RON BRAMMER MEMORIAL

 

Strat-O-Matic Sponsors Tournaments September 26-28

 

 

The Ron Brammer Memorial Strat-O-Matic football and hockey tournaments will be Sept. 26-28 at the Ramada Hotel in Bloomington, IL.

 

            The fourth-annual tournament weekend, previously named for former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas, was renamed last year for its first organizer, the late Ron “Mad Dog” Brammer. Brammer is well-known in Strat football circles for his tournament play, his work on past-season football cards (both for STRAT FAN and for Strat-O-Matic) and his kind nature.

 

            Gamers will compete for trophies donated by the Strat-O-Matic game company.

 

            “Oregon Ron” Dickinson, who co-organized the tournament from the start and took over its operation last year, said he expects a record turnout of gamers this year. And he believes that Brammer’s wife Paula will be in attendance, as she has in the past.

 

            Both the football tournament and the hockey tournament are played with stock teams drafted by participants.

 

            “The football draft is all stock teams with all new format teams — the original 1981-present stock Strat-O-Matic teams, all STRAT FAN teams, and any that Strat-O-Matic releases from the computer game on card stock,” Dickinson explained.

 

            Dickinson said he will bring all the teams he thinks participants might want to draft, but he advises gamers to bring their own teams to scout opponents. Copies of tournament teams created by "Mad Dog" Brammer will be available for purchase (permission has been granted by Strat-O-Matic to allow for this).

 

Similarly, the hockey tournament will use “Any new format (2-12 goalies) team from a complete season set, including STRAT FAN sets.  This includes ‘59-60, ‘62-63, ‘66-67, ‘67-68, ‘70-71, ‘76-77 and ‘92-93 through 2002-03.  STRAT FAN’s ‘55-56 Montreal, ‘71-72 Boston and the Great Teams set are not eligible,” hockey organizer Scott Trester said. 

 

For hockey, “Gamers are expected to supply their own team.  Everyone usually has a half dozen teams or so they’d be interested in using,” Trester said.

           

Late Development — those interested in a computer baseball tournament, please contact Ron Dickinson at 815-938-2405 or ronald13247@msn.com He will call you back with details. But expect to provide your own laptop with Version 8 of the computer game installed to play a stock-team tournament.

 

The tournament schedule:

 

            Friday, Sept. 26: Football rules discussion at 7:30 p.m. Draft at 10 p.m. Gamers who cannot make it to the tournament until Saturday may participate in the draft by phone.

 

            Saturday, Sept. 27: Football games at 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and about 5 p.m.

 

            Hockey games begin 8 a.m. on Saturday and play a home and home round robin with each opponent to determine playoff position.

 

Sunday, Sept. 28: Single-elimination playoff football games (the top 8-16 teams, depending on number of entries) begin at 8 a.m.

 

            Hockey playoffs for the top four teams begin at 8 a.m. with best-of-three semifinals. The finals will be at least best-of-three, longer if the finalists’ departure schedules permit.

 

Entry fee is $40, which includes lunch Saturday and Sunday. Send your entry fee  to: Ron Dickinson, 8880 N. Grove Street, Leaf River, Il 61047. For more information, including tournament rules, call Dickinson at 815-938-2405.  Or email him at ronald13247@msn.com. Questions about the tournament also are being answered by Mike Kane on the internet Strat-O-Matic Forum (http://strat-forum.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x).

 

Questions on the hockey tournament should be directed to Scott Trester at somplayer@sbcglobal.net.

 

            Hotel rooms are $62 per night plus tax, which includes breakfast, but this discount is available only through Aug. 27. Call the Ramada at 800-385-0000 and ask for the rate for the Ron Brammer Memorial.