I want to welcome everyone to the new and "improved" (I hope) SmallBall Devils (SBD).
I want to recite a bit of history and then say a few things about some people relating to SBD.
The beginning ......
I joined SB at the end of July 2002 .. and found the game to be un-believable hard but addicting. When the "Real" SB Forums were abandoned for the new "Forums" (phpbb style), it opened up a amazing amount of possibilities for the game / community.
It introduced me to a bunch of nice people who played this game and also helped learned aout web page design / forum creation and how to make the game even more fun / addciting.
After prob. 7 - 8 months, I had about 15 - 20 good friends and about 10 close ones who I considered confidants. On a evening of a proposed SB Tourney live in a MSN chat ... about 7 - 8 of those close friends were just babbling. After realizing our Tourney was not taking place because of other "Group / Clans" having similar things that night .. we all basically came up with an ephinany.
Within about an hour, we had decided to form our own little group of SB addicts and help each other out in whatever way possible. We decided on a philosophy, style, name and possible membership setup.
After I created and Orgsite for SBD and we got organized, we became a household name in SB. We helped sponsor some of the best live Tourneys SB has ever had including a "Sat. Night Fight" style, Teammate Tourney and even a Tourney where every entry plays one team (usually one of mine) and most runs scored advanced people thru brackets.
SBD became a real force in SB and even was very responsible for the 2nd ever Clan Wars taking place. We finally put our foot down and started the process of getting it going before passing the final setup on to AcA. We may not have won it but we helped make it happen.
One I got some server space and a domain name, we moved forward to these style forums. It helped us become more organized and respected. We increased our membership to about 20 total members and we were considered on of the 3 - 5 groups to be a part of.
Unforntunately, we started to lose members of the group for a couple of reasons. A couple of people retired and a few joined other groups after our forums had multiple tech issues. The issues caused a lag in events and communication issues with each other. It was only a matter of time before the SBD drifted into the SB after-life.
Even though, over the last 18 months SB has grown and grown and Clan/Groups lists have bloomed and died like your garden at home --- the SBD remained just a fond memory. But strangely enough, I was asked 3 or 4 times about it in the last 9 months and then I was starting to feel a little lost in SB during the summer this year. Because of this, I started to think what would make me happy again if I stayed in this game. Would winning a PL-1 championship do it ... maybe .. but getting to PL-2 was great but didn't light the flame yet. Would, being part of 2 great groups keep me training or feeling positive about SB .. not really .. no matter how much respect I have for AcA and THC .. I still felt bored and lost.
So, literally as I was contemplating retiring from the game, I got this unexpected and very much shocking PM from a former devil. It said in short - need to talk .. meet on MSN Mssgr please .. important things are up.
Well, that was enough to get me to re-create a MSN acct and log in and see what the heck was going on. Much much much to my surprise ... Supr, McGov and Lancer all had the same thing to say ... "We want our Devils back".
Well by the end of our chat and by early the next evening ... the SBD had been reborn. We now have our own forum, we have some of our pics back, we have about 8 - 10 original members here already and we have the most important thing of all .......
We have the
FEVER burning bright again.
This is my last go around in this game, no matter what happens, so I really hope the SBD grabs hold, stick the pitchfork in the ground, make some heads turns and most of all brings the "FUN" back to the game for all of us.
Welcome one and all to the house that SBD built ...
but especially that 3 people help start .. GoldenEagle, Mikes and OMD.
Once we had the name and the chat happened (almost 2 1/2 years ago) and Gamer JT, Gameshark, SF, WRS Badger and a couple others said "Hell yeah!" .. the future was and never will be the same here in SB Land.
I welcome all "Old" Devils, all "New" Devils, all "Future" Devils and most of all everyone who visits us.
Someone is wearing a specially created jpg that I "made" especially for the old SBD Forum. It means as much now if not more then when I created. But when you see it, please remember the truth behind the picture ... SBD stands for all it's members and all it's members stand together.
Peace, Love and SB are my goals and I hope the SBD's goal too ....
Enjoy the ride and let's make our name mean something to everyone who ever plays this game .....
your SBD Co-Founder and Devil forever ...
Rob (aka OMD)
