Subject: I.1

yeah thats super unlucky man, kinda like my NC basketball luck :/

eh. the lottery lets you move up or down 3 spots, so they just got lucky. But yeah I agree that i think the lottery should only be for same levels.

I messed up on the NT game as well. All in all horrible weekend.

ah. yeah I saw that. don't worry about it... it happens.

I rarely change "more than one step" at a time (I'll go from Normal to Low, but not VL for instance), and usually only reduce energy if I'm winning by at least 8 at the half... because I'm terrified of something like that happening.

I use 8 because 7 goals is the largest comeback I ever mounted in PPM handball (it was actually against Mr. Brightside if memory serves lmao).

I've never come back from being down by 8 or more, and I've never lost after being ahead by 8 or more... so that's my golden number for halftime energy reductions.

I would just like to say, that game was bullshit. I played on very high to your low if memory serves.

Was the first game that actually made me want to quit handball.

please don't take this the wrong way, as I mean in this in the most light-hearted / friendly / non-douchey sort of way:

i found myself laughing uncontrollably at your reply. not laughing at you or your misfortune, but because I totally know what you mean. this game is so frustrating at times, that you really just have to laugh at it.

I'd actually forgotten the specifics of that game (other than the ridiculous comeback), but it's interesting that you remember it too (albeit for different reasons I see). I'm actually rather sad to hear that it played a role in your short departure.

No no it's okay, I meant it in a joke. Yeah I remember you changed one minute detail of the tactics and just steamrolled. It was then that I gave up, because after 2 full years of studying tactics the whole last season proved me wrong and I gave up on handball cuz I couldnt figure it out.

There had been a lot of games like that in that time frame, where I spent hours analyzing the perfect tactics and would spend more energy on the games only to lose. I remember bitching a lot in the forums about it, when I found success in basketball and it ACTUALLY made sense I kinda just went over there and dumped the other sports. I mainly dumped soccer and hockey because i couldnt keep basketball at the top teir level if i put effort into themm, and handball because i couldnt stand to see all those NT quality players lose over and over again.

I mean, i still don't understand the tactics of handball... even though I have SOME idea of which tactics SEEM to work well against certain formations, there still appears to be a fairly substantial random factor involved.

but i actually kind of like that. It keeps things more interesting than the "rock paper scissors" tactical format that, for instance, ppm hockey uses.

I mean even if I predict exactly what an opponent will do, I can still lose with my "desired tactics." I don't know if you have much experience with sports in real life, but that actually happens. Quite frequently actually. Sometimes even when you execute your strategy perfectly, you still lose. It's discouraging at times, but it goes both ways. There's many games I absolutely KNOW i've "stolen" in handball over the years. Games I had no right winning (based on the tactics I used), that I pulled out a W on. I like to claim strategy, but at the end of the day there's absolutely luck and random chance involved.

You just have to try not to focus so much on the upsets that you don't see the lucky wins when they do happen. That's how you get discouraged.

yeah the season b4 i gave up on handball I was just losing "easy" game after "easy" game and I wasnt getting any lucky wins myself. I just dont understand the handball system and the only real problem ive had with basketball is the RNG matching for the NC

hey... just wanted to give you all a heads up in case any of you are interested. I threw a couple of young US-born players onto the market. Went on a rather ill-advised spending spree this morning.

The auctions end this coming Sunday afternoon (Nov. 12th).

Bids start at $10,000.

==============================
17 y/o Goalie Brooks Jones
893 OR, 5/6 CL @ 17 y/o
Scouted: 81 Goa / 92 Blk / 91 Pas / 80 Tec / 59 Spe
NOTES:
- Current backup goalie for the USA U19 National Team.
- Will be the starting goalie for the U19 team for the next two seasons.

15 y/o Universal Def. Back Curtis Underwood
540 OR, 6/6 CL
Scouted: 76 FiP / 70 Sho / 74 Blk / 84 Pas / 84 Tec / 46 Spe / 81 Agr
NOTES:
- Currently the second best US-born 15 year old by OR
- Future USA U19 National Team starter if he's bought by a team with decent facilities.
==============================

Made it to the CWC playoff's. Going to try and make it 1 round as this the best my team has done in CWC in any sport.

Congrats! If the writing wasn't already on the wall before the last match i had in the Champions League, I sure etched it in with my last game. I set up a camp for this week and ended up going with a random lineup in this week's CL game (damn european morning match times).

I don't think it would've mattered anyways though, as my chances of winning were slim to none on the raod versus ST.BITANGOK .

All in all, the U.S.A. did pretty good this year in the international competition. By the looks of it, we did well enough to have 4 representatives in next year's tournaments (largely driven by your success tescosamoa).

So presently it appears as though at least myself and BigFattyCats are going. We'll see how the final placements work out after the playoffs end and Champions League participants are decided.

But I love that we'll have 4 teams next year. The USA is movin' on up! ^_^

I paid the price for league and playoff's this season. I am good with that as it will be for the greater good for our top teams to earn extra OTR. Any of our top 8 teams now have a good fighting chance to compete on the international level.

I'm hoping i have enough energy for the playoffs. I'm significantly worse off this season than I was last year though because of the Champions League games and going deep into the national cup again. I might have to throw some games coming down the stretch on VL to conserve energy.

In other news... i sold Jindřich Bárta today for quite close to my asking price. At nearly $500M his sale has given me the funds necessary to keep both Ted Keenan and Rolland Benedict as RFAs in just over a season. If I have money left over after that, I'll probably start using some cash to aquire good US-born players that hit the market from time to time. Try to bring back some of the talent stateside...

If I'm being honest, Jindřich Bárta 's primary purpose since he was 17 was to serve as a cash cow to help me keep my veteran US-born players as RFAs. Ever since I pulled David Allen and Reuben Cohen from my academy when Barta was 16 and 17, he became much less of a franchise player and much more of a chip to play when the time was right.

Glad to see my estimate(s) of his true value were pretty on point all these years...

Ugh... those random injury scripts are such trolls. They always know when the worst time to give you an injured player is.

My fourth best player is out for 8 days, which will include all of the playoff final matchups, and likely the first few days of the training camp I was planning on putting him in.

zzzz...

What a nail biter in the championship round. Great series, bpal713 .

Looks like next year's representatives in international competition are gonna be [handball_team=15918] and I in the Champions League, and [handball_team=16083] and [handball_team=15892] in the Cup Winners Cup.

I've gotta be honest, if nothing else changes from what I'm looking at now, that looks like a darn good setup for another strong year at the international level.