North vs. South

 

First of all, South Captain Duncan McCallum and myself would like to thank everyone for their interest in this year's games.  Choosing a roster of only five athletes proved to be a very daunting challenge for both of us, and inevitably we had to leave off some very talented athletes and friends. 

 

Further, upon some discussion between Duncan, K.C. Cummings and myself, we decided that the games should return to the original intent of the late Kay Cummings, who fashioned this challenge after the U.S. Civil War, and the involved states on each respective side.  In doing so, we limited our selection to the states and districts as they appeared during the conflict.

 

The teams...

 

 

Beau Fay (Captain) - Washington, D.C.

Jeff Kaste - New Hampshire

John Davis - California

Luke Crowley - Wisconsin

John Collins - Maryland

 

 

Duncan McCallum (Captain) - Texas

Mike Dickens - Texas

Nathan Burchett - Missouri

Isaac Burchett - Missouri

Tom Sroka - South Carolina

 

We're all looking forward to a great event with some big throws.  The Northern team is especially excited about a weekend away from Old Man Winter's grasp in mid-January.  Let the predictions begin...

It'started...

 

Already working on it, I have a feeling there will be more than a few strong beards being sported.

 

This is why, with agreement from K.C., we decided to go with a clear format this year-- using a map after full Southern secession, taking into account Union, Confederate and border states.  In any other year, the border states of Missouri and Maryland might not have come into play but with the Burchetts coming from Missouri and John Collins coming from Maryland we had to address the issue.  Duncan took the Burchetts and I took John, splitting the border states.  Of course, with Dickens moving back to Texas and Tom moving to South Carolina, their eligibility changed.

 

Duncan and I had some lengthy discussions to determine a clear format, and knowing that Kay intended the N/S game to be of a certain historic element we wanted to honor his original intent.  The idea of using the Mason/Dixon line and extending it westward was also discussed, but we found it to be messy and inaccurate. 

 

In the course of our team selection we were also faced with some other challenges, such as the classic "Hey, did you know I was actually BORN in ___________?" or "My father is from ______, does that make me eligible?" inquiries. 

 

We realize that it can be hard to create a perfect system, especially when people have represented different teams in past years, but we tried to keep things clear and fair this year by agreeing upon set boundaries and choosing accordingly.

 

So what was the final ruling on this?  I assume you took the "born in" reason since Nathan lives in Iowa.

 

Don't get my comments wrong, I'm not arguing anything. I just find it funny that with the history of success for the South Team in this, Duncan would grab a bunch of former Yankees ;)