A Portrait of the Stats as a Young Man

Exerpts from my 6th grade English journal follow. I'll edit names to protect the innocent.

September 30, 1991
Pennant Races

I am very interested in the Major League Baseball pennant races. In the American League East, the Toronto Blue Jays are 4 1/2 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox. I hope Toronto wins. In the National League West, the Los Angeles Dodgers are 1 game ahead of the Atlanta Braves. I don't really care who wins that. The Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Pirates have clinched division titles.
I hope the Blue Jays and Pirates are in the World Series.

Note: The Twins defeated the Braves in the 1991 World Series.

October 8, 1991
Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays are my favorite team. They lost the first game of the American League Playoffs yesterday. The Minnesota Twins beat them, 5-4.
My favorite players are Todd Stottlemyre and Roberto Alomar. I also like Devon White and Kelly Gruber. I don't like Joe Carter though.

Note: The Blue Jays would go on to win the next two World Series, including 1993's on a walk-off home run in Game 6 by Joe Carter.

October 15, 1991
George
For Christmas, I hope to get a lizard. I think I will, and I have already picked him out. He is green and small, and called an anole. I'll get the lizard myself if myh parents give me gravel for the aquarium, the aquarium top, and any luxuries for him.
If it's a boy, I think he'll be George. If it's a girl, I'll name it Liz. If I don't know, I'll name it George, or Sandy. I really hope I get it.

Note: I didn't get my frist lizard, Caesar, until August 3, 2003. He died that winter. I'm know the proud parent of two newts, Pokey and Snake.

November 5, 1991
A New League

Last Friday, Eric Schr**ck and I started a fake football league. We use all the same teams as the National Football League, and play games the sasme way, but we make up the games. We each "play" the games, and record the scores withtout the other person knowing. Then, in school, or on the bus on the way home on Tuesday we average the scores, and the highest wins. we randomly decide who plays each other each week, and even have a formula to see which team is favored AND by how much. After we average them, we see if the formula worked. The league is called the FFL, or Fantasy Football League, and has worked out greatly.

Note: I never did patent Fantasy Football, and am not yet rich. Not sure it would have taken off with these rules anyway.

January 3, 1992
Super Bowl

Yesterday the conference championships were played in football. They determine the Super Bowl. In the A.F.C. game, the Denver Broncos played the Buffalo Bills. I wanted Denver to win. There was no score at halftime. Finally, after a tough battle, Buffalo won, 10-7. In the N.F.C. game, I wanted Detroit to beat Washington. Tthe Lions were good, and only trailed 17-10 at the half. But the second half was a blowout. The Washington Redskins won, 41-10, and will go to the big game.
The Super Bowl will be Buffalo vs. Washington. The 'Skins are 6-point favorites. I hope they triumph, and think they can win. My prediction is Washington 31-14. I hope the score is infinity-0, Washington winning. The Redskins are my fourth favorite team. The Bills are twenty-fifth out of twenty-eight. I'll be furious if Buffalo wins the Super Bowl.

Note: The Washington Redskins won the 1992 Super Bowl. I was not furious.

March 31, 1992
Little League Draft

The Queensbury Little League Draft was held yesterday. Since he's on the board, my dad went. My coach's name is Walt Br*wn. On my team, we have Mark (Slowy) L*singer, Jay G*nyo, Joe Ort*no(fish), Ken Br*wn, Jason Br*wn, Brian F*sher, Sean Th*rpe, and other people I don't know yet. I think we'll be terrible. Jay and I will probably be the best players on our team, although Slowy was chosen first.

Note: I believe Foothills Trophy finished the season 4-9, placing 4th in the league tournament. Slowy was the best catcher I ever pitched to, but did not make the All-Star team. Jay and I did. I finished the season 4-5 with a 0.83 ERA, but gave up 8.6 unearned runs per game. To this day, shortstop Ken Br*wn and second baseman Brian Post*lka hold the all-time Little League record for errors in a season by a middle infield pair, with 237.