Cards and dice vs. computers

A few years ago, I stumbled across an APBA message board that contained one of the more interesting debates about the game I have ever read. The site, Dephi Forums, contains hundreds of discussions about the games APBA makes, the cards issued, the anticipation surround the release of new seasons and sports talk in general. It also contains recaps of replays the various gamers do and includes box scores, write ups and standings. It's a fantastic site for all things APBA.

But I also saw one thread that may have begun one of the greatest debates of all time, even surpassing the Chicken-Egg, Blue Dress/Gold Dress and Less Filling, More Taste conundrums we've wrestled with.

One gamer wrote that he plays the ABPA game on his computer. He said he set up the parameters for replaying a season, choosing the coaches and schedule and then, setting the thing in play as he was leaving his home. He said he returned the following day and saw the results.

And I, a dice and cards guy since Day 1 in 1977, thought, "what's the point in that?" He had the season completed in his absence. The statistics were all compiled for him and the final standings presented in neat form.

But where was the fun in that? I know there are computer players who enjoy the game and probably most of them don't leave the game Instead, they participate (as best as one can on a computer) and watch the season replay unfold.

Those who know me are aware I am a complete computer idiot. I've tried to keep player and team statistics several times by computer. Each time, though, my computer crashes and I fail to back up the stats. The last time, I had my 1991 replay updated on my work computer when I got laid off the job. Seems like each time I try to compile stats, technology bites me in the butt.

I've also played an APBA version of the basketball game some 30 years ago. It featured 20 great teams of the past. The player could set up the lineups and watch the games unfold. It was okay, but I felt so detached from the game, from the rolling and from watching each play ensue, that I soon quit and returned to the sluggish dice and cards game of APBA's roundball back then.

I've been playing the baseball game for nearly 20 years now. I was a late bloomer, getting into this game first with the football and basketball and later the hockey game. I'd never, ever consider playing the baseball game with a computer.

There's something about holding each player's card in hand while rolling the dice. Doing it that way puts you into the game and gives you some control of the outcome.

I'm reminded once of being at a casino in some small Mississippi town. Several people were working the slot machines in one row, repetitively pushing a button to set the things in motion. I noticed the slack-jawed look on each. The motions were mindless, almost factory-line in their choreographing. It took nothing other than pushing a button when the noise stopped each time. A trained chicken could have pecked the button with more enthusiasm. The gamblers showed little emotion and they weren't really part of it. They were on the outside, looking in, so to speak.

Obviously, I'm not comparing computer players to mindless drones (or chickens, either). And, again those who know me realize, with my extreme ignorance of all things computing, me talking about that is like Forrest Gump talking about the intricacies of NASA's space program.

But even though it takes forever, I'm sticking with cards and dice, rolling seasons game by game. I began the 1991 season in August 2015. It will soon be three years since I rolled that first game of the replay and I'm only about 65 percent done. I could have fed the information into the computer, left for a weekend and had the entire season done with stats finished, winners declared and a sense of accomplishment fulfilled.

Instead, I'll chug along at my turtle-like pace and enjoy each game, savoring the season as it develops and noticing all the nuances of the teams and players as they slowly make their way through the replay.

And maybe, just maybe, since I am a techno idiot, if I can find my old slide rule, I can start doing those stats again.