It is Just BaseballAn Appaloosa Radio Original Story When Beck was in sixth and seventh grade, he played Little League baseball for the Mayfield Pirates. They wore uniforms that looked just like the major league Pittsburgh Pirates, but (like their major league counterparts), they finished last in their division. In fact, Beck’s team lost every game in both of the seasons he played. Beck himself had only three hits and one walk over two years. “Easy out!” became his opponents’ habitual taunt. Still Beck loved the game and felt compelled even as a 31-year-old adult working in a dead-end job in the corporate copy room to follow the major league Pirates assiduously. He used to tape Pirate games so he could re-play them when he came home. Then one day, Beck’s closest friend, Woody (who was a real computer guy), created a pocket player that picked up the wireless signals in the building. He also tuned the pocket player to receive internet radio and the Pirates radio network. So now Beck could hear the call of the Pirate games live in his earpiece as he worked in the copy room. Percival was ten-years older than Beck and worked a couple of stations over from him. Like Beck, Percival was an avid baseball fan, but he loved the Dodgers even more than Beck loved the hapless Pirates. Beck asked Woody to also create a player for Percival. Woody was more than happy to do so. Beck and Percival worked side-by-side in their parallel baseball worlds, not really caring about the larger corporate world around them. Because the Dodgers won far more games than the Pirates, Percival lived in a happier world than Beck. Finally, after four losing seasons in a row, Beck complained to Woody over a beer that he would give a million dollars to experience a winning season. Of course, Beck did not have a million dollars and Woody knew that. But Beck’s complaint got Woody to thinking. Then, one evening in his small computer repair shop, Woody had an idea. “I’ll bet that lots of guys would pay to experience a winning season. Instead of sending them wireless broadcasts of live games, why not write a program, so that what they’ll hear is always a winning team.” It took a couple of weeks and some exasperation, but Woody completed his always a winner player prototype. But it was more than baseball . . . .

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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