Name That Player (and help a friend!)

  Hello Hive Mind!

The blog is returning with a new feature: interactive feedback. Before we get to the interactive portion, a little background is needed. IRL, I am a Special Education teacher tasked with teaching executive functioning skills to middle schoolers with ADHD. Being a former ADHD middle school boy myself, I know those kinds of lessons can be rather boring sometimes...and then when I was reading a WIS box score at lunch one day it hit me: I can use this site to my advantage to sneak executive functioning skills into things they view as just a big game. 

The premise: They get to start a franchise in the sport of their choice from scratch and be owner/GM/all other things (except players.) I will then use the Dream Team feature of WIS to make their dreams a reality and make them carry out the tasks of the various roles as we go and "accidentally" practice the executive functioning skills along the way. I started by having them choose a name and location for their teams, then asked them to pick their ideal starting lineups using any combination of players they wanted. 

Most of them understood the assignment, chose real athletes and I'll be able to set their teams up over the holiday break. A few got a little confused...and one student in particular fielded a baseball team that gave me a few good laughs and finally brings us to the interactive portion of today's post. The lineup and justifications for the student's selections are as follows: 

• Catcher-Helen Keller "because she'd offer good support"
• First Base- Taiki Shuttle (the horse) "because he's also a good runner" 
• Second Base- Hatsune Miku (the Japanese musical artist) "because they're a good runner" 
• Third Base-Big Papi ("A legend") 
• Shortstop-Stone Cold Steve Austin ("because he tackles the other team") 
• Outfield-Fredrick Douglas ("he would like it")
• Outfield-{her Middle School English Teacher} ("he's probably good") 
• Outfield-Dr. Gregory House ("to insult the other team") 
• Pitcher-Tractor Supply Manager...Just One Guy (no reason given) 
• Pitcher-Myself ("I was good at pitching") NOTE: she's a small caucasian female, currently in 9th grade

The interactive piece is that I need the help of this community to brainstorm actual players I can put into WIS' Dream Team in order to simulate games for this most glorious and entertaining of squads. My goal is to match personalities as closely as possible to the provided descriptions (ie Miku would ideally be an Asian player known for speed etc.) Let the brainstorming begin, and send me your thoughts via Trade Chat, Sitemail or simply post in World Chat 😀

Heat Check: Season 3 Edition

This is the third installment in the Heat Check series, where we check in on how successful franchises have been using a thermometer as our reference scale. The short version of how this is calculated is that teams earn points for winning seasons and postseason success and teams with losing records stay the same...and then everyone goes a little backwards between the last out of the World Series and the first long toss of Spring Training because even virtual baseball players deserve some time off and get a little rusty.  The longer version, including the formulas and the inspiration for this series, can be found here. Without further ado, let's see how everyone is doing with two seasons of data to work with: 

Boiling Hot (Above 212*F/100*C or better)

Steamy (Above 100*F/37.8*C)

• Trenton: Started S2 @ 86.3*, won 106 games + Division Title + Pennant, starts S3 @ 102*F
• Syracuse: Started S2 @ 75.7* won 111 games, Division Title + WS Ring, starts S3 @ 101.5*F  

Warm (Above Room Temperature, aka 72*F/?*C)

• St. Louis: Started S2 @ 95.4*, won 111 games + Division Title, starts S3 @ 96.7*F
• Texas: started S2 @ 83.6*F, won 84 games + made playoffs, starts S3 @ 80.5*F
• Boston: Started S2 @ 75.7*F, won 119 games + Division Title, starts S3 @ 78.8*F (214 wins all time) 
• New Orleans: Started S2 @ 75.7*, won 106 games + Division Title, starts S3 @ 78.8*F (202 wins all time)

Cool (Below Room Temperature, aka 72*F/?*C)

• Fresno: Started S2 @ 70*, won 83 games & made playoffs, starts S3 @ 71.1*F
• Indianapolis: Started @ 70*, won 97 games + made playoffs, starts S3 @ 70.8*F
• Buffalo: Started @ 70*, won 91 games + made playoffs, starts S3 @ 68.1*F (181 wins all time)
• Chicago (NL): Started S2 @ 70*, won 88 games & missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 68.1*F (173 wins all time)
• Mexico City: Started S2 @ 65.4*, won 88 games & made playoffs, starts S3 @ 67*F
• Salt Lake City: Started S2 @ 73*F, won 81 games + made playoffs, starts S3 @ 66.3*F (169 wins all time)
• Scottsdale: Starts S2 @ 73*, won 74 games & missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 66.3*F (163 wins all time)
• Charlotte: Started S2 @ 73*, won 67 games & missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 66.3*F (155 wins all time)
• Montgomery: Started S2 @ 65.4*, won 88 games + made playoffs, starts S3 @ 64.0*F (168 wins all time)
• San Antonio: Started S2 @ 65.4*, won 86 games & missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 64.0*F (162 wins all time)
• Durham: Started @ 65.4*F, won 83 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 64.0*F (159 wins all time)
• Tacoma: Started S2 @ 70*, won 78 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 63.6*F (166 wins all time)
• Baltimore: Started S2 @ 70*, won 70 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 63.6*F (162 wins all time)
• Tucson: Started S2 @ 65.4*F, won 80 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (157 wins all time)
• Fargo: Started S2 @ 65.4*F, won 80 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (155 wins all time) 
• New York: Started S2, won 77 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (148 wins all time)
• Arizona: Started S2 @ 65.4*F, won 66 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (143 wins all time)
• Rochester: Started @ 65.4*F, won 65 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (138 wins all time)
• Helena: Started @ 65.4*F, won 65 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (136 wins all time); Vancouver: Started S2 @ 65.4*F,  won 65 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (136 wins all time)
• Philadelphia: Started S2 @ 65.4*F, won 61 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (134 wins all time) & Louisville: Started S2 @ 65.4*F, won 67 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (134 wins all time)
• Colorado Springs: Started S2 @ 65.4*F, won 58 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (129 wins all time) 
• Cincinnati: Started @ 65.4*F, won 62 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (122 wins all time)
• Los Angeles: Started @ 65.4*F, won 61 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (117 wins all time)
• Nashville: Started @ 65.4*F, won 57 games + missed playoffs, starts S3 @ 59.4*F (114 wins all time) 

Freezing Cold (Below 32*F/0*C)

Absolutely Frigid (Below 0*F/-17.8*C)