The Band of Jenkins 5.5

Session -1: How I got into playing D&D

2026-10-02T00:50:58.457-04:00

I wanted to build a world where the Party could go in any direction and find different adventures, so I made it with different continents and kingdoms that would offer up a variety of quests to give the players something to strive for in a way beyond leveling up. Part of that comes from the characters the players create, but I wanted to make a world where the actions the Party take has an impact. How they treat an NPC, who they help, who they ignore or who they kill, has consequences. I wanted the actions of the party to matter and it all stemmed from how I learned to play Dungeons & Dragons.

My introduction to D&D was the summer between 4th and 5th grade so about 1983ish. One friend, Alex got all the books for his birthday so we gave it at try at my house. It was a mess, my first character was a fighter called Thunderbolt, but before we could play, a huge argument broke out over if Eric could be a Minotaur instead of an Elf ("they're both magical!") and that was that it was a mess. Then in 5th grade, a new kid, Keith had a better idea of how to play so our game was headed in the right direction. Still, we were all young and relied heavily on the books and modules. We played during recess and had marathon sleep overs fueled by junk food and Mountain Dew. The games were all over the place, Tommy wanted to play Star Frontiers, so his guy had a wand (laser gun), encounters with NPC's had a 90% chance to end in combat and our primary DM (Alex) took an adversarial approach. Perhaps it was best show in the time my Elf, Concord, found an Arrow of Red Dragon Slaying +1. Which turned out to be super helpful when we snuck into the lair of a Red Dragon and even more helpful when I rolled a 20 when I shot at this Red Dragon... and the Dragon's saving throw roll was a... 1! Whoo-hoo! We defeated the Dragon and even Tommy shot his laser pistol in the air in joy. Alex was having none of it and declared that three more Red Dragons showed up to fight us. This resulted in a heated argument that put an end to our playing as a group. We formed a new group with a new DM (thanks Keith!), but still we were just sludging out way through the module's numbered encounters. Something was missing.

The summer between 5th and 6th grade, My Dad and I spent a week up at Uncle Dave's cabin in Maine where we canoed, swam and played all day, but at night? In the boonies of Maine, TV at night meant three channels, ABC, CBS and one from Canada. Since everything on TV was ice skating or something lame, my cousin broke out their D&D stuff. Now, being able to play D&D with my three older cousins and their friends was pretty cool to 12-year old me, but what stood out to me was they way they played.

First, alignments were suggestions so if you character was lawful, they could do bad things or if they were chaotic, they could help others. Next, we could do whatever we wanted, but there would be consequences. So when we rode into a village and they offered us part of their meager treasure to stop the Bandits, we decided to kill their village leaders and steal all their treasure. That didn't seem like such a bad thing, but when we rode into town and tried to cash in their trinkets, we got outed as thieves and had a bounty put on us. From there on, we pretty much had to steal supplies, horses and hire untrustworthy NPCs to help us in our quest. We played the Keep on the Borderlands every night that week and battled our way through that hodgepodge of monsters and traps. We got betrayed by our NPCs in part because we were not good people, so we couldn't hire good people. We had an encounter with a Wandering Monster that was just a band of the villagers who were still after us and found us all the way down in the dungeon! ("Who are these guys?!?!") Also after we got out of the Dungeon, a huge posse was waiting for us outside to arrest us. (Now that I think of it, maybe my cousins had watched Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid recently)

D&D was fun and not mired down in arguments over rules. We got to see what our characters could do with their skills and powers. I still remember thinking how cool it was that the Cleric could turn the Undead, not they were not cool enough to play one because the class wasn't allowed to use sharp weapons! Another thing I enjoyed was the music. My cousins had Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osborne and other metal legends playing in the background (but not too loud or else Dad and Uncle Dave wouldn't be able to hear the ABC Wide World of Sports) that helped set the tone. I got to see how they game could be and I was sold. They tracked who had the most kills in the group each night and whoever that was would get a chance to re-roll the next night. That Christmas I got all of the hardcover books as a combined gift from my Parents and grandparents. I read them all the way through and memorized which monsters could only be hurt with silver or magic swords.

[ Sadly, when I was super-duper broke (or as I like to say, the years when I was trying to make it as an actor), I sold off all of my books and modules. Not that I could want to have all of them now, but if anyone out there sees a 1980s era Monster Manual with the signature "To Matt, from Grandma and Grandpa" let me know as I'd love to have that book back. ]

Where was I? Oh yeah, learning how to play in a way that was fun, cooperative and competitive has stayed with me. When I came back to our neighborhood, our game improved by leaps and bounds. I played with new friends in Middle School and was in the D&D club in High school, but we began to play other games. When Alan and I would hang out at Brian's in Lynn, it was a mix of bad horror movies with either me running Gamma World or Alan running D&D. I finally got my chance to DM and it was the start of my always inserting running gags in my campaigns. The first of which was that anytime they met an NPC and brutally murdered them for no reason, the NPC's dying breath was always something like "the Golden Scepter is hidden in the... Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!" and they NPC would fall off the tower!

After high school is where D&D turned to Top Secret, Marvel Super Heroes, Wrestling Superstars, Boot Hill, (more) Gamma World, Champions of the Galaxy and more. We played almost every weekend for a while and it was a great way to stay in touch. As years passed, we added co-workers and our party grew bigger, which helped as people's lives changed and we lost players to distance or interest. We've gone to GenCon, PAXeast, Totalcon and one Unnamed Con where everyone freaked out at false live shooter alert that had everyone running out of the game rooms when someone mistook fireworks for gunshots. (USA! USA! USA!) All of which is to say, D&D has been a big part of my life and I'm very glad for it.

Next up will be Session 0, where I will share how I came up with the world of Wyndham, the different societies, cultures and the events that would lead to the arrival of our Heroes.

Reader Comment Questions: How did you discover D&D?

AND We're back: catching up with our D&D 5.5 campaign

2026-09-27T15:49:17.990-04:00

AND... WE'RE BACK! After a 12 year break in posting here, we return and you'll find our Heroes battling their way across the World of Wyndham. When I knew I was going to be running D&D again, I wanted to build my own world with a number of storylines and choices. Creating the mythology for an entire world was daunting, so I went at it one continent at a time. Coming up with cultures around each part of the world and strings that would bind the various nations together was also a challenge. As a hybrid world, there are certain aspects of the game (D&D 5.5) like the classes and races, but the way they interact with each other can vary depending where in Wyndham you are. (more on that later)

Gameplay-wise, we are using the D&D Beyond game engine while also running videos through our Discord. The pre and post game check in and catch ups are part of why we play as is our need to smite evil across the realm. (while battling through distractions and tangents)

Our core group of players have been playing together since the 90s, with a mix of D&D, Marvel, Star Frontiers and a lot of Top Secret. When D&D came out with 3.5 in 2000, we were on board with it all, even all the math when we took potions. Our party lost some members and gained them, but my first real foray into DM'ing was a bit too ambitious and fizzled. In 2014, we were at GenCon for the release of D&D's 4th edition and went all in on that one, but as life goes grows, free time shrinks and our campaigns changed over the years. Weekly in-person games became monthly, then we shifted to online with a mix of Google Video chat and online dice rollers. Our game catalog grew to add Aliens, Call of Cthulu, Kids on Bikes, Boot Hill and when we could get together in person, all sorts of table top games. Almost two years ago, we added a co-worker to our mix and that has helped us play at more often, so our current campaign is nearly 40 sessions.

I have been recapping our campaign sessions since the start and I will be posting them here, in order so everyone can follow along. This was my first post in a long time (cough, 12 plus years) and this will serve as a way for me to share the adventure and partly to help me stay on top of the process. I will also do my best to not wait another dozen years to post here. Stay tuned, -Matt

Operation: Jumbo Shrimp

2014-04-09T22:54:00.001-04:00

After Operation: Motherly Betrayal, the ORION team needed a long stay in the hospital to recover from their numerous wounds. After a few years of peace and quiet, suddenly the world went mad; the Ukraine was on the verge of war with Russia, Venezuela was on the cusp of collapse and Obamacare was pushing the Republican party to the brink of mass hysteria, but then something happened that grabbed the attention of the entire world... Oceanic Flight 370 vanished. Most of the world was caught up in the mystery and it was going to be up to ORION to solve it. The leader of ORION, Orion 1 (Ted Tyler, the greatest secret agent of all time before he retired) sent out the signal to assemble the team; Owen Darkwind (one-time protege of Tyler who is now the team leader), Guido Guiseppe (the Italian pugilist), Kale Lightfoot (Native American pilot and wheelman) and Fetu (Samoan Marine Biologist) assemble at the secret headquarters in New York City. Ted's briefing is direct and to the point. "While the rest of the world tries to find this plane, we know where it is and so do the Chinese. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but we intercepted a picture of their deep sea operatives, led by a man we identified as a former WEB commander named Yu Chan. Time is of the essence here, you have to get to the Indian Ocean to the crash site and see what they are up to. We dons't know what is going on, but if Yu Chan is leading their mission, it is something very dangerous. Good luck, Gentlemen."

The Team flies to Perth Australia where they meet with their contact, Nick Dundee who sets them up with a speed boat the "A.S.S. HAT" which has been equipped with super jet engines and a Diver Delivery Vehicle. Kale excitedly guns the engines to rush out to the location and stalls the engine 20 feet off the dock. After a quick repair they sped to the coordinates, but as they got closer they saw a much larger vessel had beat them there. They needed to get on the ship without being detected so Guido and Fetu take the submersible and go under the ship while Owen and Kale prepare to gun the engines (without stalling them) so the ship swoops by as they jump off to board the ship from the water.

Unfortunately as Guido and Fetu scale one side of the ship, they are spotted by the Chinese Guards and fired on. Despite being hit in the hand, Fetu managed to hold on while Guido climbed on. With the firefight distracting most of the seamen, Owen and Kale managed to dive in unnoticed and swim under the boat so they could come up on the other side. Only as they came up they spotted a raft along side the ship and noticed the people on the raft were planting a bomb on the side of the ship. Then they saw the name on the side of the raft GREENPEACE! Kale tried to stab one of the men, but slipped and his knife got tangled up in the hippie's beard and tossed over to the other hippie who used it to attack Owen who tried to calm things down. The knife slashed through Owen's hand as the Greenpeace leader, a woman who was stoned out of her mind barked orders at her men to kill the intruders. Kale used his Judo to toss on man yelling "Hey dude! Doooooon't!" across the raft into the other two man sending all three off the boat and into the air when a giant shark leaps out of the water and killed them! Owen used a heart punch to render the woman unconscious, allowing them to take the bomb off the ship, tie it to the woman and her raft and get on the ship to help the rest of the team.

Meanwhile, Guido and Fetu exchanged gunfire with the guards and had managed to take down one guard, but took some significant damage in the process. Kale used his sword to slice and dice the guards he took on while Owen shot on in the chest. This gave Guido and Fetu the chance to take down their targets and the team moved to the bridge to confront the Captain and remaining guards. While the battle was short, Guido narrowly avoided a pair of lethal wounds, but it was Kale and Fetu who cut down the remaining men. Suddenly in the middle of the ship, a Deep Sea Vehicle is raised out of the water holding a locked armored box in it's motorized arms and docks on the ship. Fetu cracks open the seal and drops a Flashbang grenade into the sub to disable the crew. Stumbling out of the sub first is the ex-Web agent, Yu Chan who they take into custody and demand to know what is inside the box. Chan refuses to tell them so the team agrees to bring Chan back to ORION headquarters so he can be interrogated there. While they don't know what is inside the box, whatever it is was worth killing for and to drive Greenpeace to the point where they were trying to blow up the ship?

Looking Back: Operation Flashpoint

2012-08-29T18:11:00.002-04:00

In 2003, NATO deployed several teams of former Orion agents to a small island off the coast of East Africa to investigate suspicious activity. Although each pair of agents believed they were commissioned alone, NATO had sent at least two teams into the island.

After monitoring the island for months for the activity of the Somali government using the island for some sort of experimental weaponry, Owen Darkwind and Ted Tyler agreed to work together one last time. Several weeks earlier, the island had gone dark, and NATO needed information quickly. When they arrived at the island, all was deserted until the discovered another team deployed, Paul Anderson and Samantha Tyler (Ted's 7th wife). Although surprised to run into one another, they worked together, discovering an abandoned weapons depot with ammunition, artillery, launchers and an underground laboratory. Unsealing the lab, they delved into the darkness. It soon became clear that an outbreak of some viral contagion had infected the residents of the lab turning them into bloodthirsty cannibals! While scrambling back out the lab, Owen released an incendiary device capable of incinerating the entire underground lab. Although the timer gave them five minutes to get out safely, resistance while retreating was heavy and in the heat of the moment, Owen was forced to choose between guarding Paul or Samantha to aid in their retreat. Owen's loyalty to Paul overrode his feelings of camaraderie with Ted. Samantha was trapped behind debris, left to fight off the mob of cannibals alone. When Owen and Paul reached the surface and rendezvoused with Ted, their eyes met and reality set into Ted just as the ground rumbled with the sound of the explosive incinerator!

While Ted dropped to the ground in anguish, Paul and Owen tried to help him get back to the skimmer boat to escape the island, but Ted refused to move, damning Owen's decision and vowing to get revenge some day.

The events and details of that operation remain classified and, although other agents may have been present, surely Ted, Owen and Paul are all aware of those events.

Operation: Motherly Betrayal

2012-08-25T19:50:00.001-04:00

2012 (8/22) - The audio picked up via the bug at 14 Opal Street which reveals Walter and a man named Peter discover the break in and agree to act fast before anyone realizes what they are up to by heading to Indonesia the next day. Since their mission was to find Paul Anderson, the team decides to split up with Feto flying Jakarta to follow the men and the rest going to Wisconsin to speak with Paul’s sister, Bobbi.

After a layover in Boston (where they deliver Paul’s laptop to Stevie) they arrive in Madison, Wisconsin at Bobbi’s home finding her now an older, heavier shell of the super agent she used to be. When Bobbi inquires why they are visiting, Guido bluntly asks why she is getting $7,000.00 payments into her account each week and never mentioned her shared ownership of the apartment in Prague with her brother Paul. Bobbi excuses herself to usher her two children to their upstairs bedroom. She claims to have no knowledge of the money, hasn’t seen Paul since Christmas and professes to live a simple life as the wife of a Commercial Fisherman. She fetches her lap top to dispute their claims and offers it to them to check for themselves. When it opens a flash bang device goes off blinding the team as Bobbi draws a pistol and shoots Owen in the abdomen! Using the surprise to her advantage she flees into the game room and takes cover behind the pool table. During the exchange of gunfire, Bobbi screams “Why did you come? Why? WHYYYYY?” as Guido responds “Cover me guys, I’ma’ goin’ for dah kids!”. Bobbi screams back at Guido “Go ahead and take em, you filthy wop!” and shoots Owen in the stomach again. Under a barrage of fire, Bobbi stands up, screams “It’s over Darkwind!” and shoots Owen in the stomach a third time sending him crashing over the living room unconscious!

Guido reaches the second floor hallway and searches for the children where he finds an escape ladder on the window. Guido yells “It didn't have to be this way!” and fires a round in the ceiling to which Bobbi retorts “They are long gone, WOP!” Guido returns down stairs uses lifts Owen as a ‘meat-shield’ while carrying him to safety. Vladislav shoots Bobbi in the leg and Guido fires off a shot that hits her in the heart and sends her lifeless body flying backwards through the sliding glass door just as her husband, walks in! The husband, dressed in a full length yellow rain slicker raises his razor sharp fish hook and screams “NOOO! My wife! Owen Darkwind, you killed my father! Now I... will kill you!” He charges in and misses Guido with a swipe to which Guido unloads a point blank shot into the Fisherman’s chest, killing him instantly! They are unable to locate Bobbi’s children and decide to leave before the authorities arrive and Owen dies of blood loss.from his numerous gunshot wounds.

While Owen is patched up, they watch the evening news. The lead story is about the rising tensions in Nigeria as a militant faction is attempts to acquire chemical weapons to take over the government. Before they can discuss it, breaking news story about a home invasion in Madison where the police have discovered the body a slain middle-aged woman. (bom bom bommmmm!)

The next morning the go to Bobbi's bank and uses her keys to access her security box where they discover a pistol, a folder of files, passports and $200.000 in cash. The detailed files detail Paul’s plan to double cross the SLA in order to sell the weapons to the Nigerians. There also current photos of Owen and ORION’s leader, Ted Tyler as well as a log in and password for operation: Flashpoint. Owen recalls Operation: Flashpoint as a mission to investigate a remote island off the coast Africa in which he and Ted were lured out of retirement for a mission that went so badly, neither of then has spoken of it since. Darkwind gets the feeling that this may be where Paul Anderson is hiding, but keeps it to himself.

The team returns to ORION’s Boston headquarters and Stevie reveals that the man who flew with Walter was a man named Peter Hupert (a black marketeer, smuggler with a Masters degree in anthropology) and is still being followed by Feto in Jakarta. They decide to return to England and see if they can find any clues to discover the location of Paul Anderson. When they arrive in London, they go to the home of Walter Wainwright, but find the house empty and nothing of value to help on their mission. They come to the realization that Paul Anderson may have gone bad like his sister Bobbi, so trying to locate him may be fruitless. The team knows they need to keep the weapons out of the hands of the Nigeria militia, but have a week before the weapons deal is due.

The teams next step is to decide if they will go to Jakarta to investigate the connection between Greggor Iradirfoff -Walter Wainwright and Avalon or to follow up on the Paul Anderson-Serbian Liberation Army-Maccareesh-Nigeria Militia connection to see if Paul may be held there. Has ORION agent Paul Anderson turned? Where will the ORION team go? Will Owen reveal the truth behind Operation Flashpoint?

Looking Back: The Fisherman

2012-08-22T22:46:00.000-04:00

1990 - Now and then, the Top Secretish Blog will stop to look back at pivotal moments and unforgettable characters from the ORION team's past that stood out. First up, the infamous Fisherman incident.

Ted Tyler and Owen Darkwind were on a mission to take down an international arms dealer known only as the Baron in Europe and were hot on his tail when he jumped into a boat and sped off. Ted tried to talk a local Fisherman into lending his boat to the ORION team, but when he rebuffs the offer, Owen's patience runs out and he guts the Fisherman with his knife and tosses him in the water! Just across the dock watching in shock are the Fisherman's three boys as their father's lifeless body bobs up and down in the water. Ted outraged at Owen's action beats down the rookie agent before the rest of the team pulls him off and begins the pursuit of the Baron. While the team races off in hot pursuit, the tear-filled eyes of the Fisherman's sons all swore vengeance on the man who killed their father, Owen Darkwind.
In game terms, this is how an Enemy is created.
Enemy 1 is someone who dislikes or hates someone enough to make that person's life difficult at every turn, maybe even enough to try to kill them. This could range from a local newspaper editor (think J Jonah Jameson in Spiderman) or an obsessed ex-lover (Fatal Attraction) that swears to get even.
Enemy 2 could be a group of people that are determined to kill the person that has caused them trouble or stands in the way of their success. This could be an organized crime syndicate or government official who is out to get them.
Enemy 4 is rare and means trouble at every turn as the person is targeted by a combination of government groups or international crime syndicates determined to finally rid themselves of the bothersome thorn in their side. This could lead to situations where a simple trip to the supermarket could result in sneak attacks by the Mailman, Paperboy or even the kid who bags your groceries pulling a knife on you.
A few ofORION's famous enemies; Dark Rider, Bloodbath, WEB and of soon The Fisherman's sons.

Operation: Prague Punishment

2012-08-22T21:58:00.004-04:00

2012 (8/15) - The team resumes the search for Paul Anderson and discovers that he was working alone under the name Roger Smith, acting as the front man for Serbian Liberation Front. All of his bank transactions and personal tracer stopped and his final GPS location, was his apartment in London. With the leads all seeming to be dead ends, Owen decides to contact Paul’s sister Bobbi who has since retired. On the phone Bobbi, quickly goes from happy to nervous, claiming she hasn’t heard from Paul in months. She did recall that he enjoyed visiting Prague and that he may have gone back to his home in Wisconsin. Owen remembers from operations in the 90’s that Paul and Bobbi owned a flat in Prague so the team decides to go there first. Blind stays behind in London to keeps tabs on the Nigerian Embassy while Feto keeps tabs on the Wainwright estate.

Once in Prague, they break into to Paul’s apartment and find a lap top in the office. They search through the files on the lap top finding a file with his fake Serbian ID Robin Kocsis and a chat log that reveals a Nigerian contact, Kwame Fall. The 3 month old coded chat discussed acquiring black market weapons systems and a double cross and that was traced to an internet café Abuja, Nigeria. They check his internet history and locate an international bank with offices in the Cayman Islands with a substancial deposit of 17 million dollars that was wired one month ago from Meridian Steel. There was also a 5 million wire transfer from the Cayman account to a bank in Wisconsin. Stevie checks Bobbi’s bank accounts and finds that she has been getting a $7,000 deposit every week for a month. A close fingerprint examination shows that there are prints from both Bobbi and Paul on this lap top.

Just then a flash-bang grenade is tossed into the room which blinds Guido, but Owen manages to somersault behind a wall. Two men burst in with Uzi’s and spray the room but miss both Guido and Owen. A shootout ensues, Guido is clipped while Owen is hit by a shot to the head. Despite his wounds, Owen shoots one of the gunmen in the thigh and then blows his hand off with his second shot where as the impaired Guido continues to miss with his shots. The second gunmen, leaps up and unloads his clip, hitting Guido in the belly and Owen in the left leg, but as he falls Owen fires off two shots that disable his arms. The gunman staggers screaming in pain until Guido steps up and unloads with a knockout punch (.00)! Owen uses First Aid to bandage the gunman, while Guido snags the lap top and they allow the other bad guy to bleed out. As sirens approach, they head out looking for a place to hold up so they can question him without being caught by the Prague Police force that is swarming the building.

After the Police finish their investigation and leave the apartment complex, the team is joined by Blind for the interrogation.. The team wakes the captured gunman, but discover they cannot communicate effectively with him. The team calls Stevie Bullet who uses ORION’s super-translation machine (Google Translate) to figure out that the man is a Serbian named Joseph and was hired by the leader of the Serbian Liberation Front, Jakub Cerny. Joseph reveals that they have been watching Paul Anderson’s apartment in order to capture Paul who double crossed them and took the $1.5 million in gold bullion to get the weapons launchers and disappeared.. Blind reveals his true name Vladislav Mishkilov, and uses his powers of hypnosis to extract the location of the safe house Joseph was to return to. In moments, Joseph is under hypnosis and reveals the safe house in located in Belgrade which acts as the headquarters of the SFL. Guido tries to gain more information by shooting Joseph in the groin but gaining nothing gives him the Italian Death-Sleeper to kill the would-be assassin. Before leaving they tuck Joseph’s body into the bed of the unsuspecting apartment owner and head back to the hotel to figure out their next step.

Operation: Gold Medal Con

2012-08-21T11:48:00.001-04:00

2012 (8/15) – After the meeting, the team brainstorms ways to get their hands on $300,000 in gold. First, they could get it from ORION, but there isn't enough time. Second they consider taking it from local jewelers, but there isn't enough in one location and would require multiple heists. They could steal some of the Royal Family's gold collection kept in the Tower of London, but when they begin plotting the assault realize that the security for such a job would be overwhelming. Suddenly Owen blurts out that there is a lot of gold readily available close by... London is hosting the 2012 Olympics! Stevie says the gold is held in the Tower of London under heavy security and that it is just too risky for the Team to get it that way when Blind says “If we don’t stop them now... there may not be another Olympics.”

Each Olympic gold medal is worth $45,000 each so they will need to acquire at least 7 gold medals in order to make the down payment to keep the undercover operaton going. The first plan was to kidnap different gold medal winning Olympians from smaller countries, but that would create a mass panic and raise the security levels everywhere. They realize the trick is to make sure no one realizes the medals have been stolen, so they buy some replica medals and decide to stage a fake sports interview show to get the medal winners in one location. It may prove too difficult to coordinate having different medal winners come to one interview or trying to steal one medal at a time. They debate over which gold medal winning team to invite to the interview that wouldn’t draw a lot of attention when Guido says "Mexico, no one will care about the Mexican Soccer team."

The plan: Feto uses his fame from his international swimming background to pose as the interviewer and invites seven bench warmers from the Mexican soccer team to his show. During the interview, they ask for a picture with all of the players medals on a tray with the Mexican flag on it, but Blind will hack the light controls so the lights will go out. During the blackout, Guido will swap the tray of real medals for a tray of replicas and the only risks is the players noticing during or after the swap.

The result: The Mexican players are not alarmed with the blackout (Guido "power loss is common in Mexico.") while one player has a hint that something is wrong when he inspects his medal, he shrugs it off. After all, he is just happy to have the gold medal that will feed his family and village for years. The heist works and the ORION team spends the rest of the day smelting the Olympic medals into two gold bars that will be the down payment they need to keep the undercover operation going.

At the exchange, Amir tests the gold and satisfied that it is authentic he agrees to the deal to see them on the 28^th with the entire order of Chemical Weapons launchers as long as they bring the rest of the gold bullion they owe him.

When the team returns to the hotel for some much needed rest the evening news reports that the bomb in the trunk of the Nigerian nationals resulted in an international incident between the UK and Nigeria with tension being at an all time high. Their rest will be short lived, as in the morning they have to pick up the trail of the missing ORION agent, Paul Anderson before its too late.

Operation: KRYPT at Midnight

2012-08-20T21:32:00.000-04:00

2012 (8/16/) - Despite a few lingering wounds, Owen is discharged from the hospital and meets up with the rest of the team to pick up the new agent who is coming by train from Cardiff. There standing at the 9 and 3/4 platform is a powerful Samoan man named Fetu, who gained fame as a competitive swimmer and his expertise in a bio engineer who has been sent to fortify the team as they head back to 14 Opal Street. Finding no one home, Owen picks the lock and they enter the home which seems to be undergoing renovations with plastic tarps in the living and dining room covering the furniture. While Blind keeps an eye on the street, Guido checks the medicine cabinet and finds medicine prescribed to Walter Wainwright (Stevie Bullet identifies as the Assistant Director for the London & Egyptian museums & no criminal record) and realize he was the same grumpy man who answered the door on their previous visit. The home has lavish artwork including a painting by Monet, but there are no bugs or security cameras. Their search turns up a ledger, that a flight number (#447 which flies from London to Jakarta every Tuesday), an airport code and the name Ha Chan-sook. (a wealthy S. Korean real estate dealer who lives in Indonesia) In the dining room, Guido discovers the floor tarp covers a large hole in the floor with a ladder to gain access to a tunnel that leads to the backyard. In the tunnel they find paperwork listing Acar, Egypt, Battambang, Cambodian and Den Pasar, Bali is discovered by a sarcophagus which Feto and Guido team to open the sarcophagus and discover a body in a shroud with a small crown. It turns out the Wainwright family was royalty and this is the body of the Duke of Cheshire so they decide to repackage the body and head out. As they exit, Owen plants a transmitter bug below the China table to capture any worthwhile conversation. The midnight meeting looms, so they head down to the dock to scout the area for any ambush.

Fetu hides himself completely (another roll of .00) and the rest of the team welcomes Amir (they soon find out he works for KRYPT, an international arms dealing company lead by Maccaressh.) and his crew of five thugs arrive. Suspicious, Amir asks “Tell me, what the deal is again?” (oops we still didn't know!) so Guido says we will pay 1.5 times the agreed price for twice the payload. Amir waves in his thugs who reveal a small turreted gun, specially designed to deliver chemical weapons in the battlefield. They agree to meet Sunday at midnight to drop off the down payment deposit and the weapons will be delivered in two weeks. While Guido fails at negotiating the price down, Amir agrees to the deal so long as they can deliver $300,000 in gold bullion by midnight Sunday. Otherwise, the deal is off, but with less than 48 hours until that meeting, where will they find that much gold in London?

Operation: Kennsington Station

2012-08-19T10:40:00.001-04:00

2012 (8/15) - Following the shootout in the streets of London, the next night, Owen is still recovering from his many wounds at Bridge Hospital. During the morning news report, the Nigerian Foreign Minister, Zabeema Imam, announces that four Nigerian nationals were killed in a random act of violence in downtown London today and the embassy disputes any theories that these men were involved in any kind of terrorist acts. Back at ORION, Stevie Bullet discovers that the bomb the team discovered in Paul Anderson's apartment is a small scale Hydrogen Bomb. In order to keep suspicion off the ORION team, they place the bomb (that none of the team are qualified to disarm) in the car they stole from the Nigerian nationals and leave it in a parking garage. Following an anonymous tip, the British Government discovers the car, evacuates the area and the Bomb Squad while they disarm the bomb... After a late lunch, Guido and Blind leave to meet with Maccaressh in Kennsington subway station and as commuters mill about in the lull before rush hour, the Italian's sixth sense alerts him that danger is near. They notice three men who stand out from the crowd who appear to be of middle eastern origin, which is not abnormal, but their behavior is. Guido realizes that these three were not the ones who took Paul Anderson (“Why else would they show up to meet him?”). The meeting starts with a man known as Ammar Amir, who claims to be the boss and argues with Guido about the location of Macaressh. Amir claims that Anderson was supposed to bring one million in gold bouillon for the meet up, when Guido thinks fast and says he wants twice the product. (although he doesn't yet know what the product is.) After some negotiating, Amir says he needs two weeks to fill the order as it is a lot of firepower when Guido demands to see a sample of the goods that day so Amir tells them to go to an abandoned dock at midnight for a display of the firepower. After the meeting, Guido and Blind return to the hospital and get word that another agent will be joining their mission.

Operation: London Rescue

2012-08-14T20:58:00.000-04:00

2012 (8/8) - Having fully recovered from the previous mission, Owen Darkwind and Guido Guiseppe are called into Orion-1's office to discuss the next step in the plan to apprehend Greggor Iradiroff. While investigating the computer seized in Ivana's home, the Tech Team uncovered an address in London. Ted told them that Paul Anderson, one of the last surviving members of the ORION teams of the 90s. had gone missing while investigating an arms dealer names Maccaressh. They are joined by the new agent known as Blind, who has exception skills with a computer, but he is extremely visually impaired without his glasses.
When the arrive in London, the Olympics hysteria has the city in a tizzy, so they decide to stop by address from Ivana's computer, but only find an old man who refuses to cooperate. After some bickering, they decide to head to their hotel to pick up their gear before heading to Paul's apartment. They find his door unlocked, but discover the door rigged with a bomb and being unable to disarm it from that side of the door they decide to go through the back door. Except, he lives on the second floor, so they go through his neighbor's door but find the neighbor's 3yr old passed out child alone watching cartoons and the father on the floor in a meth fueled haze. Owen dismissed the man and made an athletic jump from one balcony to the other where as Guido roughed up the drug addicted father. Guido handed the child over to neighbors and then motivated the father to get clean, by tossing him off the balcony! Meanwhile, Blind guided Owen through the wall in disarming the bomb that if detonated would have leveled three-square blocks. Paul's apartment was turned upside down by whoever took Paul, but they discovered a USB drive in his medicine cabinet that contained a video of Paul informing them that he is likely gone and had a meeting scheduled with Macaressh at the Kensington Station, just two days away, on Friday at 4:15.
As they walk down the street they noticed they are being followed and to buy time, they exchange words with some local thugs hanging on the street and try to tell them to get off the street because terrorists are close. After a bribe from Guido's counterfeit money, the leader of the thugs walks toward one of the Nigerian Nationals who open fire and a crazed shootout ensues. A Machete wielding Terrorist attacks Blind who uses his knife and pistol to fend him off, while Guido opens fire with his machine gun and riddles the car with bullets. As usual, Owen is soon riddled with bullets himself but manages to kill the driver of the car with a devastating death blow (.00 Lucky Break!). One terrorist tries to to kill the team, but is soon labeled 'No Hands McGee' since both of his hands are shot/cut to pieces by the team. They need to take one of them alive, but soon Guido guns down one of the terrorists and then his shot hits a gas tank and a fireball engulfs the last terrorist who, while burning alive, screams a holy word and then shoots himself in the head. (no interrogations for that guy)
Worried that the police will soon be on the scene, the team jumps into their car and speed off for the hotel, despite Owen asking to be taken to a hospital for his extensive wounds. Unable to control the bleeding they bring Owen to a hospital and claim he was caught in the crossfire of the thugs and terrorists. While Owen heals, Guido and Blind must pick up the trail and find Paul Anderson and Greggor Iradiroff!

Operation: Chasing Gregor

2012-08-14T15:19:00.000-04:00

2012 (7/29) - After the ORION mainframe is hacked, Orion-1 (Ted Tyler) sends Owen and Guido on a mission to apprehend one of the man believed to be responsible for the break in, Greggor Iradiroff. First stop is the Chisolms Motel on Rt 1 in Saugus, MA, but as they arrive, Owen and Guido see two men jump into a black SUV and the body of an officer face down on the ground. After deciding they wouldn't be able to apprehend the suspects on the busy highway, they asked the women at the hotel office for information on the man they were looking for. After discovering the room was signed out to a Rebecca Smith, they discovered the SUV was stolen, so they went to Andover, MA to the home of the owner and posing as Customer Service reps from the woman's car insurance company, convinced the owner of the stolen SUV to turn on the GPS. They followed the SUV to the Atrium Mall on rt 9 and while waiting in the garage, witnessed the car thieves exchange papers with a woman.
Owen decided to follow her on foot while Guido followed in the car. When the woman boarded the Green Line train she caught on that Owen was following her, she pulled a gun and opened fire. Owen took cover behind the seat panel and waited for a chance to tackle her when a paniced elderly passenger pulled a pistol of her own and opened fire randomly, striking several people. Owen yanked the emergency brake and everyone on the train fell down. Owen was hit in the hand, arm and chest as he fought his way to the woman just as Guido tore open the train doors and managed to knock out the woman with his Italian Sleeperhold. The old woman gunfighter was also subdued by passengers and in the mayhem, Owen and Guido managed to get their target into the car and back to headquarters.
The interrogation team learned that she was actually Ivana Sameth posing as Rebecca Smith while Owen got some much needed medical attention. Later Owen and Guido to her apartment to look for clues and found a picture of her with Greggor at cabin. Turning to ORION's top computer wiz, Stevie Bullet (son of the late wheelchair bound Jimmy Bullet) who used his skills to figure out that the cabin was part of a remote resort village popular for hunting. Owen and Guido went to a local travel agent, who thought they were a cute couple, and booked a trip arriving the next day.
Guido went into town looking for clues and picking up supplies while Owen went cabin to cabin posing as a novice hunter looking for advice meeting an elderly couple, a group of college kids and the grumpy owner of the resort. Later that night, their cabin was assaulted by a group of masked men, but Guido and Owen managed to get the upper hand despite Owen's numerous wounds and take out 4 of the assailants. Owen recognized them from the cabin with the group of college kids and they went to that cabin to confront them. As they arrived the grumpy owner showed up ans blasted at they with his shotgun. After taking move hits, Owen and Guido rigged a gas can as a Molitov cocktail and dropped it when he was tackled by a bad leading it to exploded inside the house! As the flames spread, they managed to take out the last of their redneck assassins and discovered an unconscious tortured women in the dungeon below the cabin. They rescued her and contacted Merl Zee, the nearest ORION contact as Owen needed serious medical attention for his multiple wounds. After visiting a Mexican Doctor of questionable skills, they decided to return to ORION's headquarters in Boston and figure out their next step to find Gregor.

2012-08-14T14:02:00.000-04:00

Top Secret: The continuing adventures of Ted Tyler & Owen Darkwind

1990 - Ted Tyler and Owen Darkwind were to 1-2 punch that the secret organization known as ORION use to saved the day and thwart numerous destructive plans by the terrorist organization of WEB.

1994 - Ted, Owen along with agents Sammi Blackstone, Paul Anderson, Cindy Anderson and the reformed skinhead Von Furer completed an operation that finally took down WEB for good. Sadly, many agents, friends and family died along the way, but a world free of WEB was a better place.

1997 After years of silence from WEB and convinced it was finished for good, global funding for ORION was cut. After decades of service, ORION was no more.

2003 - A begrudging reunion of Ted and Owen to investigate an outbreak of the Z-Virus on Block Island which was visited by several prominent government officials and their families. While the results of this mission are still classified, following the completion of the mission, Ted returned to retirement and Owen went off the grid, vowing to never work together again.

2006 - Following the events of September 11, 2001, the United Nations agrees to fund a new ORION in order to combat the growing global threat of terrorism. After years of inept management, Orion-1 was discovered to be extremely corrupt and was forced to resign amid reports of embezzlement. ORION was in need of leadership, but who to turn to?

2010 - ORION coaxes Ted Tyler, the most decorated agent ever, out of retirement to become the new Orion-1. Tyler agreed to return after he discovered his old arch nemesis, Jeff Conway (better known as the serial mass murderer, Bloodbath) had escaped from the maximum security mental hospital he was being held in. Ted was given the power to personally select each of ORION's agents himself. In a surprise to many, especially considering what happened on Block Island, Ted selected Owen Darkwind to be ORION's lead field agent. Despite numerous attempts, Von Furer refused to leave his mountain estate in Greece.

2012 - ORION commissions a new field team to after Bloodbath is spotted in Brazil.

2010 NBA Finals: Celtics vs. Lakers Game 4

2010-06-11T00:06:00.000-04:00

Nothing like stirring up some old rivalry memories like bringing out the classic pic of Busty Heart a mainstay in the rivalry back in the 80s. Tonight, the Celtics just beat the Lakers in game 4, 96-89 thanks to the Bench; Glen Grande Infante Davis, Nate Robinson and Tony Allen's great defense on Kobe. I have been online with Scott and Skying during the games and also following ESPN's Bill Simmons who has a live game blog. MULTI-TASKING! Overall, this series has been pretty even, but if Lakers Center Andrew Bynum is out of the series (his bad knee flared up again) the Celtics may get an advantage. Of course, Rasheed Wallace was great so naturally his back went out, dammit! One of the best moments was the crowd chanting "NO-Means-NO" at Kobe as he was taking free throws and then the TV announcers trying to cover it up by coughing and casually mentioning the Boston fans trying to break Kobe's concentration. If the Celtics really want to mess with his head, why not just fly in the girl from the Colorado assault case to sing the National Anthem? Too soon? Too far? Anyway, it is past midnight and I need to get some sleep. BEAT LA!

Random rants: Are you KIDDING ME? So many A-holes in Sports!

2010-06-02T22:02:00.000-04:00

The picture of 'wrestling superstar' Virgil captures about how MLB umpire Jim Joyce feels right about now. Like other baseball fans, I watched ESPN switch over to the Detroit Tigers-Cleveland Indians game as Armando Gallaraga pitched for a Perfect game and after seeing the amazing catch by OF Austin Jackson it seemed like a lock. The last batter dribbles a grounder to Miguel Cabrera who throws to Armando ahead of the runner and the First base umpire Jim Joyce calls him SAFE and blows the call! HOLY SHIT! If this isn't the best reason for the ability to have instant replay in baseball, then it will never happen. Scott and I were Skyping as we watched and we were both shocked, unforgivable... Ken Griffey Jr retired today as his career limped to and end. He was one of my all-time favorites and I really wanted him to break the all-time Home Run record, but injuries took that shot away from him. Two of my favorite in-person memories of KGJ, his 200th HR landed 2 rows behind me and as everyone was cheering, security took the guy who had the ball away. A couple of innings later he returned with a bat signed by the entire Seattle Mariners team. The other memory is Ken botching a hot dog type catch in center field. Hit it here Junior. ...The Chicago Blackhawks lead the Philladelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals 2 games to none and along the way, they have kept the puck at the end of each game. Its akin to keeping the baseball in the final out of the World Serie and its a nice tradition, but A-hole Fyler's Defenseman Chris Pronger has gone out of his way to not only take the puck off the ice with him, but he threw them away! Pronger isn't just a sore loser, he's a petty childish dick. Pronger, I hope the fans in Chicago greet you with a hail of pucks, you suck. ...Nay's bachelor party is a couple of weeks away and I called an audible changing it from a fun day of paintball, food and gambling to a night of Lucha Libre and gambling! We need more adventure in our lives and this maybe just what we need. ...My Fantasy baseball team is chugging along at 4-3-1 in what has been a rough season, especially last week as I lost the game in the WHIP by .03, ugh!

Following LOST

2010-05-23T20:56:00.000-04:00

I have never watched the first episode of LOST. I got into the show when I was dating Liz and she wanted me to watch it too, so she made it so we were always together on Wednesday nights. "Just watch it! This is the best show." While we didn't last as a couple, she was right, it is one of the best shows I have ever followed. I know she has a family now and as I'm only an hour from the finale of the series, I wonder if she is as excited as I am for the end of LOST. The combination of mystery, characters and the island was inspirational as much as it was captivating. Good art motivates me, and LOST always gave me ideas for my own writing. I will miss LOST and while I was never a hardcore 'msg board' LOSTIE but I appreciate the efforts and passion they shared. My Mom became a fan of the show and it was always fun to exchange our reactions and theories of where LOST was going next. We do that with Survivor but it is not the same interest or intensity. Since I started following LOST I have tried to watch a better class of TV, not just mundane fluff and I've found shows like The Shield, Rescue Me, Breaking Bad and as soon as I get around to it, I'll Netflix The Wire. I was listening to Bill Simmon's podcast with LOST's Carlton Cruz and they were talking about how TV shows may never go into the detail and effort that made LOST special. In ten minutes the LOST finale starts, I love the feeling an anticipation and excitement. I hope they are wrong about the future of TV, I want this feeling again...

Random rants: TV, Movies, RPGs and Comedy!

2010-05-17T22:46:00.000-04:00

I have been busier than usual, started a new job, started the p90x workout system (its a good thing I like that sore as hell feeling) and doing more comedy which is just a pain for the audience. We held our latest UNregularRadio Comedy Show at the Bell in Hand Tavern a couple of weeks ago and tomorrow night it returns to the Varsity Club in Quincy, MA. The shows is a mix of advanced open mic sets of 10 minutes each and one headliner who goes 20 plus. They have been very well received and the addition of Ian Cohen playing live acoustic music for an hour before the show goes up has really added a touch of class. The shows at the Varsity Club have no cover charge and have had strong audiences so keeping my fingers crossed and adding new comics to each show... I will do a stand alone piece about my forays into fantasy wrestling but i recently returned to the IWA's BRL with (Badd Co. Rick Riley, Victor Von Snapp and Fatty the Butcher) and Badd Co. returned in the e-fed, A1E so those two will eat up some time as I get back in the groove. The best-side effect has been the way the writing has rekindled the creative juices in my mind that seemed stuck in a rut for a while there. I'm teaming with Frank Snow to do the Commissioner's Report in the BRL and after all those years of doing it (89-95) it feels good to be back... TV thoughts; South Park (best season in years) and Breaking Bad the best show since The Shield, have been great, but so many shows have just flat out shit the bed. Heroes ran out of steam, Survivor All-Stars was so-so, 24 has become a Soap Opera with explosions and How I Met Your Mother became that kid in class who made funny cracks but then decided to try to be funny all the time and now it is just lame. Its bad enough that Family Guy nailed the shows glaring error (let's have a girl in NYC who wishes she could meet the right one while having fun with her quirky pals and make it a guy instead!) but now they took the only entertaining character, Barney, and made him into a goofball. Why does Hollywood always decide to take what makes something different and focus on it until it bores the viewer. Maybe I should just watch Intervention from now on... The Asylum on UNregularRadio.com is getting better as we have had great guests like musicians (Tricade360, Ian Cohen), comics (Rob Welch, Brian Clark) and pro wrestler The Unequaled One Todd Sople and on June 12th, we will be broadcasting live from the NWA's Liberty States Wrestling! We called the action at their last show and it was a blast so this should be another fun show... Our 4th edition D&D campaign has reached the 11th level and we are on the Paragon path that means better skills and abilities. While I enjoy my Ranger, I know my next character will be a Sorcerer of some sort. We play once a month and I never get to play enough when I do play... Red Dead Redemption comes out at midnight and that means another game I will own and never play. At least this game seems to have a lot more to offer than just shooting civilians randomly... The Bruins choked (my sports torhettes was in full effect), the Celtics turned it on (the chants of NY Knicks @ SheBron James were great, thanks Bill Simmons!) and the Red Sox have been sluggish and old. I'm hoping for another Celtics-Lakers series but if not, I am rooting for the Suns and Steve Nash's busted eye... my Nephew's U-10 Soccer team got their first win, so my Brother-in-Law and I were happy to get our first win too... Fantasy Baseball wise Sexual Napalm is in the mix of after a rough 0-2-1 start, I am now 3-2-1 so I'm getting there. Broxton's lack of saves (thanks Dodgers for sucking!) and slow starts from Howard and Holliday haven't helped. I need to pick up some OF power and a couple of strong strike out pitchers. Its funny when I don't draft guys like Ted Lily or Carlos Zambrano or drop a player like Wandy Rodriguez and other managers are surprised. I'm loyal to the players who produce, but winning in this game is about finding the hidden gems first and more importantly, knowing when to drop the guys who have lost it. Right now Andrew Jones is available and no one is biting. Hell, David Ortiz just got picked up after being undrafted... Our home Run Derby league is fine, weekly roster moves, and I'm on top, but most people haven't touched their teams very much... When is the Football draft???

Thanks Drew Gooden: Winning the 2010 Fantasy BasketballTitle by 1pt

2010-04-05T00:24:00.000-04:00

So I'm Skyping with Scott as the Red Sox rally to beat the Yankees on opening night and we also watch the NBA scoreboard since today is the final day of our Fantasy Basketball season. I had a strong team this season until Chris Paul went down with an ankle injury and then many more joined him. AK-47, Richard Hamilton and Baron Davis all fell apart in the final week so I had to scramble to pick through the waiver wire. Jarrett Jack, CJ Watson, Kevin Love and Drew Gooden were out there and it seemed like destiny for me to lose. My opponent, Nay and his Ball Jugglers (2x former champs) were a power house with D-Wade, Nash,Dwight Howard Troy Murphy being surrounded by solid contributors and despite my massive lead going into the weekend, he tied the categories up (Pts, RB, Ast,Stls & Blks) and took the lead in scoring! I thought my team was done and he had a 3pt lead. Just then, Scott said I forgot about Drew Gooden the Clippers Center who managed to score 17pts to give me a 1pt lead as time ran out. Nay's player, Rasual Butler took the pass, lined up and launched a 3pt shot as the buzzer sounded... (holding my breath) clang! Phew! Wow. Last year's 2nd place finish was washed away and at long last I took the elusive Home Court Title in our 4th season of play. The funny part is I had thought I lost, so I started thinking of a T-Shirt design for Nay's Ball Jugglers, but now I have to think of a way to commemorate the win in way that is humble, classy and affordable...

PAXeast & Wrestlemania: Weekend Geekdom!

2010-03-28T23:57:00.000-04:00

A quick review of PAXeast from my Saturday venture in the Boston. I liked the set up, the vendors great freebies and the live dungeon delve was a blast. I did have to wait nearly 4hrs in lines to get into certain events, so that was not fun, but I would suggest either more tables/events or quicker times. Next time I will do a 3 days pass for sure. There is just WAY too much to try and see in one day...

Wrestlemania 26 was a pretty good show, but they again missed some great opportunities to book the show better. Yay: Cena/Batista being watchable, Punk/Mysterio and Undertaker/Michaels. Boo: The booking. Here's how I would have booked it; Money in the Bank: Instead of Jack Swagger the winner is Christian. Later after Edge beats Jericho to win the World title, Christian comes down to praise his old tag team partner and inform him that he will be challenging him at the next PPV. Shameus should have beat HHH to rebuild his momentum and put him back as a legit threat. Where does he go now? Batista should have beat Cena in order to cement him as a legit heel champ, instead we get Hulk Cena crushing the win and killing the heel's heat. This gives you a series of matches where Cena 'just can't beat Batista' which leads to a Summer Slam match where he finally topples Batista. I often hear people tell me how wrestling fans don't have the attention span to follow a storyline, really? Is that why EVERY wrestling fan I know tells me how they long for the old days when story lines were worth paying attention to? maybe if they writers at WWE and TNA could string together a storyline worth paying attention to, the fans would watch. Hell the main event was a rematch from ONE YEAR AGO! Speaking of, lets say HHH had lost to Shameus and was pissed, so later on during the Undertaker - Shawn Micheals match, say after the Tombstone piledriver outside the ring, HHH comes to the ring and tells Shawn to get up and win the match. "You've got to win this match!" Shawn gets up and shoves HHH aside telling him he doesn't need him to win this match. The match goes on, minor ref bump, long enough for HHH to conk Shawn in the head and 1-2-3, Taker wins. HHH is now THE most hated man in wrestling (again) Shawn has to retire. Eh, whatever. Overall a fun show, but I was little bewildered why Comcast ran a promo for a series of adult PPV films sandwiched between the end of the first show and the repeat. Kudos to Cena for not dying after the spike-DDT...

Comedians hit the stage in Quincy - Quincy, MA - The Patriot Ledger

2010-03-12T23:35:00.001-05:00

Comedians hit the stage in Quincy - Quincy, MA - The Patriot Ledger

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2010 Draft result: Sexual Napalm!

2010-03-06T13:19:00.000-05:00

In honor of the ugliness of the draft I have put one of the least fortunate pictures in baseball card history, Don Mossi. I was impressed that the girl at Hong Kong Express lit up when I mentioned the order was for the draft and she said 'ohhh baseball draft!' excitedly. I'd guess they get this a lot or perhaps she is the secret oracle that I may have to consult all season long in order to win. I have updated my roster to the right, but my biggest change was my team name. Yes the Super Soakers were great, but when a name comes up that is both topical and sweet, you have to make the change to Sexual Napalm. This is year, I take my title back...

Tonight You! The Varsity Club Comedy Showcase

2010-02-23T14:42:00.000-05:00

The first Varsity Club Comedy Showcase was a big hit, so tonight we roll out the sequel. I'm heading down at 6ish to set up the stage, stool and sound check then at 7pm Ian Cohen will begin a one hour set of live music. At 8pm the Comics begin and we have a lot of talent at this show starting with Jay Geary, Kelly Tabbut, Will Smalley, Brian Henchey, Brian Clark, Rob Welch, Matt DeVasto and more as well as our headliner, Bigg Nez. There will be prizes to give away via the Bingo-like RILEY game on the back of every flyer. Rather than B-4 or I-69, you have topics the comics may touch on like work, family or sports. If an audience member gets five in a row, they will win a prize that will promoted the St. Patty's Eve Varsity Club Comedy Showcase on March 16th.

No Limits Pro Wrestling: Solid Show

2010-01-25T21:52:00.000-05:00

I took in the No Limits Pro Wrestling Show at the McCarthy Elementary school in Peabody,MA (I grew up a couple of miles from there) and it was a really solid show.  The sound in there was great for the ring, but holy SUPER LOUD speakers.  The entrance music was so loud that no one could hear who the wrestlers were, but for the most part they were very good.  It opened with the anthem and a six-man match as B.A. Tatum, Cameron Blaze and The Vampire Sethoran d. "The Guido Torpedo" Dominic Simone, Justin "The Hammer" Tunis, and Joey Rockstar...   NLP Heavyweight Championship Match "The Strut" Sonny Goodspeed upset "Brutal" Bob Evans...  Maverick Wild (w/ "Tough Talk" Tony Spencer) d. Billy King... "Fabulous" Johnny Vegas d. Steve "The Turtle" Weiner in a sloppy match that may have been due to the mask giving the Turtle trouble...  "The Sports Illustrated Legend" Robbie Ellis d. Julian Starr in the high light of the night as then 67 year old wrestler rocked.  Check out his website, the picture to the left is his finisher...  "The Doom Crew" (Rocco Abruzzi and Slash Sullivan) vs. "The Granite State Destroyers" (Cpl. Gunz and Chuck Nugent)...  The Main Event was for the Vacant NLP New England Championship as "The Unequaled One" Todd Sople was finally defeated by "The Instant Star" Matt Taven in a match with a lot of 2 counts.  The crowd was pretty hot for a small show and the matches reflected the energy.  They will return in February and I will be there...  Before the show I spoke to the Booker about the show and my own mission with wrestling, so cross fingers.  Super Exploder 3 is coming...

Conan vs. Leno inside the Steel Cage!

2010-01-17T11:05:00.000-05:00

I want recognize the greatest screwjob since the Montreal Screwjob as NBC Executives and Jay Leno conspire to usurp Conan O'Brien as the host of The Tonight Show. I have watched Conan from the beginning in 1993 when I was living in Georgia with Scott and trying to make it as a pro wrestler. The beginning was awkward and full of trial and error and numerous mistakes, but I'm not writing this to talk about my wrestling career. No I'm here to say how much I have enjoyed the process and watching Conan, Andy and Max over the years and that it really pisses me off that some arrogant a-holes who panic and pull a power play that gives the shaft to the nice guy. If Leno had any class, he would have stepped aside as he promised, but what I look forward to isn't just when Conan emerges on FOX or Comedy Central, I'm looking forward to Jay flopping and whithering in his return. What I wonder is if we fast forward 5-10 years and Leno really is ready to retire, who would ever take the offer to replace him? Eat a dick NBC and worst of Luck Leno... I'm with Coco!

2009: The Year of 2nd Place!

2009-12-28T18:51:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I should have seen this coming. I lost the Basketball finals to Johnny in the summer, then I lost in the Baseball finals to Bill in the Fall and now I have lost to Scott in the Football finals in the Winter... UGH!
Things are not all as bleak as they seem though as the magical season of Fantasy Baseball magazines has started up and as usual the first one out '2010 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Fantasy Sports. the official magazine for the high-stakes fantasy player' is full of player previews but lacks the hardcore stats junk of say ESPN or TSN's fantasy magazines. So now I make the vain stops at Barnes & Noble to check for the latest magazines but alas they are not there. I know the problem with any info that comes from a magazine is that is it already out of date, but there is just a comfortable feeling that comes from reading them. Now I get to spend some time and figure out who my keepers for next season are... bitter...