THE BEST ONLINE LEAGUE NEWSLETTER 2.06
   
Tuesday, March 4th, 2003
 
Y'all just don't get it. I won't fail here. This league will never, ever fold. This will always be the Best Online League. Your petty dramas won't stop that. There are appropriate ways to deal with every situation, and no matter how fast they come at me - I will deal with them. The rules will be changed accordingly and we will move on.
 
As you may have guessed, there was another incident. Amazingly, somehow the day after the Evo debacle something that damn near tops it.
 
First and foremost, our new member, "Dance with Bob" doesn't like the headset. This is a problem. I don't expect you to talk if you don't want to, but you're all gonna need to wear the headset. Because if emergencies happen, the other person needs to communicate with you. As well, an entire fiasco could've been avoided with a few simple words.
 
Bob's Bucs were playing Andrew's Packers and beating their assssss when a divergence happened in the 3rd Quarter. They had to have a rematch the following night. The Packers were determined not to get slammed so hard, so they ran the clock for the rematch. This is absolutely, 100% legal. In an effort to cut down on the possessions of another team, you can run the clock. That's what the play clock is for. In fact, it's rather smart to do that if you're overmatched. It's the only way the Texans pulled out victories last season. It may not be pretty, but this is a serious league, with serious money - so you need to play with strategy.
 
Well this pissed Bob off pretty bad. He wanted a good rating. So when he had the ball, he didn't punt it away. He went for it on every 4th down. He knew giving it to the Packers meant a whole half-a-quarter would be gone. In this situation, that is NOT a dick move whatsoever. It's a chess match. He also kicked onside kicks every time (he didn't get ANY of them) but he shortened the Packers field that kept them from amassing yards. I don't really see the point in this strategy but it certainly isn't illegal or even a dick move. It's all a reaction to the Packers holding the ball.
 
The problem? No one was talking. Had Andrew explained that he would be holding the ball for fear of getting RAPED, it would've pissed Bob off a little less. Conversely, had Bob explained to Andrew that to counteract that - he would NOT be punting it back to him, that he'd be taking his chances on 4th, Andrew wouldn't have gotten so pissed that he inevitably QUIT THE LEAGUE.
 
Talk about stupid miscommunications. And on top of ALL OF THIS. The game was diconnected by Andrew in the 4th Quarter. He openly admits this.
 
Wait? Isn't that an automatic-ban?
 
-Quitting a game. Each team is allowed 2 emergencies for the season. Shit happens, and you don't deserve to be kicked out of the league because your cat's dying and you have to take him to the vet.
 
Andrew had to leave and guess what, he couldn't tell Bob because he wasn't wearing his headset. (sigh). See the problem? You have to wear your headset. If you don't want to talk, or be talked to, just ask the other guy to mute himself out. And please people, if a guy requests that you mute yourself, please fuggin' do it. Be courteous. We need to all be friends here. Then if there is an emergency, or they need to tell you something - they can. Fair enough? Fair enough.
 
As far as Andrew quitting...talk about quitting before you're fired. LOL. Because he said it was an emergency and had no way of communicating with Bob, I can't kick him out. It's obviously suspicious with as pissed off as he was, but without the headset - it's a loophole. As well, he calmed down a bit when I explained Bob's side and will continue. He still thinks it's a total dick move to go for it every 4th down (and in most cases it is), but someday he'll see that it was in response to HIS holding the ball.
 
And also - some crazy shit has been happening. Things that if they happened to me - I'd want to rip my xbox out of the wall, but guess what: most of us have been mature enough to deal with it. The Rams had Ricky Williams run for 437 yards against him in a 63-21 ROUTE. Dude used Ricky every play. Either throwing to him or running with him. Over, and over, and over. Rams just took it. Yes, he was fucking irate. But he didn't pull any shit. Firstly, because it's a goddamn videogame, and secondly - because he's a good sport. And no it's not illegal to use one guy every play, nor is that a dick move. If Anthony Thomas was blowin' up for 200 yards in a half, you better believe I'm gonna set the league record. Stop using excuses when people outplay you.
 
And also - going for it on 4th down...is a RISK. If your offense is running so well that you think you can pull it off...good for you! Yeah it's frustrating as a defense, but if you can't stop them and you've proven that every time, why on earth would they kick it back to you?
 
Also to be addressed: this ever-present "uhm, I'm gonna be away for 2 weeks, can I play up to week 10 now?" LOL. We now have 4 people with this and it's getting a little crazy. I'm trying to update to week 4 people. Calm the hell down. We cannot do what we did last season. It took all the drama out of the league. We have to stick with the schedule. Right now you're allowed to go to week 6. The Rams, and the Niners are allowed to go ahead to week 8 as they will be gone for a week, but no one else. As it is The Chiefs are now gonna be out of town for another week and a half, leaving him stuck at week 5. The other 17 teams need to just do weeks 3-6 and slow down. I'll be working on the Blue League Recruiting tonight and that'll be up and going so we have a couple more games a week.
 
And finally - some of these games are amazing. The standings are looking crazy. As of right now, only the Saints are undefeated - and looking at their schedule, I don't see that ever ending. Everyone else has at least 1 loss. It's gonna be an amazingly close race for the 12 playoff spots. This will be very, very epic.
 
Now stop all your pussy teenage drama and play ball.
 
League Founder,
Adam Kontras
The Chicago Bears
 
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