Can you believe this???

[Mario ADK]

Getting to the playoffs consistently is measure of our skills as owners.

Very good point.
POs are a flip of a coin BUT with a slight advantage for teams who have the better WL-ration, thus playing at home.

as i said: last weeks 4 games where decided by 5pts COMBINED. You need to have a good team, no injuries and luck on your side and you might win. But still it is a flip of a coin and it can go either way. See Ohio.

I wouldn´t mind to lose against Frankfurt because:
<) i had good luck all season long and things might finally turn against me (still cannot beleive i survived last week) and
<) just like Jason C. almost always gets the bad end in POs it is me who always got the bad end when i was facing Frankfrut in the POs (which i did 4 out of 5 times and i lost three of those...... so i would not be surprised if i lose again. Maybe Frankfurt is MY bad carma n the POs just like any other team seems to be Jasons bad carma.....

[Andrew-Neutral]

Clearly I'm frustrated, but when I sit down and look at it calmly, I can't escape the fact that the only people who have been playing this game as long as I have are Paul and Marco. And there's a pretty depressing gap between me and them.

Let's compare:

Marco's won 4 EFC titles, 3 league titles, and is well on his way to a 5th/4th.

Paul's won a league title despite never having access to "sleeper" draft picks, and usually ending up with teams that nobody else wanted to run which he had to build up from next to nothing.

Jason, I've only just read this thread, so apologies for not replying sooner....

I've been associated with the FWL since the very first match - 14 July 1997, I my memory serves me correctly - including a brief "missing in action" period when I had no internet access and left the team in the hands of someone else. As every knows, I have never managed to put together a decent season (one winning season of 7-6-1 and a couple of .500 seasons, one playoff appearance - a 27-3 thrashing). I always seem to take two steps backwards for every one step forwards. Losing sucks, no doubt about it.

I've also made some lousy draft choices, and done some huge gambles on the trading front - most of which went belly up. I've also been castigated for bad trading and been accused of cheating and unfairly helping other teams.

But, I've also had a lot of fun. I've met quite a few FWLers in the flesh, as it were (Paul, Ronnie and family, plus many GMs who have since resigned). Paul and I chat by email about everything, I think I know Mario quite well even though I've never met him (thank godness) and I think most FWLers feel part of a little community.

I... yeah, well. And I don't see the situation changing, since after eight years it's readily apparent that I don't have the same talent for this game that Marco and Paul do, and I don't have Mario's trading mastery or Harwood's gameplan wizardry, and any time I do put together a halfway decent squad, Paul's computer's random number generator inevitably clubs me over the head. It's difficult to be really emotionally invested in a game I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt I suck at.

I know that I haven't invested enough into the FWL. With a job, wife, family and other things going on, I can't study form, analyse stats or deal out hundreds of trade offers. I know that there are FWL GMs who know more about the game than I ever will. I do know, however, that I've helped the league to grow and become what it is. I don't like losing, and this season was particularly depressing after putting together a good string of results, only for the team to fall apart at the end of the season and throw away a playoff chance (just like the season before). But, I'll pick up the pieces and try to learn from what happened and try to make sure it won't happen next year!

So, in summary, please reconsider Jason. The FWL needs you!

[Paul-London]

Nice post !

Yep i think the mix of GM's we have is good, i used to moan a bit about inactive GM's but then again i think if every GM was as active as Mario i couldnt handle the workload.

I think the mix we have at the moment is right, Paris had a fine year this year until some late season losses, i think for one or two of the 3-11 type teams they need to be a bit more active but Paris have a good team and Finkes was a great addition on defense.

Like you say if anything the FWL has helped create a community and many people here i consider good friends

By the Andrew SOOO sorry for not sending you off an FWL disk !  The problem is i have no spare cases, meant to go to PC World this weekend to get some.  I always get dvd's / cd's without boxes but then that makes it difficult to send !