BuiltForSpeed wrote: most people build vip and exec. seats first and these are more economically eefective. ie. you get more money. so with all these seats filled you get more money, due to attendances. something like that!

So if only 10,000 people are going to show up for a friendly, if they're in a smaller stadium that's maxed VIP and Exec seats they have to buy those more expensive seats, but if they go to a larger stadium they're more likely to be spread out in cheaper seats as well?

Is that the idea???

I see what you mean. Only $60,000 for my second friendly at a stadium seating 100,000 vs. $127,000 for my first friendly at a stadium seating 11,150. Good to know.

Oh, and for the diary, I was shellacked 66-7. My QB opened the second half with an 86 yard TD run.

But I got a new flag!

Transfer Mania

I'm on vacation this week, which is great. But that means as I sit twiddling my thumbs waiting for the season match list to be created (and the remaining two human teams in my league to go bot for inactivity), I look for something to do to occupy my time.

Ah, the transfer list!

Now admittedly I did need to make a few purchases to fill out spots where I needed help from the team I was given...and I've mentioned some of those purchases earlier in the diary. However, I really didn't need to buy a young QB with 20 intelligence for developmental purposes - I mean what am I going to develop him with? I have no coaching staff, or training or fitness facilities. I only spent 5K for the fella, which isn't the end of the world, but it's another 2.5K a week in salary I could have been saving. At this point I plan to keep him and train him up for a season or two, but I suspect in the end I'll be lucky to just break even. That's what happens when you have time on your hands.

Overall I've spent $37,500 on nine players. Not bad, but I really didn't need more than about six.

Now a funny thing I discovered about GI when perusing the transfer market. There are a lot of interesting body types! For example I ran into two offensive linemen - we'll call them Mutt and Jeff. Mutt is 5'7" and weighs just 134 pounds. Jeff is 6'8" and weighs just 185 pounds. He's also prone to weight loss! Now, neither one of these fellas belongs anywhere near the offensive line. And you would think that both would realize that since they both have an intelligence rating of 20.

On the other hand there was a 5"11" / 411 pound fella who I passed on because I couldn't afford to feed him.

Woke up this morning and saw that GI had provided my first birthday present, my 600 seat addition to the stadium has been completed, and now there's a pretty new stand in my stadium photo. The fans buying those VIP seats will probably be confused when they get to the game and see that they're sitting in the end zone, but C'est la vie.

Another first today, I'm putting two of my players on the transfer list. One is my top QB, and another is my #3 QB... or at least that's where I have him...the game lists him as a WR. My depth chart has four guys who are best at QB and I obviously don't need them all. These moves will save me 5.5K per week in salaries.

In league news, one team did indeed go bot, but another human manager joined. So that makes three human managers at the moment..though one appears headed to botdom.

Now we wait for league match #1 of Mayhem's first full season!

The Season Starts

A lot has happened since the last entry in our Diary. We've played two league matches, resisted the temptations of the transfer market and have piled up some cash to build new seats.

A funny thing happened as we were about to open our season on the road against a bot. A human showed up! And the human had a clue! That made Mayhem's life much more difficult and we saw a hard-fought battle for field position worthy of the NFL's old black-and-blue division. Mayhem prevailed mostly due to a shanked punt that gave us field position starting at the Renegade 29. We took it to the house in four plays and got on the plane with a 7-0 win.

After getting pummeled in a friendly to pile up some more cash, we checked in at mid-week to find that humans were invading our division! What looked like a year in bot-land, suddenly saw seven teams with human managers. So we headed to our first-ever home game knowing things just got tougher.

Our newly expanded 1,600 seat crib was packed! A buzz was felt at the opening kick. From the owner's box we looked out and saw - our backup WR playing QB? Our third string QB is the starting HB?? Our Center is playing TE??? And the list goes on... What the??? As we asked ourselves where the heck our first string QB was, he walked into our box. With his arm in a sling. Apparently he was hurt in practice. And we didn't notice.

As Mayhem bumbled its way through a scoreless first half, we drowned our shame in Egg Nog. How did we let that happen? Why did one injury screw up so many other positions? Did we remember to turn off the iron this morning?

But the second half saw redemption. 24 unanswered points. Our 3rd string QB piled up 259 yards rushing on 44 carries. Depression turned to joy. And crazy thoughts about the future...such as - some day the sun may actually shine during a GI game! (Ok, that was crazy, we got carried away there).

As the league scores came in, we looked at the standings in amazement. One of three 2-0 teams! A plus 31 point differential.

Mayhem is in first place!