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5 Questions with eagle61


eagle61 is well-known in WIS circles for being one of the most respected progressive owners around. He has run over 200 baseball teams, has provided extensive career stats for many of the leagues he's in, and has offered incredibly stable leadership as the commish of the WADY league. In Capra, eagle's Dover Galaxy represented the National League in the first World Series, and are still working on making a repeat appearance.

1) What is the story of your username and how did you get hooked up with Whatifsports?
Well, the 61 comes from my birth year (yeah, I’m an old fart!). And the Eagle come from the fact that I am an Eagle Scout and the eagle is my favorite bird or prey.

2) Offer a paragraph bio of yourself, possibly including things like work, family life, geography, other hobbies, quirky traits, bad habits, etc.
If you couldn’t guess already I am 46 years old (47 in May), married for almost 23 years. I have a 17 year old son who shares my interest in football and baseball, but can’t get him interested in WIS. I guess that is good because I couldn’t afford paying for two addictions! I live in Northern Virginia, 25 miles outside the DC Beltway. Other than producing progressive league stats for 4-5 leagues (hobby and bad habit!), I like going to the shooting range (Glock .45ACP) and I have taken up road bicycling for fitness. I also volunteer for our local Little League as an Equipment Manager. We have 84+ teams this year that all need catcher’s gear, bats, balls and uniforms. As for work, I am a management analyst for a government consulting firm and guess what… I get to play with numbers and spreadsheets there too!

3) A sports-themed bio paragraph. Favorite team? Players? Did you play as a kid? Now? What and when? Best sports moment? Most heartbreaking moment? etc.
In football it used to be Dallas until the Carolina Panthers came into the league. In college football it is Clemson. In baseball I love the Atlanta Braves. I have followed them since 1980. I used to spend a lot of time over at an ex-girlfriend's house and her parents were always watching the Braves on WTBS. I don’t like many of the other mainstream sports, but I do like many of the odd sports like rugby, Aussie rules football, Tour de France, America’s Cup, etc. Hell, I’ve even been known to watch lumberjack competitions on TV!Never played baseball as a kid as I grew up in a military town and my father was not military. So team sports were almost non-existent off post. I was an avid bowler in my youth and played a lot of golf. (best score in bowling = 279, best score in golf = 80) Both of those sports were carried over into my adult life, but I really haven’t had time for either the last several years. Best sports moment… 95 Braves World Series Championship and 1980-81 Clemson Tigers National Championship in football. Most heartbreaking was Atlanta’s loss in the WS to Minnesota (yes, the Twinkie 1b picked up Gant of off 1b and the umps called him out! Grrrrr. But I’m not bitter or anything!)

4) What about your franchise is most exciting going into Season 8? What is your team's biggest challenge? Anything else about your squad?
The Galaxy and exciting do not belong in the same sentence! But, I guess the 1 thing I will be looking for is improvement out of the 5 former 1st round picks that are currently playing for the big league club. This team has done nothing since losing the World Series in Season 1 and losing the other 3 division mates in the off season. Hey, that’s been the problem, my guys haven’t figured out what cities they are supposed to be traveling to! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! The biggest challenge is to actually finish another season over .500 (last time was season 1).

5)What piece of strategy or advice can you offer about HBD? Yes, I'm asking for one of your secrets, but many of us will be sharing as well.
Hmmm… well if any of you want to know how to build a losing team, just watch what I do. Seriously, I look for good, high L-R splits for both hitters and batters. At least 3 “+” pitches for SP. The rest, umm, I’m clueless. HBD is just not my game, but it has become a challenge so I’m not going anywhere just yet!

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