BTW, newbies, let me add to my comments above, and in all seriousness, the following, to which I am certain that JG, LDV, and DB, who all played the entire season, as well as SC and FS, who played most of it, will agree:

We all had an absolutely graet time playing last year, with the game itself taking a back seat to the comraderie we developed over the six month season.

If you take the time to read through the 5000+ posts in last year's thread, or just go to any page randomly and start reading, you'll see what I mean. You'll find humor, pathos, just plain silliness, double entendres and sexual innuendo, whining, and trash talking, all in the spirit of the fun we were having.

I urge you all to stay the course, regardless of how well or poorly you do. If you do, you'll find that at season's end, you've made some real friends -- people who you will truly want to meet in person some day, as some of us have had the pleasure of doing.

Besides, I want you guys to stick around 'cause I need the competition.