GroupThink - 1997 Little Rock Rollers

[QuikSand]

GroupThink – 1997 Little Rock Rollers

This is a continuation of the GroupThink career, managing the Little Rock Rollers. The career started in 1990, and has been jointly managed by several of the regular FOFC members, with input from numerous others.

All are welcome to download the game files, and join in the discussions. (Note: the game files will rename your cities and teams, so back up your own universe directory before overwriting those files)

GroupThink Original File


For the detailed history of the Little Rock Rollers, here are previous threads that can get you up to speed:

GroupThink beginnings
1991 offseason
1991 regular season
1992 offseason
1992 regular season
1993 offseason
1993 regular season
1994 season
1995 offseason
1995 season
1996 offseason and season



Here is an updated version of our house rules, including some amendments I have penned to keep them in line with the way we have actually played this out:

House Rules:

1. Must take 60 players to training camp each season.
2. Must keep at least 53 players on the roster all season long.
3. Players can not start out of position at the beginning of the season, and replacements for injuries must be made within position groups, if possible.
4. At the start of the career, all players under contract on the team must be offered a new contract or released.
5. No one can sim games except for the specified simmer for that week. That person can only sim once, the official results will be obtained from that sim.
6. When offering a contract to a player requesting a signing bonus, we must either:
- offer him exactly the deal he demands, or
- offer him a signing bonus at least as large as the largest yearly salary.

Trading:
1. Draft-pick-for-draft-pick deals can only be initiated during the draft. (plus potentially more restrictions)
2. We can accept any AI-initiated trade, if it meets the “fairness test”
3. We can shop a player, and then can only make one trade offer, to the top interested team-- if that offer is rejected, we must release the player.


Free Agents:

1. All offers to free agents who are new to the team must come prior to week 1, and may not be altered afterwards (except to withdraw the offer).
2. "Fan Favorites" or "Idolized" players who are the most popular players in their position group on our team must be offered at least their requested contract in week 1 of the 20-step process. These players may not be traded or released.
3. We may tender an offer to re-sign any of our free agents at any time.
4. Franchise tag can be used.
5. Only undrafted rookie free agents may be signed outside of the 20-Step Process, and only to a one-year deal.

Renegotiations:
1. Renegotiation allowed only in last year of contract in the case of a "Classy Veteran" defined as:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- In the 10th year or later of his career.
- Has played 5 full seasons on our team.
- Has a Loyalty rating >75.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. No "classy veteran" whose Play For Winner Rating is 60 or above can be renegotiated with following a season when the team didn't make the playoffs. He can only be re-signed via the 20-Step Process.
3. No "classy veteran" who is unhappy or has a conflict with a teammate can be renegotiated. He can only be re-signed via the 20-step process.

And, in case you’d rather cut to the chase – here is the club’s record of success to date, after our taking over the franchise in 1990 (after the original one-player universe settled into maturity):

Year  Team  Eval  Perf  Diff  Proft FrVal Record    Playoffs  
1996  LTR   71    90    67    61    70    14-3-0    Division Final         
1995  LTR   72    90    68    75    62    14-4-0    Conference Final       
1994  LTR   74    95    70    75    62    15-4-0    Conference Champion    
1993  LTR   73    95    72    86    50    15-4-0    Conference Champion    
1992  LTR   70    100   75    90    35    15-4-0    Bowl Winner            
1991  LTR   54    66    76    80    22    12-6-0    Division Final         

Oddly enough, our team has followed a downward spiral in its playoff results the last few years – even though I think we could argue that our team has actually gotten better over that time (as our regular season record would attest). Regardless, we remain a major factor in the league, and would like very much to reverse that downward trend.


So, read on, play along, join the staff or just let us know what you think!

[QuikSand]

1997 offseason


Retirement announcements

We once again have nobody at all departing. Our esprit de corps must be high – nobody wants to leave! Actually, this is probably a function of our invesment in mostly fairly young players, but still – even S Donnie Bridgeman is back for another season, and he’s as old as dirt!


Front Office

A big jump in player salary and bonus costs pushed our bottom line downward – we lost some $59 million last year. With a new deal impending for our QB Coghill, this season might not be too kind either.

Our front office staff is in place, and since our team hasn’t fallen apart, we’re sticking with them. Full Contact Jarvis, our coach, now has a remarkable record of 97-32 overall, and is on pace to shatter the record for the fastest coach to win 100 games in the league. His winning percentage of .751 is over 100 points higher than anyone else’s in the league. Kudos, coach!


Free Agency

As we prepare for the free agent signing period, another look at our team popularity rankings tells us this about our favorites and idolized players:

 Player                #   Pos  Leadrsp Intlgnc Loylty  PlayWn  FanPop  
Coghill, Otis           5   QB   36      78      14      53      100    *   
Wooldridge, Hardy       63  LT   51      62      78      33      100       
Crawford, Duane         35  RB   19      55      26      92      98        
Brewer, Adrian          93  LDE  45      17      48      74      94        
Lincoln, Ty             36  FS   66      28      70      76      90        
Newton, Benjamin        4   QB   79      98      14      10      89        
Lucas, Jamal            32  RB   53      12      1       88      88        
Maffett, Austin         49  RCB  57      91      28      16      85        
Hill, Wayne             19  FL   22      44      100     86      83     *   
Bridgeman, Donnie       48  SS   26      4       68      68      83     *   
Hatcher, Juan           80  TE   48      16      9       74      81        
Dockery, Karl           84  SE   1       73      15      44      80     *   
Morrell, Matthew        87  FL   11      8       62      42      79        
Perea, Deion            83  FL   41      70      14      91      74        
Ellis, Bert             97  LDT  90      46      33      58      73        

The asterisks indicate players who are seeking a new contract this year. By my calculations, this means that all four of these guys must receive a new contract. (I believe I’m interpreting the discussion from last year correctly – that split end is different than flanker for this purpose, and therefore Karl Dockery must get an offer)

My sense from previous discussions is that we seek to re-sign Otis Coghill at all costs, and in my mind that means we use the franchise tag here. That will offer us an unmitigated chance to get him locked up in the first week of free agency, without worrying bout other teams bidding on him. Since he’s our cornerstone player, I am very comfortable with this. That slots him at around $18.6 million for this year – which is about what we had been expecting, maybe even a little lower.

So, with Coghill penciled in there, our bigger financial picture looks like this:

29 players signed (a new low for us)
$54.6m in cap room
Pencil in $25m to sign S Bridgeman, WR Hill, and WR Dockery
Five draft picks, expected cost of $5.8m

That leaves $24m or so to sign 23 players. With URFA players costing something like $600K each, that means we have rather little room to spare.

Unless I’m missing something major (or we don’t end up getting either WR Hill or S Bridgeman) we will have precious little capacity to even make a run at any of our departing players – including such notables as DE Russel Austin, DE Riddick Finley, and LB Clay Harden. Each of those guys is rightfully seeking big money – and I don’t see how we can fit an extra $12-15m contract in under our cap this year.

Maybe this is finally the year. Maybe we have completely painted ourselves into a corner. Will we even be able to field a respectable defense this year? I think we have no choice but to look for bargain basement options, and consider using some guys like that as starters, like it or not.

We’ll stop here for now…

[Bee]

I think Bridgeman is just waiting until he can collect Social Security before he retires.

[primelord]

Can we move Ty Lincoln to SS and then not be forced to re-up Donnie Bridgeman? I realize that would be circumventing our house rules a bit, but I wouldn't feel too badly about it in this situation.

I had planned on Ty Lincoln being our starting SS going into next season anyway. I was hoping Bridgeman would retire, but his skills are slipping so I figured he would be sitting behind Lincoln anyway. I only moved him to FS last season because I wanted him to get some playing time.

I liken it to the Cowboys playing Roy Williams at FS so he can get some development time even though lng term he projects as a SS. I understand if we don't think it flys but I don't think we would be sacraficing realism in this case to do it. Especially since that was my plan anyway.

[QuikSand]

Right now, I have penciled in offers to:

WR Wayne Hill - 1yr, $10m
C Zack Jones - 2yr, $3.4m
S Donnie Bridgeman - 1yr, $5.4m

Jones is seeking basically a minsal deal, and I don't see how we can turn that down, as he has been awfully solid for us. The oter two are forced - but i have shortened the deals as much s possible.

I think we can get WR Dockery for less than $10m this year, but a 2yr deal is the minimum - and there's no way out of that one, we must offer, and he will accept (as a restricted free agent). This guy (a very mediocre receiver, but popular for having played all last season) is killing us financially.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by primelord
Can we move Ty Lincoln to SS and then not be forced to re-up Donnie Bridgeman? I realize that would be circumventing our house rules a bit, but I wouldn't feel too badly about it in this situation.

I had planned on Ty Lincoln being our starting SS going into next season anyway. I was hoping Bridgeman would retire, but his skills are slipping so I figured he would be sitting behind Lincoln anyway. I only moved him to FS last season because I wanted him to get some playing time.

I liken it to the Cowboys playing Roy Williams at FS so he can get some development time even though lng term he projects as a SS. I understand if we don't think it flys but I don't think we would be sacraficing realism in this case to do it. Especially since that was my plan anyway.

Hmm. I wondered what happend there last year - I moved Lincoln over to FS last pre-season for (in part) this reason, to get us out from under Bridgeman's contract. I felt liek Lincoln was better than bridgemn, and we'd be better served with the younger and more popular player in there for the year. I didn't foresee your counter-gambit, which kept Bridgeman in the starting lineup (which I also did not forecast).

I'll leave this to the greater powers that be.

[primelord]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Hmm. I wondered what happend there last year - I moved Lincoln over to FS last pre-season for (in part) this reason, to get us out from under Bridgeman's contract. I felt liek Lincoln was better than bridgemn, and we'd be better served with the younger and more popular player in there for the year. I didn't foresee your counter-gambit, which kept Bridgeman in the starting lineup (which I also did not forecast).

I'll leave this to the greater powers that be.

Yea I decided kind of last minute that having both of them in the lineup was better than having Bridgeman on the bench. I of course wasn't thinking about the off season implications.

[QuikSand]

A few cheap guys to consider as free agents:

DT Marshall Castillo - good run stopper, former player of ours, askinf for only $1.6m

RG Lamar Campos - seriouus player, asking for cheap deal, good signing

LT Randall Upshaw - might be betterthan our starter, asking for modest deal... tough year, but he's awfully good

DT Gus Lang - not as good as Castillo, but also a cheap run stopper

OLB Brandon Peabody - former player of ours, seeking modest deal


Man, there just isn't a lot out there. I was hoping for a bargain LB or two, but Peabody is the best I could find. This will be tough, very tough.

[QuikSand]

Okay, here's the thing. About that "franchise tag" thing I mentioned... I seem to have made a mistake along the way there. (I had to backtrack after making a different error, and forgot to re-designate him)

I think I can re-create the season up to this point (which would mean we have a different rookie draft, but not much else). Does that sound like the best way to "fix" the problem?

[primelord]

Wow this is going to be a rough off season. We also only have 5 draft picks this year.

What about a guy like LDE Glenn Grant. He doesn't have spectacular looking ratings, but he has put up pretty solid numbers. Especially last season.

Another guy like that is LDE Keith Dillon.

[primelord]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Okay, here's the thing. About that "franchise tag" thing I mentioned... I seem to have made a mistake along the way there. (I had to backtrack after making a different error, and forgot to re-designate him)

I think I can re-create the season up to this point (which would mean we have a different rookie draft, but not much else). Does that sound like the best way to "fix" the problem?

That's fine Quik. We wouldn't be able to draft super stud DT Richie Willams anyway so I don't mind him disappearing into the ethos.

[QuikSand]

Okay, here is the file update

[QuikSand]

Here is the second file

[QuikSand]

primelord, you need to put on your thinking cap really tight for this year, and work out a plan for the LB position. Right now, I think our front seven is going to be in crisis this season, and we need to have a plan together. LB will be real trouble, I suspect.

[Bee]

I haven't had a chance to download the file yet, but I was wondering if there were any high salary players we could cut or trade to free up space without seriously damaging our team?

[wade moore]

I unfortunately did not get a chance to look in detail, but from what I saw the decisions to be made are mostly on the D .. As for the few offensive moves that QS suggested, I agree with all of them.... making Cog a Franchise player, will we be able to work out a reasonable long-term deal?

[primelord]

Ok we have some serious holes to try and fill on defense.

Defensive Line:

We have 4 guys under contract on the Dline. If we simply had not other options I would say we would probably be ok with starting the 4 we have. But I am concerned with two players. Howard Johnston's skills were already on decline and now he is coming off of a knee injury so I am afraid when training camp is over he may be worthless. And A.J. Hitchcock has shown that he probably isn't a starting caliber DE.

So we said we want to try and get 7 players that can play at this position. We have 4 now, and we should probably be able to find a guy who could step in and play this year in the draft even without our high picks. So I think that means we really need to try and land two Dlineman in free agency.

Here are some guys I like:

DE:
LDE Ben Howen 2 yrs 7.5 mil - He was a 4 year starter with Wheeling. He has put up very good looking numbers the last two seasons. He just seems to produce despite his average looking ratings.

LDE Jermaine Kennicott 1 yr 1.6 mil - He has been a career backup, but is looking for a 1 year no risk contract. And his ratings suggest he could put up average numbers.

DT:
LDT Marshall Castillo
RDT Gus Lang

I agree with Quik's suggestion that one of these two guys probably make sense. Neither one can really rush the passer, but they both seem to be decent run stoppers and are cheap.

So on the defensive line I think we should make an offer to Ben Howen and either Castillo or Lang and then look for a 3rd guy in the draft. Probably a 4th guy too.

Linebacker:

As Quik mentioned we are even worse off at Linebacker in terms of players on hand. We only have two LB's under contract and only 1 of them I feel good about starting. If James Beckers ratings hold he should be ok at WLB, but I have a feeling he is going to take another hit after training camp. Again that was my bad.

OLB:
WLB BRandon Peabody 1 yr 1.3 mil - Peabody does look to be the best of a pretty weak bunch in the bargain range at OLB. His skills suit our defense pretty well so he would make some sense to sign.

WLB Brandon Carr 2yrs 3.5 mil - Peabody is probably a better fit, but this is another guy who might be able to play for us.

ILB:
WILB Stephen Money 2 yrs 5 mil - This is a guys who despite his lack luster ratings made 101 tckls just two years ago. He may be a little too pricey for us, but he might be a candidate to move over to one of the outside slots. He has the size to do so.

I think we are set at DB. We have 4 corners under contract. And 2 safeties although it is likely we will end up getting Bridgeman back too.

So if we land 2 Dlineman and 1 LB we have enough to field a starting team. I say we then try to fill in the rest of the gaps in the draft. That means it will probably be a pretty defensive heavy draft for us. Is the offense ok with that?

[primelord]

Some guys that may be around for some of our picks in the draft.

LDE Tommy Walton - Looks like he fits Quik's boom blue print very nicely and it's also possible he might fall into the 3rd round.

LDT Alen Schenk - Another boom candidate.

[wade moore]

I would need to look at upcoming contracts ending to be sure, but at this point I'm pretty happy with the Offense.. we could use a better SE, but we can deal with what we have... I of course always like to have an influx of young OL, but if we go one year without it won't kill us -- we can usually pick up some guys in the draft..

[QuikSand]

There's simply no way we can even think about investing more significant money at the WR position. Assuming we get our two guys re-signed (pretty likely), we will have three receivers each making over $10 million this year. I think that's enough of an investment already.

[wade moore]

Ok, maybe I didn't explain..

I know we can't, I'm just saying that's the only "need" i see on the offense..

[primelord]

I am going to throw something out there that I am pretty sure will be an unpopular idea with atleast Quik and Wade. Should we consider trading TE Lamont Dresow? I know you guys are very fond of him, but we would save 6 million dollars by moving his contract. And that would make it a lot easier to get some bodies on defense next year.

The way it looks now it is going to be very difficult to sign anyone that can be of any help to us next year and still have enough money to get to 60 players going into camp.

[Bee]

6 million could buy us a couple decent players.

[primelord]

Originally posted by Bee
6 million could buy us a couple decent players.

Also since we only have 5 picks in this years draft we could probably use the extra 4th or 5th rounder we may get for Dresow.

[Bee]

TE is generally not a critical position either...

[Anrhydeddu]

Originally posted by QuikSand
There's simply no way we can even think about investing more significant money at the WR position. Assuming we get our two guys re-signed (pretty likely), we will have three receivers each making over $10 million this year. I think that's enough of an investment already.

wade, that's QS's way of saying, "Are you out of your @%#$! mind??? Go take a flying leap."

How is it that you spend to the cap (as do all other teams), maintain a high winning percentage and yet, lose $59m?

[primelord]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
wade, that's QS's way of saying, "Are you out of your @%#$! mind??? Go take a flying leap."

How is it that you spend to the cap (as do all other teams), maintain a high winning percentage and yet, lose $59m?

Our player bonuses are what really killed us last year. We payed out 67.8 million dollars in bonuses last season which was up 81% from the year before. Our total costs went up 19% and our total revenue went up less than 1%. I guess that might do it.

[Anrhydeddu]

So what's the consequences of that or how does that effect your decision makings?

[Bee]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
So what's the consequences of that or how does that effect your decision makings?

I think the biggest consequence is it makes Quiksand cranky.

[wade moore]

Umm..

Isn't Dresow still injured? If he is, we can't trade him, can we?

[QuikSand]

TE Dresow is indeed hurt, and there's a substantial chance that once he is better, he will reveal a lasting injury. So we cannot cut or trade him right now, and even once we can, we might not get anything in exchange. I agree he may have to go, but we're constrained by the injury.

[primelord]

I am confused as to why we can't trade him. There doesn't appear to be anything in the house rules about us trading a player when hurt and the game certainly allows it.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by primelord
... and the game certainly allows it.

Maybe I'm clinging to my memory of previous versions, where it was impossible to trade an injured player - the other team would inevitably refuse to accept "damaged goods."

I'll check and see.

[QuikSand]

Okay, you're right - we coudl trade him in his current state. What do you think is a fair asking price? Mid round pick? I agree his contract has to go, period, as much as I like him as a player.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
So what's the consequences of that or how does that effect your decision makings?

We have to raise the price on our cotton candy.

[wade moore]

QS -- on Dresow.. Like you, I hate it, but he has to go.. Our current TE performed pretty well in his absence, and he's probably going to plummit in ratings anyways (we should check him out a season from now)... Again I'm clueless on asking prices, as usual on this as I never trade..

[QuikSand]

Okay, I have added offers to DE Bon Howen and DT Marshall Castillo - assuming we get those two, we can at least field a defensive line this season. Looks like our second year man Adrian Brewer is going to be our best weapon from the DE position this season.

LB Brandon Peabody is pissed at us - we must have cut him before, so he won't accept any deal from us, period. I really don't see anyone out there who is both affordable and a substantial upgrade over what we can probably get from a rookie - so my inclination is not to invest in guys of this quality. (I just don't see how Stephen Money can improve our team - despite the fact that he has played a lot of plays on a bad defense before)

My thinking is that we watch OLB Gerald John, and assuming his demand slide down and he goes unpursued, we grab him and hold on to him for another year oro two - he's far better than any of the comparably priced free agents.

So, that would have us going into free agency with five offers on the table, plus one more we have to make to a restricted free agent of ours.

[QuikSand]

Okay, Manhattan expressed the most interest in TE Dresow, and we have traded him to them for their 3rd round draft pick. If he were healthy, he might have fetched better (he might have anyway) but I felt this was a reasonable asking price, under our rules (this year, I didn't feel like getting burned). I suspect we're going to need to use the two third rounders to grab critical defensive players anyway - so we need the pick pretty badly.

[QuikSand]

By the way, I think it goes without saying - we have little choice here but to leave the tag on Coghill, and let him roll over year to year on one year tender offers. His asksing price for an extension is another $7m on top of this year's salary, and it grows rapidly from there.

[QuikSand]

After week one of free agency, we always get a bead on where things are going.

LB Clay Harden immediately accepts his long term deal with Pensacola, and will earn $50m, over 3 years. Great cash-in for our former star player.

We have the only offer in to each of our other targeted players - making it seem even more likely that we will indeed re-sign WR Hill and S Bridgeman.

[QuikSand]

In week two, WR Wayne Hill and C Zack Jones are re-signed. The following week, S Bridgeman takes our offer. So the big money is secure now - we aren't going to have a free pocket of cash to spend after all.

DE Russel Austin, last year's camp breakout, signs a $67m deal with Puget Sound, over 4 years. Big money for him, too.

In week 10, DT Marshall Castillo is the last of our several pursuits to take our offer - we're done with our actual signings. Now, I'm watching our own players, and hoping for a chance to re-up with LB Garald John, who would figure to start for us at the sam slot this season if we can work out a new deal.

I'm waiting out LB John, hoping to get his demands to drop just a little more, when I am startled - red letters in the signings box! Fortunately, it's just C Leo Johnstone, taking a modest deal from Fort Worth. Close call.

I am spurred by this, however, to make the offer than John wants - and he accepts it in week 15. He'll return for $6m over two years, not too bad for us.

[QuikSand]

Some more good news is that it appears that WR Karl Dockery's demands have lightened a bit. He is now asking for only $47.4m over 5 years - meaning that he might take a two year deal for something like $8m per. A little less burdensome than I had expected.

I (eventually) work out a new deal for Dockery - 2yrs, $17.2m, with a hit of $8.3m this year. Painful, but probably the least we could get away with.

[QuikSand]

I’ll assume that we have no ability to trade up here – we don’t really have the immediate capital in hand to consider it, really. So, I plan to just run the draft up to our pick at #30, and we’ll discuss our strategies from there.

1. Ocean City - Caminiti, Spencer, DE, Oklahoma
2. Louisville - Kirk, Mickey, WR, Tulsa
3. Nashua - Clifton, Les, DE, Georgia
4. Key West - Timberlane, J.B., T, Auburn
5. Sault Ste. Marie - Ford, Brett, T, Stanford
6. Tijuana - Lynch, Bernard, QB, Texas Tech
7. Tulsa - McGeoghan, Rex, DE, Arkansas
8. Cheyenne - Hardy, Walter, OLB, Tulsa
9. Memphis - Fife, Terrell, RB, VMI
10. Puget Sound - Magee, Emmanuel, S, Miami, Florida
11. Bermuda - McPike, Nolan, G, UCLA
12. Thunder Bay - Wolf, Oscar, OLB, North Carolina
13. Athens - Beckemeier, Courtney, DT, West Virginia
14. Lake Erie - Willie, Patrick, RB, Northeastern
15. Norfolk - Thompson, Peter, QB, Texas Tech
16. Manhattan - Wayne, Dwight, DT, Colorado Mines
17. Kitty Hawk - Brodie, Cornell, ILB, Pittsburgh
18. Ypsilanti - Ballard, Ron, DT, Mississippi State
19. Fort Knox - Sheriff, Lenny, CB, Bowling Green
20. Fort Wayne - Buggelli, Rattler, DE, Arizona State
21. Providence - Hollins, Jay, DE, Rice
22. Texarkana - Weydahl, Joseph, G, Notre Dame
23. Sacramento - Birch, Roderick, T, Indiana
24. Napa Valley - Hitchcock, Horace, T, Michigan
25. Champaign - Harvey, Quinn, T, Texas
26. Wheeling - Lofton, Kerry, C, Eastern Tenn. St.
27. Hawk Mountain - Bailey, Andy, RB, Penn State
28. Death Valley - Ethridge, Peter, RB, Virginia
29. Niagara Falls - Parra, Bill, TE, Oregon

That means we are on the clock… I will post the update files.

[QuikSand]

Update #1

[QuikSand]

Update #2

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by primelord
Some guys that may be around for some of our picks in the draft.

LDE Tommy Walton - Looks like he fits Quik's boom blue print very nicely and it's also possible he might fall into the 3rd round.

LDT Alen Schenk - Another boom candidate.

Regrettably, these guys look like the best DL left in the draft as of pick 30... not a great sign. I agree, either one might be nice in round three. I'm hinky taking either guy here in round one.

[QuikSand]

I'll await the group's input, but I think we might need to consider making another trade - to get out of this pick and perhaps enhance our slotting later (or else pick up two picks in this draft).

I don't see a single player I'm thrilled with here, even at non-need positions.

[Anrhydeddu]

I would recommend raising the price of cotton candy from $1.25 to $1.50 but reduce the price of the Clinton Bobblehead from .79 down to .19 since no one wants one.

Seriously, it appears that you are going forward without any consideration for the amount of bonuses you have and adjusting ticket prices. Couldn't there be a house rule regarding either of those two (for additional challenge)? I'm not saying the financial bottom line should mean anything (they don't to me), but just curious as to how it can be used.

[QuikSand]

Yes, Anrhydeddu, it could be used in some fashion. Actually, when we first started out, I pinned our ticket prices to those of a nearby rival (Texarkana?) to ensure some realism. I have not annually checked to ensure that we remain level there, but our prices remain realistic.

We have also been fairly frugal with our front office staff- our coach in particular is among the cheaper guys in the league, despite his stellar W/L record.

Since, for practical purposes, those are the only two areas where you can make much difference financially - we're not being unreasonable.

We could add something rougher, I'm certain. Have any thoughts? Care to take an active role? Maybe we could fall into financial receivership, and you coudl assume the role of the "financial supervisor" - laying down some new rules or restrictions on where we go with the club, in a financial sense. Or you could just help us come up with a rule of some sort. to follow.

Any thoughts?

[primelord]

Quik,

Signing John was an excellent move. I didn't even consider him because I just didn't think we had the money even though his price wasn't that high. I agree there was nothing to like obout Money. I just figure he was a body that could be thrown out there, but your right a URFA would probably preform equally well at a cheaper price tag.