Charter Owner Interview Series: Dizzlebob

Dizzlebob has been an owner in Hunter since season 1 and has owned the Pittsburgh Studdabubbas the entire time in the NL North. During his ownership the team has made (1) World Series appearance, (5) NLCS Appearances and won the AL North (8) times. Also as mentioned Dizzlebob is one of three commissioners in the history of Hunter along with Leppykahn, who I used to be the God of Hunter since he created the world and myself (Jahu43).


Real Name (First Name is good):
Jack

How did you find out about HBD and how did you end up in Hunter?
I was playing the WIS college football game and, when the site started advertising HBD, I wanted in. I wound up in Hunter simply because I thought it was going to fill quickest at the time I signed up. I'm not a baseball guy, though, which isn't surprising for anyone who lives in...

City:
Pittsburgh

Description of where you were in your life when you joined Hunter (mid to late 2006): (age, martial status, job, etc)
I guess I was 38 years old. Recently married with a baby girl. I was a graphic artist at a design firm in the South Side of Pittsburgh and I had recently begun coaching youth volleyball at a nearby catholic school.

Do you know any Hunter members in real life, present or past?
I've known Carmandjr since the early 90s. We worked at Camelot Music together back in the days when such a store existed. He's been in my fantasy football league since 1993 (he actually won this year!) and I introduced him to HBD. You would think a guy with a user name like "Carmandjr" would be a cool, manly, muscle car dude—"car man?"—but his name is C. Armand Jr. and he drives a Hyundai.


Favorite Player and Favorite pitcher that played for your team and why?
LF - Willie Drew - Willie Drew
I drafted Willie and he played 15 seasons with Pittsburgh and still holds the record for most home runs in Studdabubba history (413). Every time he hit one over the fence, the voices in my head would scream "Dreeewwwww".
SP - Butch Griffith - Butch Griffith
The Studdabubbas were terrible at drafting pitching for the first 17 seasons or so. Butchie changed that and still holds the record for most wins as a Studdabubba (152). I think he is also the only Studdabubba to ever win a Cy Young.



Favorite Player and pitcher that never played for your team and why? [I didn't have a pitcher]
The guy who came to mind first was Frank Zhang because he was, like, the first stud in the league. Leppykhan picked him up was an International Free Agent in season 4 with no competition—he got him for less than 10M. He still has the best batting average of anyone who played a full career in Hunter.

Comish Edit: Sorry Wolfy, Dizz is right I know your boy has the highest every average in Hunter but Zhang did it with a "Real" career worth of at bats

Least Favorite Hunter Owner (Only accepting owners that no longer play HBD) and why, don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but like to add spice
We had a couple disruptive owners over the last 50 seasons but Radek was the one that stands out to me. He would go on rants about how the sim was wrong and how other team's players were performing better than he thought they should. It became tiresome and I think a few owners left because of him.

Comish Edit: For those who weren't here Radek literally complained every season all season about how power ratings world especially in Coors. It was like Groundhog every season except it wasn't fun like the Bill Murray classic

Biggest Hunter Rivals and why:
Well, I'm not sure he's a rival because I don't pose any threat to him but djbradford has been a pain in my arse for years. I keep waiting for him to go back to the AL but he never does.

Comish Edit: He's never allowed back in the AL


How does it feels to be part of the very special club one of the three Commissioners of Hunter?
I'm glad my reign is over. I don't even recall how long I ran the league but the whole time I knew I was just keeping it warm for Jahu.

Comish Edit: I took over commissionership from Leppy in season 21 but somewhere between then and now between children and my job I was unable to perform to an acceptable level as Comish and Dizz did myself and the world a huge favor by stepping in. Without Dizz we don't make season 50, more on that......

Best Hunter Moment:
Since I never win anything, my favorite Hunter moment was the Season 21 rollover which I recounted a few years back: https://hbd-hunterworld.blogspot.com/2014/

Comish Edit: For those who haven't read it Dizz recounts the story well but the part that he very much undersells is his sleuthing to suss out that ABU was a bad league to merge. If not for Dizz figuring it out we would have merged we wouldn't be in season 50, we'd be season 29 and likely it would be a dead world as the merger would have likely broken the wills of the remaining owners. Kudos Dizz you saved Hunter

Favorite Hunter Owner by whatever definition you want to use:
Of course, I'm a big carmandjr fan but I'll say Jahu. Not only did he save Hunter but he actually tried to mentor me on how to play HBD back in the early years. That clearly didn't work but it was still really cool of him.

Comish Edit: Thanks Dizz and to be clear so people don't go searching Pittsburgh-Louisville trades (9 ever) trying to piece together an Astro-like conspiracy we only discussed on of his other active teams. 

What is the best part of Hunter?
It's a secret family of strangers. We check in with each other everyday but we don't know each other's names. And we've been doing it for 14 years. And I rarely talk about Hunter. I've been playing for 13 years and I bet my 15 year-old daughter has no idea I play an online baseball game with a bunch of other weirdos. The only reason my wife knows is because it shows up on the credit card every once in a while.

After 13 years where are you in your life now? (age, martial status, childern job etc?)
I'm now 51. Last year, my wife and I quit our real jobs and we now own an online gift shop that sells nerdy porcelain dinnerware (www.calamityware.com). This career change also gave me the opportunity to take a gig as a high school volleyball coach. We made the playoffs our first year but lost in the first round—sound familiar? If HBD is any indication, that's as far as my coaching abilities will ever take me.

Comish Edit: Congrats on the new gig Dizz, there is some pretty cool stuff on the site. Given as Dizz as already pointed out that we are a bunch of online weirdos be sure to check it out. 

Any words to celebrate Hunter 50?
Probably not the celebration you imagined, but I sometimes wonder how Hunter will end. Will we play another 13 years and eventually start to die off? I'll be 64! If you're like me and your family doesn't know about HBD, will we even know when someone has died? I know my wife isn't going to log on to tell you all that I croaked.
What I really think will happen is that technology will advance and the WIS website will suddenly stop working. And, since nobody seems to be around to fix it, it will all just cease to exist.
Dang, that got dark. Happy Anniversary!?


Comish Edit: Well that took a turn for the dark