Subject: I.1

It only got frustrating because we won the group, and the reward was playing a team that was, for whatever reason, apparently better than virtually everyone else in our group lol. That's the way it goes, though. I saw Canada won their round of 16 game, so they're our North American representatives!

P.S. I was totally considering making a bid on rolland benedict as a UFA, just because... it'd be sort of good to have him back on my team. I ultimately didn't though... because you have him lol. I'm inclined to let the u.s. managers keep any of the u.s. guys I lost so long as they want them. No need to be obnoxious or overly competitive with my u.s. peers when so few teams are left imo. I'd rather foster a friendly sort of environment where we compete but primarily work together to keep u.s. handball relevant.

But as far as what you said (about the few significant acquisitions), I'm definitely thinking about going after some of my vets when they hit UFA in a few seasons. Guys like david allen and john field, and ted keenan in particular. By the time they're hitting UFA status, my team's younger guys will be quality starters, and it'll probably be a pretty powerful punch as a result. Not only that, but I gave those 3 guys so many season bonuses that it'd be probably pretty easy (cheap) to keep them going forward. I think each of them would be "50% off" for the rest of their careers for me if i were able to get them back.. That should render any free agency offers they get pretty moot. I mean if guys like benedict are only being offered 8m in free agency, it's pretty clear that the demand for vets is just not really that big. I mean... i'm the 10th wealthiest team IN THE WORLD right now... so i don't imagine i'll have trouble acquiring players if i want to.

As an aside... It'd actually be sort of funny if I re-accumulated all my old players for pennies on the dollar using a small portion of the funds that their buyers of them spent. haha. That's one of the reasons I didn't buy field back during RFA. I don't want his current manager to earn a dime from me if i do try to get him back (the guy was a dick when i reached out to him, and politely asked if I could re-aquire him 50 days later for a $50m more than he had paid). He basically laughed in my face and essentially said "sucks to be you." So i figure it'll be just poetic justice when i use his own payment to take the guy back (leaving him with neither the money nor the player). And should he match the UFA offer... that'll be 300m less that he has in the bank. each season until he capitulates and lets me have him. Mwahahahaha.

yeah. unfortunately, the knock out round seems to be pretty randomized ... or something. I never really figured out if there was a method to how it's set up. But frequently, it's just a matter of luck who you end up getting for matchups (which is indeed a bummer when you excel / dominate in the round robin matches).

Dude haha that is evil. In a very satisfying way.

Have we (USA) ever hosted the WCs before? Anyone want to go in with me on putting in a bid for the U21?

I saw where the best player in the world, Gábor Nemeskürthy , is being sold for basically 1 billion. So, if anyone wants to bring that guy to America...

yeah. i actually noticed he was for sale as well. no one in their right mind would pay that much for him though. he's not worth it tbh. he's too old. if he were 19-20, and you could be sure you'd have him through the bulk of his "best years," maybe. but even then it's a stretch. john field, who was (at age 19) the 3rd best player in his age group (in terms of OR, eQ, exp, etc.) IN THE WORLD, will be nearly that OR by the time he's that guy's age, and he sold for what... 3 or 400m in basically the prime of his career?

I just don't think any player in handball is worth over 500m. not when you can fill up your team with amazing talent for fractions of that. i mean... there's a reason he's just "for sale," and not actually on the market for that amount. his owner knows damn well that if he starts an auction with that price, he'll end up eating 50m when he doesn't sell.

I'll just wait until he's 40 and "only" 2500 or so and buy him for a mil or two. ha! (mostly joking)

A great, hard-fought, 25-24 qualifying win over Brazil U21 for our U21 squad! handball.powerplaymanager...

I just noticed that cataclysm won the National Cup this season by winning both the semi-final and final by 1 goal. Congrats capsaicin! Nice job, mate!

Thanks! At least I didn't accidentally play the finals on very low like I did last season.

It looks like the Pballas pretty much have 1st place locked up for the regular season at this point.

With this afternoon's 34-27 win over Belgium, the USA U21 squad moves to 4-0 in qualifying. With a win next week over Venezuela (very doable, just not guaranteed until the game is over!), we will functionally, if not mathematically clinch qualification in the WC finals.

Congrats and good luck next week!

i don't know what you're talking about cap, i'm totally gonna catch up and take 1st place from him. I've still got time right? lol. ^_^

With Saturday's 50-21 dismantling of Venezuela, the USA U21 national team has officially qualified for the WC finals at 5-0. We are probably going to rest some of the more senior members who also have good chemistry and have been used a lot.