Glimpses & Moments from "Undynasties"

[Brian Swartz]

Do it!!

[Critch]

FM2013 hadnt grabbed me like previous versions, so I thought I'd try a different kind of game. Normally I play fictional universe and start from the bottom, but for a change I thought I'd try real players and go for a team with cash to burn. Had a couple of abortive attempts (Man City, Bayern Munich, Liverpool) before I got a game that I stuck with.

I've just started season 8 as Man Utd manager, I've won the league all 7 times so far and have won the Champions League the last 5 seasons too. It's all got a bit boring, the EPL is such a cakewalk that Man Utd havent lost a league match in any of the last three seasons. My plan now it to stay at Man Utd til they lose a league game, then quit and try leading a formerly big team back to glory. Leeds United, Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Ham have all dropped down a division or two, so one of them is likely.

So with the streak at 125 League games without defeat, Man Utd are 1-0 down at Millwall and it's looking like my reign is coming to an end. 90+1 and Man Utd equalize, 90+3 and Man Utd score the winner. And my reign goes on.

p.s. Stay at Dover.

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by Critch

p.s. Stay at Dover.

I took everyone's advice and stayed and I'm definitely happy I did. Like many of you mentioned, I would have started the "what ifs" almost right away.

It's been a fascinating journey and my first year in England's top league has been a great learning experience (and humbling). I think I'm going to start a dynasty post about it - I figure at the very least, it will give people hope that you *can* make it to the top leagues by going all the way with a very small club starting at the lowest level in-game.

[PilotMan]

So I'm playing 2 different games of FM. One is in 14 on my laptop and the other is FMH 13 on my Nexus. I get hooked into one then forget what I was doing in the other. Lol. Hard to keep them apart even though one is England and the other is Northern Ireland.

I'm having a blast playing in NI, but this post is about my FMH game. I swear I think this thing is broken. I'm playing as Maidenhead and it's 2020. I've taken this team from the BSS to the Championship. This is our second trip to the Championship. Last season in League 1 we absolutely crushed the division. I think we scored somewhere close to 150 goals.

I wasn't expecting to do as well this season as we have. Currently we ride in first but we are nowhere near ready for the Premiership. Anyway, we got stuck with Man U in the 4th round of the FA Cup, but at least the game was at home along with our packed 12k fans. Went with a 4-2-3-1 formation in an effort to pack the back and hope for a counter. My keeper, who is only valued at 80k but is the team captain played is heart out and we played to a 0-0 draw.

Two weeks later we played the return match in front of 75k at Old Trafford. I set up the same formation and tactics with a couple of personnel changes. We got the first goal at about 12 min. I knew what was coming next and boy did it ever.

Manchester got it back in about 2 minutes. We picked up our second goal just before the half and carried the lead at the break. The second half was just nails. They came hard at us. I tried to keep my guys fresh and sub out guys who were tired but about the 85th minute we just couldn't manage any longer. I was disheartened. I had subbed everyone out, I knew there was no way we were going to hold on now.

We played into extra time and suddenly nothing was happening. We played to half, and then to the end of regulation with a 2-2 tie.

We were up first for PK's and I've never seen our keeper stop one and I've never seen our team take them so this can't be good against Man U. We score, they score and so on. Nobody misses after 5 tries.

We go 6, they go 6. We go 7 they step up and miss.

Holy crap my little team from Maidenhead just beat Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup. My reward?

Arsenal. First place in the Premiership.

Fuck yeah.

[NoSkillz]

Awesome Love it PilotMan!

[PilotMan]

Well we won the Championship and won promotion. I guess it just got real. I can't imagine that we will last more than 1 season without some more money and some roster turnover. The biggest problem we had was getting reliable scoring from the players that we had relied on in the past. Our leading scorer was on loan from Derby.

Oh and I will add that we did all this players no older than 25 (most are 22 or so), and our wage budget is about 1/3 of what I was authorized. At least there will be some money to spend. It's still going to be hard when some players have a bigger salary than our entire club budget. LOL!

[PilotMan]

OK so our first year in the Premiership was a success. We were expected to be respectable, but only with a transfer budget of 3.2M. HAAAAAAAA! We were still way, way below our salary budget. In an effort to spend some of that money and give our offense some punch we signed 31yr old, Jozy Altidore on a free and got a young Italian striker on loan.

The board hated Altidore. In fact, the board hated every move I made in the offseason. We spent the year bouncing between 3 keepers (Trying not to burn out our 20 yr old who is getting call ups from England but yet to get capped, and our other guys), and mixing and matching strikers to find some combination that clicked up front. I found that most of my young guys were just out matched and aren't really Premiership quality. Altidore lead the team in scoring but never really got it together. He was maddening to deal with. Our Italian striker despite looking great sucked. He had 1 goal in 14 games. Ugh.

We got hosed in the Cup drawing Chelsea early. So that didn't go great. Despite all that we played really good defense most of the time and finished just over .500 and good enough for 8th place. We even qualified for the Euro Cup qualifiers! HOT DAMN!!!!!

We added some punch this last offseason, a young Turkish international who is already the best striker on the squad and we added an aging 35yr old Luis Suarez who hadn't had a regular starting job in 2 years for depth, and bought an 18-yr old kid off of Manchester United hoping he develops into something offensively minded.

Our opening friendly is against Roma and they lay the smack down to the tune of 5-1. Next thing I know I get a letter from the Board and they tell me they think I could be doing better!!!!!

WTF ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!

We took this POS, semi pro team from the BSS to the Premiership in about years. We brought the team to financial prosperity, more than doubled the size of the stadium, added a kick ass training program, and took the team to a Continental competition! I COULD BE DOING BETTER?!

The board of Maidenhead is officially smoking crack.

[Young Drachma]

UConn's recent NCAA victory has made me want to see if I can take an elite program to the promised land by recruiting only guys who below Top 50 in the game. I'd probably have to turn on players leaving early to my current league, to create the same kind of parity we have in the real world, but...it'd be interesting to see if I can pull that off.

So after a few years, that's what I'm gonna do.

[Young Drachma]

Alternatively, I need to really get a better handle on Kentucky geography, so I'm considering creating a running recruit database from around the state since there are so many counties, so I can get a better handle on towns and so forth, then recruiting for my teams from amongst those players.

We'll see if it works, I've already begun doing the 3-star dynasty.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

OK so our first year in the Premiership was a success. We were expected to be respectable, but only with a transfer budget of 3.2M. HAAAAAAAA! We were still way, way below our salary budget. In an effort to spend some of that money and give our offense some punch we signed 31yr old, Jozy Altidore on a free and got a young Italian striker on loan.

The board hated Altidore. In fact, the board hated every move I made in the offseason. We spent the year bouncing between 3 keepers (Trying not to burn out our 20 yr old who is getting call ups from England but yet to get capped, and our other guys), and mixing and matching strikers to find some combination that clicked up front. I found that most of my young guys were just out matched and aren't really Premiership quality. Altidore lead the team in scoring but never really got it together. He was maddening to deal with. Our Italian striker despite looking great sucked. He had 1 goal in 14 games. Ugh.

We got hosed in the Cup drawing Chelsea early. So that didn't go great. Despite all that we played really good defense most of the time and finished just over .500 and good enough for 8th place. We even qualified for the Euro Cup qualifiers! HOT DAMN!!!!!

We added some punch this last offseason, a young Turkish international who is already the best striker on the squad and we added an aging 35yr old Luis Suarez who hadn't had a regular starting job in 2 years for depth, and bought an 18-yr old kid off of Manchester United hoping he develops into something offensively minded.

Our opening friendly is against Roma and they lay the smack down to the tune of 5-1. Next thing I know I get a letter from the Board and they tell me they think I could be doing better!!!!!

WTF ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!

We took this POS, semi pro team from the BSS to the Premiership in about years. We brought the team to financial prosperity, more than doubled the size of the stadium, added a kick ass training program, and took the team to a Continental competition! I COULD BE DOING BETTER?!

The board of Maidenhead is officially smoking crack.

Update:

Our adjustments up front paid off in spades. We had also added a young Italian striker on loan and he lit the world on fire. Our young Turkish forward suffered a major knee injury and was lost by the 5th game so we went shopping again. I figured, if we are going to have a transfer budget we might as well use some of it. We landed a young Moroccan national named Rayan Chihab. Chihab would go on to win Preimership player of the year.

The best find though was an Ivorian named Ibrahima Ouattara. We paid a miniscule 3.6M for him from Bari and he ended up scoring 23 goals in 22 games with 6 assists and an average rating of 8.3. Guy is just a monster and we have him for 4 more years.

We finished the season in 5th place. A solid spot in Europe for next year too. The biggest surprise for this Maidenhead squad was our performance in the Euro Cup. From the qualifiers, the group stage, to the knockouts, we just kept winning. We beat big teams, we beat little teams. In fact, that same Roma team that schooled us in the preseason last year? Yeah, we took them out too. We beat Liverpool in the Semi Finals and set up a final in front of 145000 fans against Juventus. We played awesome, dominated possession and outshot them 3 to 1. Nothing went in though and we were left to rue a 0-1 defeat.

Boooo. What a disappointment. Still a great year though. Maidenhead is now listed as a RICH ballclub. Our stadium just went from 15.5k to 19k, as I slowly convince the board to expand, but they are not on board with the full youth academy yet.

Things are looking good for us, but we still aren't even close to the kind of money that Chelsea (lost 1 game last season) are spending. Not really even competitive with them either. I'll take this for now though.

[britrock88]

I've probably explained some of this before. I have a career with Salisbury in FM12, beginning in the BSS in the 11-12 season.Quickly built a defensive core (players and coaches), and won promotion via playoffs to the BSP and to L2 in successive seasons.

In L2, we were total outsiders, but still strong enough defensively to claw into the playoffs in our first season, where we ultimately lost. The next season, our professional squad expects better of itself, even though outside opinion-makers still ignored us. This season, we fade down the stretch, and drop from the automatic promotion places into the playoff. In the playoff final, we suffer heartbreak again, losing in extra time.

For our third L2 season, the board ramps up expectations to win promotion, even though they won't offer more than a midtable wage budget. That said, we had fewer bad contracts and a core that remained intact and had developed during the previous seasons. Our main obstacles were injury (we had a terrible field that the board refused to relay until finances were in the black) and competition congestion.

The plus side of the congestion was our progress and paydays in the national tournaments. We won the Johnstone's Paint handily, advanced to the third round of the League Cup, and made the QUARTERFINAL of the FA Cup, defeating several Championship/L1 teams along the way. That buoyed our budgets and finally made it possible for our strikers not to twist their ankles playing home matches. (So much alternating between the 4-5-1 and 4-1-2-1-2...)

We go through the L2 season, typically tied with Colchester with a game or two in hand. This was frustrating because of our excellent goal differential (2.1-0.7, roughly). Championship and L1 teams also swarmed around most of our first eleven (who were more or less L1 quality). But we fight all that off and take the title with 98 points on 46 matches (30-8-8). Woo!

Then, clubs come calling. Teams relegated from the Premiership sniff around, and I finally get a solid offer from Championship side Birmingham. Their offer would increase my salary from $2.1k to $22k/wk, give me a $7m transfer budget, and allow $575k/wk in wages! Wow! Sticking with Salisbury, however, I would have no transfer budget and $67k/wk in wages in our rinky-dink 3,800-person stadium.

So, what does a guy do at this point? ...dance with the one who brung him! The odds have us at 20-1 to win L1, so by all appearances, we will situate well on this new tier. I'm keeping the core together and signing new youngsters with my extra $20k in the wage budget. Let's go Whites!

[Rawhide]

I have been playing Football Manager on the iPad on and off for the past couple of years, but have really gotten into the swing of things with the World Cup recently.

I am nearly halfway through a career game with Southend United and have had a fair bit of success:

2013/14 - 3rd in League 2; won promotion playoff
2014/15 - 19th in League 1
2015/16 - 1st in League 1; promoted; made the quarter final of the FA Cup
2016/17 - 20th in the Championship; avoided relegation on final day of season
2017/18 - 15th in the Championship
2018/19 - 1st in the Championship; promoted
2019/20 - 9th in the Premier League; FA Cup semi finals
2020/21 - 1st in the Premier League; FA Cup quarter finals
2021/22 - 2nd in the Premier League; FA Cup winners; Champions League semi finals
2022/23 - 1st in the Premier League; League Cup winners
2023/24 - 1st in the Premier League; FA Cup runners-up; Champions League runners-up
2024/25 - 4th in the Premier League; League Cup winners

We achieved this on the back of a few notable players. Fernando Sanchez (Argentina) played 297 games in the midfield between 2017 and 2025 and was the captain of our club during that time. Jonathan Forde (keeper) was signed from the depths of Blue Square South in 2018 and has played over 350 games for Southend, conceding just 34 goals in 54 games during 2022/23. We are placing an emphasis on junior development in coming seasons, hence our slight dip in recent years.

The shining light of our club thus far was forward Frank Bos, who we signed from Dutch club ADO Den Haag on our scout's recommendation. Bos scored 162 goals in a little over three seasons - and just 158 appearances - before Chelsea gave us an offer we couldn't refuse. Since leaving us he has scored "just" 28 goals in 59 games. Selling Bos nearly cost me my position, such was the uproar from fans, team and board members, so I feel I'm treading a rather fine line of late!

The trick is to make astute use of Bosman signings, thereby improving the overall team without spending a dollar of transfer money. Once you hit the higher levels, the money comes rolling in, so to speak.

Edit - We came back strong in 2025/26, winning the Premier League on the last day of the season, and then steam-rolling Bayern Munich in the Champions League final 3-0. The only blemish was a FA Cup final loss to Manchester City. The story of the season was the dual threat of AMC Andres Rodriguez Alvarez (signed from Tigres for $14.5m) and S Jordan Gillespie (signed from Newcastle United for $22.5m), who contributed a staggering 82 goals between them during our season. Alvarez was voted the best player in the world, while Gillespie won the Premier League player of the year award. At just 24 and 25 respectively, these two will be around for a while.

[Rawhide]

Okay, I think I've just played the most incredible span of three seasons in FOF7 that I'm ever likely to.

I started a game about five days ago and randomly chose to use the Bucs. After dabbling for a number of seasons with various pre-packaged offensive schemes and my variation of what I interpreted the Gandalf defense to be (from the legendary 'Defense Wins Championships' dynasty on these hallowed pages), I decided that playing GM rather than GM and coach was more my thing, so I turned over all gameplanning to my coach (who, by this stage was Drew Brees....like I said, we are a few years into the game by now).

Anyhow, I had far too much money invested into only a handful of players who were on the wrong side of their careers (for example, a once-great receiver was earning $20m yet had declined all the way to 37/37). So I decided to blow it all up and start again. Literally. Every single player on my roster was either traded or released.

After making the first four selections myself in the draft (and dodging what the staff would have almost certainly chosen, a 6/31 quarterback), I had 17 rookies assembled. I padded it out with another 29 rookie free agent signings, all exclusively chosen for their chemistry ratings.

Every single player on our roster was a rookie, and the first season was a bit of a hard slog. We did end up winning 4 games however, and weasled our way out of the first overall pick.

We completely avoided the free agent market (although we did make a belated dash for a 90/90 corner), and invested heavily in the draft once again. No stud quarterback, so again I made the first pick and went for a tackle with sexy bars. The post-draft free agency signings were bereft of any actual talent, so I went for affinity and chemistry once again.

Second season done and dusted, and we finished 5-11, good enough for the third overall pick. We tried to move up to first overall but I had my doubts over the quality of the studly quarterback sitting at the top of the pile. The Saints, division rivals, held the first pick and I'm sure that was part of their reluctance to trade.

The QB goes first overall and he bottoms out at 17/40. We dodged a bullet. Tampa takes the best available player at third overall, and we have a 49/84 defensive end on our books. Our 63 rated starter who was drafted in the original "genesis" draft is ticked off a little but he's still comfortably our starter.

I limit myself to just two free agent signings who weren't rookies - both rated in the mid-40s and strong on affinity and chemistry. Camp comes and goes and we pump out an undefeated pre-season. My expectations are to maybe break even for 8-8 in our third rebuilding season.

Well, was I wrong. Very wrong. On the back of 21 sacks from the rookie DE, and 4000 yards from a quarterback that we picked off the street two years ago, we sweep all before us. Only a loss to the Panthers in the last week of the season prevents us from scoring a perfect season. That's right, we go 15-1.

We don't have any particular strength - 15th in passing, 9th in rushing. 11th defending the rush, 28th against the pass. Ten of our wins are by 7 points or less. Yet here we are with our best record in this dynasty history (easily beating the previous mark of 11-5).

The good times don't end there however, as we beat the Packers 27-17 in the division round, and then ease past the Niners 24-10 in the conference championship. We are off to the Super Bowl!

Miami are our opponents and the media gleefully talks up the "Florida Bowl", even if it is played in Texas. The Dolphins are the defending champions and play like it, opening up a 17-3 lead by halftime. However, we close the gap to just seven points by the two minute warning, and then having used up all our timeouts, intercept the Dolphins with just eight seconds to go, down by 7. First and ten on the Bucs 33.

The stadium erupts into pandemonium when we connect on our last play of the game, as our third year quarterback finds our third year receiver (also found on the street) and he runs it in for the score. The kick is good! Overtime!

Miami win the toss and receive, but their quarterback has the yips and throws another pick on the first play of their drive. We pound the ball seven yards closer to the sticks and then send in the kicker for the win! The kick is good and the Bucs win!

With $142 million left under the cap, we will be able to keep anyone who wants to stick around and develop this new Bucs dynasty.

I'm absolutely stoked.

[PilotMan]

awesome.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Rawhide

Okay, I think I've just played the most incredible span of three seasons in FOF7 that I'm ever likely to.

I started a game about five days ago and randomly chose to use the Bucs. After dabbling for a number of seasons with various pre-packaged offensive schemes and my variation of what I interpreted the Gandalf defense to be (from the legendary 'Defense Wins Championships' dynasty on these hallowed pages), I decided that playing GM rather than GM and coach was more my thing, so I turned over all gameplanning to my coach (who, by this stage was Drew Brees....like I said, we are a few years into the game by now).

Anyhow, I had far too much money invested into only a handful of players who were on the wrong side of their careers (for example, a once-great receiver was earning $20m yet had declined all the way to 37/37). So I decided to blow it all up and start again. Literally. Every single player on my roster was either traded or released.

After making the first four selections myself in the draft (and dodging what the staff would have almost certainly chosen, a 6/31 quarterback), I had 17 rookies assembled. I padded it out with another 29 rookie free agent signings, all exclusively chosen for their chemistry ratings.

Every single player on our roster was a rookie, and the first season was a bit of a hard slog. We did end up winning 4 games however, and weasled our way out of the first overall pick.

We completely avoided the free agent market (although we did make a belated dash for a 90/90 corner), and invested heavily in the draft once again. No stud quarterback, so again I made the first pick and went for a tackle with sexy bars. The post-draft free agency signings were bereft of any actual talent, so I went for affinity and chemistry once again.

Second season done and dusted, and we finished 5-11, good enough for the third overall pick. We tried to move up to first overall but I had my doubts over the quality of the studly quarterback sitting at the top of the pile. The Saints, division rivals, held the first pick and I'm sure that was part of their reluctance to trade.

The QB goes first overall and he bottoms out at 17/40. We dodged a bullet. Tampa takes the best available player at third overall, and we have a 49/84 defensive end on our books. Our 63 rated starter who was drafted in the original "genesis" draft is ticked off a little but he's still comfortably our starter.

I limit myself to just two free agent signings who weren't rookies - both rated in the mid-40s and strong on affinity and chemistry. Camp comes and goes and we pump out an undefeated pre-season. My expectations are to maybe break even for 8-8 in our third rebuilding season.

Well, was I wrong. Very wrong. On the back of 21 sacks from the rookie DE, and 4000 yards from a quarterback that we picked off the street two years ago, we sweep all before us. Only a loss to the Panthers in the last week of the season prevents us from scoring a perfect season. That's right, we go 15-1.

We don't have any particular strength - 15th in passing, 9th in rushing. 11th defending the rush, 28th against the pass. Ten of our wins are by 7 points or less. Yet here we are with our best record in this dynasty history (easily beating the previous mark of 11-5).

The good times don't end there however, as we beat the Packers 27-17 in the division round, and then ease past the Niners 24-10 in the conference championship. We are off to the Super Bowl!

Miami are our opponents and the media gleefully talks up the "Florida Bowl", even if it is played in Texas. The Dolphins are the defending champions and play like it, opening up a 17-3 lead by halftime. However, we close the gap to just seven points by the two minute warning, and then having used up all our timeouts, intercept the Dolphins with just eight seconds to go, down by 7. First and ten on the Bucs 33.

The stadium erupts into pandemonium when we connect on our last play of the game, as our third year quarterback finds our third year receiver (also found on the street) and he runs it in for the score. The kick is good! Overtime!

Miami win the toss and receive, but their quarterback has the yips and throws another pick on the first play of their drive. We pound the ball seven yards closer to the sticks and then send in the kicker for the win! The kick is good and the Bucs win!

With $142 million left under the cap, we will be able to keep anyone who wants to stick around and develop this new Bucs dynasty.

I'm absolutely stoked.

Wow! Looking forward to a year 4 update!

[Rawhide]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Wow! Looking forward to a year 4 update!

Well, a little bit of water has passed under the bridge since I posted that update. From memory, we went back to the playoffs for the next three seasons as a wildcard each time but couldn't get over the hump. In a quest to see if I could rekindle the magic elsewhere, I went to Oakland, and managed to get the Bucs coach to come with me (off-contract) - Gruden in reverse? I cut the entire roster and tried to rebuild using the same affinity and chemistry ethos, and duly went 8-72 in five seasons before I was fired.

The grass is not always greener.

[korme]

'However, we close the gap to just seven points by the two minute warning, and then having used up all our timeouts, intercept the Dolphins with just eight seconds to go, down by 7.'

What?

[BYU 14]

NHL 15 playing as the Kings, was in the middle of a pretty mediocre 10 game stretch (5-5) and my lead in the pacific was shrinking. Down 3-1 to Winnipeg, scored with 10 seconds left to make it 3-2, then scored off the ensuing face off to tie it at 3 with 5 seconds left. (They also missed an empty net from just outside the blue line with 38 seconds to play)

Ended up winning in overtime 4-3 with 1:38 to go on a slap shot from the point. The most amazing 5 minutes in the NHL series I have ever played.

[britrock88]

Got the UNC job in an FBCB2010 dynasty after a season with Southern Miss where I had these three scores in the CUSA tourney: 59-35, 112-105, 73-22.

...Amazing variance. The team was top-3 in FG% defense for the 3rd straight year, explaining much of the first and third results. The middle one was a regulation game, amazingly! But its pace was in the low 80s (as opposed to the high 50s for the other two), and both teams shot 60% or so.

[PilotMan]

Alright I'm going to take over this thread for a little bit because there is a story that I want to tell, but it's not worthy of it's own thread. So without further ado, I give you American Baseball.

American Baseball begins in 1975 in an alternate baseball universe. There is no MLB nor has there ever been. Instead baseball is still divided into east and west geographical leagues of equal size.

In the east you have the Atlantic Baseball League. The ABL is a 12-team ML divided into 2 divisions. They have one level of support, a AAA level league called the ABL Developmental. Players are drafted every year from a pool that is fed by both Collegiate and High School leagues, dubbed the American Collegiate Association and East Coast High School respectively. Undrafted players are free agents.

In the west you have Pacific Championship Baseball. A 12-team ML divided into 3, 4-team divisions. The PCB is also supported with a AAA level minor league system called the PCB Minor League. They too hold a draft simultaneously with the ABL. Their players come from the Universities of the West and the West Coast High School All-Stars. Teams from the East and West, never player one another and are considered completely separate entities.

Since baseball is divided along coastal lines, where all the money and high exposure athletes are baseball in the midwest has developed much more of a grassroots organization. Teams from Kansas all the way to North Dakota, and Rapid City to Kentucky, have banded together to create Prairie League Baseball, a completely unaffiliated independent league. Players are signed from the available free agent pool or developed locally. The PLB is a 32-team league, with 2 separate subdivisions, broken up into 4, 4-team regions with most teams playing only games against their more local opponents to keep costs down. With much less revenue coming in than their ML counterparts they don't compete for the top talent but sometimes players can emerge from the PLB and make an impact and sometimes players can actually play in the PLB and make more money than they would fighting for playing time in the minors on the coasts.

And that's where we begin.

[PilotMan]

The year is now 1985 and after 10 years of playing I decided it was time to stop watching on the sidelines and start winning. There were a number of teams that were searching for new GM's and after considering the possibility of where to live and the real thought of possibly going back to North Dakota I decided that the west coast was really where I wanted to be.

Thinking that the only way that this was going to work was if I'd just jump in with both feet into the place that needed me the most. I found my answer and it wasn't too hard. Napa here I come.

The Napa Owls have been historically one of the most dominating teams in their division. With 7 divisional titles in 10 years and 3 championships you would think that this team was one of least likely places that I'd need to show up. But that couldn't be further from the truth. This team had finished last in 2 of the last 3 years with 98 losses and one year, 40 games out of first place.

The team had little talent considering the money that they were pouring out for players. Old players with contracts that were hindering the team, but luckily for me an owner who still was willing to spend more. His expectations weren't that grand. Coming off of a 98 loss season he really wanted the team to player .500 baseball. I felt like that was going to be a tall order, but was willing to give it a shot.

[PilotMan]

When I'm talking about bad money spent here's what I'm talking about:

4 of the top 5 paid players were 38 or 39. All were injury prone and only 1 of those was likely to even have any kind of impact on the season.

The team had some decent arms in the bullpen, but the starters were rough. The top pitcher had carried the team for a couple of years, but was injured most of the previous. There was no help to be found in the free agent pool.

In the field no real dominating player stood out and there's nothing to get excited about.

In the minors and international developmental there was a grand total of 1 high level prospect. A young starter who was a former 1-1 pick. That's pretty much it. A decent team with a number of glaring holes and an owner who's last GM clearly was wasting a lot of his money. At least in all of this I have an owner who is willing to spend some money. Too bad there's really nobody to spend it on.

[PilotMan]

Winter 1985

Seven moves. Well 7 moves plus 2 more. But not really 9. If that makes any sense. I feel like this team needs help just about everywhere. I like guys who can get on base. I like pitching. I like defense. Of course, I like guys who can hit, but I'd rather have a team of 15-20 HR guys than one or 2 who can crush it over and over.

I poured and poured over the pool. What did I find? Squat. Really. There's just not much here to turn a franchise around with. I looked at some minor league teams thinking perhaps I might pull off a trade for someone who shouldn't be down there. What did I find? Nothing. Even if I did, the only player that anyone was interested in was my 1 lone prospect. Given that I'd like to have him 3 or 4 years from now, there was no way that I was letting him go.

So that leads me to the 7 moves that I was able to make this off season and the optimism and hope that preceded each of these signings. Here they are in order:

1. SS Elmer Lund; 29; 3yr/$765,000 from New York of the ABL.

Depth and a decided lack of defensive skill was the motivation for making this move. Lund was picked 33 by none other than Napa back in the initial draft and was considered the #25 prospect in the PCB. So they traded him East to Newark, who traded him west to Portland, who traded him back east to New York. Seeing how this played out yet? Actually Lund won the Glove Wizard award at 2B back in '82 and despite only being a regular starter for 2 years in all that time was still a career .290 hitter. But last year he only hit .235 in 81 AB in New York. My hope is that he will start at 2B and get on base enough while shoring up the middle of the defense. His 255k a year is much less than the 620k he made last year with New York.

2. SP Bobby Blanco; 28; Purchased for $250,000 from the Iowa City Gardners of the Prairie League Baseball. Signed for minimum 1yr/$68,000.

Purchasing him outright wasn't cheap. But it did allow us to get him without a long trade negotiation when we had nothing to trade with. I'm convinced that there is talent playing in the middle of the country that can help us better than what else might be in the free agent pool. Blanco has been an outright stud in the PLB. He turned pro after going undrafted out of high school in 1975 and signed with the Bismarck Fire. Considered the #3 (in '77) and #2 (in '78) prospect in the PLB he would go on to start regularly. He was double digit wins and single digit losses every year since turning 21, and had a career low 1.84 ERA in '83. He was 3rd for Outstanding Pitcher in '80, 2nd in '83 and won the award in '84. He was reliable cracking over 200 IP in 4 seasons (27 starts). In fact in all that time he'd only been injured 1 time. He was signed away by Iowa City in '84; a 3 year deal worth $57,600.

PS. The biggest knock on him is his control. He throws 5 pitches, some better than others, but his control is awful. Having said that he did lead the PLB in K's for five years and WHIP for two years.

[PilotMan]

3. 1B Graham Sheffield; 24; acquired via trade with the Waukesha Volunteers of the PLB. Would sign for 1yr/$68,800.

Everything that Blanco was to the staff Sheffield represented to our offense. Granted he was playing a position that I was already set up at, but luckily that other guy could move to third. Graham was unsigned out of high school and turned pro by signing with Waukesha in 1980. Even though he was #17 prospect he didn't make his debut until 1982 when he took over starting first base and didn't let go. He finished as runner up ROY in '82, but had dropped to #65 prospect. He did however hit 64 HR's those first 2 years and then went on to win the Triple Crown in '84. He posted a .364 average, with 34 HR and 118 RBI in 124 games (no injury; the PLB plays a shorter schedule) winning the MVP with ease. He is a monster 6'7" and bats left handed; perfect for our short right field in Napa. We gave up a 22 yo first base prospect and a 20 yr old, former 2nd round draft pick, OF who wasnt' going to see much playing time in our system. Like Blanco I knew that there was no way he was going to put up those numbers in the PCB, but I thought he was best option we had to try and find some offense.

4. SP Balduino Bicalho; 27; 6yr/$840,000 from Cedar Rapids of the PLB.

Bicalho was not the top FA pitcher on the market, but he was one of the best value picks available. Originally an international signing from Venezuela he was in the Stockton (PCB) organization for 6 years before getting released. He had been the #98, #83, and #87 PCB prospect from '78 to '80 and finally made his big league debut in 1980, getting in late for 3.1 IP of mopup duty and then getting released prior to opening day the next year. He would sign on with Cedar Rapids (PLB) 9 days later and become a regular until he blew his elbow out in '83. He would bounce back, but would not be the same and would always be dealing with injury issues. So what do I see with him? I see a 4-pitch pitcher with above average control, who throws upper 80s and keeps the ball down. Even if he's only 5'9" and injury prone as a value pick goes he was someone that would at least keep our 21yo prospect from having to make the jump too soon. I need someone who can eat innings in the back of the rotation.

[PilotMan]

5. OF Jose Blanco; 27; 7yr/2.74 M from Tacoma of the PCB.

The big splash of the offseason. Blanco was the best OF available and we paid for him. He actually came up in the Napa system out of Cuba and was a millionaire from his initial signing. Considered the #2 prospect in the PCB in '79 he lit the league on fire grabbing a Glove Wizard award in LF and finishing 3rd in voting for ROY. He was on the last Napa team to win the title in '81 when he won his second Glove Wizard award, this time for RF. A speed merchant with a good glove, he has 213 career SB and was a career .300 hitter when he was traded at the deadline in '82 to Tacoma for what amounted to our #1 minor league prospect. He slumped in '84 only hitting .257 in 374 AB and 21 SB. He adds defense and top of the order production, but injuries have derailed his once bright career. We have a bunch of 2 star OF's and Blanco should be the anchor in the OF provided he can stay healthy.

6. RP Dewey Mahoney, 36; 1yr/$188,000 from Honolulu of the PCB.

A late spring addition Mahoney had put together a reputation as a fearsome closer for most of his career. He started his career in Washington of the ABL before signing with Hololulu and being the closer there for the next 5 years. He blew out his elbow and had Tommy John in '83. When he came back he went right back to his old ways saving 27 (giving him 247 for his career) and posting a 1.99 ERA in '84. I'm not sure how, but I feel like we got him for a steal. He knows full well that his career is winding down and he wasn't looking for a big money cash in. He won't be a closer here. The coach has already decided that one of our young pitchers are going to take over that roll, but a solid arm in the pen is always needed. He only throws 2 pitches but he still has good stuff and keeps the ball down well.

[PilotMan]

7. IF/OF Joe Miller; 31; 1yr/$164,000 free agent signing from the Sturgis Choppers of the PLB.

Miller was signed just before the start of the season. As prospects go he wasn't a top prospect, however he did have solid numbers in the PLB. After going undrafted out of college Miller signed with Green Bay and staying in the PLB for his entire career. He move on to Sturgis in '82 only having played more than 100 games 1 time in his career as injuries would chip away at him. Even through all of that he was a career .305 hitter with over 100 career home runs and stolen bases. He was never a standout in the PLB, but solidly productive and capable of playing the corners on the infield and outfield. He made more money signing this contract with me than he had earned his entire career up to that point.

8. and 9.

Just before the start of the new year and the end of spring training I fired the bench coach, demoted the manager and fired the hitting coach. I replaced the with guys with much bigger salaries. I felt like it was necessary for the team to progress. I'd like to get a new pitching coach too, but for now we'll stick with our current staff.

[PilotMan]

Trade Deadline
July 1985

The team is playing better than expected and by the middle of July we were a full 10 games above .500 and in the thick of the playoff race. I really didn't have any intention of making a deal here. The team was playing alright, but there was no expectation of anything and without any real bargaining chips the hope that anything was going to get done was slim. Then along came a desperate team anxious to move an unhappy outfielder just when we were in the thick of the injury bug. All of our regular outfielders were on the DL and it was getting a little slim. We landed a decent player for a song. The timing couldn't have been better.

10. OF Chris Young; 28; aquired via trade with Honolulu of the PCB.

Young was a former 2nd round draft pick by the Napa Owls back in '76. He played with the Owls for his entire career until trying out free agency last offseason. Then he moved out to Hawaii. His best year was in '81 when he hit 24 HR's and drove in 117 runs while batting .327. He finished 3rd in MVP voting that year. Since then his production has dropped, but he remained a career .300 hitter with 99 career home runs. Defensively he is about average which isn't a liability. We sent Honolulu a minor league relief pitcher to complete the trade.

[PilotMan]

August saw the team go on a tear and break open a nice lead in the division. By mid September we had pulled away and locked up the division title. It wouldn't all go according to plan though as we would limp home in September including dropping 8 of our last 10 and 3 straight against the team we would play in the first round of the playoffs, the Seattle River Dogs.

Once the playoffs began though, the team didn't look back and worry about where they had been. One player in particular would lead the charge that would help push the team further on than was ever expected.

The Regional Finals saw Napa win 5-0. They dropped game two, 6-5 despite a HR from Graham Sheffield. Napa went on to win both 3 and 4 by the scores of 4-3 with Sheffield hitting a HR in game 3 and 2 in game 4.

On to the finals against the Tacoma Tincups, the wild card team who knocked off the Victorville Serpents.

Sheffield would hit HR #5 in game one, but despite that the Owls lost 6-5. We would get it back in game 2 with a 4-1 win with Sheffield homering in his 4th straight game. Game 3 would be another loss 6-2 as the Owls fall behind 2-1 in the series. Game 4 would get evened up again behind a 6-2 win. Game 5 would again go our way 6-1.

Game 6 would be pitched by Bicalho and he would get help from Sheffield who hit his 7th HR of the post season. It's all he would need as the Owls would pull away with an 8-0 win and the return of the title to Napa!

So now that we know team totally overachieved in winning the title with a new GM and patchwork team, what impact did the preseason signings have on the season?

[PilotMan]

1. Elmer Lund

.209 AVG; 0.1 WAR; 52 Games, 86 AB, 2 HR, 8 RBI.

Lund never became the force that I envisioned him being. Most of the games he played were in CF or at SS. The manager just didn't see the usefulness in having him play second base that I did.

2. Bobby Blanco

14-8; 31 GS, 223.2 IP, 3.02 ERA, 150 K's, 1.27 WHIP, 4.6 WAR

Blanco was everything that he was hoped to be and more. There were times during the season that he was the only pitcher that could be relied upon during the year. He walked 105 guys, but more importantly made it through the year unhurt. His 2 starts in the postseason were crucial to the championship run. He is a strong contender for ROY.

3. 1B Graham Sheffield

.299 AVG; 2.7 WAR; 147 Games; 488 AB; 25 HR; 83 RBI

A solid offensive producer. He was benched a lot against left handers but still managed to play in 90% of the games while remaining healthy. He lead the team in batting average and while he wasn't close to the level of dominance he enjoyed playing in the PLB his production was the best of any player on the team. His exploits in the post season will go down in lore with a .350 average and 7 HR in 44 PA. To put that into perspective there isn't a player in MLB history with that HR rate in the postseason. He will be competing with Blanco for ROY votes.

4. SP Balduino Bicalho

11-11, 30 GS, 180 IP, 4.35 ERA, 101 K's, 1.26 WHIP, 3.3 WAR

Bicalho managed to stay healthy for almost the entire season and his post season was even better than Blanco's. I think he performed better than expected and even though his numbers don't look that great he still almost pitched 200 innings and made his investment very worthwhile.

5. OF Jose Blanco

.275 AVG, 0.7 WAR, 112 Games, 440 AB, 0 HR, 36 RBI, 17 SB

Blanco was hot, hot hot early on in the year. He was the driving force behind early season success. He slowed down and then faced a 4 trips to the DL. In fact, his replacement was so successful that he was left off the post season roster due to both performance and injuries. Those numbers are pretty far off what I was hoping for. Next season could be a long one for him.

6. RP Dewey Mahoney

4-3, 4 Saves, 9 Holds, 63 G, 66.1 IP, 2.58 ERA, 45 K's, 1.34 WHIP, 0.6 WAR

Mahoney was a really solid bullpen addition this year. He ended up pitching more innings than I thought he would and his work in 5 post season games was dominant. I signed him to an extension prior to free agency. I still think he could have 1 more good year in him.

7. IF/OF Joe Miller

.293 AVG, 1.9 WAR, 82 Games, 215 AB, 8 HR, 40 RBI

Miller was never a first pick position player, but he every field position except catcher this year. With the numbers that he put up he could have made a bigger impact on the team than he did, but he was clearly good enough. He missed the last 2 months of the year with a hamstring injury and missed out on the post season as well.

10. OF Chris Young

.283 AVG, 0.5 WAR, 53 Games, 173 AB, 2 HR, 18 RBI

Young got a good bit of playing time after coming over in July and filling in for our injured outfield. As guys got healthy again he was left to fight for playing time. A little less power and production than I had hoped. He probably won't be resigned in the future.

That's it, that's all I've got. Hope you enjoyed it. Now, back to my game.

[PilotMan]

Sheffield did end up winning the ROY.

I do love setups like I have in this game. I just saw a 38yr old reliever from my title squad end his ML career and take a 90% paycut by becoming a closer for the independent league (PLB) champion, Madison. His contract calls for a second year if he can get 30IP.

[Young Drachma]

Sounds like a cool league idea, Pilot.

[PilotMan]

Thanks, I have to admit that your creative leagues were at least some of the inspiration for the concept.

I just found a player who won Top Pitcher his Sophomore and Junior years of High School, had an injury sideline him for part of his Senior year (he was still 4-0, with a 1.25 ERA) then get picked 5th overall. He didn't sign and went to college where after a quiet Freshmen year he went 8-1 and won Top Pitcher his Sophomore year.

[britrock88]

Going to be a fairly long post, but I hope to make it an interesting one.

Started a career in FBCB with a Level 4 coach (180 points) at Savannah State (20 prestige) for a nice challenge. Did the classic build-until-an-offer-comes job there, built around 2 #75 recruiting classes in my first 2 seasons. A 20-win season, MEAC title, and NCAA appearance in year 4 cap off a successful building job.

With conference prestige changes turned on, I'm very lucky to catch C-USA (3/5 prestige) on a down year. I get an offer from Southern Miss (75 prestige), albeit with the high expectation of making the Sweet 16. (They had made the NCAA title game 5 years earlier, and had once NCAA appearance--an Elite 8 run--between then and the offer date.) So I jump for the next challenge.

I have a transition year where we go 11-7 in conference and 4-10 out of conference. But the recruiting successes begin in earnest, as a #35 class including a 4-star recruit is the first of 4 straight classes in the top 40 and featuring a 4-star player to lead C-USA.

The on-court results follow. We win either the regular season or conference title each of the next 3 seasons, picking up at least 13 conference wins and 24 total wins every year. We make one Sweet 16 run in amassing a 3-3 NCAA tourney record in those 3 years.

Just as Southern Miss is coalescing into a threat on the national stage, alma mater comes calling for coach. North Carolina's coach has retired, and despite the high expectation of reaching a Final Four, I jump at the opportunity.

I always schedule home-and-home series against a school I've just left. In year 1 at UNC, we go to Southern Miss... and are played off the floor. It was just deserts. That notwithstanding, it was a banner year at UNC, with a regular-season ACC title, a final ranking of #9, a 2-seed, and an Elite 8 appearance. We went 29-7/14-4.

Feeding the fire, we land the #1 overall recruiting class, including 3 5-star kids. 2 of them are projected top 5 picks in the next NBA draft. Sights are set high with a #3 preseason ranking.

The first sign of trouble is when UNC shoots 38% and commits 27 fouls in a 83-72 loss to Pacific in the first round of a preseason tourney. Things level out after that, though. We happen to meet Southern Miss in the 5th-place game of that tourney, and get a convincing 85-68 win.

We take our second loss in a 90-80 shootout against Michigan. After opening the ACC slate with a tough 100-94 win over NC State, who's up next? Why, Southern Miss again!--in the return date of that home-and-home we had begun the year before. We are once again up to the task, securing an 80-71 win.

Then conference play begins in earnest. While there's only 1 or 2 head-scratchers, we take 8 losses against 10 wins in ACC play. A partial explanation for this might be offered by the fact that injuries resulted in 8 different Tar Heels starting at least 10 games over the course of the season. Regardless, by season's end, we had slipped out of the polls and landed as an 8-seed in the NCAA tourney.

Now for the tournament. First, we eke out a 59-56 win over a Houston team that we outclass, frankly. Our Round of 32 opponent is #1 Missouri--a team I saw often as a money game at Savannah State and Southern Miss. The 87-78 upset is a measure of personal satisfaction in addition to the team's accomplishment. We secure 11-point wins against 5-seed Marquette and 3-seed Tulsa to win our region.

Our Final Four date pits us against... Southern Miss. Of all people. Our 2 wins against them are true outliers, as they have otherwise gone 33-2, 18-0 in conference, earning the #1 RPI in college basketball.

Boy, do the basketball gods know how to line them up sometimes.

[Rawhide]

Another great three-season span of single-player FOF7.

I started a league with a preference draft and picked up a young, pass-heavy team in the Browns.

After seasons of yo-yo achievement, ranging from an early Front Office Bowl apperance in 2015, to 5-11 in 2018, we started to play with a slightly different strategy with a view to capping-out our contracts in an effort to maximise talent at our disposal.

During 2018 we traded away our Trent Richardson analogy to division rivals Cincinnati for a range of future picks. At the end of the season, foundation quarterback Floyd Coles (80/80) was traded to the Titans for future picks, and we picked up Lions backup Donovan Walker (49/49) in free agency. Walker has a great pre-season and jumps to 56/56.

We make consecutive AFC Championship games in 2019 and 2020 but can't get past the dominant Buffalo Bills, who are in the process of winning consecutive NFL championships.

2020 sees our team at a bit of a crossroads. We have a young RB, Jo Borg (25/35) who is largely a bust but is finding the end zone far more often than our starter Calvin Samuels, who we got from Cincy in the 2018 mid-season trade of running backs. We have to start over at this position.

With quarterback Walker off contract at the end of 2021, we begin renegotiation talks and it's quickly apparent that our venn diagrams of demands and prices will never meet. I start shopping for potential trade partners.

Philadephia are the only team that show any interest, at a whopping 99 (the next best team was lukewarm at best with 55 interest). I decide to bundle up a few of these future picks and swing a big deal that sees LCB Peyton Fehr (77/77) become a Brown. We also get RT Jameson Peters (55/55) from the Eagles as part of the package.

We go after Bills backup quarterback Greg Johnstone (45/45) in free agency and are fortuitous enough to get a useful stopgap running back as well.

The best player on the roster may well be LDE Thurman Tenney (76/77 in 2020). Drafted fifth overall in the previous season, he is a sack monster with 19 in his first two seasons.

All of the pieces seem to be in place for a strong playoff run in 2021, but instead we stumble into the wildcard round with a 9-6-1 record. We are blown out of the water by division rivals Pittsburgh and the dream is over.

Coach Vincent Talley (37-33-1 in four seasons) is fired and we start looking for his replacement. It comes in the form of Emmanuel Statler, all of 35 years old, who has one season as an assistant in Minnesota to his name.

Statler turns out to have great fortune in drafting Dominique Boehner at the bottom of the third round. Rated 36/36 off the draft, he explodes to 54/55 following training camp. We have a long-term solution at running back. Boehner becomes our first 1000-yard rusher in eight years of SP play.

Tenney wins Defensive Player of the Year for his 22 sacks, and leads the dominant Browns defense to a division title.

We have a scare in the division round, tying the Jaguars 27-27 on the last kick of the game and go on to win in extra time. The Miami Dolphins are seen off in the AFC Championship game 26-13, meaning we're off to our second Front Office Bowl game, this time against the third Floridan team we would face in three games, the Bucs.

Our game manager QB Johnstone has a mild shocker, completing only 13 passes for the entire game. We are down 13-0 at the main break but draw level through a pair of field goals and an intercept TD from Peyton Fehr, the CB we traded for from Philadelphia.

The comeback is sealed when Boehner crashes over from seven yards out. Browns win the Bowl 20-16!

In the 2023 off-season, we go hard after an attractive free agent QB from the Packers, and get our man when Mackenzie Akbar (54/54) signs on the dotted line. The plan is to let Johnstone test free agency in 2024.

2023 continues much like the season before, with a dominant defense and effective running game now being added to by a skillful quarterback. Akbar goes down with injury in Week 11 and Johnstone deputises well enough to propel us to the second seed.

Akbar returns for the playoffs and we beat the Chiefs 20-0 and Colts 35-16 to win another AFC Championship.

Dallas is our opponent for the 2023 Front Office Bowl and only are threatened at the end when the Cowboys stage a comeback from 30-10 to close us to 30-27. Akbar manages a great final drive to safely give Cleveland a second championship!

Johnstone leaves in 2024 to get his payday at the Lions. We play the salary cap game well, resigning Boehner and Tenney, and 2024 proceeds much as the two seasons before. This time we earn the #1 seed, and Akbar's accuracy is off the charts. 30 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions.

Disaster strikes in the playoffs though when Akbar's knee explodes under the weight of three Jaguars linemen. His season is over.

We turn to backup Logan Bierce (30/30), expecting only game management from a person who had previous experience with six other teams. Instead, we get a star-studded performance of 4 touchdown throws, and the Jaguars are put down 40-26.

In the AFC Championship game, the Titans are comfortably taken care of 27-7, Bierce 3 touchdowns.

We face Greg Johnstone's new team, the Detroit Lions, in our quest to win our third consecutive Front Office Bowl with our third different quarterback. The game isn't even close as Bierce puts in an MVP performance of 4 touchdown throws - his record in the playoffs is 11 touchdowns, no picks. Cleveland wins 34-3 to put the punctuation point on a dynasty.

Three seasons for our young (still only 38) coach Emmanuel Statler, who boasts a record of 44-13. Three championships with three different quarterbacks.

Salary cap hell is just over the horizon but for now the Browns are savouring this recent rich vein of success.

[Grover]

Just finished my first season of what will be my "long" game for Football Manager 15.

Finished 2nd in Serie A with Sassuolo, trailing mighty Juventus by about 16 points. Going into the final two matches, Sassuolo had 69 points, Inter had 69 points, Roma had 67 points.

Final two matches?
@ Roma 3-1 victory to clinch Champions League for 15/16
v Inter 1-1 draw to clinch the runner-up spot.

Our front four was incredible.
Domenico Berardi, even missing six weeks scored 28 goals with 17 assists and a 7.65 rating. He was named Serie A Player of the Year

His compatriot up top, Simone Zaza scored 33 goals with 18 assists for a 7.56 rating. He was top goalscorer in Serie A.

AML Nicola Sansone scored 10, assisted on 13.

AMR Andrija Zivkovic, one of only two summer signings leading into the season scored 12 and assisted on 5 before missing the final 8 weeks through injury. He was named Serie A Young Player of the Year.

Our second signing, teenage AML Dorin Rotariu only played a bit part, missing four months through injury. We still have big hopes for him moving forward.

Also in late fall, Nov/Dec we signed an 18y.o. Brazilian forward named Mosquito for depth. He ended up scoring the winning goal against Roma and the leveling goal against Inter. He has solid potential, he's a very good third option at forward.

We were given a modest budget of 15m for the summer and have been told European Qualification is a must. We may have made too big of a leap after season one, but time will tell.

Zaza, Berardi and DR Sime Vrsalkjo have all been linked to English teams, but all overtures have been denied. I'm looking for 20m+ for all three players, but especially Zaza and Berardi.

We had major weaknesses in year one at MC, DL and DC. That has been remedied a bit by signing MC Stefano Sturaro from Juve. MC Andre Ramos has also been brought in on loan from Barcelona. We also signed GK Nicola Leali on a free from them as well. We added Emmanuele Mammana at DC, keeping with the youth check, as well as an Italian DC on a free who's name escapes me.

[Izulde]

Just had my fastest ever nomination win in President Infinity (Formerly President Forever 2016). Using the 2008 scenario, I narrowly won Iowa with Condoleeza Rice, and from there it was off to the races. Lost Wyoming, which I never visited, and narrowly lost Nevada to Romney. Swept Super Tuesday and won the nomination that day. Only Fred Thompson is hanging around, and that's with none of the other candidates endorsing me.

On the Dem side, Obama and Hillary got hit with a big scandal each, which has given rise to Biden, who has gotten a lot of dropped candidate endorsements, so they're trying to rally around him. But it looks like that may play out a while between Biden, Obama, Clinton, and Warner.

[nol]

Made a level 3 coach in FBCB with 100 in scouting and 20 in the other 3 attributes. After simming forward a couple years, I took the first job I was offered at Georgia Southern. To maximize my one advantage as a coach, I've kept a barebones 30k staff and exclusively gone after exclusively local players (current roster is 13 from GA and 2 from SC) so I can evaluate as many prospects as possible.

The on-court results hadn't been too special; I took over a team that had come off back-to-back 20-win seasons but had graduated all its good players. Won 15 and 12 games my first 2 seasons and 21 games in seasons 3 and 4. An injury rash in season 3 and and a bizarre late-season swoon the following year (lost 3 straight home games to bad teams to go from the 1 to the 4 seed for the conference tourney) kept me from leading Georgia Southern to its first NCAA berth.

So, season 5 is shaping up to be the usual "first recruiting class is now seniors" breakthrough (7 Georgia Southern players are among the top 20 pro prospects in the SoCon), but I'm definitely open to moving up. Ohio knocks me off my feet with an offer: the budget's 100k higher, prestige is a MAC-high 61 compared to my current 34, but I'm unsure of my ability to coach the mismatched roster up to the AD's expectations of winning the MAC. Plus, I figure that I'll have some more offers to look over once more dominoes fall.

My patience pays off big-time as some high-major offers come in round 2, including one so crazy I have to take it. Memphis is 92 prestige and has a $550k budget (along with Final Four expectations). Their now-former coach won 35 games and a title in his first season, 25 games (and a 2nd round exit) his second season, and 20 games (and a 2nd round NIT exit) his third season, and presumably skipped town in a lateral move to LSU before he could be fired. I haven't leveled up in the first four years, so we'll see how long my 69-62 all-time coach can last after making the 58 point prestige jump. Probably gonna have to start looking for some assistants that cost more than $30k.

I figure even if I flame out as quickly as possible, whichever job I'd get after being fired from Memphis would be more or less what I'd have if I stayed with Georgia Southern and got upset in the conference tournament this season.

[nol]

It was a long road, but year 6 at Memphis saw me cutting down the nets... in the NIT. I ultimately experienced my first firing in an FBCB game.

In my first season, there was a lot of talent but an extremely awkward roster fit. Not only was the roster pretty much exclusively perimeter players, but everyone must have had an extremely low personal foul rating (no exaggeration, the opposing team averaged 15 more free throw attempts per game even after I dialed press and trap down to 0). The offense was #1 in points per game, but the defense was near dead last thanks to all those free throws. To make matters worse, I just completely whiffed on every single PF/C recruit I targeted, even losing out on 2* JUCO guys to teams with ~20 prestige (I don't know what it is about this version of FBCB, but I always experience a huge disparity in recruiting guards vs. big men - my 3-man recruiting class that year was a shooting guard who was the #1 overall recruit, an All-American PG who was #24 overall, and a 1* JUCO big guy I got in April after missing out on everyone else)

The 2nd season was a bit of an improvement (won like 2 more games in the regular season, snuck into the tournament, and made the Sweet 16), but the SG was one-and-done and Memphis' prestige had dropped from 93 to 79 after those two seasons. From that point, I just alternated good seasons with 17-14, no postseason years thanks to early departures (and the bad kind where you find a 3* guy who leaves after averaging 8 PPG his sophomore season) and recruiting failures. The most extreme example was after starting to reverse the prestige drop with the NIT title followed by a Sweet 16 appearance, two underclassmen left early to be the 26th and 30th picks in the draft and I was the top school and only scholarship offer for 2 top-30 SGs from September-December only to have both players blow me off in January. When you talk about being one player short, we were a top-50 RPI team that shot 25% from 3 that year and missed the postseason altogether.

I definitely house-ruled myself out of a job between not recruiting foreign players (a free 4* guy every year once your prestige is over 50 or so), playing with early departures on (I recruited more first-round picks during my time at Memphis than any three AAC schools combined), and having the lowest possible amount of points in everything but scouting. This run definitely drove home how worthless scouting is in FBCB as I still experienced some major discrepancies in years I had a 20/20 head coach and lead scout.

[PilotMan]

In one of my OOTP saves, I'm playing the hapless Dodges coach who probably has to deal with the dumbest GM and scouting staff in the history of baseball. We blew our #5 pick in the 1988 draft on Brian Holman for starters.

Anyway, I was just looking through some of the better teams. Like any team is better right now, but the current Boston Red Sox's lineup has these killers in it.

Don Mattingly (.341, 41 HR, 131 RBI) at first, Tim Teufel (.272 16 71) at second, Carney Lansford (.325 20 83, 28SB) at third, Wade Boggs (.336 3 80) at short, Kirk Gibson (.295 40 116, 34 SB) in LF, Eric Davis (.299 47 127, 67 SB, 151 R) in center, Fred Lynn (.305 41 124) in right, with Willie Upshaw (.228 8 72) as the DH and Dave Valle (.266 8 25) behind the plate.

That team did not win the World Series and Davis came in second for the MVP.

The rotation features Bruce Hurst, John Tudor, Oil Can Boyd, Joaquin Andujar, and Don Robinson.

The bullpen has Dave Smith as the setup guy with The Eck closing.

Good god, why couldn't I have coached the Red Sox instead?

[Izulde]

Pissed at myself for not screencapping the original announcement... but I finally got the X has Momentum! headline in President Infinity after picking up the AFL-CIO endorsement in the 1968 scenario with Robert Kennedy.

Here's how it looks after that.



Keep in mind that I only had foot soldiers in the targeted states and momentum wasn't all that much outside of those.

Very, very exciting.

[Izulde]

One day before the first primary in NH, and Bobby Kennedy gets this headline.



Not just Momentum, but Big Momentum! My first time ever in any of the President Forever/Infinity games to get that.

[Izulde]

Wow. I won NH by less than 2% over McCarthy, despite being expected to run away with the state.

[BYU 14]

So started back into Jiu Jitsu after stepping away for almost 4 years after I blew my Achilles (playing Softball, not BJJ)

Summary of first three classes back
1st - No major issues, other than feeling like a car hit me the next day
2nd - Pulled groin working passes from Spider guard, had to skip a class
Tonight - Still tight, so took it a little easier, but still managed to get a Gi burn on my face during open grappling.

Now I know why I missed it

[StLee]

DSL 2015
Daegu, Korea, Softball (my 7th of the league's 9th year)

I had the time and energy in the past to write entire dynasties about my time playing in a league overseas. Not happening these days.

In my 7th year, age and my unhealthy habits are catching up with me. I had a pulled hamstring that caused me to sit a few games last year before coming back for the playoff tournament and helping my team to within a couple of outs of winning the championship.

This season, I tweaked a groin, but it's only discomfort rather than all-out pain. I'm still a competitor, though, and despite being old (37) and fat, I'm tied for second in the league in triples. Not too bad, I'd say.

For my team, we lost our second-best player to an ACL tear when we played a game on artificial turf. Now we're in our last regular season game where we can finish anywhere from 1st to 7th in the 10-team league based on what we do today. Win and we get a coveted Top 4 seed. Win and get some help and we can get in the highly-coveted 1 or 2 seed bracket.

Our playoff tournament is a two-weekend tournament set up this way:

Week 1 - Top 4 teams have a bye
Gm1- #7 vs #10 - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm2 - #8 vs #9 - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm3 - #5 vs #6 - winner moves to Week 2, loser moves to Gm5
Gm4 - Winner Gm1 vs Winner Gm2 - loser out, winner moves to Gm 5
Gm5 - Loser Gm3 vs Winner Gm4 - winner moves to Week 2

As you can see, being in the bottom four means you have to win three just to move to the Final 6 weekend. We aren't likely to drop to the seventh-seed, but we still need to win our game today for at least a Top 4 seed.

Week 2 - Top 2 have first-round bye
Gm1 - #4 vs Second-lowest remaining seed - loser out, winner moves to Gm3
Gm2 - #3 vs Lowest remaining seed - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm3 - #1 vs Gm1 winner - loser out, winner moves to Gm5
Gm4 - #2 vs Gm2 winner - loser out, winner moves to Gm5
Gm5 - Gm3 vs Gm4 winner - Winner is DSL Champs

[britrock88]

The 5 and 6-seeds also have the advantage of their first game not being single-elimination (though the loser would have to LWWWW their way to the title).

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Izulde

One day before the first primary in NH, and Bobby Kennedy gets this headline.



Not just Momentum, but Big Momentum! My first time ever in any of the President Forever/Infinity games to get that.

Haven't seen this game in a long time. Cool!

Originally Posted by StLee

DSL 2015
Daegu, Korea, Softball (my 7th of the league's 9th year)

I had the time and energy in the past to write entire dynasties about my time playing in a league overseas. Not happening these days.

In my 7th year, age and my unhealthy habits are catching up with me. I had a pulled hamstring that caused me to sit a few games last year before coming back for the playoff tournament and helping my team to within a couple of outs of winning the championship.

This season, I tweaked a groin, but it's only discomfort rather than all-out pain. I'm still a competitor, though, and despite being old (37) and fat, I'm tied for second in the league in triples. Not too bad, I'd say.

For my team, we lost our second-best player to an ACL tear when we played a game on artificial turf. Now we're in our last regular season game where we can finish anywhere from 1st to 7th in the 10-team league based on what we do today. Win and we get a coveted Top 4 seed. Win and get some help and we can get in the highly-coveted 1 or 2 seed bracket.

Our playoff tournament is a two-weekend tournament set up this way:

Week 1 - Top 4 teams have a bye
Gm1- #7 vs #10 - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm2 - #8 vs #9 - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm3 - #5 vs #6 - winner moves to Week 2, loser moves to Gm5
Gm4 - Winner Gm1 vs Winner Gm2 - loser out, winner moves to Gm 5
Gm5 - Loser Gm3 vs Winner Gm4 - winner moves to Week 2

As you can see, being in the bottom four means you have to win three just to move to the Final 6 weekend. We aren't likely to drop to the seventh-seed, but we still need to win our game today for at least a Top 4 seed.

Week 2 - Top 2 have first-round bye
Gm1 - #4 vs Second-lowest remaining seed - loser out, winner moves to Gm3
Gm2 - #3 vs Lowest remaining seed - loser out, winner moves to Gm4
Gm3 - #1 vs Gm1 winner - loser out, winner moves to Gm5
Gm4 - #2 vs Gm2 winner - loser out, winner moves to Gm5
Gm5 - Gm3 vs Gm4 winner - Winner is DSL Champs

Good luck. Go win a medal.

[Izulde]

So the Big Mo' doesn't mean jack in President Infinity when you get it after your main challenger has been endorsed by all the dropouts.

Playing as Huckabee in 2016 since at 53%, he was the only Republican candidate to break 50 for me in the whodoisidewith quiz (Bernie Sanders was tops with 87%, followed by Huckabee and O'Malley with 53%). Won Iowa, got my ass kicked from there, managed to finally snap back with a win in Washington state and picking up a ton of Super Tuesday states... I'm back in the driver's seat, clearly the front-runner.

And then everyone starts dropping out and endorsing Bush even though I'm the frontrunner. Fucking bullshit. As a result, he came back and swept me out completely because of said endorsements.

[Izulde]

I should also add that Clinton got hit with big ass scandal after big ass scandal, and it was looking like she was going to bomb out, but she bounced back on Super Tuesday when no front-runner emerged to displace her out of Warren, Biden, and Booker. She got the endorsements, too, from dropouts.

[Izulde]

My first President Infinity win (I usually play until the primaries, but this time decided to go ahead. Last full game since Howard Baker).

A tip from one of the forum members to pressure candidates to endorse me once they showed signs of slipping stopped the second place candidate endorsements, and I won the nomination easily once that started happening.

Clinton looked like she was going to lose the nomination at one point - that's how badly things were going for her, but she stabilized once candidates started dropping out and endorsing her.

There was never a serious chance of Cruz losing the electoral college, even though a couple times early in the campaign the popular vote was a virtual tie. Nevada and Wisconsin were two of the most back and forth states, ironically.

On election night, though, it was Ohio that kept flipping the most, but we won that and even managed to steal Michigan, thanks to the UAW's endorsement. Our closest loss was North Carolina - 45,000 votes and a 1% difference. Otherwise, Cruz pretty much, well... cruised.

Tickets were Cruz/Fiorina and Clinton/O'Malley. I'm not sure why Clinton chose O'Malley. Fiorina on my part was a ploy to try and siphon some of the female vote from Clinton, and try for a somewhat more moderate Republican to balance Cruz's Tea Party craziness.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by nol

. This run definitely drove home how worthless scouting is in FBCB as I still experienced some major discrepancies in years I had a 20/20 head coach and lead scout.

This.