Upper Deck to Sponsor Combined Standings!

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri May 07, 2010 4:09 am

It's a shame on the rest of the posts, too. Why not say Greg Ambrosius was the worthless salesman here? Why not say I deceived you? Why not say I made Upper Deck fail to deliver? Just amazing you guys. Looks like you all went to the Walla Walla school of posting.

We are clearing up an unfortunate incident from a promised sponsor and you guys find another way to take a shot at Ryan and Fanball. Walla Walla is right, I'm going to the NFFC boards for awhile. When SNAKE looks better than the folks here, you know these boards have sunk to new lows.

I'll announce the new Weekly Prizes sponsor soon, if they'll still do it. Geez.

Catch · Post by **Catch** » Fri May 07, 2010 4:16 am

Greg, any news with the 2009 weekly prizes?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri May 07, 2010 4:23 am

Originally posted by Catch:

Greg, any news with the 2009 weekly prizes? Read above Tom. We lost a sponsor, I think, but may have just gained one. I need to confirm Upper Deck's situation this week and then get those damn Period tabs in Overall Standings on there. I've been pushing for this for weeks. So hopefully soon on all.

Oaktown · Post by **Oaktown** » Fri May 07, 2010 4:37 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by Catch:

Greg, any news with the 2009 weekly prizes? Read above Tom. We lost a sponsor, I think, but may have just gained one. I need to confirm Upper Deck's situation this week and then get those damn Period tabs in Overall Standings on there. I've been pushing for this for weeks. So hopefully soon on all. [/QUOTE]Greg: I think Tom was asking about 2009, not this year's sponsor. I know a couple people who won Weeklys last year, including me and we have not heard anything on those after we picked our prize. Thanks.

Dirt Dogs · Post by **Dirt Dogs** » Fri May 07, 2010 5:04 am

Thanks Greg, But one would think as a customer and the amount of times i have had to resort to Email/Message Board posts etc.. that you could of relayed this information to us and informed us of what was going on. I consider announced prizes almost equal to paying out the 100K. it's a prize, it's an incentive to join and part of what some people find another added bonus to a great product. Weekly prizes are fun for all teams because anyone can win at any time regardless of the standings.

So I ask why do i have to continually post questions to obtain an answer. We are almost in week 6, middle of May so dont question me for asking. i feel like you were trying to throw this under the rug.

My last post on this topic.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri May 07, 2010 5:21 am

Nobody was trying to throw anything under the rug. It's posts like this and unfounded accusations like this which serve no purpose and only serve to poison our message boards. We just found this week that Upper Deck wouldn't be able to provide the weekly prizes and we have been working the past couple of days to find an alternative. Hopefully we have one that we can announce soon.

So nothing has been buried under the rug. What we have been doing is working hard to find an alternative option so our weekly winners will receive prizes.

As far as 2009 weekly prizes, those should all have been sent out. If you didn't receive one please contact me at [email protected] with your home address and the prize you should have received and I'll look into it.

[ May 07, 2010, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: Tom Kessenich ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri May 07, 2010 5:31 am

Originally posted by Dirt Dogs:

Thanks Greg, But one would think as a customer and the amount of times i have had to resort to Email/Message Board posts etc.. that you could of relayed this information to us and informed us of what was going on. I consider announced prizes almost equal to paying out the 100K. it's a prize, it's an incentive to join and part of what some people find another added bonus to a great product. Weekly prizes are fun for all teams because anyone can win at any time regardless of the standings.

So I ask why do i have to continually post questions to obtain an answer. We are almost in week 6, middle of May so dont question me for asking. i feel like you were trying to throw this under the rug.

My last post on this topic. As Tom said, we just found out about this from Upper Deck. Your post didn't force this out of us. The delay started because we don't even have Period tabs yet to determine the weekly prize winners, which is on us. But then while we were in St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon, we got the email from Upper Deck about not having the product they promised. I'll post their response here if it helps.

Yesterday I heard about the NY Times story and asked my buddies at Krause's about this situation and found out how bad it was. So we reached out to an alternative sponsor and got good news this morning. Jim Enright has secured a backup sponsor and Weekly Prizes can be given immediately upon determining the winner. Unfortunately, we're still awaiting the Period tabs.

I understand everyone's concerns here, but again, Ryan provided weekly prizes in 2009 when F+W didn't offer any and Fanball found a sponsor after my contact at Upper Deck failed to deliver as promised. Nothing was detained from you or our NFBC members because we just found out about this and worked quickly to resolve the problem. The new prizes have similar value and are cool.

We'll update soon.

Scott Boras · Post by **Scott Boras** » Fri May 07, 2010 10:09 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by Dirt Dogs:

Here is how this is going to work. The NFBC Classic Owner who drafts the following players the highest of ALL NFBC Classic Drafts will get one of the following prizes:

Adam Jones Autographed Baseball

Andrew McCutchen Autographed Baseball

Adrian Gonzalez Autographed Baseball

Austin Jackson Autographed Baseball

Colby Rasmus Autographed Baseball

Evan Longoria Autographed Baseball

Grady Sizemore Autographed Baseball

James Loney Autographed Baseball

Matt Kemp Autographed Baseball

BUMP I will get the winners' names tomorrow. I don't have the actual leagues on the file I'm looking at yet and we have some tie-breakers to deal with. But for the most part this worked well and we will reward the earliest drafters with these prizes. Here are the facts and some of you may know who you are already:

Adam Jones Autographed Baseball (63rd overall, 1 team)

Andrew McCutchen Autographed Baseball (34th overall, 1 team)

Adrian Gonzalez Autographed Baseball (17th overall, 2 teams)

Austin Jackson Autographed Baseball (193rd overall, 1 team)

Colby Rasmus Autographed Baseball (179 overall, 1 team)

Evan Longoria Autographed Baseball (2 teams at 6th overall)

Grady Sizemore Autographed Baseball (16th overall, 1 team)

James Loney Autographed Baseball (132nd overall, 1 team)

Matt Kemp Autographed Baseball (5th overall, 2 teams)

Thanks to Upper Deck Authenticated for this and we'll get the names of the winners announced soon and then get their addresses to UDA for prize fulfillment. Thanks all. [/QUOTE]Perhaps Dirt Dogs over-reacted with some finger pointing, but let's be fair. This was announced as part of the game almost 2 months ago. There were no announcements or follow up on this until Dirt Dogs asked weeks ago. Greg, you're quoted above as saying you would announce the winners "tomorrow" over two weeks ago. Dirt Dogs has bumped this thread multiple times looking for an answer. The issue has nothing to do with Upper Deck's problems, it has EVERYTHING to do with a complete and total lack of communication. After week 1 FAAB, we expect better communication even if only letting us know there is no news and that it has not been forgotten. There's been a lot of over-promising and under-delivering thus far. I can easily dig up a post telling us MLB YTD stats would be up by 4/30. I understand you're only relaying what you're told, but if you're going to set a timeline to do something, it is very important to follow up and update when it doesn't happen. You cannot keep leaving your customer base in the dark and then acting surprised when they lash out. Dirt Dogs and all have been patient up till this point. Can you blame him for being frustrated by the continual lack of communication? I can't.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri May 07, 2010 10:34 am

Originally posted by Scott Boras:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

quote:Originally posted by Dirt Dogs:

Here is how this is going to work. The NFBC Classic Owner who drafts the following players the highest of ALL NFBC Classic Drafts will get one of the following prizes:

Adam Jones Autographed Baseball

Andrew McCutchen Autographed Baseball

Adrian Gonzalez Autographed Baseball

Austin Jackson Autographed Baseball

Colby Rasmus Autographed Baseball

Evan Longoria Autographed Baseball

Grady Sizemore Autographed Baseball

James Loney Autographed Baseball

Matt Kemp Autographed Baseball

BUMP I will get the winners' names tomorrow. I don't have the actual leagues on the file I'm looking at yet and we have some tie-breakers to deal with. But for the most part this worked well and we will reward the earliest drafters with these prizes. Here are the facts and some of you may know who you are already:

Adam Jones Autographed Baseball (63rd overall, 1 team)

Andrew McCutchen Autographed Baseball (34th overall, 1 team)

Adrian Gonzalez Autographed Baseball (17th overall, 2 teams)

Austin Jackson Autographed Baseball (193rd overall, 1 team)

Colby Rasmus Autographed Baseball (179 overall, 1 team)

Evan Longoria Autographed Baseball (2 teams at 6th overall)

Grady Sizemore Autographed Baseball (16th overall, 1 team)

James Loney Autographed Baseball (132nd overall, 1 team)

Matt Kemp Autographed Baseball (5th overall, 2 teams)

Thanks to Upper Deck Authenticated for this and we'll get the names of the winners announced soon and then get their addresses to UDA for prize fulfillment. Thanks all. [/QUOTE]Perhaps Dirt Dogs over-reacted with some finger pointing, but let's be fair. This was announced as part of the game almost 2 months ago. There were no announcements or follow up on this until Dirt Dogs asked weeks ago. Greg, you're quoted above as saying you would announce the winners "tomorrow" over two weeks ago. Dirt Dogs has bumped this thread multiple times looking for an answer. The issue has nothing to do with Upper Deck's problems, it has EVERYTHING to do with a complete and total lack of communication. After week 1 FAAB, we expect better communication even if only letting us know there is no news and that it has not been forgotten. There's been a lot of over-promising and under-delivering thus far. I can easily dig up a post telling us MLB YTD stats would be up by 4/30. I understand you're only relaying what you're told, but if you're going to set a timeline to do something, it is very important to follow up and update when it doesn't happen. You cannot keep leaving your customer base in the dark and then acting surprised when they lash out. Dirt Dogs and all have been patient up till this point. Can you blame him for being frustrated by the continual lack of communication? I can't. [/QUOTE]I blame only myself. I've been told dates that haven't been fulfilled and the YTD is a good example. If I answer, I'm wrong. If I don't answer, I'm wrong. I can only wait for things to be done and then update the update thread.

Yes, the draft prizes weren't easy to determine because of the way we entered draft results. I don't have any actual draft boards, just player ID numbers. I need Seth's help on this to identify the teams on 26 Excel documents and I didn't ask for his help. I had no idea before Wednesday that UD wasn't going to come through for us on all of this.

I'm to blame. You are right.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri May 07, 2010 10:35 am

The hell with it, I'll post the email that my buddy from UDA sent yesterday:

Ryan

Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide the baseball items as intended. We recently learned that MLBP will not renegotiate our UDA license and as a result, our entire MLB inventory has been frozen. This prevents us from releasing any MLB items at this time or in the foreseeable future.

I apologize for the poor communication. Let me know if this puts you in any tough position with your users.

Oh yeah, it does.

Gekko · Post by **Gekko** » Fri May 07, 2010 10:42 am

to be honest, the importance of this issue is about the same as me taking my afternoon dump. something so trivial getting blown way out of proportion IMO. i mean if someone is hardup to get an Autographed Baseball, they may not have their priorities in order.

ya, i know, they promised it, so now they have to deliver. ya, i also drafted mccann in the 3rd round and he's turned his wicked-good spring into a wicked-bad regular season and now he is having eye problems. maybe i should be sending mccann letters telling him he might owe me 100K.

Scott Boras · Post by **Scott Boras** » Fri May 07, 2010 10:51 am

Greg, I trust you have thick skin and don't take things personally on these boards. Speaking for myself, it's absolutely not personal and is 100% intended as constructive criticism.

I extended an invitation to John the IT guy and Ryan weeks ago requesting they become more active on the boards lending us ideas and updates and letting us get to know who they are. I'm not sure if you prefer to be the middle man regarding all issues or if your team nominated you for all dirty work, but you seem to have a lot on your plate at all times. We certainly appreciate your efforts, but are you and Tom the only ones working out there? I would like some contact and accountability from John and Ryan. It's not fair that you take all the beatings and I know from personal experience that sometimes things that need to be said don't get said because it always lands on your plate. When John tells you something will be done by this date, he should be telling us and then filling us in when he hits delays. Delays are inevitable in life, and updates and explanations would put out a lot of fires before they even start. When Ryan posts a weekly prize promotion and earliest drafted player perks, HE should post the winners and updates. Where is Ryan E?

We're with you, Greg, but what is up with these guys? I think Chest hit the nail on the head.