BuzzerBeater Forums

truly a misunderstanding. there are a fair number of people in d3 and d4 that have asked me for help and i've given it to them. i am not going to give my input unless asked generally, but if asked i am happy to help.

i have email exchanges, bb mail exchanges, and those teams have gone on to be decent, though as in the case in all mentor cases the mentor only deserves 5% of the credit at most

with that said, your performance was defensible this season, the results didnt go your way but at least you were forthright in explaining your process.

So I'd like to hear who your ideal candidate for U21 position next season would be, and who you would absolutely hate to work with.

There's been a really great set of people involved in the u21's with Coco (yourself included, as well as people like FatCurry, Azariah, jfarb and others) doing scouting, etc, that I think are getting a great feel for the u21 players and the quality of the opposition. I think that kind of familiarity is very valuable. But I think we've got a lot of good managers scattered around, so I think it's really a matter of finding one of them that's willing to put in a fair bit of time and effort.

I'd also like to know how long you guys are planning to be the NT manager. We've had pretty long terms from Juice and Coco has had 4 seasons. Is more turnover good, or is the stability of having a single manager better in your opinion?

I think it depends on results, and if things are going poorly, the elections will take care of this on its own. That said, I can't imagine doing it for as long as Juice has--the amount of time he's put into the team is remarkable.

Here's one for you all. If you lost would you still help out the team?

Absolutely.

One of my primary ideas to help the program in general if I win is to organize a group of volunteers who will provide "cold calls" to managers who get draftees on our watch list and ensure the club manager is aware of his player's status and is asked to consider single-position training if he's not already doing so. I'd envision this cadre as responsible for being available as a training assistant/mentor for club managers who want the help... and for making sure they're coordinating on at least some level with managers who have indicated willingness to have the player under consideration but don't want direct help training. I have a group of about 15 friends who were either directly recruited by me, or recruited by the circle of friends that I run with in other games. At least one of those friends has already explicitly stated interest in filling some sort of position like I described above, so I have a base of staff that would be available for such a team.

Were I to not win, I would make myself available to the NT coach and CLM for the above described program. If the coaches wanted to proceed with it, I would certainly try to bring as many of my circle into the scouting/training program as possible.

Ok, so working with the U21 Manager as a team is a big part of holding the NT job. It's sorta like you are the president and the U21 is your vicepresident.

So I'd like to hear who your ideal candidate for U21 position next season would be, and who you would absolutely hate to work with.

I'd also like to know how long you guys are planning to be the NT manager. We've had pretty long terms from Juice and Coco has had 4 seasons. Is more turnover good, or is the stability of having a single manager better in your opinion?

I think for the NT manager, the length of term isn't as clearly defined as for the U21 manager. I think for the U21 manager, the coach should be entitled to 2 terms (4 seasons), so that he gets one term with "his own" players -- players who were 18 and 19 after his first election and had the opportunity to have their training shaped by his preferences. For the NT manager, it's a little less obvious... I think 2 terms would be good in order to control for some randomness and give the manager a chance to succeed, but having a long string of terms probably wouldn't be great for the program, as fossilization of strategy and thinking would work against the NT's chances if it became more predictable.

As far as ideal candidate for U21... pretty much anyone who's put in some blood, sweat, and tears into the scouting/player development departments over the past 4 seasons would be on my endorsement list for next season's election.

Last edited by Azariah at 12/15/2009 9:49:36 PM

It is an easy decision to pick me because I actually do the job and do it in an instant!
LOL IF USA ISNT IN THE TOP 3 IN 3 MONTHS OF ME BEING LEADER, FIRE ME!
BUT I ALREADY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO TO BRING THIS TEAM TO THE TOP 3 IN 3 MONTHS!

Last edited by Tong Tong Gong at 12/15/2009 10:14:13 PM

Well that's it then, I dislike your management, and officially dislike you now as well.

I guess I can stop waiting for the holiday card in the mail.

WHy would I contribute, when I never liked your management of the team?

If you cared about the NT, you'd try to affect change during competition, but it's clear you only care about it if you're running it.

You could say its carpet bagging, but it's better than me belitting your decisions game by game. God knows I am active in this game (log in pretty much every day, talk frequently with a variety of managers to expand my thought process about the inner workings of the game). You had your inner advisors, and the group think that resulted from it led to the results we had.

Results that you would have had zero chance of matching or exceeding.

I wanted no association with your regime. I'm amazed that people think you were successful. I think with the resources at our disposal, not having a single appearance in the finals is nothing but a failure on your part.

Clearly you have no idea what our resources were. You chose to disassociate yourself after another losing electoral effort, yet you talk like you know all about the NT and the issues it faced.

I realize that if there was a national perception of you as a failure that would hurt.

My legacy is secure, regardless of what you think.

You care about your legacy deeply, and on the club level that is secure.

My club has played 2nd fiddle for the duration of my NT tenure.

However, you have had 3 cracks at it, and have failed to overachieve in any of those attempts. In baseball you would be out on strikes.

That's 4 cracks, but I figured that your extensive NT knowledge you'd know that.

I'm pretty damn sure that had you been in my role, you'd have zero Worlds hardware.

Simply put, you failed. You had awesome resources, and wasted them.

The people that actually bothered to care about the NT built those resources.

If you, as a voter reading this, thnk that Juice was successful, you clearly wont want to vote for me.

Clearly they felt I was a better choice than you, what, 2 or 3 times now?

As for alienation, I would not want anyone that got us to where we were, that's true.

Translation: anyone that associated with the USA NT under Juice sucks.

Tremendous way to garner votes.

However, the post i previously referenced here: http://itmightbedangerous.blogspot.com/2008/06/draft-review-about-process.html

Well that couldnt be more true

The graph part of the way down sums it up. You could have one term, and be truly unlucky. But over the long term, you end up in either the top left or bottom right boxes. I maintain we underachieved and are now deservedly in the bottom right box.

That above passage clearly illustrates that you have no idea what it takes to run a large nation's national team. You want to judge something you've already made clear you ignored because you weren't calling the shots? I'm sure the USA community sees right through that.

Realistically though, if the continuation of the prior regime wins, there is no reason for me to contribute, unless if the candidate enjoys getting heckled.

So you're guaranteeing you're going to go pout for another two seasons?

It's not about Juice. It's about you and wozz and Azariah and about how both of those guys have proven to care more than you.

In the end, this is how it is.

I'm not running, yet TUG's focus is on me and what I've done.

::shrug::

yes, the voters chose you 3 straight times. bob marley said you can fool some of the people sometimes, but you've fooled enough of those poeple all the time.

you have a different take on how you performed in the national team than i did, and we aren't in any danger of agreeing anytime soon.

my positon stands, over 6 seasons your leadership can be termed a failure, and you can call me selfish, but running 3 times, and doing worse each time, well that is truly a spectacular selfish feat.

im done discussing you though, so if you want the last word go for it.

i'd like to talk more about the things i would do differently, so if users have substantive questions feel free to ask away. thanks.

Hard to ask legit questions with all your mudslinging.

I'm a little disappointed Janitor dropped off he would have been interesting to hear more of.


Gunner, Juice and Coco have worked hard to get people to help them with the team and at times activity can be kind of sparse. How will you increase activity, and keep interest of those who have already put a helping hand forward to help a coach that you now openly mock.