Just wanted to say that I'm extremely pleased to see this communication from Tom. It should ease most of the tension that has been building up in the forum the last while. Kudos for including all that new play-by-play stuff as a free update, not to mention the improvements to the CM and all. 9b is obviously much more than a little patch that adresses a few obscure bugs. I'm really looking forward to it!!!!! I remember in a post I made ages ago suggesting that it would be neat if the new play-by-play we'd been hearing about was to be included in 9b as a reward to all those who have waited for the patch more-or-less patiently. Probably had nothing to do with the decision to actually include it, but I gave myself a pat on the back anyway! ;-)

I'm thoroughly pleased with the current game, and I know I'll have tons of fun with the new additions in the patch. But for those looking further down the road, would it be fair to say that version 10 is at least a couple of years away? And might I also suggest that you shouldn't even MENTION the possibility of a 9c patch!!!!!!!! Deja vu all over again!!!!!! :-)