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.
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.
Back... Sort of
14 Apr 2009
Man let me tell you the outpouring of support has been touching. I figured it best if I got something up to help people understand what went awry.
Here's what happened:
After compiling information from the player CBA meetings I wanted to update the site;
I made the changes to an online version of the index page I hadn't saved locally;
While uploading the revised index I lost my connection and things locked up (thanks Comcast);
I didn't have a copy of the previous index page handy and when I got home and began looking through my drives I realized I had been updating the site that way for some time.
In other words I didn't have a version of the index that wasn't more recent than December of last year. So what I had planned for this page wound up in distilled form on a message board.
This recent outage had nothing to do with the Cease and Desist I received from Mr. Bongiovi's legal counsel. And everything to do with my lack of preparation for just such an occurance.
In the interim I have been busy with other projects. Ones I am comfortable won't result in half-assed attempts to bully me into shutting down.
Let's touch on that legal stuff for a bit. From day one this site has been clearly marked as not affiliatred with anyone or anything. It appears in the footer of every page and in the mission statement. It has never been promoted on any other site regardless of content.
No attempt was ever made at diverting or misdirecting web traffic headed elsewhere. And people aren't dumb enough to type "philet" in a search box when they're looking for...well... anything.
Next this site has never been offered for sale to anyone. No attempt was ever made to profit from the site. No ad revenue was generated and while the store was enviable it was never profitable. Never did this site pretend to be anything other than a fan site.
Despite what some may think adding a registration process to a message board is not indicative of hiding something. It's more an imperative to limit spambot participation.
The photos that appear in the image gallery are all fair use. Neither the tenants nor the arenas forbade photography at any event. More over none of the pictures were ever offered for sale. Additionally a copyright disclaimer appears on the gallery page reminding viewers the logos, trade, and service marks that may appear in the images are property of their respective owners.
And finally facts are not copyrightable. Statistics, rosters, and transactions that appear here are facts. Publicly available ones should viewers look elsewhere.
We won't even bother to ask why a press pass was ever granted to a site considered ao detrimental to the fabric of reality. Or why the creator was enlisted to help the organization with other projects.
On the plus side, and this is one person's opinion, this site did prompt changes elsewhere. This site was first to utilize information like dance team jersey numbers to aid identification. Or player transactions relevant to the team supported. Along with a fewer other items picked up by another site. So it actually helped improve things elsewhere.
The bummer part is that the fun times that went into making this the biggest and best site of it's kind is ending. A labor of love it may have been but the love affair is over.
I have no desire to offer supoort in any way, shape, or form.
The saddest part of the whole thing is how sheeple will overlook how poorly this reflects on the rich and famous and continue to absolve and swoon.
So yeah, barring a miracle PoS will probably never be the site it was. I apologize but my hypocrisy only extends so far. And just in case that miracle never occurs let me do some quick virtual knuckle pounding...
I'd like to thank first and foremost Ron and Matt. They helped make this a reality and were a huge part of the early succes. Love you guys.
Next up are L.R. and L.K. you two were on board with things early and proved this was a good idea.
Which leads me to thank K.F. and M.S. for carrying that torch later. Even if they did have to keep it down low.
I'd be remiss if I didn't thank Tim and Yale for being spell checkers and grammar nazis over the years.
I have to thank K.Z. for the constant support and feedback. Making it easier to keep putting in the hours.
Thanks to T.F. and R.L. for seeing the site for what it was and why it was needed.
Thanks to the players interviewed, the personnel pestered for information, and all the loyal readers. Everyone that has ever mentioned the site in passing or fired off an email.
If nothing else this site has created friendships that I will treasure forever.
So until the next update, have a better one.