Volume 2 Issue 50 December 1998
FROM COMMISSIONER SCOTT ELLIS, 2ND AMER. BASKETBALL LEAGUE
Happy Holidays to everyone in the SABL!
I'm on vacation from Dec. 25 - Jan. 2
If you're having any problems or have any questions, you need to contact me ASAP, because I'm leaving on vacation and will be incommunicado for two week. Hopefully, when I return, everyone's stats will be in my email box!
Cody's having SOM computer game trouble
Carolina Coach Cody Beard, my nephew, is having SOM computer game trouble that should be fixed by year's end, but in the meantime, he'll be playing his games on my computer. Nothing is wrong with his computer or Internet, however, so he'll be sending you instructions as per normal, so please send him and me results as you normally would. Just give him a couple of weeks to get December results to you.
Goodbye Nick, goodbye Ron
Due to a new career that is taking up a lot of his time, Blocher Bomber Coach Nick South, last year's Royal Conference champ, is leaving the SABL. Whenever Nick gets the time again, he's certainly welcome to come back. Please autoplay Nick's team if you have Blocher games for the month of December.
Also, thanks to stupid Strat-O-Matic, Ron Karbowski of the Great Lakes Magicians is leaving the SABL, too. Ron plays the game on a Mac and the game cannot handle file swapping between IBM compatibles and Macs. If Ron ever gets an IBM compatible, he is certainly welcome to rejoin us as well. Please autoplay Great Lakes for any games you have with them for the month of December.
I have two backup coaches that I've contacted to take over these teams, but if you know someone that would like to take over one of them, contact me ASAP! We'll get your friends going right away!
Who's trading?
Miles sends T. Mills to Bettendorf for Hot Rod Williams.
This deal takes effect Feb. 1.
Keep those game files a 'comin'
Thanks to all of you that are sending your game files to me during the first two weeks of the season. This is great! Response has been better this season than ever before! Keep it up!
You don't have to wait to send me game files (.gfl). Send them to me when you send them to your opponents and that way you won't have a bunch of work to do at the end of every month!
Trades in Dec. take effect Feb. 1
A reminder: The Nov. trading period ended Nov. 30. Any trades made from Dec. 1 - Dec. 31 go into effect Feb. 1.
Send game files (.gfl) and box scores (.prt)
As you send your results via mail or email to me and your opponents, always send both game files (.gfl) and box scores (.prt). That way, if you game file won't import, the box score .prt file can always be opened on any word processor, a game file created manually, and our SABL league stats can be maintained.
Yet another word of warning: If you don't get me these results and files to me IN A USUABLE AND TIMELY FASHION (in my hands by the end of every month, in your opponents hands within two weeks of your series), you will get penalty points. If you can't figure it out, ask me.
But if you're on America On Line, God help you because I can't. You may have problems emailing and if you do, call America On Line's technical help department. You pay for their stuff so they have to tell you how to use it.
Mark Feeney's temporary email
Mark Feeney's hard drive has crashed. If you have trouble getting through to the Bettendorf Druid Coach's regular email address, try this temporary one: mfeeney1@ix.netcom.com
Tulsa Twister Philip Creider's new email
Coming to his senses, Philip Creider has abandoned America On Line and has a new email address and it's: philip.creider@gte.net.
2-6 start forces Druids shakeup
Hope you enjoy this report on the calamity in Bettendorf:
By Craig DeVrieze
QUAD-CITY TIMES
It had been hinted at all through the preseason, but nobody expected it to come so
quickly.
Just eight games into the SABL season, the Bettendorf Druids have sacrificed their coach
-- Doug Moe -- and general manager -- Wayne Embry.
"These guys just couldn't seem to get what I wanted out of this team,'' Druids owner Zaid Abdul-Aziz said. "Paul and George have gotten the message." Paul is new coach Paul Westhead. George is George Allen Jr., the former governor of Virginia and the son of the legendary NFL coach.
No word yet on when the Druids are going to bring in John and Ringo. But there is word
on what the message was from Abdul-Aziz. And he's found the right guys to carry out his
wishes.
"We want to play Westhead ball. I tried to get that through Doug's head, but he had
his own ideas. He still has them, I quess, for all the good it will do him,"
Abdul-Aziz said. "I'm putting up the money for this team and I want things done my
way."
That means putting a team of quick, slashing, 3-point shooters on the court, running them ragged for a quarter, and starting over with a fresh five.
"We went after guys like Perkins, Harper and Kukoc for a reason," Abdul-Aziz said. "They fit my philosophy of how I wanted the game played. Doug kept begging me to let him activate Benoit (Benjamin) and Hot Rod (Williams), and finally, he convinced me that he was never going to sign on to my way of doing things."
Embry's downfall was his failure to package Williams and the Druids' first round draft choice in 1999 for a 3-point shooting power forward.
"I played power forward in the NBA for 10 years," Abdul-Aziz said. "I know the value of a big guy who can take the outside shot. Hot Rod and Benoit are fine at what they do -- rebound and play solid defense -- but we don't have the right supporting pieces to go with a pound-it-inside game and they just slow us down when we want to get up and down the court. Wayne wanted to keep them around as solidifying forces for the future. What he didn't understand was that the future is now."
Now who have us sports fans heard that from before? Could it be George Allen?
"I've talked with George, and he has much the same philosophy as his dad did," Abdul-Aziz said. "He doesn't want to wait for draft choices to mature. He wants to build a winner now. He, like I, is worried about whether there will even be a draft in 1999, what with all the rumors of labor strife."
Abdul-Aziz is no stranger to labor strife. The Druids owner, who was known as Don Smith
during his All-American days at Iowa State, majored in labor relations in college.
After his NBA career, he joined with former Chicago Cubs Ron Santo and Glenn Beckert as an
executive with Torco Oil, where his main duties included contract negotiations with union
workers.
"I learned a lot in that job," he said. "Mostly, I learned that patience
does not pay in the long run. If you wait too long, you tense up and become defensive on
both sides. Then you can never reach agreement. I say, 'Take your best shot quickly and
move on. If you make it, great. If you miss it, well . . . they'll always be another
opportunity.'"
Sent by Mark Feeney