Did Anyone Get Fantasy Sports Magazine Yet?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:53 am

Originally posted by billywaz:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

We've always tried to make the delivery of our magazines a positive for our members. Tom and I used to hand-stuff each magazine to each person who ordered themGreg,

This isn't about "who wins", as we all lose when things aren't done as promised (no matter whose fault it is).

And yes, you guys used to do that and when you said, "we are getting it out today", I had it literally in no more than two days!.....THANK YOU!

I feel (I don't want to speak for everyone) that the "personal touch" given by you and Tom and attention to the details is what made you (NFFC/NFBC) so successful.

I don't know Mr. Ryan Houston (I just go by what I have heard and what he writes), and I know he works to make this a great contest as well, but it seems like the "personal touch" isn't his top priority.

I'm not trying to disprespect anyone's hard work around here (the plans you have for the live events in the NFBC this year look AWESOME!), and we all make mistakes, but I hope that the NFFC/NFBC never lose sight of what made them into what I consider to be the best high stakes contest out there. [/QUOTE]I'm here on a Sunday morning answering these posts. The personal touch hasn't left the NFBC or NFFC building as you can see. I understand everything you are saying and I understand that you and Dan and Lance and many others want to send a message to Ryan with each and every one of these posts. I get it and he does too.

The bigger you get the more hands are involved in the cooking and in this case it's obvious that someone didn't follow through to get these magazines out on time. I'm not sure if it's our printer or someone in our offices, but the process didn't work. Next time we send it out ourselves every day that an order comes in. That's how we did it before.

Like I said, we get the message and we deserve to be criticized for getting these full-priced magazines to you 10 days late. They should have been shipped well before they hit the newsstands. We apologize. But that doesn't mean we've lost our morals or standards or work ethics here at the NFBC headquarters. It just means we need to talk to the person who didn't get this done and make sure that the next offer provides full value if we're charging full price.

Thanks for the note and the passion. We'll do better. And I promise you'll like the magazine in December...if you get it before the end of December.

billywaz · Post by **billywaz** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:08 am

[ December 20, 2009, 11:47 AM: Message edited by: billywaz ]

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:27 am

Last night my waiter dropped my food on its way to the table and I got it half-price!

billywaz · Post by **billywaz** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:30 am

Originally posted by bjoak:

Last night my waiter dropped my food on its way to the table and I got it half-price!

Or sometimes they give you a discount for your NEXT visit.

Purple Helmets · Post by **Purple Helmets** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:50 am

Everyone's going nuts over promised delivery times of a magazine and cost comparisons at the newsstand versus online... when you're willing to drop thousands of dollars on high stakes fantasy baseball?

I've got bigger fish to fry...not sure what they are yet but they've got to be bigger than this...

Quahogs · Post by **Quahogs** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 6:19 am

Originally posted by bjoak:

Last night my waiter dropped my food on its way to the table and I got it half-price!

sweet deal oak but kind of makes me want to hurl

Chest Rockwell · Post by **Chest Rockwell** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 6:29 am

I think I have asked this question before... Do you view this as Fanball's game or our game? I view it as our game because it brings me a lot of joy, has made me some great friends across the country, and is a great stress reliever.

Our game has/had some things fundamentally wrong with it. They include 1) not being profitable enough for Krause to still want it 2) a limited upside potential under the old format 3) a couple of things that are completely out of Greg and Tom's hands that are in no way their fault, but still presents a problem for them.

My question is are you part of the solution or do you want to be a bigger part of the problem? I do not mean to imply that you do not address your concerns. I do want to encourage everyone to realize this business is in a delicate spot and that we all need to help. We all lose if it fails. Anyone ever thought about 2 friends of ours just had to change jobs/offices and they have a ton on the line here.

I will say one more time Greg keep Ryan as far away from your customers as possible. I for the life of me cannot understand why he cannot simply operate behind the scenes. I would have to think even his supporters would agree if a person alienates a third of your customer base it is best to keep them behind the scenes. I do look forward to meeting Ryan in Vegas and keeping an open mind.

billywaz · Post by **billywaz** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 6:37 am

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

I will say one more time Greg keep Ryan as far away from your customers as possible. I for the life of me cannot understand why he cannot simply operate behind the scenes. I would have to think even his supporters would agree if a person alienates a third of your customer base it is best to keep them behind the scenes. Excellent post Chest!

I really do believe that this is the best contest out there (NFFC also), and your post is correct, we all should want to help make this work.

That being said, sometimes people lose sight of things (or can't "see the forest through the trees" , that they are a big part of the problem.....I speak from experience

) , and your statement above pretty much says it all.

Edwards Kings · Post by **Edwards Kings** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 2:02 pm

What a bunch of old women! Or as Sgt. Hulka would say "Lighten up, Francis!"

Mistakes happen. I see no change in the personal touch. Of course, I got my fix in this week with my "other" key publication that I look for before Christmas. So when I do get Greg, and Tom and Ryan's (and I am sure many others) contribution to my mid-winter pipe dreams, it will give me something new to read.

Chesty, my wife is still planning on coming to Vegas with me, but hopefully we will still get time to really catch up.

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Sun Dec 20, 2009 6:59 pm

The day Ryan "E" learns to separate the NFBC crowd from the super lotto Fanball crowd...will be an enlightening day.

Captain Crunch · Post by **Captain Crunch** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:56 am

... absolutely ... because then he'll realize who some of the people are that can keep their noses out of the air and appreciate that there are other forms of competition out there, each with nuances that can make them a challenge ... after all, no one who's played (and done well at) the DC has done much at nfbc :-þ

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 2:21 am

Originally posted by billywaz:

quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

I will say one more time Greg keep Ryan as far away from your customers as possible. I for the life of me cannot understand why he cannot simply operate behind the scenes. I would have to think even his supporters would agree if a person alienates a third of your customer base it is best to keep them behind the scenes. Excellent post Chest!

I really do believe that this is the best contest out there (NFFC also), and your post is correct, we all should want to help make this work.

That being said, sometimes people lose sight of things (or can't "see the forest through the trees" , that they are a big part of the problem.....I speak from experience

) , and your statement above pretty much says it all.

[/QUOTE]Honestly, I don't think this is fair or accurate. For one thing, we certainly haven't had one-third of the NFBC crowd on these boards since the end of the season, so I highly doubt anyone has offended one-third of the NFBC audience. Maybe one-third of the 20+ people who have frequented the boards since October, but that's about it. And we have heard from those one-third, that's for sure.

Secondly, many people on the NFBC boards have gotten off to rough starts and folks have asked them to leave. Chest, Gekko, and many others are in that crowd. But over time, their contributions have been not only well accepted but very valuable to the NFBC. Trust me, in time you'll see many more positives from Ryan than negatives. You're seeing them already, but most of you are too focused on the $8 magazine rather than the big picture. Talk about being unable to see the forest through the trees. Sheesh.

And finally, there was an error in not getting this first magazine to you 10 days earlier than planned, but it wasn't Ryan's doing. I think we've figured out the reason for it and we'll address it as a group and make sure it doesn't happen again. The printer mailed these out last week -- again, 10 days later than either Ryan or I expected -- and hopefully they will be in your hands soon.

I sure hope nobody is big enough to ask others never to post on these boards or to interact with our customers. We want contributions from all and trust me, Ryan has a lot to contribute. This is a two-way street and sometimes we both need to respect and understand each other. Some of you have drawn conclusions on folks or events and you don't even have any of the facts. For Billy to shout at Ryan that the magazine went on newsstands five days earlier than we said shows a true lack of knowing how the newsstand business works. It can arrive five days early at one newsstand and five days late at another in the same city as we have no control over this, excuse the French, mafia-driven business.

Let's move past this. I started this thread because I thought you all were too silent after receiving your magazines. I thought for sure you'd have them by the 10th of Dec. I wanted to have fun with some of the projections and predictions we all made in there. When you get the magazine, read some of it and then come back to talk about BASEBALL. That was the intent of this thread, not another piling on.

We screwed up on the home delivery. We admit it. We now know how it happened and it won't happen again. We'll do better on the next three magazines if you want any of them. We'll try not to be a penny wise and a dollar foolish going forward. But again, it's a two way street.

I'm going to finish my Christmas shopping. Merry Christmas everyone (even if that isn't politically correct anymore; I'm Catholic!!) and remember to treat others as you want them to treat you. Stay well.

billywaz · Post by **billywaz** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:34 am

I'm not going to go into anymore. Like I said, I too want to see both events grow. As I have stated a million times, the NFFC/NFBC are the "creme de la creme" of highstakes fantasy sports.

I think we all appreciate your honesty in regards to this situation, Greg.....THANKS!

Timcards · Post by **Timcards** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:42 am

Greg, if you don't mind, can you tell us what the problem was with the home delivery so I can decide if I want to take the chance again with ordering from you guys or get the mags from the bookstore? I understand there was a "communication problem" but that seems very vague.

Timcards · Post by **Timcards** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:08 am

Let me post for the record that NFBC sent out my winnings before all other companies this year and that's much more important than this magazine. I just would like to be assured that if I order through you guys again vs. buying from the bookstore that I'd receive it sooner. I once had a subscription with USA Sports Weekly and I received it on Fridays and Saturdays as opposed to Wednesdays when it arrived in the stores. That bugged the heck out of me.

[ December 21, 2009, 04:09 PM: Message edited by: Timcards ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:27 am

Originally posted by Timcards:

Greg, if you don't mind, can you tell us what the problem was with the home delivery so I can decide if I want to take the chance again with ordering from you guys or get the mags from the bookstore? I understand there was a "communication problem" but that seems very vague. It was a human miscalculation, plain and simple. We chose to send the magazines right from the printer so that you could get them quicker, but since the orders came in sporadically someone decided to wait until we had a batch to give to the printer to send. Somehow that batch of names and addresses got sent later than it should have and thus the magazines didn't get sent out until last week. We screwed up by not getting the magazines out as they were ordered. The blame is on us.

I believe they were mailed on the 17th all at once. That wasn't the plan, trust me, but that's when they went out. They probably could have been shipped by the 7th if we had given the names we had at the time to the printer right away. Next time we'll just ship from our offices or get the names to the printer as the orders come in.

We learned and you paid the price of our mistake by 10 days. Sorry. But I promise you'll still like the magazine when you get it. It's December, and it's still the industry's first rankings.

Timcards · Post by **Timcards** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:06 am

Sounds good to me, Greg. In the past I've had to wait until late-January, early-February to get my hands on the first baseball mag. I'm delighted to be able to obtain one this early. I say, keep printing them and I'll keep buying them.

Richie · Post by **Richie** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:28 am

This is so minor. If this was A February DUE DATE AND CAME 10 DAYS LATE, I COULD SEE THE CONCERN. DECEMBER 7 TO dECEMBER 17 IS VERY INCONSEQUENTIAL. Lets concentrate on doing better timing on the checks at the end of the year. Lets help Greg figure out how to get them out in 3 days instead of 10. That would be nice. Of course, the present mailing of checks is the best anyway

rkulaski · Post by **rkulaski** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:55 pm

I think this Ryan guy (not sure of his title at Fanball) has shown a lot of class and restraint by not firing back a defensive reply to some of the things that have been said about him in this thread. It says something about one's character (something good). Speaking of good character, Merry Christmas Greg and Tom and thanks for all the work getting us out a fantasy baseball magazine before Christmas (well... maybe

kidding).

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:45 am

got mine today

Magazine, Lumber Company Poster, handwritten apology (unnecessary) from Charlie.

great looking magazine

thanks guys

bill

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:52 am

Originally posted by Kentucky Reign:

got mine today

Magazine, Lumber Company Poster, handwritten apology (unnecessary) from Charlie.

great looking magazine

thanks guys

bill What a guy that Charlie is!! Now stuff it in your stocking as advertised before Christmas!!

Enjoy Bill and thanks for your support.

Edwards Kings · Post by **Edwards Kings** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:22 am

Originally posted by Kentucky Reign:

got mine today

Magazine, Lumber Company Poster, handwritten apology (unnecessary) from Charlie.

great looking magazine

thanks guys

bill Made it to Atlanta, too. Thanks Charlie. The extra mile is appreciated.

NorCalAtlFan · Post by **NorCalAtlFan** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:48 am

Apparently my little town of 1 million in California has been hard for the pony express to find. Maybe tomorrow?

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:50 am

Originally posted by Kentucky Reign:

got mine today

Magazine, Lumber Company Poster, handwritten apology (unnecessary) from Charlie.

great looking magazine

thanks guys

bill Talk about the personal touch!

Thats awesome. Kudos to Charlie and Fanball.

Dak · Post by **Dak** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:55 am

Nothing in MN either!