POWERPLAY 雜誌

The message was clear, yet confusing; "We have a surprise for you today, your next interview is going to break your streak of only interviewing USA managers".   (At the end of the last three seasons, I have provided an interview with a champion from the USA handball ranks).  "This season, we want you to interview a Canadian who has completed an impressive achievement.  This season his team finished a complete season without a single loss.  Some teams dream of just making the playoffs, but, this year after a regular season trophy, a playoff championship, and all without losing a single game, Josh Lind was chosen for a visit and interview.  So I grabbed my passport and headed off to the land in the north.

On the plane ride, I reviewed the highlights of the season that had just completed.  It had been a great season; my own Cold Mountain Strikes are headed back to USA division I.1 after a couple of seasons growing in division II.1.  However, during my review, I realized my lack of knowledge about our neighboring country.  Before long, the plane landed in Toronto, Ontario; I passed through customs, and began to look for the driver that had been promised.  After a short walk, I noticed a sign with only the word "Rebel" on it.  I walked over to find that the sign was for me and my transportation would be a strangely modified dune buggy.  The driver wore dark sunglasses and was awaiting my arrival.  I examined the vehicle and hopped in, hoping that I had entered appropriately.  The driver smiled and said "Let's go!"  Quickly we literally were bouncing down the highway at a relatively high rate of speed.  The driver spoke, "Rebel, would you like me to provide you with a little Canadian handball background before we arrive?"  That's when I realized, sitting at the wheel was none other than Canucks357.     

By the time we arrived in Ottawa, I had been briefed and also educated on some of the Canadian attractions along the way.   As we traveled through the city, I couldn't help but notice that the streets around the Parliament building area of Ottawa were all trashed with shreds of paper.  Canucks357 was quick to inform me that the trash must be from the celebration parade that took place this morning and would likely be gone by nightfall.  We crossed a large river and traveled into a typical middle class neighborhood and before I could say maple leaf cookies, we had arrived at Josh Lind's home.  I jumped out and started to walk towards the front door.  Just as I jumped out of the vehicle, Canucks357 revved the engine and off he went yelling "Errands to do, I'll pick you up in a little bit".

As I walked to the front door, I was greeted by an unassuming and casual looking individual.  He seemed tired with bags under the eyes, likely from many late nights preparing for his many matches.  He greeted me and I quickly realized that he was a nice guy who was a little eager and was possessing of a passionate and friendly personality.  Josh welcomed me into his home and led me through his modest, yet cozy and well maintained home.  He led me towards the rear of the house onto the deck at the back of the house.    This would become the setting for our interview.

Josh expressed delight in being selected for the interview and told me that he felt that the back deck would be a perfect place for the interview (the wife and kids were out, but, would be back shortly).  I told him that I also was excited for the opportunity to visit and looked forward to completing the interview.  So we focused on the job at hand and the interview began.

Thanks for allowing me to visit today.  I have a couple of warm-up questions and then we will talk about your incredible season.  First question, what is your favorite food?

Meat and potatoes.

Which Super Power would you like to have?

Without a doubt, if I could have one super power, it would be invulnerability.

Is there intelligent life in outer space? 

As Stephen Hawking said, it is impossible that there would not be.

If you were granted a trip in a time machine, where would you go? 

I would go absolutely nowhere, as I believe in the erased timeline hypothesis and prefer to remain in my current timeline.

What is your favorite television program?

Game of Thrones.

Wow, it seems like a lot of us PPM managers are GoT fans, it is my favorite show as well.   Do you have a hobby?

PPM is a hobby all on its own!  Otherwise, I manage a small hockey forum at high on hockey.

Let's talk about sports.  What is your favorite sport? 

Hockey is definitely my favorite sport.

Who is your favorite Athlete?  

As a kid, it was Pavel Bure.  Currently, I don't think I really have a favorite athlete.  As an Ottawa Senators fan, Kyle Turris comes to mind as someone who's great on the ice and in the community.  Alexander Ovechkin was a lot of fun to watch when he was having such a good time a few seasons ago.

I see that you've been playing PPM sports for a while, how did you become a ppm manager? 

I just signed up ond day after googling hockey simulators.

Which of your PPM teams are you most proud of? Why? 

Despite this perfect handball season, I'm most proud of Lind Lightning in hockey.  It's the team I started with, the team I learned the PPM ropes with.  There have been so many ups and downs with that team - so many blunders and recoveries.

The door behind us opened and out walked an attractive, tall, slim, straight haired female.  She smiled at me and welcomed me to their home, "Hi, I'm Josh's wife and I am so excited that Josh's hard work has paid off, he has really worked to make his teams win".  "By the way, would you guys like some cookies and something to drink; the cookies are in the oven and will be ready soon."  We thanked her and she headed off to the kitchen.

Ok, Josh let's talk about handball.  In handball, your team, Lind Lighting, finished season 4 as regular season and playoff champions for Canada Division III.4.  In addition, you achieved the rare feat of completing the season and playoffs without losing a single game.  Your team had a dominating season.  Describe your most exciting moment during the season. 

It's hard to pick just one moment; the whole season was exciting.  As each consecutive win built up, I became more and more certain that I was going to lose the next game, but the wins just kept on coming.  The most exciting part was probably after the final game.  Then again, I also managed to land several great prospects, either through the draft or Sports Academy, the best of which was Elias Mulligan.

Can you describe your strategy coming into season 4? 

My strategy was simply to continue developing home-grown talent only, to stay away from the market and spend all money on upgrading stands and facilities.  I also tweaked my training regimens, as well as the criteria I use to determine which position a player is best suited for.  To be honest, winning wasn’t the number one priority – future development was.

In the coming season, how competitive do you feel that your team will be in a Canadian division II?

We'll be competitive, but it would surprise me if we made the Playoffs.  There are many good teams in II.1.  Looking at how our team matches up to the other teams, I think we'll finish 9^th or 10^th.  Then again, I wasn't expecting us to finish higher than 4^th this season  - and on that point, I wish I could go back on my sponsorship offers!  So who knows, maybe the Playoffs are in store.  That will be interesting to see - have I've hit on good formations and tactics, or will tougher competition bring our team back down to Earth?

Who do you feel are the strongest teams in Canada? 

I think the country's strongest teams are Reflex de Montréal, The Roughnecks, Royal City Teslas, Jedi Masters, and Godot.

If you were to name a most valuable player on your team, who would that be and why? 

It’s got to be Raymond Lindy.  An offensive left-wing, Lindy is the team’s Captain, our highest scoring active player, our all-time leader in matches played without ever receiving a red card, and our all-time leader in 7-metre goals.  He was over 92% at 7-metre throws this season, with 196 goals on 212 throws. 

Lindy has been quiet impressive.  Also interesting, Lindy playing for Lind, who would think.  Moving on, what strategy has helped you most in becoming successful in handball?

I think the strategy that's made me most successful as a manager has been the system I use to judge which position a player's attribute qualities make him best suited for.

If you were providing advice for a new player, what would you suggest as being the most important step to becoming successful in their league?

If I could only give only one piece of advice to a new manager, it would either be to thoroughly read the guide, or to read and participate in the forums.  That's where they could get more advice.  If it had to be only one piece of strategic advice, it would be to stay away from the player market for at least the first few seasons, investing instead in infrastructure.

Do you seek advice from others within the PPM World? If so, who has provided you with the best advice during last season?

If any PPM team I manage is successful, a ton of credit is owed to canucks357.  He has always been forthcoming and generous about sharing his knowledge, has helpfully hinted without ever being pushy, and has shown a lot of diligence and patience with me over the years, never failing to reply to even one message.

Canucks357 has been a great help to many PPM users, including myself.  By the way, Canucks357 was who dropped me off for the interview and he will be back soon.  So for your last question, what do you think are the most important list of (3-7) things for you to be successful with any team in PPM?

1)    Developing a system to identify player positions based on attribute qualities.

2)    Upgrading facilities.

3)    Upgrading arena stands.

4)    Learning to manipulate tactics.

5)    Learning to work the market.

Just as we finished Josh's wife reappeared with a plate filled with cookies.  She left them and brought an extra bag filled with additional cookies for the ride home.  She smiled and headed off to check on the kids.  We munched away, the cookies were quiet delicious.  As we were finishing off the cookies, a younger shorter version of Josh's wife appeared at the door.  "Daddy, there is a strange man in a strange vehicle setting in our driveway".  I laughed, smiled at Josh.  He, his daughter, and I walked around the house to greet the driver (Canucks357).  Canucks and Lind had a private conversation as I loaded into the vehicle.   I thanked Josh for the visit and told him to thank the wife for the snack and we began our trip home.  As we drove off, Josh's daughter looked up at him and said, , “Daddy, what kind of vehicle was that?”.  “Sweetie, I think it was the Mars Rover”. 

(NOTE:  Check out this link to see Mars Rover!!)