Subject: I.1

I just noticed a sad thing a quarter of the teams in div II are dead teams. This does not look good for the USA or this game.

Indeed. I rejoined at a tough time, it seems.

The game (for me) has become stale. The only changes over the past many seasons were the Draft (basically worthless) and the Instant Challenges (pffft). I have been on auto pilot for several seasons now. My pro pack expires at the end of next season. Not sure if I'll extend it.

Maybe there are ways to infuse new challenges, I don't know (I haven't put myself in that position, just rejoining and whatnot). Can anyone beat Razorback Thugs, or does someone just have to wait for him to "retire" so to speak?

It doesn't really matter to me if there is a dominant team or two. Would just want something to give the game some new life. Several seasons ago I committed to having only USA players on my team. That newness carried me for awhile but that has since worn off. No info from PPM. Even their articles are basically the same - New season in (pick your sport).

With the drop in teams the prize is way down so it hard to keep players when other countries have more money. I wish the would brake up the league s like in basketball.

The draft was a great upgrade when it was first implemented, but so many people who didn't understand math whined about losing their slot machine Sports Academy pulls for a few weeks that we got the changed and now mostly useless second version .

It's a bummer there will never be another upgrade to the game, but it's still interesting enough for me to keep checking in once a day as long I don't spend too much time on it.

I've been watching the number on users online. Many times there are less than 100 users signed on. For a world wide game that can't be good.

It's really annoying when younger NT caliber players that aren't quite world class end up getting bid on by teams with terrible facilities.

The player with the 3rd highest OR on the U18 NT just got purchased by some inexplicable team with level 3 training and regeneration facilities, 1256 manager experience, and placement in a division IV league.

I had placed a bid on the player but wasn't able to be on at the deadline. I suppose I could have posted about the player so someone else could bid on him, but that would also advertise him to more teams with bad facilities.

In addition to bad luck with CL, and teams that fold (this is most problematic for promising prospects in their early 20's and prospects who seem relatively mediocre at 18 but end up with a good CL progression), placement on bad teams is one of the biggest if not the biggest reason for loss of potential talent to the national team.

we should keep tabs on them for future ones.

The Bruisers have some NT players on the market now after folding.

I am looking at a few of them. Don't know if I will have the money for them.

If you want them, I don't thing they'll be too expensive. Grantham and Lopes aren't much better than some 18 year olds. Steen is going to be the backup goaltender next season. Cartman will also be a ~3rd to 4th line caliber player. Their future on the senior team likely depends on CL and a general lack of depth. Grantham in particular might be approaching the end of his NT career.

Back to I.1. I predict for only one season, but feels good (: