NL South Meet the Owners: victorzhao (Houston Hope)

On the eve of the regular season, your NL South correspondent will bring you a series of Q&As that will introduce you to the owners of the NL South. Today, we bring you victorzhao (me), quite simply, the most electrifying performer in the history of WhatIfSports. What makes me so electrifying? My stunning success, witty banter on the world chat, and rugged good looks. Looking to absorb some of that magic and improve his own HBD abilities, shucky - who has never beaten me in a playoff series - sat down with me for a Q&A.

1. Tell us a little about yourself (job, favorite sports teams, hometown, etc.).
I was born in Shanghai, China and came to the States in 1987 (when I was eight), I've called Houston, TX home since then, with the exception of college and law school. As such, I'm a loyal fan of all Houston professional sports teams and all Duke (college alma mater) teams. Currently (never know in these economic times), I am employed as an attorney in Houston. My alias is my name - so that sort of takes some of the mystery out.

2. How did you get involved with WIS and why have you found it so enjoyable?
I rediscovered (underwhelming experience with the sim games around the initial site launch) WIS/HBD (along with shucky, a much inferior owner) when a couple of classmates from law school introduced us to the game, and have been hooked on it ever since. The enjoyment comes because I, along with most of the other owners here, am a huge baseball fan, and like other fans, have enjoyed pretending that we're running our favorite teams for a long time - this just gives us a terrific way to play out that dream.

3. Tell us about your franchise (and, specifically, your ML team) in Alexander. Strengths/weakness? Short and long-term predictions?
My team had no pitching and had never finished over .500 when i took over the squad last season. I addressed it last season through trades for MiL talent, the IFA route, and the draft. This season, I traded my top pick in the amateur draft last season for some ML talent, and was active in the FA market for ML pitching. In short, my biggest weakness was pitching, and I've sought to address it both at the major and minor league levels over the last two seasons. In the short-term, I hope to take the franchise to its 1st playoff in history this season, and of course, the long-term goal is always to build a perennial winner and have a better record than shucky.

4. You've made the playoffs 13 out of 16 years. Why have you been so successful and what advice would you give to other owners, especially first time owners?
My success (though no WS titles so far) has resulted singularly from the advice and tutelage I received from my (and shucky's) mentors in WIS, bjb2378 and pete0713. Without the two of them, I would be lost. The ability to bounce ideas and advice off of them, and off shucky, were invaluable when I first started. The best piece of advice is to find a mentor who is willing to help and bounce ideas off of. As is the case in life, without others, it's a lonely climb.

5. It is my understanding that you have had to buy several rounds of golf for your good friend shucky based on his whipping your tail at WIS. What is the total number of rounds you have (or will have) to buy? And, how does it feel knowing he got that elusive first WS title before you?
[Objection, mischaracterizes the evidence]
I believe i have purchased 2 rounds of golf, and owe about 5 more, due mostly to shucky's willingness to consummate blatantly lopsided trades with dubious owners like mrintegrity and loosecc, formerly in Squires. In all seriousness, it's great to have shucky around to share our joys and disappointments in HBD. Shucky getting the 1st WS (of many I hope) was painful - but I'm going to try my hardest to catch up.

NL South Meet The Owners: grivfmd1 (Richmond Revolution)

On the eve of the regular season, your NL South correspondent will bring you a series of Q&As that will introduce you to the owners of the NL South. Today, we bring you grivfmd1, one of the most successful owners in this world. Grivfmd1 has logged 49 seasons at nearly a .560 clip, and amassed 5 world titles along the way. However, he has not yet taken the title in Alexander - something he will hope to address this season.

1) Where are you (what city) and what do you do? i.e. tell us whatever you would like to share with us about you

I am a reluctantly aging 58y/o MD. I own and run an in vitro fertilization (IVF) program in Grand Rapids, Michigan, hence my handle GRIVFMD1. I have 6 children and 2 grand children mostly in Michigan or Chicago.

2) Do you think your team is ready to reclaim the division title after yielding the title to Little Rock for the last two seasons?

Maybe - keep looking for that #1 shut down starter but not finding him.

3) What are your plans for Malcolm Young?

Malcolm Young and Steve Spence will likely see the ML club in "May".

4) How did you hear about HBD and/or WIS?

Stumbled across WIS - SIM baseball on MLB.com many years ago. Have played HBD since 1st released - rarely play SIM any more.

5) What aspect of HBD do you enjoy the most?

Competitive juice - at 58, I can not do what I used to do and don't have the time (or necessary money) for competitive sailing (which I miss but have not done in 5 years). I don't trade much and mostly build from inside the team - draft slow development.

NL South Meet the Owners: pieo (Wichita Wack Jobs)

On the eve of the regular season, your NL South correspondent will bring you a series of Q&As that will introduce you to the owners of the NL South.  Today, we bring you pieo, a newcomer to this world, but certainly no stranger to WIS.  Pieo is a veteran of 22 HBD seasons, an occasional contributor to the HBD forum, and as you'll learn, hates the Yankees like the rest of us.  

(1) where are you (what city) and what do you do? i.e. tell us whatever you would like to share with us about you.

I live in Phoenix,Az and I am an account manager at a Credit Card Processing firm. I just celebrated 14 months sober in A.A. and I am a die hard NY Giants fan, and love all New York teams, except for the Yankees, whom I hate with a passion.

(2) Welcome to Alexander... what convinced you to join this world?

I joined Alexander b/c i love rebuilding projects, especially when I have complete reign of the finances, and this team meant all of those requirements.

(3) In your 22 seasons, have you ever taken 9 players in the Rule V draft? what's the rationale behind doing that this season?

I've taken 9 or more players in the rule 5 a few times, in fact in a couple days, in Sandberg, I'm about to take 15, and every time it's b/c there's not alot of Rule 5 eligible guys on my team that I feel are worth protecting

(4) You traded Rafael Quixote, who projects to be a legitimate ML bat for Trenidad Montero. While we all value starting pitching, why did you make this deal?

Rafael Quixote is alright, but I hate his batting eye and vs. R, plus I already have a great RF prospect, and I also got another good SP propect in that deal, Larry Lowell, and as you stated SP's are the most coveted players in the game.

(5) How were you first introduced to Hardball Dynasty and/or WIS?

A good friend of mine turned me on to HBD