Sometimes, you ponder the big questions in life. "Will I ever get married?" "What is God's purpose in my life?" "Could Lino Rulli crack a home run off of Gus Loyd?"

While I don't have the answer to the first two, I was able to find out the answer to that third one. Thanks to a fellow named Nightwulf, I was able to add two teams to the NES classic game RBI Baseball. This isn't for show...this is an actual playable version of RBI baseball, with vastly different rosters. It's the closest The Catholic Channel will get to having it's own video game.

I present to you, Catholic Channel A, and Catholic Channel B.
The teams are divided up between past and present Catholic Channel personalities, Catholicguyshow.com bloggers, and a random caller or two. Heck, here are the starting lineups and pinch hitters!

Team A (Lino's team)

 Batting
No Name     R/L Avg  HR
===================================
01 Lino Rulli    RHB .305  2
02 Cardinal Egan  LHB .327 30
03 Christine Loyd RHB .308 35
04 Adam Hammer Hammway  RHB .257 31
05 Tom Falcone   RHB .289 27
06 Amanda Falcone LHB .293 20
07 Maureen McMurray  RHB .316 22
08 Intern Emily   RHB .250  3
===================================
Bn Greg Popcak   RHB .289 49
Bn Lisa Popcak   RHB .323 15
Bn Bad Connection Bob   RHB .353 16
Bn M.C. Vannilla  RHB .319  9

Pitching
No Name          R/L ERA
======================================================
01 Father Jim Chern  RSP 2.06 Starter
02 Dr. Patzo         RSP 2.79 Starter
03 Mark Hart         LHP 2.11 Middle Reliever
04 Bill Arnld        RHP 1.00 Closer

Team B (Lou's team)

No Name       R/L Avg  HR
=======================================
01 Brett Siddell  LHB .330 20
02 Busted Halo Intern  RHB .294 16
03 Lou Ruggieri  RHB .360 18
04 dustin Faber   LHB .270 49
05 Father Dave  RHB .293 37
06 Brand New Brian  RHB .293 35
07 Doug in Kansas  RHB .305 13
08 Dan Sealana  RHB .294  1
=======================================
Bn Bob Dunning  RHB .338 27
Bn Sister Pappas  RHB .295 44
Bn Monsignor Sullivan  LHB .370  7
Bn Father Harry    LHB .220 20

Pitching
No Name    R/L ERA
===================
01 Robyn Gould LSP 1.42 Starter
02 Gus Loyd  RHP 1.12 Starter
03 Ryan Stewrt LHP 2.52 Middle Reliever
04 Rob Astorino RSP 2.83 Closer

The rest of the games 1986 and 1987 rosters are left intact, so if you want to do things right and let the Red Sox beat the Mets in every single game, go for it. But if you'd like some intramural Sirius action going, choosing those teams will do just that.

Helpful hints for you though, myself and Adam "Hammer" Hamway have the greatest chance of hitting home runs for our respective teams. Rulli has a solid bat, Ruggieri might be the best all-around player, and don't discount the speed of pinch-hitter Father Harry.

I decided to play a little game, just to see what happened. After years of playing this gem of a game, it was easy to get the hang of it. Most fun was this matchup.


While Rulli grounded out against Gus the first try, later in the game the result was dramatically different.



However, Rulli's team would not triumph, as the A team got stomped by the B team, 23-15. Yours truly had a hand in that, cracking a grand slam in the top of the 9th off of closer Bill Arnold. Adam "Hammer" Hamway had a big day for the A squad, knocking in three RBI on two home runs. Even Catholic Guy show phone answerer Christine Loyd got into the act, hitting a solo home run as well.


Truly a fun experience. Hopefully those of you with fond memories of this great baseball game will download it and play as well.

Here's what you need to play the game. It takes a few minutes, but it is extremely simple to do. All links and files are virus free!

1. Download the ROM file here. Unzip it and save it an easy to find location. It should be a file called cathchan.nes
2a. If you have Windows 98, 2000, ME, and XP, you can download Nestopia, an NES emulator needed to play the rom, here.
2b. If you are using a Macintosh system (like me), you can download Nestopia here

Install the emulator, open the ROM file that you downloaded, and off you go!