Manager Spotlight: timf

The last few seasons of Roy Hobbs World have brought a few new faces to the league, and I thought I'd might be good to get to know a little more about them. After all, too often we forget that real people actually sit behind all these user names. Hobbs Media did these "spotlights" back is Season 3, and it provided a great opportunity to pull a small part of that proverbial "curtain" back from a few "Wizards of Hobbs." So, through these "spotlights" (which will be done on only those wanting to do it) we can get to know a bit more about who we are playing with and hopefully spark more interest in the league and blog.

Enough introduction then, our very first spotlight of Season 10, and one of our most active, not to mention most improved managers, is timf of the NL East New York Nightmares (44-22). timf is in his 3rd year here, adopting a franchise whose best record ever was 83-79 in Season 1, which landed them last place in the division. The New York Nightmares (44-22) are a franchise that have never seen the playoffs but look to in Season 10. timf took over the team in S8 after a 59 win season. In S8 they improved their record to 77 wins, and then dropped to 60 in S9. Now the franchise sits at the top of the NL East, leading by 4 games with a 44-22 record.

Overview of timf's HBD Career:

Overall Record:	1111-1319 (.457)		Total Seasons:	15
Post Season Record:	4-12 (.250)		Division Titles:	1
Best Season Record:	95-67 (.586)		Playoffs:	4
Worst Season Record:	42-120 (.259)		World Series Titles:	0

THE INTERVIEW:
Q1: Hobbs: Where are you from?
timf: I live in Southwestern Ontario about an hour drive from Toronto.

Q2. Hobbs: What do you do?
timf: I'm a real estate agent and also going to add mortgage expert to that in a couple months.

Q3. Hobbs: What is your favorite baseball team?
timf: The New York Yankees. You either love them or hate them. I am a big fan of baseball history and the Yankees are in a class of their own when it comes to history.

Q4. Hobbs: Who is your favorite baseball player of all time and why?
timf: Very tough question. I'd probably have to go with Ken Griffey Jr. He was electrifying in the field and he had one of the sweetest swings I've ever seen. He made things look easy out there and he had a carefree attitude that is lost in most players. I think he genuinely loved the game and the question, What if? applies to him more than anybody.

Q5. Hobbs: Why did you decide to join Hobbs World?
timf: It was like a perfect storm for me. I was looking for a new team at the time the opening came up, Hobbs has a great blog, the team was located in New York (Yankee Stadium no less) and they were a team that had no history of success whatsoever and I wanted to get a team like this and make it into a team other owners didn't want to play against.

Q6. Hobbs: Who would you say is New York's Star player?
timf: Tough question. I look at my team like the Yankees. On other teams a few of these guys could be stars, but here in my organization the team comes first. There are too many guys making big contributions to say my success is hinged on someone like Oscar McDowell or Yamil Guzman. My leadoff hitter, Felix Anderson was unsigned a couple days into ST and he has been superb. Without guys like him my team would be sunk. It really is a team effort.

Q7. Hobbs: What is the significance behind the name New York Nightmares, or should that be obvious?
timf: Well, it was an inherited name and I wanted to change it to Knights in honor of Roy Hobbs' New York Knights but the nickname was already in use by Louisville. I will probably keep it the way it is now because it reflects how I want other owners to think of playing my team.

Q8. Hobbs: What is your outlook on this years season?
timf: If you had asked me this question at the start of the season I would have predicted an 80-85 win season almost entirely due to my overpowering pitching staff. Now I think 90+ wins and a playoff berth is completely reasonable and I will be disappointed with anything less than that.

Q9. Hobbs: Who do you consider you biggest rival?
timf: Scranton and Dover are the established teams in my division and I'm hoping to join them as one of the NL's elite teams. I think there is alot of respect in the rivalry with Scranton and as our teams grow I see there being some very heated battles on the diamond and in the standings for many years to come.

This concludes our first spotlight! Feel free to comment either here or in the league forum, comments are welcome! Also, if YOU want to be our next spotlight just sitemail or tradechat stnick44, you could be next!