Welcome Back 5-Year NFBC Members!!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:51 am

As everyone knows, I'm indebted to the original NFBC members who gave me access to their credit cards when the NFBC was nothing more than a pipedream. Their loyalty to the high-stakes fantasy baseball concept and trust in us here allowed the NFBC to go forward as planned in 2004 and to lose a good chunk of money!!

Without those original 195 teams, we wouldn't be here today.

This year is our fifth year of the NFBC and we will honor our original members who have been with us all five years by providing a special NFBC hat for them. We'll hand them out on Draft Day and let those folks stand out from the crowd. Thanks everyone.

I'll keep an updated list of our returning 5-year members as they sign up, so all can see who was there first and who is coming back now. If I somehow missed your name, just post here and I'll add you to the list. Thanks all.

1. Rick Thomas, Bozeman, Montana

2. Kevin Dukesherer, San Diego, California

3. Shawn Childs, Forestdale, Massachusetts

4. Perry Van Hook, Santa Ana, California

5. Eric Price, Norwalk, Connecticut

6. Clark Olson, Seattle, Washington

7. John Crane, College Place, Washington

8. Gene McCaffrey, Fort Collins, Colorado

9. Mike O'Connor, Burnsville, Minnesota

10. Todd Zola, Framingham, Massachusetts

11. Gregory Morgan, Westerville, Ohio

12. David Longood, Salem, Oregon

13. Chris Schinker, West Allis, Wisconsin

14. Eddie Gillis, Jamestown, Rhode Island

15. John Menna, Fort Collins, Colorado

16. Mike Cameron, Encinitas, California

17. Terry Haney, Johnston, Iowa

18. Christopher Stephenson, Sandwich, Massachusetts

19. Jesse Herron, Alpharetta, Georgia

20. Joshua Sack, San Francisco, California

21. Kenneth Magner, Freehold, New Jersey

22. Michael Edelman, Elmwood Park, New Jersey

23. Jeff Dobies, Richmond Hill, New York

24. John Wojtowicz, Cranford, New Jersey

25. John Rundle, Pembroke, Massachusetts

26. Kevin Grady, Flemington, New Jersey

27. Laurence Edelman, Ossining, New York

28. John Hogan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

29. Glenn Schroter, Whitestone, New York

30. Stephen Jupinka, Waldwick, New Jersey

31. Joe Thelen, Garden City, New York

32. Ari Benjamin, New York City

33. Pat DePirro, Chicago, Illinois

34. Lenny Diveglio, Medford, New York

35. Scott Fleming, Totowa, New Jersey

36. Leonard Ringle, New York City

37. Henry Cantrell, Raleigh, North Carolina

38. George Kleemann, Palatine, Illinois

39. Thomas Greenwald, Hoffman Estates, Illinois

40. John Dean, Santa Ana, California

41. Wayne Edwards, Duluth, Georgia

42. Rey Diaz, Miami, Florida

43. Bradley Shairson, Hermosa Beach, California

44. Don Mathis, Lakeland, Florida

45. John Swol, Plymouth, Minnesota

46. Gerry Scotto Di Marco, Allison Park, Pennsylvania

47. Boaz Levy, Los Angeles, California

48. Rich Verost, Hamburg, New Jersey

49. Mark Srebro, York, Pennsylvania

50. James Cummings, New York City

51. Dave Cushard, Jackson, Michigan

52. Howard Markowitz, Las Vegas, Nevada

53. Todd Nord, Fargo, North Dakota

54. David Zwickel, New York City

55. Dominic Cirigliano, Columbia Station, Ohio

56. Mark Janik, Valhalla, New York

57. Win Murray, Western Springs, Illinois

58. Jeff Thomas, Kenosha, Wisconsin

59. Ken Norred, Ashland, Alabama

60. Marty Bedell, Poughkeepsie, New York

61. Scott Zeidman, El Segundo, California

62. Brian Walton, New Milford, Connecticut

63. Emmett Ruland, Idaho Falls, Idaho

64. Douglas Jaffe, Commack, New York

65. Vern Neumann, Hales Corners, Wisconsin

66. Steve Wells, Las Vegas, Nevada

67. Pete Lukowicz, Manalapan, New Jersey

68. Artie Rastelli, Hoboken, New Jersey

69. Jack Lyons, Phoenix, Arizona

70. Will Robertson, Sparta, New Jersey

71. Jay Bufis, Kendall Park, New Jersey

72. Joshua Jantas/Matt Pike, Fjords, New Jersey

73. Robert Migliozzi, Plainfield, Illinois

74. Karl Mische, Rogers, Minnesota

75. Patrick Tremaglio, New York City

76. George Beason, Chattanooga, Tennessee

77. Philip McDonald, Huntsville, Alabama

78. Mark Yagan/Barry Fishman, Overland Park, Kansas

79. Charlie Gillespie/Brian Rudd, St. Charles, Missouri

80. Norm Kent, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

81. Eric Pallotti, Oldbridge, New Jersey

82. Scott Alper, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey

83. Aaron Seefeldt, Northbrook, Illinois

84. Scott Stauffer, Naperville, Illinois

85. Dohn Terrell Jr., St. Louis, Missouri

That's 84 out of our original 195 back for a fifth season. I think we have room for a few more!!

[ March 04, 2008, 04:33 PM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:01 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

This year is our fifth year of the NFBC and we will honor our original members who have been with us all five years by providing a special NFBC hat for them. We'll hand them out on Draft Day and let those folks stand out from the crowd. Thanks everyone.Very cool, Greg. Thanks for the shout-out to the Charter Members!

751542 · Post by **751542** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:58 am

thanks for recognizing the originals and look forward to the 10 year gift and so on and so on. thanks for the great times and friends...now i have research to do damnit!!! RT

Captain Hook · Post by **Captain Hook** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:00 pm

Greg - thanks for the recognition of the "Charter Members"...alas I remember some that are no longer with us as well.

But at the least I need an extra "5 year hat" - as you remember, a five year anniversary for the NFBC is also a five year wedding anniversay for Chris and I....so she will be in Las Vegas as well for the weekend, and what gal doesn't want an extra hat

Sack · Post by **Sack** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:15 pm

Nice to see that WALLA WALLA finally cracked the top ten!

Nice touch Greg, even listed me under SACK.

eddiejag · Post by **eddiejag** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:47 am

How about the guy's who played in the very first nfbc contest.That would be the auction leagues on the friday night before the main event.I remember how quiet it was , nobody new anybody i came with my friend the Bad Shad.Their was no ultimate the 1st year and im not even sure if we had a national league in NY.I do reconize the King of Queens , he was the only guy who had a computer and he helped that draft move along.I remember King grabbing Joe Blanton in the reserves and i never heard of him.Jeff Dobies was another name i remember sitting in seat 5 or 6.I was in seat number 1 , and King was around 8.

I dont even remember who ran that draft , [was it rocky] and one guy didnt show up so one of the board guys had to jump in and take a team.

Actually the fill in guy finished 2nd that year.

Then half way threw the draft Mike Torres came in a gave a few words, we grabbed his autograph.

What a nice guy and story teller.

That night the Vegas league was going off and they did have an AL and NL auction going that night.Their was no mix auctions the 1st year.

I know Shawn Childs was in the 1st year in Vegas but wouldnt know anybody else.Who was the Vegas speaker that night.Are their any other players who i missed who played in the very 1st night, or anybody have any stories.How about Greg , im sure you remember the first night , im sur you didnt know what you had started.

Eddie G .

Edwards Kings · Post by **Edwards Kings** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 3:26 am

Originally posted by eddiejag:

Who was the Vegas speaker that night.The Friday night speaker was Marty Barrett. Just a super cool guy who answered alot of questions. He gave alot of insight into Boggs, the '86 Series, Billy Buc, et al.

We also had a panel of industry gurus including Eric Karabel, Ravitz (I think...I know he competed), Greg and a few other notables whose names I cannot recall.

[ January 03, 2008, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: Edwards Kings ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 3:57 am

Originally posted by Edwards Kings:

quote:Originally posted by eddiejag:

Who was the Vegas speaker that night.The Friday night speaker was Marty Barrett. Just a super cool guy who answered alot of questions. He gave alot of insight into Boggs, the '86 Series, Billy Buc, et al.

We also had a panel of industry gurus including Eric Karabel, Ravitz (I think...I know he competed), Greg and a few other notables whose names I cannot recall. [/QUOTE]Yeah, I'll add briefly to this. My goal was to have a first-class kickoff event that first night, but I knew by the number of owners we had signed up that attendance would be sparse and we had the whole ballroom at the Rio. We had one AL-only auction league set up and one NL-only auction league set up in a side room and when all 25 owners showed up I was the happiest person in the world!!

Meat Loaf was in the NL-only auction with Bruce Barnard and it was a thrill to see this icon drafting in our event. To see both auctions going at once at $650 per team, I was as proud as a peacock!!

We had free drinks in the next room and then had Marty Barrett, Nate Ravitz, Eric Karabell and Brandon Funston of Yahoo! Sports on a panel with me. Marty was great and we brought everyone to the front of the room for a good Q&A. Marty had a blast and would have talked for another hour if we would have let him. Nate, Eric and Brandon were also insightful and they enjoyed the tough questions. They had done this for me the two previous years in Las Vegas when I had an idea to run free leagues for folks preceded by Q&A with industry execs and that idea fell flat on its face. They figured this one would too, but as good friends they came to help my cause anyway!!

All in all it was a great kickoff and the next day we had 5+ leagues in Las Vegas and the room looked great. Meat Loaf was back and he ribbed me about beating me in an Experts League the year before and you could tell he was loving the setup. I was proud of the setup as well. We didn't have any Ultimate League the next day, so this was it. It went smooth in New York and Chicago as well and our guest speakers were well received.

It almost made me forget about how much money we lost that first year. But I felt we were onto something that would work the next year. I never thought we'd grow into Ultimate Leagues, 30+ satellite leagues and the rest. But now, the sky's the limit for the NFBC if we can just take that next step with a promotional partner to advertise to the masses.

Trust me, the best is yet to come.

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:03 am

Eddie, The first AL draft in Las Vegas had Shawn Childs, Gene McCaffrey, Todd Zola, Perry Van Hook, David Cushard, and George Beason. Oh yeah they had some dirt bag named John Crane too.

There were others that were great I'm just not sure if the names are right. After 4 years the names can get confused. It was a great first year!

cfolson · Post by **cfolson** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:16 am

I was there.

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:56 am

I was in the NL auction; I was sitting next to Bruce, and Meatloaf was around the corner. I think that was the year Terry Haney beat me on the last day of the season for the title.

ToddZ · Post by **ToddZ** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:13 am

In Vegas, they ran the AL and NL auctions concurrently, in the same room. I was in the AL. We had some guy named Brady Tinker as our auctioneer. He was as personable as he is now. But when he first started auctioneering, he would announce the players something like "Joe Smith, potential closer for the Texas Rangers".

No one knew each other back then. We all thought we were the only one who knew of a certain sleeper or whatever, and here is this guy, totally screwing up our plan.

At the first break, poor Brady was bombarded with a herd of zealots, begging that he just call the name.

To his credit, he said cool, no problem.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

[ January 03, 2008, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: ToddZ ]

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:32 am

Originally posted by eddiejag:

How about the guy's who played in the very first nfbc contest.That would be the auction leagues on the friday night before the main event.I remember how quiet it was , nobody new anybody i came with my friend the Bad Shad.Their was no ultimate the 1st year and im not even sure if we had a national league in NY.I do reconize the King of Queens , he was the only guy who had a computer and he helped that draft move along.I remember King grabbing Joe Blanton in the reserves and i never heard of him.Jeff Dobies was another name i remember sitting in seat 5 or 6.I was in seat number 1 , and King was around 8.

I dont even remember who ran that draft , [was it rocky] and one guy didnt show up so one of the board guys had to jump in and take a team.

Actually the fill in guy finished 2nd that year.

Then half way threw the draft Mike Torres came in a gave a few words, we grabbed his autograph.

What a nice guy and story teller.Can't believe that 4 years have gone by since we did the first AL auction league. It was the only league going on Friday night at the Javits Center (no NL or mixed leagues). One owner didn't show up, so Rocky had one of the facilitators draft/bid for the missing team. Lo and behold, that team was in the money all season long, and I believe even finished in 3rd place. Greg, any chance you can dig up the original roster of participants for that first event? I know Cellar Dwellars was in there, too.

I think we can all agree that we've come a LONG way since then!

Only one person with a computer in 2004??? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Sack · Post by **Sack** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:57 am

KOQ - You were ahead of your time brother.

Joe Sambito · Post by **Joe Sambito** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:02 am

Greg,

Who do we contact about getting our team name printed on the Charter Member Hat, I thought that was mentioned at one time?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:51 am

Originally posted by Joe Sambito:

Greg,

Who do we contact about getting our team name printed on the Charter Member Hat, I thought that was mentioned at one time? Here's the deal with the hats: I'll provide one per team and I know a lot of teams have a partner or even family members who would like stitched hats. Some guys have already said they want 3 or 4. I'm not trying to be a Scrooge, but if you want additional hats when I order these, just tell me then and we'll order them. I'll e-mail the group in early February and order them by Feb. 15th and just add the extra charge onto your league payment. I don't even know the cost, but it's like $15 or $20. Order as many additional hats as you want and we'll give them to you during Registration. Sound good?

Again, don't tell me now what you want on the hats, but we'll do that in a month and get this all ready for March. Should be fun and you folks will be stylin'!!!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:57 am

Originally posted by ToddZ:

In Vegas, they ran the AL and NL auctions concurrently, in the same room. I was in the AL. We had some guy named Brady Tinker as our auctioneer. He was as personable as he is now. But when he first started auctioneering, he would announce the players something like "Joe Smith, potential closer for the Texas Rangers".

No one knew each other back then. We all thought we were the only one who knew of a certain sleeper or whatever, and here is this guy, totally screwing up our plan.

At the first break, poor Brady was bombarded with a herd of zealots, begging that he just call the name.

To his credit, he said cool, no problem.

And the rest, as they say, is history. This is good stuff Todd. Funny thing about Brady is that he had kind of left the industry and I wanted him to join me in Las Vegas for the high-stakes event and have fun again. The two of us had been talking about doing the high-stakes as a team for years and I finally convinced Krause's to back me on this idea. Brady flew to Las Vegas and agreed to facilitate and auctioneer to pay for his gambling habits!!

Brady has been in many Rotisserie auctions before, but he had never auctioneered before then. He showed up a little late because of course he had to go back up to the room to get his Kansas City Royals jersey on so he looked the part of a seasoned vet. He asked me how he should call out the bids and we agreed to keep things moving. If I recall, he started out pretty slow and we asked him to pick things up and then he went so fast we asked him to slow down!!

And then I do remember a few folks asking him not to give away each player's potential value and new position!!!

Brady had fun that night and he was a facilitator the next day for LV1 with Meat Loaf and Meat loved him. He's been our best auctioneer each year since and he loves doing this as much as you guys like having him as the fast-paced auctioneer that he's become. His only problem is that his back has aged 15 years over the last 5 years!!!

He wouldn't miss this for the world and he will be back in 2008. His TV show in Dallas is gaining popularity and he's the host of Tony Romo's radio show. He was the one who asked T.O. what he thought of Jessica Simpson that led to T.O.'s funny response. I may even join him in Dallas if the Packers-Cowboys meet up for the NFC Championship Game, but we'd probably fight over that one!!!

Good story Todd.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:39 am

Originally posted by King of Queens:

quote:Originally posted by eddiejag:

How about the guy's who played in the very first nfbc contest.That would be the auction leagues on the friday night before the main event.I remember how quiet it was , nobody new anybody i came with my friend the Bad Shad.Their was no ultimate the 1st year and im not even sure if we had a national league in NY.I do reconize the King of Queens , he was the only guy who had a computer and he helped that draft move along.I remember King grabbing Joe Blanton in the reserves and i never heard of him.Jeff Dobies was another name i remember sitting in seat 5 or 6.I was in seat number 1 , and King was around 8.

I dont even remember who ran that draft , [was it rocky] and one guy didnt show up so one of the board guys had to jump in and take a team.

Actually the fill in guy finished 2nd that year.

Then half way threw the draft Mike Torres came in a gave a few words, we grabbed his autograph.

What a nice guy and story teller.Can't believe that 4 years have gone by since we did the first AL auction league. It was the only league going on Friday night at the Javits Center (no NL or mixed leagues). One owner didn't show up, so Rocky had one of the facilitators draft/bid for the missing team. Lo and behold, that team was in the money all season long, and I believe even finished in 3rd place. Greg, any chance you can dig up the original roster of participants for that first event? I know Cellar Dwellars was in there, too.

I think we can all agree that we've come a LONG way since then!

Only one person with a computer in 2004??? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! [/QUOTE]Of course I have all of this info. I have 13 owners for the AL Auction League in New York, so one of these owners must have backed out and was replaced. But you big dogs must have scared some of these guys away because we haven't heard from many of them since Year 1:

Bryan Anderson

Ralph Boscaino

Jeff Dobies

Eddie Gillis

Christopher Ianucci

Pete Lukowicz

Michael Pisani

Glenn Schroter

Andy Shane

Bob Sherman

Gary Sobov

James Tinik

Alan Zimmerman

Eddie won in New York and has added two more AL Auction League titles in Las Vegas. I think he also fell off his chair in this auction league and helped break up a fight!!!

Can you believe that was almost five years ago??

eddiejag · Post by **eddiejag** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 11:52 am

WOW a lot of names i dont reconize,Pete Lukowicz is a name that still plays and he's done an ultimate.The team that didnt come was actually on their way but one of the guys got really sick so they just turned around.I remember when Greg signed me up for the auction and then talked me into doing the main event, i told Greg ive never done the national league and their was only 5 weeks to get ready .Greg told me that was plenty of time to learn the national league.Well anyway's got in and finised second with a lot of american league player's.Artie Rastelli was in that league and he won the 100.000 dollars.

Ron Shandler was also there doing a draft board in one of the leagues.

Man am i happy now to be a NFBC OG Original Gangster.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 5:04 am

Okay, we now have 46 original members back in 2008!!! Welcome back Gerry Scotto Di Marco of www.rotorank.com and Boaz Levy of Los Angeles, California!!! This will be a fun reunion and I promise a group photo in Las Vegas and the other cities as well.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:36 pm

The hats are bringin' 'em back!!! Welcome back Rich Verost, and the tag team of Mark Srebro and Jason Emma.

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:43 pm

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

the tag team of Mark Srebro and Jason Emma. didn't the divorce papers go thru?

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:13 pm

Originally posted by KJ Duke:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

the tag team of Mark Srebro and Jason Emma. didn't the divorce papers go thru?

[/QUOTE]Emma may have seen enough success in 2007 to "fund" the venture in 2008...just a guess.

Mark free-rolling with Jason backing would be pretty smart.

Not sure how much Jason knows about baseball.

Otherwise...they want to rekindle that old 1st Championship magic!

~Lance

Lunatic · Post by **Lunatic** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:29 pm

I remember the first AL Auction I was there to assist Dohn (Piggy) Terrell; Tinker was the best; I remember when it was all over, I was the only one to ask meat Loaf for a picture (after his NL auction was complete) I still have it hanging in my office.

Captain Hook · Post by **Captain Hook** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:38 pm

See all you OLD guys there

[ January 08, 2008, 09:44 AM: Message edited by: Captain Hook ]