DC - Will do. I will have to cut my head off and mail it to you though. Play book is in there..... somewhere... It's the only copy and it is fairly extensive. Once you extract the play book, feel free to toss the rest of that useless stuff in the waste basket. :p On a more serious note, I would be happy to sit down w/you and show you every thing I know whenever we have the opportunity. I'm sure you could teach me as well. Not a single one of us knows everything and we can always learn from one another.

Shabby J - If whatever you're doing is working for your regional venue then you're already coaching brother! It's pretty simple. Different venues require different tools and techniques. Adjusting/Adapting and being successful while doing so is not generally an easy task. I look at it a lot like this.... Same basic structure (a game restricted to electro magnetic dynamics) - A house for instance, but a different floor plan. So even though it will be constructed of a lot of the same basic materials and w/a lot of the same tools (though some will vary), it will require assembly in a different manner. Constructed in a manner so it passes the local codes (meets that venues requirements) and functions properly as a completed unit (players are consistent and work together as a team). The rest is all about how one chooses to use it. Not everybody wants or needs the thermostat set to 90 degrees 24/7. Nor do most prefer it set to 50 degrees. Somewhere in the middle seems to be "just right?" that is another aspect we can all learn from each other. We all do or see at least some things slightly different.

Another thing I like to bring up when strength and speed topics are on the table is.... both are strictly subjective. That meaning "strong" is only strong w/regards to what you're comparing it to. Same w/speed. One person's strongest base can and has proven to be another person's cannon fodder. Again, same w/speed. One thing seems to continue to rewind though. If I put a "very strong/fast" team on the field at a major venue tomorrow, next time I see some cats who were there, my strong/fast stuff isn't going to be as strong or as fast as it was before. It's not that my bases have lost their stuff. It's because some cats are going to go home and make sure they catch up or surpass. Admittedly, I have and will do the same if I feel competitive enough to worry over it.

Though these days I'm much more into helping others and teaching than I am worrying over trying to grab another piece of hardware. For me, the quality time spent w/quality people is far more rewarding than anything else I have to gain or lose. My motto to live by in this hobby for the past several years is and has been "Don't put plastic over people." Or short version "People, not plastic." At the end of the day, the rest is so very unimportant. At least to me. It's the lil demon I fight that is obviously inside most of us in this hobby. We are VERY competitive by nature. I assure you, I am one of the most fiercely competitive people you will run across on the entire planet. And under certain circumstances (usually for the wrong reasons) I am not above stomping a mud hole in someone's keister (if i'm pushed to the brink). Even then, I get no real satisfaction from it. It's meaningless. The time it took to do it coulda been spent hanging w/peeps I actually give a rats rump about. I'm much more mellowed overall. I'd rather hand the dog the bone and go eat the meat w/their owners, metaphorically speaking.

Yet, I digress... off topic. Bad netiquette. Sorry. My Bad!

-Mike Pratt