On to more important things
31 Aug 2009
Back in July I made a plea for you good people to vote for Courtney in the BBBB Best Server contest. Many of you voted and I think you for that.
Trouble is once Courtney built up a lead many people stopped voting. What's up with that? If you asked me to vote daily for your friend I would. Unless it was Obama Bin Biden of course. Look, if I am the only one voting for Courtney she'll only have 9903 votes when the contest ends.
Sure that'll probably be enough to win but come on. Don't you want to see her get 10,000 votes. It's not been done. She'd have more votes than all her competition combined. And she was a Soulmate! Just look at that face. How could you deny her the chance to annihilate the others in the contest ;-)
Seriously, there's only a couple of days left. So please, VOTE FOR COURTNEY. If not for her then for me. If not for me then to keep David Baker from coming to your home and eating you.
Turn Out the Lights The Party's Over
03 Aug 2009
Looks like we're in the final week of a unique brand of football.In what would have been the closing of it's 23rd year. Think about that for a second. The second oldest professional football league in American history is all but buried.
To recap:
A year ago Philadelphia Soul fans were on top of the world. Their team having just won an ArenaBowl championship and many were still recovering from a trip to Nawlins.
Then the wheels fell off.
Commisioner Shrek was gone. Leaving the league rudderless and deeply in debt. Debt he was hugely responsible for. Debt some owners eagerly embraced hoping for a huge payoff.
All the fans know the rest of the story. Lies, deceit, book cooking, behind the scenes manipulations, and of course greed. Scumbag qwners too big for the beloved game killed the Arena Football League. With the R.O.I. not what they hoped they threatened and cajoled and finally caved.
Not to the fans, and certainly not to the players they jerked around. But to their own greed.
Teams like New Orleans and Los Angeles choose to do the honorable thing and fold up their tents early on. Other pretended things were progressing and tried to eke out a few last dollars from hungry fans.
Long blinded by idol worship and media spin. Those fans would profess undying optimism until the very end. Yes I mean those poor myopic fans of New Jersey corporate pop rock bands.
In internet parlance I guess the term "Epic Fail" is most appropriate. But I won't say I told you so.
Dumbasses probably still don't believe it.
Anyone wanna make an offer on a spiffy black and white Arenabowl polo shirt. Only worn twice. Size XXL. It does have some Dy-O-Derm on the front of it. But I guarantee the dancer it rubbed off of is a stunner :-)
Anyone wanna take a guess at when the bankruptcy filing will be?
FYI for those AFL owners that still want to play: We still want to watch. Start a new league. Keep the ElJovi types out of it and go back to basics. We will come and watch.
Vote for Courtney
12 Jul 2009
UPDATE 19 AUG 09 - Courtney is in the lead by more than 5400 votes. Big thanks to everyone voting. Voting ends September 3rd. Keep it up!
The website goac.com is hosting the Bally's Bikini Beach Bar Server Contest.
One of our former dance team members and my buddy, the lovely and talented Courtney, is a competitor. The ONLY competitor as far as I am concerned. And as Phiily fans, as dance team fans, and as cool chick fans, I hope you feel the same way.
Hit this link to register and vote. Each time you vote you are registered to win a $50 gift card from The Walk. One winner will be selected every week. More importantly The Bally's Bikini Beach Bar Server with the most votes at the end of the summer will recieve a $1000 gift card to The Walk.
Many of you should remember Courtney. #32 volunteered for nearly every event and appearance and was always incredible with the fans. The girl loved promoting the team and meeting new people. And of course she was many fans favorite dancer. Especially the younger ones.
It only takes a few minutes to cast your vote. Let's help a girl that gave so much to the team and fans get something for herself. So please VOTE FOR COURTNEY!
Let's Learn Something Together
11 Jun 2009
im*i*ta*tion
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : an act or instance of imitating
2 : something produced as a copy : counterfeit
3 : a literary work designed to reproduce the style of another author
4 : the repetition by one voice of a melody, phrase, or motive stated earlier in the composition by a different voice
5 : the quality of an object in possessing some of the nature or attributes of a transcendent idea
6 : the assumption of behavior observed in other individuals
Hopefully this helps you poor brainwashed and confused apologists put things in perspective. You can't imiate something that doesn't exist.
Time Keeps On Slipping, Slipping Slipping...
03 Jun 2009
New decision date, for whatever it is the incredibly caring people in the AFL are deciding, is the end of June.
Let's play a game while we wait.
How about a game of Arena Football Franchise Ownership. In this game you blow smoke up the assess of people you depend on to fill your arena. You engage in levels of douchebaggery rarely seen in second tier sports. And while doing all this you lazily make your way towards fielding a football team for the 2010 season. You shutter the shop because you lost some coin then vote to continue to lose more after slashing costs by more than 50%.
Sounds like a blast doesn't it? Well it can get tricky as you'll see in a moment.
Fielding a team is easy. 20 bodies registering 98.6 degress aren't hard to find. Finding a coaching staff even easier. There are thousands of armchair coaches waiting for their shot. It gets a bit dicier when you need to have someone pay to see and help promote your product.
The barely legible and largely ignored rules for this game have the season starting in March of 2010. That's about ten months away. It's the beginning of June but training camp won't start for eight months. Plenty of time for the football part of things to take shape.
The question is how do you market and sell your product with enough efficiency to have an attendance you aren't ashamed of? And more to the point, when do you begin those efforts.
Now if you're a lone star owner you have a product tied to an extremely recognizable and marketable commodity. Selling seats and sponsorships is easy for you. If you are a Nassau Lighthouse devotee you have the advantage of the excitement inherent in new ownership, logo and uniform look, as well as naivete. If you're in a snowbird haven you have the benefit of a bonofide fan base built over many years. And of course if you're a Badhair brother you can just throw a party and flash a smile.
Where does that leave everyone else? Why is now the right time to give the home of Iron City Beer another chance and why wouldn't they benefit from more lead time? Same with the other large market expansion spots.
So that's pretty much the game. Actually it is more like a puzzle. You have the picture on the box. You have all the pieces. You just have no flippin' idea how to put it together so anyone else can tell what the hell it is supposed to be.
How would you do it?
Nonstop to Nowhere
23 Apr 2009
Well the AFL site has a article claiming "AFL working to resume play in 2010" posted. It quotes Jim Rennaci as saying "The group that developed the new viability plan is set to meet with owners across the league to review it and the amendments to the CBA," said Renacci. "We hope to see everything ratified in the next 30 days."
So really nothing has changed.
The CBA still hasn't been adopted. Though that shouldn't be a problem. Especially since the AFLPA has given the owners another 30 days to get around to it. There are only four player greivances outstanding. And it appears the risk management and insurance intermediary Willis HRH is the new insurance agency for the players. Saving the league a whopping 44% over the current plan. Did you know Willis was the broker for the Titanic?
Recent reports also have some players getting championship rings sent to them. It's about fucking time, but I guess there won't be a ring ceremony for the fans to participate in.
A Philadelphia Soul minority owner was on a local sports radio show hosted by a jackass that looks amazingly like the most recent incarnation of the Burger King. He was unsurprisingly upbeat about the league returning. Yet also strangely non-committal about certainty of that return.
But hey, it could happen. There could be word any day now.
In preparation for the return of the AFL I will be trying out some new layouts for the site. Don't get too excited about it. They will be pretty generic for now since I haven't decided on backing Orlando or Dallas going forward.