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Welcome to the first edition of the DC Daily, where we will be "shooting the Breeze" and getting an inside look at one of Buzzerbeater's newest teams, the D.C. Breeze! Here you can find game recaps, rumors, analysis of signings, trades, firings, and more. Basically anything you want to know about the team, you can get it in the D.C. Daily.

The Breeze are a new expansion team in USA League IV.4, one of 64 D.IV leagues in the country. Most teams are placed in D.V, and Breeze GM/Coach Tweak offered his thoughts on this unexpected twist: "Well, it's a blessing in disguise really, because we get more money with more people watching us on TV. And we'll get a high draft pick. Of course, we probably can't compete right here away for sure, but we'll get our chance next season."

To form their initial roster, the Breeze held open tryouts on October 22-23, trying to determine who would get a spot. Only 18 people showed up. Of these, the team kept only 11, cutting the other 7. "We could have kept them all on the roster, but there's no chance they would have all suited up let alone contributed, and at some point you have to do what's best for the team. We only have so much money here," Tweak commented. Another one of the 11, Mark Fransisco, was immediately put up for trade. The team would not comment, but the hope is that at 18 years old and with decent skills and potential, someone might be interested.

The players who remained have a relatively diverse set of talents and backgrounds. Some players of note: Vern Valadez, an older, undersized power forward with a nice jump shot and some solid all-around ability down low, and Richard Wilson and Steve Taylor, two shooting guards who were good defenders and one-time great athletes, who had unfortunately never lived up to their sky-high potential. Most of these players may start for now, but will ultimately be backups at best and only see major minutes in scrimmages and blowouts.

The real hope for the future rests with two players, Stephen Roger and Christopher Satterfield. Roger is an undersized 2-guard at 6'0", but he's lightning-quick and can shoot the ball, and his upside is enormous. The team hopes he can quickly learn to play the point guard position, where he'd be a better fit and of more value to the team. At 20 years of age, he's missed some time compared to a lot of rookies, but the team believes can still be a very good player. Satterfield is a rookie straight out of high school, and is consequently a very unpolished player. He's a good athlete but not jaw-dropping by any stretch of the imagination, but at 6'6" and with decently balanced starting skills, he could hopefully become a good swingman in the future. And, since he has the cheapest salary of anyone on the roster, he's a low-risk experiment.

"We've definitely got our work cut out for us," said Tweak at the end of his inaugural press conference. "Some of our guys can be really good, but no one's where we need to be yet, including me. It's going to be a learning experience and a bumpy ride especially at first, but to all the fans out there, be patient. With your support, we will get this team to the top."

You can watch the first game live in a little under two hours as the team travels to Syracuse to take on the Orange Wave: (49360776).

lol looks like The Eagle got more competition!

Let's see if you can beat the Mountain Eagles......;)

lol looks like The Eagle got more competition!

I don't think you can look at something that is well written, punctuated and looks like something that might actually run in an actual newspaper as competition for your thread. ;)

lol looks like The Eagle got more competition!

I don't think you can look at something that is well written, punctuated and looks like something that might actually run in an actual newspaper as competition for your thread. ;)

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhh, that's mean.

lol looks like The Eagle got more competition!

I don't think you can look at something that is well written, punctuated and looks like something that might actually run in an actual newspaper as competition for your thread. ;)

Hahahahahaha oh damn

lol looks like The Eagle got more competition!

I don't think you can look at something that is well written, punctuated and looks like something that might actually run in an actual newspaper as competition for your thread. ;)

Well played, hrudey...well played.

Wow, I can't believe I read this whole post, but the more surprising thing is that this has me intrigued about his team.

One Enthusiastic Thumb Up!

Wow, I can't believe I read this whole post, but the more surprising thing is that this has me intrigued about his team.

One Enthusiastic Thumb Up!

Lol, I actually didn't read it thoroughly, just skimmed over it. Now you have me interested

lolololol..........well, what happened to you Laser Limelight? it lost it's printer too, b/c of the printer theif?

Thanks for the generally positive reception everyone! Tough, I'd be lying if I said I didn't look at more recent diaries like yours and JackStevens' (Laser Limelight) and Rautins' (Orange Time). But I was also around back in the heyday of the original forum newspaper, the Panther Press, so I would probably attribute my inspiration primarily to Buckeyefan01. My posts tend to be longer and more wordy than some of the other newspapers I read on here, but hopefully also more polished. Feedback is always appreciated. I worry that readers may be deterred by the lengthiness of my posts, so especially let me know if you think that's the case.

On to the next entry:

It's Only Going to Get Worse
"It's only going to get worse before it gets better," Tweak told his players in a brief meeting after tonight's scrimmage, which the Breeze lost 95-31. This came nights after the team's first game, which they lost 125-79. Overall, the team has lost its first two games by an average of 55 points, a stunningly poor showing even from an obviously rebuilding team. "We knew we weren't quite ready. We expected to lose those games, and let's be real, we're going to lose several more before we get a chance to turn things around. But make no mistake, we WILL turn things around."

Although the losses stung, they were not altogether in vain. Stephen Roger and Christopher Satterfield each managed to log valuable minutes running the offense at the point guard position, learning to improve their court vision and passing ability. Breeze coaches had the opportunity to observe individual players' performances and adjust their future gameplans to get the most out of their team. Hopefully, the experience gained by players and coaches alike will help improve this team's performance over time. Still, one thing remains clear: to be successful at any level, this team is going to need to bring in more talent. Fast.

To address this issue, the team brought in several players for workouts, higlighted by young phenom point guard Gordon Gold. Coaches raved about him after his visit, but with very little money to offer, Gold chose instead to take his talents overseas to D.III Russia. Having failed in this effort, Tweak chose instead to invest the money in building more seats in the Beamer Center*, thereby making a public profession of confidence in his team's long-term future.

This Saturday, the Breeze return to D.C. for their home opener against the #1 team in the conference, Expected. It might get ugly, but all fans are encouraged to still buy tickets and merchandise to support their team. See you then: [match= 49360787]






*A word of explanation about my arena name: The Beamer Center is named after Todd Beamer, one of the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11. Todd Beamer was an alumnus of Wheaton College, where I go to school. Our student center is named after him, and I really couldn't think of a better name for my arena (call me uncreative if you want). Also, since I am a new team and have supporter for a week, Stephen Roger is temporarily wearing #93 in recognition of all those aboard Flight 93, and has the player quotation "Let's Roll!" in honor of Todd Beamer's famous last words.

I think longer posts are great as long as the grammatical structure makes sense, which yours of course do. I would write longer post more often, but alas my writing skills are not as infinitely eloquent as some. So I stick to the "lols", "i's" and ''hahahahahahah's" of other less than stellar writers which roam the forums.


I like your explanation about your arena name--it's a nice way to honor someone.