here. 15 each for Merr and Tess. +13 TOs, +8 RBs.

61-55 at Columbia in our closest game of the young season. Rand and Hart both had double doubles. +13 RBs, but 20 TOs, our first bad game in that category.

12/11: 8-0, Ranked #24, RPI #32.

77-62 over Long Island here. Hart, Rand, Pry, and sub Al Sacc led the way. 8 TOs.

77-66 at Bryant. 28, 3, 6, 2 for Pry, 16, 4, 3, 2, 2 for Tess. 10 TOs.

12/18: 1 game week. 9-0, #25, RPI #25.

We beat Brown 86-64 here. 5 in double figures. 8 TOs, 35 RBs.

Everyone is in a condo, at last. Construction of the boats is in full swing and the last barn and silo will be finished within a week.

12/25: Lost our last non-conf. game to end pre-conf. play 10-1. No longer ranked. RPI #21. +17.4 PPG, +4.5 RBs, +5.8 TOs.

81-38 over Cornell here. Never a game, and +12 RBs.

83-92 at Lehigh. We simply did not play D.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2579: 2-0 start to conf. play. 12-1, RPI #20.

82-59 over Stony Brook here. Huge game for Jon Rand, 245, 16, 3, 1, 3. 10 TOs, 37 RBs.

79-73 at UMass-Lowell. We were down 12 with 17:31 to go, but we took over from that point on. They were beating us up inside and we finally got Rand some help. Rand and Al Pry had 21 each. +9 TOs.

1/8: 2 more wins. 14-1, 4-0, Back in the rankings at #18, RPI #20. 1 up on Stony Brook, 2 or more on the rest.

69-53 over Hartford here. 24, 0, 6, 4 for Pry. +9 TOs.

74-72 at Vermont. We almost blew a 26 point lead. We couldn’t hit a shot during the last 10 minutes and they came storming back. A 3 at the buzzer made the final score closer than it was, and that was the closest it had been since
very early in the first half, but still.

27, 13, 4 for Rand. +11 RBs, but 19 TOs, 13 in the 2nd half.

1/15: 1 game win. We beat Albany 77-56 here. Pry, Rand, and Hart led us. 5 TOs.

15-1, 5-0, #18, RPI #18. 2 up in the loss column.

1/22: Still winning, 17-1, 7-0, #17, RPI #16.

83-67 at Binghamton. 24, 3, 7 for Pry, 19, 8, 3, 2 for Rand.

74-55 over UMBC here. 29, 5, 3, 3, 3 for Rand, 3 others in double figures. 10 TOs (+10), +9 RBs.

2 on the road this week.

Our third fishing boat launched yesterday. They went on a shakedown cruise and will begin fishing tomorrow with their new crew. It will be nice to have our crews back on a regular schedule. They’ve been overworked.

The rescue/pleasure boats are well underway. Several are finished. Construction is all but complete here.

1/29: 2 road wins. 19-1, 9-0, #17, RPI #17. 2 up on Hartford, 5 or more on everyone else.

68-60 at Maine. We led most of the way but they hung in. 22, 16, 2, 2, 4 for Rand, 13, 8 for hart, 11 each for Pry and Merr. +9 RBs.

82-74 at Stony Brook. 5 guys in double figures led by sub big man Ad Baer with 16 and 7. +16 RBs.

The new fishing boat is performing beautifully according to its Captain, and to the crew members I’ve spoken with. All of the fishermen and women already seemed more rested.

All construction will finish by the end of the week.

[Wayne23]

2/5: 21-1, 11-0, #13, RPI #17. 4 game lead with 5 to play.

(Author’s note: One flaw I’d love to see corrected in this game is that there is too little conference movement. My New Hampshire team has quite simply outgrown its conference. I would LOVE to have the option of moving them to a tougher conference. Right now the only option available if I’m looking for more of a challenge in the game is for the coach to move to a different school. Either that or I need to ramp up my “house rules.”)

74-43 over UMass-Lowell here. 6 TOs (+14). Never a game.

79-61 at Hartford. 19, 3, 6 for Pry. 7 TOs.

Bennie Gray is missing. Bennie works with the lambs on Jess Fullman’s farm, and Jesse says she never come back from the fields at the end of the day. A search party has out there for 2 hours but there are lots of acres where those sheep roam.

2/6: We found Bennie’s body at 9:15 this morning. Her throat had been cut, and she had been placed partially under and behind a big rock in a very remote location.

Police Chief Jenny Flood and two of her fellow officers have been placed on full time police duty. They are relieved of all responsibilities related to their regular jobs and they will investigate this.

2/7: Jenny and her crew have all of the crime scene evidence. An autopsy shows that Bennie was both violently raped and brutally beaten. Fortunately, there has been no rain for a few days, which is very unusual here. As a result, drops of blood were found in several locations near the crime scene. Jenny is trying to determine whether the crime happened at or near where the body was found, or whether Bennie was taken there after the murder.

We had an emergency Council meeting this evening, mostly to share what info we have. Jenny will, of course, NOT share anything that might help her to find the perp or perps, but she has told me confidentially that she doesn’t have much.

2/12: We’ve clinched the conf. title. 23-1, 13-0, #12, RPI #15, and a 6 game lead.

84-63 over Vermont here. 5 in double figures. We shot 52.9%, they shot 32.6%.

73-64 at Albany. Jay Hart led us with 15 and 13.

Nothing new on the murder, unfortunately. Jenny just doesn’t; have much to work on.

“We’re really stretching, looking for any idea. This happened late in the day, but given the remote location, no one working regular hours could have done it. We’re searching records to see who was at work. It was a Sunday, so that would mean cafeteria people on the dinner shift, one fishing crew, some health care people, lots of farmers, others in various occupations. We’re interviewing hundreds of people- basically anyone who we cannot be 100% sure was somewhere else- completely accounted for.”

That’s about all they can do, well, except to hope that they’ll catch a break.

Bennie’s housemate and partner, Lara Craig, is devastated, of course. She was out on a fishing boat when it happened. She’s on leave for as long as she needs to be.

2/19: 1 game week. A win. 74-60 over Binghamton here. 19, 5, 4 for Pry. +11 RBs.

24-1, 14-0, #11, RPI #16. 7 game lead in conf.

2/26: We lost a game.

69-77 at UMBC. Terrible D and listless play in general. 20 and 10 for Rand.

Then we beat Maine 79-52 to close out the regular season, here. 22, 8, 4, 2 for Rand.

We end the regular season at 25-2, 15-1, #12, RPI #14. 6 game lead. +15.6 PPG, +3.6 RBs, +5.6 TOs.

Nothing new on the murder. It’s been three weeks. Jenny tells me, confidentially, that unless we get a break this will likely be unsolved. She’s done all she can do.

We now have walking patrols throughout our community, paired constables walking everywhere. It’s a low probability that this will do any actual good, but we’re doing it anyway. People take two hour shifts.

[Wayne23]

(Author's Note) First I was too busy with a new job, then the computer the game is loaded onto went deeply South. I get it back tomorrow or the day after. If both the computer and the game survived I'll pick this up where I left off. Hoping it's not dead.

[Wayne23]

3/1: 10-17, 6-10 Maine in the quarter finals.

81-68. Our three guards combined for 40 points and 2 TOs.

#5 seed Hartford, 14-14, 8-8, in the semis. We beat them by 16 and 18.

3/2: 80-48. We were on fire. Balanced scoring from 8 guys. +11 RBs, +8 TOs, terrific D.

#2 seed Stony Brook, 20-9, 9-7, for the title. We won by 23 here, but only 8 there. Late in the season. We feel we’re the better team but they’re good.

3/3: 88-69. We’re playing REALLY well right now. I hate the fact that we have 2 weeks off. 26, 10 for Rand, 4 others with 10 or more. 36 RBs, 11 TOs.

3/4: As we were on the train headed back home I got word that Lara Craig was found murdered, in the same spot where her partner, Bennie Gray was found. That’s all I know right now.

3/5: Lara, like Bennie, had her throat cut, and had been both violently raped and brutally beaten. Our entire community is in shock. Just like last time we’ve had a dry spell so there are no footprints.

Just about everything is the same as it was with Bennie’s murder- time of day, day of the week…

3/7: No leads, according to Jenny Flood.

“We can’t even imagine that anyone has any sort of grudge against Bennie and Lara. They were both very popular.”

3/9: Once again, Jenny Flood has run into nothing but dead ends. There is not any sort of a clue for her to work with.

“Well, we do know that both times the murders happened after a few dry days so there wouldn’t be footprints. We’ll increase patrols when it’s dry. That happens so rarely that it won’t be a drain on our resources. Other than that there’s not much.”

3/12: 28-2, 15-1, #10, RPI #11. Can we hope for a #4? #5?

#5 South. We’ll play the winner of a play in game.

3/17: #12 seed, play in winner, South FL, 20-12, from the American Athletic conf. Good team.

86-73. We never trailed and were never threatened late. 5 in double figures. +13 RBs.

#13 seed Cal-Irvine, 22-9, upset #4 Arizona ST, so that’s a break for us. We’d love to go back to the Sweet Sixteen.

3/19: 86-69. 22, 4, 8 for AL PRY, 15 RBs for Rand. +24 RBs.

#1 seed, #4 ranked Duke, 25-8, in the Sweet Sixteen. This is a very good team, but they have lost 8 times so it’s not impossible.

3/24: 62-72. We stayed with them for a long time but then our guards both got into foul trouble, and that did us in. 19, 14 for Rand, who will be back next year.

Great season. We’re losing 4 starters to graduation.

4/4: Awards: Junior PF/C Jon Rand is conf. POY, Defensive POY and 1st team along with senior Al Pry. Senior PF/C Jay Hart made 2nd team and I was COY.

(Author’s Note: The rest of this post is new. Everything preceding this note was done on a computer that crashed. I wanted to continue the dynasty so I recreated it- cheated results to match as closely as possible the first 5 seasons- above this post. Wound up 1 ½ games different. New stuff from here on.)

4/9: We’re going to Central Michigan, in the Mid-American. That means a move to Milwaukee. They operate, organizationally, about the same as new Boston does, so that will make for an easy transition.

They’ve been devastated by weather and earthquakes, more than any other community. They lost more than 12,000 to an earthquake 2-3 years ago, and virtually the entire community was rebuilt.

There are about 44,500 people there now, making them a little smaller than Montreal, and the smallest community in population.

Their main crops are citrus, and other semi-tropical fruits and veggies. They also have a fishing boat, and fish Lake Michigan. The fishing and the manufacturing they do are for local use, but if disaster strikes elsewhere Milwaukee can ramp up fishing and manufacturing to help.

Okay, I am abandoning New Boston, or at least that’s how some see it. In February, I told the council that if a good opportunity came I would leave, and I told them to begin preparing for that. I did not report that here.

I will stay here for a week to help with the transition, and will come back as needed for the next month. After this week most of what we need to do to transition can be done through electronic communication.

Okay, the Central Michigan Chippewas finished last in their 12 team, 2 division Mid-American Conference, so we will need to rebuild. I cleared the roster of some deadwood and managed to grab 2 recruits. We’ll see how good they are. I’ll have a few walk ons next year.

Glenna has decided to stay in New Boston, so we’re splitting up.

4/16: Hired a great Scouting assistant.

4/23: NEED a budget increase. No luck.

30-3, 15-1, Sweet Sixteen. Overall we’re 125-35, .781.

Ratings: O-44, D-49, Rec: 78, Scout- 57, Player Dev- 49, Reputation- 30. A new challenge!