One on One with Iowa City GM SRTFoxHound

I got a chance to sit down with Iowa City GM SRTFoxHound to chat about how he found HBD, his best sports moment and what'd he'd change about HBD.

1.) How long have you been playing fantasy sports and how did you find out about HBD? I used to play at a different simulation site and happened upon HBD a few years back but just didnt have the time to dedicate to playing until recently.

2.) Baseball being your favorite sport, who's your team?

Definitely the Tigers. I get to about 20 games a year and it is by far the activity I look forward to the most. I have an agreement with a guy so we sit front row on the bullpen. Its a lot of fun.

3.) Michigan grad?

Actually didn't go to Ann Arbor but the off campus in Flint for a while. Never completed college because I went into business when family finances demanded it and I haven't looked back. I did play against Jake Long in high school though.

4.) I noticed 5 of your 6 HBD teams are in Iowa. Any particular reason?

I like things to be uniform in my approach. Iowa City offers the ability to have a park that is -2 across the board and I like being able to build my teams similar in each world so I can have a similar approach. I took Detroit in the Negro League world just because its my home town and I was pretty excited to be able to have it in a premier world like that. As far as some type of exciting story, I have never been to Iowa City.

5.) Whats your best sports moment? Best in-person sports moment?

Best sports moment would be the walk off home run Magglio hit in the playoffs back in 2006. Its definitely something I will not forget unfortunately I was not there. Best in person moment with watching sports would have been back in 2007, I took my younger sister to a Tigers game and Brandon Inge hit a walk off home run. She was only about 8 so she loved the game and she knew the general rules but didnt realize that they won when he hit that so while 40,000 plus were going crazy she was asking me what happened. For my best personal moment in sports would have been my sophmore year of high school football. Our coaching staff gave a lot of value to seniority so in the last game of the season the wear and tear finally got to our backfield and the top 3 running backs went down to injury. Down 21-0 at the half I went in at tailback and racked up 200 something yards and 3 scores to bring us back for the win.

6.) who will meet the the world series this year and who will win?

My vote is Tampa Bay over the Mets.

7.) If you could have one real life player in MLB transferred to your new team, who would that be and why?

There is a lot of good talent out there but it would have to be Stephen Strasburg. He is going to be lights out for a lot of years to come and to have a pitcher like that to start a new world would be great. I am trying to base my teams out of having one strong ace coming into his prime that can go out and win 15-20 games every year for me.

8.) If you could sit at a poker table or play a round of golf with 3 other people who would they be and why?

I would have to say Warren Buffet, Ernie Harwell, Taylor Swift . I have always wanted to meet Warren Buffet and have read a lot of books about him. Ernie Harwell for a Detroit fan is a no brainer even though he recently passed and I had a lot of trouble with the third but I think Taylor Swift works for me.

9.) What do you do in your spare time when you're not running your HBD teams?

Work, Family, and Play Paintball. Married and have a 2 month old soon. I play on a paintball team so that takes a lot of time and I work quite a bit. I am an Agent for Allstate and have a couple other business that I am working on.

10.) I know you are relatively new, but if there was one thing you could add/change about HBD, what would that be?

I think the biggest change I would make would be to be able to do things live. Mainly the draft and then games. I would like to be able to do an actual draft and be able to make important calls during the games

Chat Avatar

Quick note: If owners could pick make your chat avatar your actual team logo, that would be awesome. Makes trading easier

Upper Deck Rules and Regulations

Now that the start of our World is on the horizon here are the rules which we all debated and agreed upon.

Rules and Regulations:
All extreme ballparks are banned, includes: Colorado, Tacoma and Burlington.

A.) You shall not have more than $25 million(total for the year)in your prospect budget. Violators will be put to VC vote on being able to return next season. Majority rules.

B.) Anyone whose prior 2 seasons at the end of a season has a cumulative record under .390 will be automatically dismissed from the league. Any owner having a winning % less than .300 for any 1 season will automatically be dismissed as well. After being out of the league for one season, any owners removed under this Rule may request to be placed on the waiting list for the following season, though they must be approved by a league-wide vote before being permitted back into the league.

In addition, at the end of the season, anyone on probation is put to a league-wide vote on whether they should be removed prior to the next season. Note that everyone, even if they are a VC member or even the league founder, is subject to being voted on if they are probation. The vote would work as follows:

1.) Following the end of the regular season but before the start of the World Series, the VC will post a list (in our forum thread) of those that are subject to vote as well as an explanation of what the VC sees as the reasons to keep or get rid of the person. The person subject to vote would be allowed to respond obviously and state their case.
2.) During the World Series, the vote occurs with all league members getting one vote. If the majority of those that vote before the World Series ends vote to remove the person, they are gone. Otherwise, they get to come back next season.

3.) In the event someone is not logging in for a period of more than 7 days (without having given advanced notice that they will be away) or in the event they are pitching 0(0) pitchers/playing guys at minor leagues extremely out of position (such as pitchers playing shortstop or first basemen pitching), the following occurs:

4.) The VC representative for that division should send the person a trade chat and/or sitemail and ask them to fix the problem within 48 hours or at least have a good faith effort to fix it under way. If it is not fixed, the monitor should bring it to the VC’s attention and either the monitor of the VC Chairman will post in World Chat and/or our forum thread about the problem and once again give 48 hours for the problem to be fixed or at least a good faith effort to fix it be under way. If the problem is still not fixed, the VC votes on whether to put the person on “probation” for the rest of the season. A person will remain on probation even if they fix the problem, though if they fix the problem they are more likely to survive the vote at the end of the season.


Replacement owners: If a replacement owner is needed either mid-season or between seasons, the person will be recommended by any VC member and approved by the VC (exception: members removed for having a cumulative sub-.390 winning percentage over 2 seasons must be approved by the entire league before being permitted back in).


C.Changing cities: Owners may not change cities without approval of the VC. Changing cities will not be allowed in the first 3 seasons at all. After the third season, you may state your case to the VC if you wish to move cities and the VC will approve or deny your request. New owners coming in will have a chance to move the team but only one move per 5 years will be permitted per team.

Removing an owner mid-season: If an owner neglects their major league team, is caught cheating or colluding, or conducts themselves in a manner detrimental to the league, the VC can put the person’s immediate removal from the league up to a vote of the entire league at any time.

Replacement VC members: If a VC members steps down from the VC or leaves the world entirely, the players in their league (AL or NL) will immediately vote on a replacement member. Any VC member may at any time call for a vote of all other VC members to oust any member of the VC including the chairman.