Warrior General Games

I didn't want to hijack the Torps thread so I am moving this here:

Originally posted by geekor
[FWIW I'm wondering, how much of your team is still with you since season 6, the inaugural season? Because I don't see a lot of the same faces, apparently you're not as good of a team owner as you seem in that case.

For Black Death, we still have 28/45 of that first season, or 62.2% of the team that has been with us since day 1. Number would be higher, except me and and another agent wanted to retire a few players for Flex so we were forced to go and get a few extra replacements this season.

Yours, well let's just say it's lucky you and MightyJoey kept your players, cause it's very slim after that.

Why is it you can't keep guys? Or did you just recruit horribly and they all sucked?

Well who knows, I'm sure you'll have another 10+ new guys again next season to ask that question to.

I gotta be honest but I don't understand the animus towards recruitment in this league. It's like you are some sort of child molester when you go and upgrade your roster. I didn't understand it when lambda and faedie harped on it and I don't understand it now.

I don't have a problem with any of the owners in this league, actually get along very well with most of you and share teams with a few of you in other leagues. Let me ask a serious question. Which would make me the "best" owner:

1) I put together a good but not great team with a couple of friends. We struggle season after season but all stay together. We make the playoffs every other season but never really challenge for a title.

2) I put together a good but not great team with a couple of friends. We struggle in the first season and make some upgrades in the second season. We compete for a title that season and promote. I keep all of the agents who want to stay after promotion and upgrade where players moved on. We get clobbered for a season, stay together for a few more seasons but never again challenge for a title.

3) I put together a good but not great team with a couple of friends. We struggle in the first season, allow any agents who want to leave to go no questions asked and bring in top level talent. We compete for a title that season and promote. We allow any agents who want to leave to go no questions asked and bring in top level talent. We compete for a title that season and promote. Repeat and rinse.

4) I put together a good but not great team with a couple of friends. We struggle in the first season and fold after our second season.

To me the only bad owner is the 4th guy. Different teams have different expectations. And things change drastically as you go. When I started the Tossers I started it so that my four friends who played the game could all be on the same team with me and we could learn how to do the different positions. One by one they have stepped back from the game and now only two of us have real GM roles. We originally planned to be the #1 team. We have since gone through #2 and are working on #3.

I don't feel like I have been a "bad" owner at any point during my tenure as the owner of the Tossers, I have only had one player ask to leave the team and we traded him to a team that gave him what he wanted. Many of my original agents are still on the team and have brought in some of their higher leveled players. I have also been active in free agency when I have thought it was in the best interest of my team particularly this past season. I offered every single agent affected the option of what they wanted, any that wanted to move on were released from their contracts with my thanks. Many stayed on in new roles. My own personal players and many of the players of my friends who originally started this team with me were traded so we would have money for our stadium and could still be active in free agency despite the fact that our original goal was to make a team for our guys. Our goals changed and we made personal sacrifices for the good of the team. How can that be a bad thing?

I applaud any team that can stay mostly intact, its really hard to keep people tuned in and fired up. I have a ton of respect for anyone who came in with great builds and a tight knit group. I also have a ton of respect for teams that are so well run that people flock to them. And I have respect for people that do what they have to do to field a championship squad. Because ultimately all are good owners.

Sorry for the long post I went off on a rant that has been brewing for some time.

Is there a tl;dr version?

In all seriousness I hear you and agree 100%. I've been very fortunate to keep better than 90% of the original core of agents from our inaugural season. Where we've upgraded, it's been by the agents already involved signing their higher-leveled players in exchange for a lower-leveled guy who they retire, move on, etc.

To me, the definition of 'good owner' is simple -- be honest, communicate and be fiscally responsible. That's it.

Originally posted by lardaddy

To me, the definition of 'good owner' is simple -- be honest, communicate and be fiscally responsible. That's it.

To me, that's the definition of a competent owner. A good owner also creates competitive game plans and puts his players in position to thrive as well as get everyone enough playing time to continue to grow.

Merenoise, IMO you are an excellent owner and a cornerstone of this league and forum. Never doubt it.

why do you care what other people think about how you run your team....

It does not matter to me.... I think that you need to improve a few spots every season. People leave and people retire players move to friends teams etc.....

Every year I map out who I need and what I need to replace. I upgrade each and every one of those spots with the intention of making the team better.

What other people do does not concern me.

The way i see things is like this. In life, there are winners, and you have losers. You have greats and you have gods, mice and men, I could go on, but im not going to.

Since i was a little toddler i was the biggest football (Soccer) fan in the world. My Grandad was one of the greatest ever players to play the game, he was ranked as the 6th best player ever to play for one of the most prestigious clubs, and somehow he instilled in me the willingness to be a God, and no i know i aint one, but i know if the time came to it, i would do what i had to, just to make sure i was regardless of what someone else might think, i dont know if this is good or bad, i am certainly not a cocky little northerner, in fact i pride myself on my modest attitude and curtious will towards others, but at the same time i play a game where you either make it or you dont, you either win the race or you lose, i have never been a fan of 1st place and runners up, its 1st place and nothing but yes i know no you guys dont see that and nor does anyone, we are playing an online game where anyone can be anyone they want to be, i may be 5 i may be 65, who knows?

But that there can be interpreted in to GLB, strange as it may seem LOL

I see recruiting as a sort of thing where you either leave things be and ok you do well, but you will never be the type of team you might be with the Lvl 40 DE or whatever wanting to join. So basically i think of it like this, if there is an upgrade at that position, and he wants to join you take him. Of course that is most certainly within reason - IE, if the agent of the player you let go is a good guy, or the player has an elite build, or you feel for some reason you should keep him, then i would so, but if i feel the player is to inactive in the forum, to unhelpful for the team, his build isnt quite good as it could be, then he goes. As i said within reason.

I apologise for long post, thought i would let you in on my life story

Matt

Well it depends on your point of view.

I guess I will give mine. My team I got season 4, 5 days into the season (back when Bort thought that was ok). Our first season sucked as it was a struggle just to get players, let alone any good ones, got screwed for tickets and stadium. Since then I have had the misfortune of having some bad agents and just awful builds. We still have a handful that have been with us from the beginning, and now we have great agents, great team, many who ask to bring their FA's to my team. Back then I had a high turnover rate as I needed to improve because of bad builds at the beginning, and because I was a newbie owner who did things badly. I was a bad owner (I got better )

But the issue's I have are with teams with really high turnover, they guys who every season half their roster is different. That shows that A) they are bad at recruiting and need to dump bad players or B) their team is run badly and agents don't want to stay.

I am no longer like that, but the team I see that are like that, I feel are as I was at the beginning, bad owners.

If you look at good franchises who do you pick? How many people would pick the Redskins? I know I wouldn't. Well that's what some teams look like, getting the highest guy they can, paying out the ass, just to look good and hope to make something. That isn't the mark of a good owner IMHO. We don't do heavy recruiting, because we've found it to be a waste. We'd much rather take character and loyalty and good build over any high level that comes along.

And besides, congrats getting those level 50 season 1 guys, and congrats having to replace them next season as they start to decline already. We have at least 3 more seasons, if not more, with our guys, while you struggle to find new blood every offseason.

Technically it all comes down to wins and losses.. however you do it, if you win you are good. If you lose you get replaced. That's reality.

Recruiting is recruiting is recruiting. Trust me, I OWN a recruiting firm!

First, EVERYONE on your team should have the expectation and understanding that the owner (or GM) is going to do everything in their power to put the best players on the field every week. It's really that simple. And, if you aren't doing that (as an owner or GM), then YOU (the owner or GM) is doing his or her team a huge dis-service. You are intentionally hurting your team and protecting guys based on tenure rather than performance. Outside of football, that is how companies fail. They reward people who have been long term employees rather than rewarding productive ones. Eventually, your top performers leave because they are frustrated that they don't get rewarded. But, you also begin to lose your top performers who DO get rewarded because they see that the company is willing to wallow in mediocrity and isn't interested in awardng greatness.

Second, I don't care if you actively go out and need to make your team better, you actively go out and try and make your team better or you passively sit on your ass and let your current agents bring their great FA's to your team. If you decide to bring those great players onto your team then you are recruiting...... Don't differentiate between the guy who needs to rebuild every year and the guy who has great players just come to his team w/o actively pursuing people. I don't care how you slice it, that is recruiting. It's like a client of mine has a position open - whether they recruit that person through an internal referral, the HR department attracts them, they use Monster.com or some other job board to recruit them or they use a good, old fashioned recruiter; they are still recruiting for that position. I don't care if you are the #1 high school talent in the US and you tell Pete Carroll that you want to play at USC; you were still recruited.

Recruiting is how teams get better and try to win a championship. I mean, geez, USC landed Mitch Mustain after he transferred from Arkansas with a 10-0 starting record and he was already the #1 QB coming out of high school before that. But does USC sit back and get all fat and happy with Mustain? No, they go out and recruit the #1 rated player from high school in 2009 - Matt Barkley - who just so happens to be a QB. The best players play at USC and at every other team. Why should GLB be any different.

Just realize that when you think you don't recruit to get players; you really are recruiting to get players and you are no better or worse than other owners who recruit differently than you.

Originally posted by mattlee123
The way i see things is like this. In life, there are winners, and you have losers. You have greats and you have gods, mice and men, I could go on, but im not going to.

Since i was a little toddler i was the biggest football (Soccer) fan in the world. My Grandad was one of the greatest ever players to play the game, he was ranked as the 6th best player ever to play for one of the most prestigious clubs, and somehow he instilled in me the willingness to be a God, and no i know i aint one, but i know if the time came to it, i would do what i had to, just to make sure i was regardless of what someone else might think, i dont know if this is good or bad, i am certainly not a cocky little northerner, in fact i pride myself on my modest attitude and curtious will towards others, but at the same time i play a game where you either make it or you dont, you either win the race or you lose, i have never been a fan of 1st place and runners up, its 1st place and nothing but yes i know no you guys dont see that and nor does anyone, we are playing an online game where anyone can be anyone they want to be, i may be 5 i may be 65, who knows?

But that there can be interpreted in to GLB, strange as it may seem LOL

I see recruiting as a sort of thing where you either leave things be and ok you do well, but you will never be the type of team you might be with the Lvl 40 DE or whatever wanting to join. So basically i think of it like this, if there is an upgrade at that position, and he wants to join you take him. Of course that is most certainly within reason - IE, if the agent of the player you let go is a good guy, or the player has an elite build, or you feel for some reason you should keep him, then i would so, but if i feel the player is to inactive in the forum, to unhelpful for the team, his build isnt quite good as it could be, then he goes. As i said within reason.

I apologise for long post, thought i would let you in on my life story

Matt

Who is your grandad?

Originally posted by mpatt75
Originally posted by mattlee123

The way i see things is like this. In life, there are winners, and you have losers. You have greats and you have gods, mice and men, I could go on, but im not going to.

Since i was a little toddler i was the biggest football (Soccer) fan in the world. My Grandad was one of the greatest ever players to play the game, he was ranked as the 6th best player ever to play for one of the most prestigious clubs, and somehow he instilled in me the willingness to be a God, and no i know i aint one, but i know if the time came to it, i would do what i had to, just to make sure i was regardless of what someone else might think, i dont know if this is good or bad, i am certainly not a cocky little northerner, in fact i pride myself on my modest attitude and curtious will towards others, but at the same time i play a game where you either make it or you dont, you either win the race or you lose, i have never been a fan of 1st place and runners up, its 1st place and nothing but yes i know no you guys dont see that and nor does anyone, we are playing an online game where anyone can be anyone they want to be, i may be 5 i may be 65, who knows?

But that there can be interpreted in to GLB, strange as it may seem LOL

I see recruiting as a sort of thing where you either leave things be and ok you do well, but you will never be the type of team you might be with the Lvl 40 DE or whatever wanting to join. So basically i think of it like this, if there is an upgrade at that position, and he wants to join you take him. Of course that is most certainly within reason - IE, if the agent of the player you let go is a good guy, or the player has an elite build, or you feel for some reason you should keep him, then i would so, but if i feel the player is to inactive in the forum, to unhelpful for the team, his build isnt quite good as it could be, then he goes. As i said within reason.

I apologise for long post, thought i would let you in on my life story

Matt

Who is your grandad?

Not going to say for privacy reasons

I will put a photo up later and if you get it, congratulations, if not, then well, learn some footballing knowledge

Originally posted by Killer_Elite
Technically it all comes down to wins and losses.. however you do it, if you win you are good. If you lose you get replaced. That's reality.

+1

My team can kick any pee wee league team's ass in GLB. Does that mean I am good?

There comes a point that any player, even with a shit build, that is X amount of levels higher is going to be better than what anyone currently has. You get enough of them on a team, and you are going to win.

My original concept was to recruit good builds, try to keep them all together, and progress through the higher leagues and remain competitive for a championship. With the way this league is going, I don't know how much longer I will be able to keep this up.

Let me ask the members of the original WEBBB1 a question. Do you think that if you would have kept the level of your players in line with what a player recruited at level 13 would be today, that you could still be competitive? I think that the answer for many of you would be yes.

Now one more question. Do you think that it would be a helluva lot more challenging and fun to be in a league where all the players are within a few levels of each other? Me personally, I think that would be great. Unfortunately GLB has no structure for that concept.