SnakePit username: samath
Place of birth: Fort Collins, CO
Other hobbies:
- Board games: I prefer the socializing kind. I love how many board games that have been released recently allow for personal interaction, encourage light strategic thinking, and create memories. We’re not talking about Monopoly or Risk here – the board game development community has gotten so much better over time, especially in the 21st century.
- Ultimate Frisbee: My favorite sport. I enjoy the grace of a Frisbee flying through the air and staying in the air for much longer than it has any right to. It’s a great source of exercise – running after a Frisbee is the ultimate motivation for me. And since I also played a lot of softball, I often suffer many more injuries in a softball season than I do playing Ultimate Frisbee.
- Church stuff: I am very active in my church here in Singapore, helping with youth ministry, leading my church group’s Bible studies, and of course leading a board games interest group.
Favorite food: There are so many options here!
- Favorite lunch spot near me: Qin Ji Rougamo (Chinese “hamburgers”)
- Favorite restaurant near me: Sanook Kitchen (Thai)
- Favorite restaurant in the USA: MuLan (Taiwanese) in Cambridge, MA
- Most popular fast-casual chain in the USA: Chipotle
- Preferred protein source: Tau Kwa (firm tofu)
- Favorite vegetable: pea sprouts
- Favorite side dish: Korean BBQ bean sprouts
- Favorite drink: Bubble Tea
- Favorite source of easy calories: Soylent Chai
- Favorite snack: Andean mint
- Favorite snack with name: Snakes Alive
Favorite movie/TV show
Lord of the Rings: I’m part of the generation that grew up when the Lord of the Rings trilogy came out. I read the books before I saw the movies, but because of my insistence, I was a year late for The Fellowship of the Ring. Since then, I’ve seen them all, including the expanded editions, several times, most recently last winter with my family in the US.
What else should we know about you?
I live in Singapore now! I moved here during the pandemic with my wife’s job and was fortunate to keep my job because everything was done remotely. My schedule is actually (perhaps too temptingly) conducive to watching the Diamondbacks – the typical evening home game here starts at 9:40.
Why are you a Diamondbacks fan?
I was in third grade in 1999 and the teachers decided that MLB.com was a safe website for us to visit to learn how to use the Internet. They assigned each member of my class a baseball team and asked us to follow their records, their best players, etc. I was assigned to the Diamondbacks and I remember being quite surprised when I looked up what date their ballpark had opened – it was just the year before, 1998! It really felt like I was jumping on something new and exciting. Their remarkable success that year, which took them from 97 losses to 100 wins and followed up with winning the World Series two years later, was enough to hook me for the rest of my life, even though I had never lived in Arizona.
Who is your absolute favorite Diamondback?
I first called The Big Unit “Randy Pitcher” and that name stuck in my family. Four Cy Youngs in four consecutive years! Add to that the 20K game, the perfect game and the birdie, and there was always a chance that something spectacular would happen with him on the mound.
What is your best memory of the D-backs, other than the postseason?
The moment that first comes to mind is Ryan Roberts’ grand slam to beat the Dodgers 7-6 in the bottom of the 10th inning on September 27, 2011. It didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things – they had already clinched the division, which would be their last time – but it was epic in terms of the comeback – down 6-1, with two outs and the bases empty, the pitcher forgot to cover first base on a ground ball to the first baseman, which would have ended the game. Then they singled, walked, error, walked, grand slam and won.
How did you end up in the SnakePit?
I’ve never been part of a community of Diamondbacks fans, as I became one in an unusual way, so finding SnakePit was a bit of a revelation for me, and a community I really appreciate. As for my own contributions, I mostly use my Google Sheets skills, creating pretty charts and automating the tracking of various numbers. These are most evident in the Gameday Thread’s bullpen pitches charts.
What other MLB teams are you interested in – good or bad?
My family is a Rockies fan, so I’m happy if the Diamondbacks don’t mind when they do well. I also lived in Boston for eight years, and during that time I cheered for the Red Sox just as much. In the four years I lived there, it somehow never extended to LA…
Why do you love baseball?
The core actions of the sport are inherently fun. Swinging a bat and hitting a ball – even if it’s just a whiffle ball – is just a great feeling. Great pike catches, throws with nasty moves, and smooth slides to avoid the tag are also just plain exciting, both to perform and to watch, and offer enough variety to offer more than just being big or powerful. Add to that the things that appeal to me as a nerd – the endless variety of statistics, the large sample size of 162 games per year, the long history, and the recent openness to game-improving rule changes – and there’s just so much to get your head around.
