FOFC Cup Unwritten Rules

[JHandley]

I got this left on my Guestbook:


Number 8 of 9 by leverb66, 5/15/2003 at 02:27 Delete

Give me a break playing starters. If you wanted to play a real game with starters, you should've let me know--I'd even PIC and crush you with starters.

Is there some unwritten rule I don't know about? I just got most of my starters back from injury, in fact, I lost my form defender in the match, so I played them to get in training.


Edit: I beat him 4-1

[Qwikshot]

Was this a friendly? MOTS/PICS don't happen during friendlies...
and when does it matter who you play...If you had starters coming back from injury, to get their form up and running it would be good to play them...perhaps you don't even have a trainee team, so you would be playing your starters and training them...I would chalk it up to anger...

[JHandley]

This is from today's game in the FOFC Cup. The team is the West Fargo Stangs

[McSweeny]

i don't see any problem with playing starters. i'd have played mine today if my team wasn't so banged up. I don't have much of a trainee squad or a b squad

[the_meanstrosity]

Don't worry about it Handley. You can play your starters or you don't have to. But so long as you're having fun...who cares.

Owner of the MoKan Mighty Bastards

[Qwikshot]

I know I rambled in my first bit...so here goes...

I agree with the above...play who you want.

[Brillig]

Well, I know who wins the poor sportsmanship award for round 1...

[Havok]

who cares, Big J played his starters vs me today cause he didnt have a choice. He's in transition and doesnt have a back-up squad.

I knew going into the FOFC cup i didnt stand a chance since i run a 5-4-1 in friendly's. As long as i get my training and noone gets injuried im happy :)

some people need to lighten up.

Dk or ravenhawk are probally gonna win anyway :)

[Eilim]

and I thought I was too competitive... :rolleyes:

[vex]

I kind of agree, actually. If a team is going to play their starters, the other team should at least be informed of it.

[daedalus]

I'm with the other folks here, JH. If they don't like it, the jerk can leave the damn cup. This was for us to play around with for fun. Play who you want to and play who you need to. It's your team.

And good luck. :)

[Ally]

I'm a bit confused, I don't understand why anyone would choose to not play their starters. Can someone explain? I'll need to know all this stuff before the next cup. :)

[NAIWF]

I played one starter and I felt guilty until I found out my opponent did the same. I think it all depends on your league schedule. I know for myself, that I cannot win my series, but I'm too much of a competitor to roll over and demote so I can possibly win a D6 series and jump into an easier D5 the following season. If I was in all bot league or one where the top rated team was making low 40 NSI's I'd play my backups in the league and try to win this, but I can't afford to do that and since I'm already pencilling in a loss to Data King, my only hope is to win the other three games I've got and even then I'd probably finish 3rd in the group.

Moral of the story, I can't win the league or my group in the Cup so why risk injuries? :)

[Ally]

Ahh, that would make sense. Thanks NAIWF. :)

[bbor]

i played a hybred of starts/back-ups,because i am training form...and i have some starters that are being stubborn and need extra training form to pop.

[DukeRulesMAB]

I'm with everyone else here, start who you wanna start.

Er...wait....you play me next week. I demand you start no one better than wretched talent. ;)

Seriously, I don't have a full backup squad, so my starters see action. Even if I did have a full backup squad, it's my choice how I run my team. Same's true for you. So ignore the complaints. :)

[RonnieDobbs]

If I start no starters, I have a disastrous midfield. I've got to somehow compete, or why did I join the thing in the first place?

[NAIWF]

My PC answer : For the camraderie, and the thrill of being in the Cup.

My real answer/wishful thinking : To kick some ass and hopefully win it, or at least tie the Seamen :)

[Alf]

I played 10 backups and 1 starter (because I have some injuries, I had no other option). And if I want to play starters, I'll do it. But actually, I am shooting at auto-promotion for next season, so I am not going to risk injuries here. Bragging rights are fun, but that's just about it.

I still manage to do pretty well against DataKing's Screamin Seamen losing only 2-1. Come on F Group people ! Let's kick some ass :)

[cthomer5000]

Sometimes people also have starters who start at one position (say, defense) but they want to train in another position (midfield). I have a player or two where I've considered doing that so that I can have some flexible depth at a few positions. Aside from starters, it's nice to have a a couple players that can backup 2 positions or more.

This week I played my entire B-team, but next week i'm not sure that will be the case.

[fantastic flying froggies]

Come on CT, play your B team... Please ?

[Katon]

Personally, I'm playing my starting midfield most of the time since my trainees can only put up wretched, which won't get me anywhere against this level of competition, and I can beat anyone in my series even playing trainees. Outside of midfield, I don't always have enough cover to play reserves.

[sony]

Winning is the whole point here, eh? Why not try to win...

[dacman]

I played my B-team and put my usual wingers in midfield to get them more playmaking training and subsequently lost to a team I'd probably crush otherwise, but I'm not gonna whine about it.

[The Afoci]

Go easy on BoB, he is the manager of the West Fargo Stangs and is very competitive. We work at the same place, he is my manager here. I agree that you should at least tell the other team if you are playing your starters and then it is there choice whether or not to give up the training.

[FrogMan]

I don't agree about having to tell the other team who we start.

There's no more risk of injury to his players if I play my starters instead of my backup, only a better chance of him losing the game. Isn't the goal of a game to win? If he is so competitive and he feels the FOFC cup is more important than his training and/or league results, he simply had to play his starters too...

I would agree about telling the other team if there was a bigger risk of injury, but it's not the case. If you think your backup won't give you enough of a chance to win in the cup and the cup is important to you, I say play your starters. If I was in a tougher league, I'd probably be playing backups and would probably get killed, so what. But that's just me...

FM

[leverb66]

JHandley's reply:

*laughs* Hey, just stopping by to say I'm awfully sorry for just pounding you in the ground today. I know it was a cheap trick to play on you by not putting a team on the field that would just roll over to your obvious greatness.

Thats more like it!

[leverb66]

DOLA

I know there is no rule against playing starters, I just don't like losing a "bragging rights only" cup match to starters who aren't returning from injuries....they played on sunday.

By the way how is Ridgeway doing?

BoB

[Poli]

I personally am in negotiations with GM-George to allow me to rent his team for all of my FOFC Cup matches from here on.

Realistically, ah, who cares? Especially in this part, where you can take a loss and still compete. Now, if you're serious about winning, you'll play starters and darn the backups. That's what I was all about in the US Open Cup.

FOFC Cup isn't that important to me to do well in. I'd like to win, but I'm not going to throw my starters into the fray. One for their protection (you never know when you'll face horned) and two for training different players.

Pilotman eliminated me from the last one by playing starters. Did I expect it? No. Was I mad? No. I was surprised, but happy for Pilotman. He was estactic to keep moving in the Cup.

That's great. I loved it.

Play ball.

[DataKing]

Originally posted by Havok

Dk or ravenhawk are probally gonna win anyway :)

Just for the record, I do not expect to win the FOFC Cup. Nor should anyone else who regularly plays a 5-4-1 formation for training purposes. Raven Hawk has a much better chance of regaining the title than I do of winning it. Bastadge. ;)

I also have to say that I agree with what a lot of others have said here. If you want to play your starters and forego some of your training for that week, then more power to you. Personally, I can't see myself ever doing that, as this is a "bragging rights only" cup after all, and to me the long-term ramifications of steady training is a lot more important than bragging rights.

But if others feel the need to play starters (or perhaps do not have a full b-team), then knock yourself out.

[bbor]

Why will no one playing a 4-5-1 win?

[JHandley]

Originally posted by leverb66
DOLA

I know there is no rule against playing starters, I just don't like losing a "bragging rights only" cup match to starters who aren't returning from injuries....they played on sunday.

By the way how is Ridgeway doing?

BoB


Ridgeway is out for 3 weeks ;)

I really don't have a full B-Team. With injuires, I have 1 back up Defender, 2 back up inner Mids, 1 back up winger and 1 back up forward.


Richard Gustavsson, who put 2 by you, is my training forward, he is Inad at scoring. I played a hybrid because I wanted to get as many back-ups in the game as possible.

[DataKing]

Originally posted by bbor
Why will no one playing a 4-5-1 win?

A team playing 4-5-1 could win it, but I doubt a 5-4-1 could win.

[leverb66]

Originally posted by JHandley
Ridgeway is out for 3 weeks ;)




Richard Gustavsson, who put 2 by you, is my training forward, he is Inad at scoring. I played a hybrid because I wanted to get as many back-ups in the game as possible.


I saw that and was hoping that, it wouldn't come up!:)

Good luck in the rest of the FOFC cup!

TO EVERYONE: I really didn't intend to start a big fight or anything, I thought a little trash talkin' would be fun. Since, I lost I needed to find a reason for my loss. And I would win if we played a match starters v. starters.

Later

[Vince]

Good luck in week 2 lever...my squad is pissed coming off an away 3-2 loss, so we ain't gonna take it easy on you :)

[daedalus]

Originally posted by The Afoci
Go easy on BoB, he is the manager of the West Fargo Stangs and is very competitive. We work at the same place, he is my manager here. I agree that you should at least tell the other team if you are playing your starters and then it is there choice whether or not to give up the training.

There's a huge difference between being competitive and being a jerk.

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by daedalus
There's a huge difference between being competitive and being a jerk.

The same could be said about JHandley, he plays his starters because they were coming back from injuries(Which is a lie, most of which played the last league game; also the whole I don't have enough for a b-team is off some, because he has 21 players on his squad) and than taunts him back about crushing a guys B-team.

That said, I work with BoB and it was more trash talking in fun than the way it appears as. Obviously if some had taken place before the match, this wouldn't be as big of a deal.

One more thing, this "jerk" went to each person in his group prior to the cup and wished everyone luck in there guest book and no one returned the favor.

But BoB is big kid who can fight his own battles, I just wanted to put my .02 cents in on this whole fiasco.

EDIT: I am not saying that JHandley is jerk, I have had no interaction at all with him, I am just saying BoB isn't as big of a jerk as this makes him appear to some.

[FrogMan]

Originally posted by The Afoci
EDIT: I am not saying that JHandley is jerk, I have had no interaction at all with him, I am just saying BoB isn't as big of a jerk as this makes him appear to some.

I understand what you mean, The Afoci. It's also the feeling I got afterward, when BoB came here and explained it.

I gotta say that my first impression of Bob when I first read is message was: "what a whiner!". Sorry, that's just how I felt at that moment.

I played my starters and won, despite fflix also starting his starters and not telling me anything about it. Had I decided to go with my B squad and lost, I probably would have left him a fflix a message saying that with my A squad I could have won and that's now what I understand that Bob meant in his message...

FM

[McSweeny]

i don't understand what the big deal is

everyone has the chance to play their starters in the cup match. Most of us choose not to because of one reason or another(training, injuries, etc etc etc). If you don't want to lose, play your starters. Very simple. If you play your B squad and lose... well isn't that what you'd expect?

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by FrogMan
I gotta say that my first impression of Bob when I first read is message was: "what a whiner!". Sorry, that's just how I felt at that moment.

I am not saying he is a whiner. Hell he used to be my mascot and complained all the time. ;)

[Doug5984]

not to thread jack or anything- but The Afoci, I will probably be using my # 1 central defender in our cup game, he is currently "bruised but training" and unless he is completly healed i won't play him in my league game so that means I will probably need to play him in the cup.....just thought I would warn you.

[Qwikshot]

The biggest unwritten rule is to let the Ultra Nox win...daed you broke the rules...;)

[The Afoci]

That is it, Crawfish to his sack! I play my wingers as inner mids during friendlies. My finances don't allow me to have a full b-squad currently. I also will probably have to play one of my forwards due to injury. But the stud YP I will get and sell will allow me to purchase all excellent back ups, at least.

I will put the pipe down now.

[NAIWF]

I think the funniest thing is hearing people say they can't afford backups. You can get an entirely adequate b-team for less than 50-60K (except for goalies of course). The fact that others see having replacements/trainees as a luxury and not a necessity is just funny to me for some reason, especially when it's people PIC'ing their whole season and STILL winning 5-0 every week. Where did all their money go? :)

[McSweeny]

Originally posted by NAIWF
I think the funniest thing is hearing people say they can't afford backups. You can get an entirely adequate b-team for less than 50-60K (except for goalies of course). The fact that others see having replacements/trainees as a luxury and not a necessity is just funny to me for some reason, especially when it's people PIC'ing their whole season and STILL winning 5-0 every week. Where did all their money go? :)

i only have 1 or 2 trainees who are not in my first team. I have 17 players on my team. So that is what 6 backups? This is why i will play most of my starters in the cup games(read: most). Why can't i afford anyone else? Because i'm in huge debt(read 300,000+). I'm in the 16th overall hardest series in Div 5 and i over paid for several starters when i first started and really had no idea what i was doing.

[The Afoci]

NAIWF, I had a full back up squad, but had to purge them in my huge debt. I cut about 8k in salary from players. As soon as I can, I will buy up some more B-squaders.

[daedalus]

Originally posted by The Afoci
The same could be said about JHandley, he plays his starters because they were coming back from injuries(Which is a lie, most of which played the last league game; also the whole I don't have enough for a b-team is off some, because he has 21 players on his squad) and than taunts him back about crushing a guys B-team.

I'm not exactly sure how the same can be said about JHandley. Like yourself, I don't have much dealing with him so I don't know if he is or is not a jerk. On the other hand, based on the situation at hand, I'm not sure what makes him a jerk.

With all due respect, I'm also not sure how you can know exactly what JHandley's intention or plan for his team would be. Speaking for myself, I played a starting wingback whose form is in the dump, a centreback who would be starting if I didn't already have one with good form going, a midfielder would would be starting if I didn't have one on a good streak, a recently purchased soon-to-be starting forward and a forward who was my starter last year. Would you have been able to decipher all that from looking at my squad as well?

As for his entry in the guestbook . . . and I could be wrong here, but according to the timestamp on the two entries, JHandley's post seemed to have been a response to the original post by leverb66. I'm not sure how that exactly makes him a jerk? Or was he suppose to have just taken whatever is dished out to him without responding? Bend over and take it on the other cheek?

I do understand that this person is your friend and I can definitely understand backing him up but I can't really agree with your logic here.

[daedalus]

Originally posted by Qwikshot
The biggest unwritten rule is to let the Ultra Nox win...daed you broke the rules...;)

My apologies. 'Twas an accident! :)

[robbgmaier]

The first rule of the FOFC cup is - DO NOT TALK about the FOFC cup.

The second rule of the FOFC cup is ......

[JHandley]

Originally posted by The Afoci
The same could be said about JHandley, he plays his starters because they were coming back from injuries(Which is a lie, most of which played the last league game; also the whole I don't have enough for a b-team is off some, because he has 21 players on his squad) and than taunts him back about crushing a guys B-team.

.

Ok, let me clarify a bit here.

First of all, the post I made on Leverb's guestbook was after I reread his post on mine a few times and thought that he may be just talking trash and the sarcasim didn't quite make it through the translation.

Second, the math doesn't add up for me having a B-Team. I have 20 players, remember it counts your coach as one of your players and I don't think anyone here is planning on training their coach. I had 3 players injured. That leaves me with 17 actual players. so my "B-Team" consists of actually 6 players. I swapped out one of my defenders, one of my Inner Mids, one of my wingers and one of my forwards. That's 4. I have one clown, who's also a weak goalkeeper, that I also have no intention of training. Lastly, I have one recent youth pull who I'm hoping someone will grab for a grand simply because he's 17. Again, no reason to play him as I have no reason to train him, if he doesn't sell, he's fired.

Third, I definitely over-reacted by posting what Lever said. I apologize for that. I was kinda ticked off and as a relative newbie to hattrick, I really did want to know if I had broken some unwritten rule.

[The Afoci]

No need to apologize, it was trashtalking. BoB took your reply as that until I saw this in here. But now everything is cool as far as I can see. But I do recommend that everyone play as many of there starters against him from now on. Being I brought him to Hattrick and here, it sucks bad that he already has a better team and a higher FOFC hattrick rating. So pummel away! :)

[leverb66]

WoW Did I ever stir the pot!!

[FrogMan]

BoB, just to make sure you can stick it back at The Afoci at work, I'll make sure to play ALL of my starters when I play him in our group I match :D

FM

[The Afoci]

FrogMan, I hope you are familiar with my defensive crawfish to the sack strategy!

[Coffee Warlord]

Hmm. We might have to bring back one of our old promotional items, Board With a Nail Through It.

Sock Filled With Quarters may not have enough power.

[vex]

Remember when I played nearly ALL of my starters against you Coffee?;)

Then again, I only had 14 players at the time.

Then again, I won 8-0:D

[Coffee Warlord]

That was just brutal, ya bastard. The guys I had as reserves/trainees flat out SUCKED at that time, too. I even tried a 2-5-3 the second time around, too, which was fun. :)

Just wait, vex. We'll go at it again, and my scrubs actually know how to play now.

[leverb66]

Originally posted by FrogMan
BoB, just to make sure you can stick it back at The Afoci at work, I'll make sure to play ALL of my starters when I play him in our group I match :D

FM

I hope you crush him, he got me into Hattrick, but only informs me of different strategies/information as he sees fit. He's mad because despite this I still have a better squad than him!!

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by leverb66
I hope you crush him, he got me into Hattrick, but only informs me of different strategies/information as he sees fit. He's mad because despite this I still have a better squad than him!!

Did I mention the thing about wretched keepers actually being better than passable ones?

Never should have told him about the importance of stamina in the midfield. All I hear about is his inadequate midfield. But you know what they say, the people with good midfields are making up for inadequacies in other parts of there life ;)

[Poli]

Originally posted by robbgmaier
The first rule of the FOFC cup is - DO NOT TALK about the FOFC cup.

The second rule of the FOFC cup is ......

Mercy, I have two friends I talk to at work about hattrick. I even have my series standings posted in my shop. I'm sure those guys get sick of me talking about it sometimes...most of the time. :)

We even have acronyms...BGE Best Game Ever. That was against the Ghetto Superstars. Even worse, hand signals. 3 fingers, followed by 2 fingers, followed by one finger...3, 2, 1. My final score against the Deathknight.

Life's great when coworkers clown you for your losses :)

[FrogMan]

Ardent, you are quite lucky. In my regular life, as opposed to my online life, almost nobody is addict of the internet as I am, almost nobody watches what you (and I for that matter) call regular network TV (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc...), certainly nobody understands my addiction for a game where I manage a team with 25-26 non-real soccer players that are not playing for real and are just simulated, I could go on and on about how sometimes I feel bizarre and out of place with the people I work with... Remember, I live in a place where 75% of the persons around me speak French and only French. I live all of my working life in French but all of my leisures (outside of sport) is done in English (reading, TV, the net, gaming, ...)

For those simple reasons it's difficult for me to find friends at work to talk with about my team. For those reasons, you (and Bob and The Afoci at their workplace) are all lucky... I envy you... :)

FM

[Poli]

Correct me if I'm wrong:

Il suce pour vous être! Seulement kidding, mon ami! Au moins vous nous avez!

[MacroGuru]

Frogman,

Bien, je me sens pour vous, j'ai dépensé les semaines d'à peu près 2 1/2 en haut dans Ottowa,it vraiment dur sur un Américain anglais qui parle avec les capacités françaises limitées rebondissant entre Ottowa et Montreal

Or something like that!

Dennis Thomas
Provo United

[Vince]

A really good friend of mine is pretty into soccer, but not much into the internet and games like Hattrick. The other day, I was upset because even though I MOTS-ed an opponent, I only managed a 3-3 draw, and I was telling her about it. She let me have it. Apparently Real Madrid (her favorite team) lost to Juventus that day, and now they're out of contention for the season. It's amazing how intimidating a 4'11" Venezuelan girl can manage to be...and also how into soccer she can be. "I don't want to hear it! Your team isn't even REAL!!! Argh!" It's funny now...at the time it was a little frightening :)

[daedalus]

They were nuked from Champie's League. You should definitely make fun of her for that. Especially unless Real can come back in La Liga.

Just, y'know, keep a distance between her and you.

[leverb66]

Originally posted by FrogMan
For those simple reasons it's difficult for me to find friends at work to talk with about my team. For those reasons, you (and Bob and The Afoci at their workplace) are all lucky... I envy you... :)

FM

I'm not so sure how lucky I am, have you read The_Afoci's latest chapter in the Crawfish saga? It's a little scary, and I have to face that everyday!

BoB

[Poli]

Note to self: Try and take a look at the Crawfish dynasty...

[moriarty]

Ok, now that we've got this all sorted out ... I have to confess. I played my 'A' team against RavenHawk's B team last week in an attempt to steal a game. Only problem is ... I still lost. :(

[Airhog]

lol, now that is bad. I just want everyone to know once again, that you will be facing the majority of my starters. I will be running some trainees at midfield, but my starters get the nod in all other places. Hopefully by the end of next season I will have backups at every position.

[The Afoci]

Originally posted by leverb66
I'm not so sure how lucky I am, have you read The_Afoci's latest chapter in the Crawfish saga? It's a little scary, and I have to face that everyday!

BoB

I figure the more I scare you, the easier it will be to get the cars financed, thus earning me more money to finance my plans to take over the world!!!!!!!!

Or buy candy.