Er....

Um....

I know it's a bit presumptuous of me, considering I didn't originate
the name, and am a fan of -- from the Bulls' perspective -- not just
*an* other team, but *the* other team, but... I was fiddling with some
of my domains, and while renewing several, added _bullspenalleague_ to
the list, lest such an unfathomably overlooked bit of interweb
real-estate be claimed by, well, possibly someone who wasn't even a
fan of *any* team. (The TLD is, of course, "net".)

At the moment it just points to my default blank page; hope to do
something with it, but probably not before late December, as I'm going
to be fiendishly busy between now and then, adding another degree to
my collection. (Just sent a check for the graditation checkout
thingamajiggy. Jeebus! Pay to get in, pay thru every known orifice
while there, and then have to pay to get out. Higher education: God's
way of saying that you'd only waste your money on something fun
anyway.)

As far as the ghost of BPLs past (and all the rest of us, too) I'll
post all the messages right before the season starts. You'll all note
how well my diabolical scheme to distract Sashank from planning his
draft by inducing a time-wasting orgy of nostalgic re-reading worked
last year. Re this year, I may have erred in only allocating six
digits for the message database index key, perhaps. Banter and bon
mots by the bucketload, we is. Warning: being old-school, I'm not,
repeat not, archiving the "smack talk". If you want your repertoire
and retorts to be incorporated into the digital omnimind that will
evolve on this planet and then colonize the universe, post them
directly to usenet or in the Yahoo message section, or they'll be lost
forever. (Unless Yahoo's saving them for some reason. Ha! Data mine
this, advertiser scum.)

Re the A/T issue, I'm agnostic. It's another category, and with 14
teams in the league we're going to be scrounging for players who are
good at something, anything. But it does partially duplicate other
stats. Possibly replace it with one of the other lesser-used
categories? However, even tho I learned to live without it, I still
like the waiver wire. Having it start out in reverse draft order is a
minor sop to those who draft late, as drafting 1 and 28 really is
better than 14 and 15. (If I somehow end up drafting early, I reserve
the right to change my mind.)

And, well, I'm likely to be a bit disengaged from the league the first
couple of months (see above) and was hoping to be able to make do only
checking in daily, not hourly. You could argue that that's my problem,
but y'see, I'm trying to make it your problem too. Or something like
that. I mean, come on, can't a brother get a break around here?

Plus, the "first to hear the news first to grab the player" system
works against us folk in the Eastern time zone. I mean, flunk out of
school and lose your job because of the BPL, sure, no biggie, but
forsake sleep to listen to the ends of crappy west coast games?
Please!

In any case, them's be my thoughts, for now. Let the season begin, and
fear the fr... uh, wait, Piston fans can't say that anymore. How
about, BPL 4evah.
--
Working email address: <my first name> at <my surname> dot com.

In article <ub0ci2phjkrs68o5ra4v664f48rdbnntss@4ax.com>,
Kenneth DeMonn <inv@lid.invalid> wrote:



A good idea!




Kenneth, that's a great thing. Thanks. I think it's a short step from
where we are today to turning the BPL into a full-fledged religious
cult... er... "New Religious Movement".

(And though it will certainly destroy the mystique, when I thought up
"Bulls Penal League," it was done in a split second with a reference to
where Charlie Sheen had spent his previous season before joining the
Indians in Major League:

(Guy: What league were you in?

(Charlie: California Penal.)

Anyone have any ideas for our new present? I know decent HTML and can do
a modicum of graphics...




Sashank took it last year, and might take it this year too, but his luck
will run out. At least it will if he knows what's good for him. Winning
once is worthy of admiration. Winning twice in a row is wow just wow.
Three times... well, he might wish to read Nietzsche's "Homer's Contest".

http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/hc.htm

'If one wants to observe this conviction--wholly undisguised in its most
naive expression--that the contest is necessary to preserve the health
of the state, then one should reflect on the original meaning of
ostracism, for example, as it is pronounced by the Ephesians when they
banish Hermodorus: "Among us, no one shall be the best; but if someone
is, then let him be elsewhere and among others. [Heraclitus]" Why should
no one be the best? Because then the contest would come to an end and
the eternal source of life for the Hellenic state would be endangered.'

[I need an angry smiley to post here]





I don't blame Jon for being reluctant to introduce one. When you get
down to the specifics of the other categories, most of them are even
more similar to existing categories, unless you do something wacky like
flagrant fouls. Offensive rebounds are the one category I was mildly
interested in -- but even there, most of the best rebounders are the
best offensive rebounders, and it would add far too much value to some
marginal players that are probably best kept marginal:

2006 Leaders: Offensive Rebounds
1. Ben Wallace 301
2. Dwight Howard 288
3. Erick Dampier 273
4. Tyson Chandler 265
5. Zaza Pachulia 264




Heh.

I'm kind of agnostic on it. It is kind of cool to wake up and see that
someone snatched David Lee from you (well, not cool, but you know what I
mean). But we are also talking about David Lee. Of the best waiver
acquisitions last season, I don't know that anyone was aching for Diaw
or David West but found Marc snagged them first. Mourning, someone might
have. And I did, I think, find a good way to exploit the no waiver rule
when I snagged both Radmanovich and Wilcox off the wire when they were
traded for each other. But that should be more indicative of the state
my team was in that I could afford to throw away two players from my
roster at once.

Otherwise, there were just a couple of snafus that I don't think will be
repeated. If they are, with my authoritarian tendencies I'd be in favor
of the comish correcting them by voiding transactions. We have had two
situations -- me snagging Hinrich down the stretch of BPL I, Jon getting
a season out of Cassell in BPL II -- were we can argue that these
mistakes could have had a serious effect on gameplay. I seriously
worried about that move in BPL I, as Chris and I went down to the wire
in a number of categories (in the end, Hinrich had fewer assists than
the other guy in my lineup that would have played), and having that
player just floating there caused a "hell, I'm twice as screwed if Chris
takes him instead" sentiment. But it's Reason #2 (after Reason #1: "Is
boring") why Redrum is the only guy to get a lifetime ban from BPL,
because of what *could* have happened.

So all that ranting was meant to say, a strong hand rights the ship.
Frank is the only New Guy, so Frank: if you wind up with Stephon Marbury
on your roster after the draft: trade, don't cut.





I'm thinking that the first couple of weeks, when some rookies start
coming on or unexpected starters are named, will be the hot period.
After that, it'll be a situation where we've all looked at the same
players 20 times and, to quote Gekko, one dog seems to have less fleas.
You nailed Darko after the trade, with considerably more success than I
had speculating on Arroyo. Maybe it's me (I think my transaction count
disqualifies me from this), but most of my waiver wire wonders were made
on pure speculation: Player X has put together a couple of solid games,
maybe he'll keep doing it. I think that's more the situation than a Diaw
exploding or a guy that shouldn't be there winding up in the Free Agent
Abyss.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Still time to change it if a majority
feel strongly (I, for the record, vote: "shrug").




FORWARD!

Ghost are you an attorney?

Rizzo
Granville Waiters' Ghost wrote:

In article <1160192079.085313.15010@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.c om>,
"Frank Rizzo" <champ91917@yahoo.com> wrote:



Ha, hard to guess, wasn't it?

Granville Waiters' Ghost wrote:

My whole family is attorney's out here (Hastings, USC, etc) I'm the
black sheep that isn't....

Rizzo

Granville Waiters' Ghost wrote:

Actually one of my cousins went to Univ Chicago law school...I forgot
that one.

Rizzo