Originally posted by Hawk:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I'm sensitive to the question. I've got 136 emails in my inbox that all think the same way you do. However, I wanted to clarify that development is one part of our business. Creative is another part. Live events is a different part. All of those units work together -- but Creative + Live Event divisions didn't cause the problems you felt over the last 7 days.
If I'm completely honest with all of you -- I'd say that it had a lot to do with testing but also a lot to do with requirements. When we purchased the business we did not receive extensive requirements documentation (development blueprints so to speak) of all the nuances of this game.
There were a lot of preventable issues -- and we can talk about all the "why" but I'd rather focus on "rectify" and ensure we get it right.
I always tell me kids "you can't change the past - all you can do is learn from it and make better choices". I'm hopeful we will do that without forgetting what a poor first impression we made.
We feel terrible Chest. But believing that we focused too much on making it "pretty" is simply not accurate. Regarding the bolded part, Did you not receive it because you did not ask for it or did you not receive it because it did not exist? [/QB][/QUOTE]It did not exist.
I Apologize
-
Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
Probably could have done a lot of things differently but for every person who wanted me to speak -- there were emails in my inbox telling me they never wanted to talk to me again.
Listen -- I wasn't being a coward. From day one I've been beaten up and abused. I faced the crowd in Las Vegas - shook hands and never made a customer feel as if they weren't wanted to be in this contest. Hell -- I even worked an auction much to the criticism of King of Queens.
Sure - I could have handled it differently but Greg and I agreed on how to handle it and that is what we did. As Greg stated several times -- he didn't need an EVP working the message boards, he needed us working on making progress. I think we accomplished that (still a lot to do) and we continue to do what is needed to rectify the outstanding issues.
I accept your criticism with open arms -- and I know that we'll never make everyone happy with the decisions we make. That's just reality and I'm still answering questions about why we chose Bellagio over Flamingo. It's the nature of having this many passionate people playing this game.
I'm sorry you don't feel I handled this properly. [/QB]Regarding what you did at live events, that's great but not what we are discussing here.
Here's the problem.
Ryan's here when things are going well but when things are going poorly, no Ryan. You, as EVP, should have recognized how that would look to your user community.
See what I'm saying here? You're either here for us to talk to, complain to, flame or praise... or you're not. Doing it the way you did it was wrong and you should have known that.
Probably could have done a lot of things differently but for every person who wanted me to speak -- there were emails in my inbox telling me they never wanted to talk to me again.
Listen -- I wasn't being a coward. From day one I've been beaten up and abused. I faced the crowd in Las Vegas - shook hands and never made a customer feel as if they weren't wanted to be in this contest. Hell -- I even worked an auction much to the criticism of King of Queens.
Sure - I could have handled it differently but Greg and I agreed on how to handle it and that is what we did. As Greg stated several times -- he didn't need an EVP working the message boards, he needed us working on making progress. I think we accomplished that (still a lot to do) and we continue to do what is needed to rectify the outstanding issues.
I accept your criticism with open arms -- and I know that we'll never make everyone happy with the decisions we make. That's just reality and I'm still answering questions about why we chose Bellagio over Flamingo. It's the nature of having this many passionate people playing this game.
I'm sorry you don't feel I handled this properly. [/QB]Regarding what you did at live events, that's great but not what we are discussing here.
Here's the problem.
Ryan's here when things are going well but when things are going poorly, no Ryan. You, as EVP, should have recognized how that would look to your user community.
See what I'm saying here? You're either here for us to talk to, complain to, flame or praise... or you're not. Doing it the way you did it was wrong and you should have known that.
My NFBC Blog (updated 8-June)
http://slocumbifyagotem.wordpress.com/
http://slocumbifyagotem.wordpress.com/
I Apologize
Ryan, We trust Greg, Tom, Geoff and the NFBC gang.
Why should we trust you and Fanball?
As of now, the trust is sparce. We know what the NFBC staff is doing, what are YOU doing to regain that trust?
What, personally, have you done during the last week to assist with the problems?
Why should we trust you and Fanball?
As of now, the trust is sparce. We know what the NFBC staff is doing, what are YOU doing to regain that trust?
What, personally, have you done during the last week to assist with the problems?
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
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Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by PantherPride:
You know what Fanball, I gave you the benefit of the doubt because I also work in IT and do the same job as Ryan does for my company.
But this is UTTER BS and I am sick of this **** poor product. Greg/Geoff/Tom, you need to evaluate things because people are going to be jumping ship with all this bs and garbage product.
Enough is enough. I can't finish looking at bids 10 minutes prior to the deadline, every page is ordered by someone that has no clue how to order stats, the funtionality in general is poor(I can make a long list but it seems to fall on deaf ears so I am done wasting my time - since there are only a certain one or 2 who seem to be in the "know").
I am sure, those people at fanball are sorry AGAIN, but this is hideous and beyond ridiculous. Heads need to roll or change something because FANBALL HAS SEVERLY dropped the ball.
Ryan, excuses about not having all requirements is the biggest IT copout. Especially when you had a working product previously to piggyback off. Wow -- first I'm a coward and now I'm copping out.
Never did I say we didn't drop the ball. I think I've said it several times in this thread. I said we failed to test properly. I said we failed to meet your expectations. I said many things and when I state that we never received documentation -- I'm still blasted.
Ok -- first, you are making assumptions. Do you have any idea when the previous product was shut down? Are you sure we were able to see it? We didn't buy the code base -- maybe you didn't know that. Lots of stuff you probably aren't aware of but they are all true.
Secondly -- I agree this is "hideous and beyond ridiculous". You should not have to deal with what you have been dealing with.
Lastly -- in regards to stats. I want everyone to know that we've received probably 20-30 different variants of how people want stats laid out on this site. It's amazing how many people want it to look differently -- but none are consistent.
We have dropped the ball - you are absolutely right. However, not once in this entire thread did I try to attempt to copout.
You know what Fanball, I gave you the benefit of the doubt because I also work in IT and do the same job as Ryan does for my company.
But this is UTTER BS and I am sick of this **** poor product. Greg/Geoff/Tom, you need to evaluate things because people are going to be jumping ship with all this bs and garbage product.
Enough is enough. I can't finish looking at bids 10 minutes prior to the deadline, every page is ordered by someone that has no clue how to order stats, the funtionality in general is poor(I can make a long list but it seems to fall on deaf ears so I am done wasting my time - since there are only a certain one or 2 who seem to be in the "know").
I am sure, those people at fanball are sorry AGAIN, but this is hideous and beyond ridiculous. Heads need to roll or change something because FANBALL HAS SEVERLY dropped the ball.
Ryan, excuses about not having all requirements is the biggest IT copout. Especially when you had a working product previously to piggyback off. Wow -- first I'm a coward and now I'm copping out.
Never did I say we didn't drop the ball. I think I've said it several times in this thread. I said we failed to test properly. I said we failed to meet your expectations. I said many things and when I state that we never received documentation -- I'm still blasted.
Ok -- first, you are making assumptions. Do you have any idea when the previous product was shut down? Are you sure we were able to see it? We didn't buy the code base -- maybe you didn't know that. Lots of stuff you probably aren't aware of but they are all true.
Secondly -- I agree this is "hideous and beyond ridiculous". You should not have to deal with what you have been dealing with.
Lastly -- in regards to stats. I want everyone to know that we've received probably 20-30 different variants of how people want stats laid out on this site. It's amazing how many people want it to look differently -- but none are consistent.
We have dropped the ball - you are absolutely right. However, not once in this entire thread did I try to attempt to copout.
I Apologize
Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by poopy tooth:
quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:
specific questions for you!
1) I along with many others feel like you have been focused on all of the wrong things. I hear a lot of hype and glitz versus substance. Are we wrong? Were we right and do you get that the course needs to change?
2) We will do better is not going to satisfy this crowd because so few people trust fanball. You fix issues like this with more resources, different priorities, changing personnel etc. In general terms how are you going to fix it?
3) Why have you waited so long to post this?
I as one of 435 accept your apology. I think we all just want some more information from you. I would like to echo the questions of Chest - especially the #1 and #3.
As you are aware, this is a pretty tough crowd and although you will never please all, I think responding sooner may have been helpful. Taking 30 minutes to provide an update would have possibly gone a long way, at least to me.
I do understand that when you customize a product, there is a good chance there will be a lot of bugs to work out. Unlike some others, I don't feel a refund is required becuase of this, but I do feel, being upfront and explaining the situation would have calmed lot of owners - not all, but a lot more. I don't know what was done for testing before deciding to "go live," but if there was some beta testing you had to know there were issues, if those were known, and still opting to push it forward would be a wrong decision in my mind.
One thing I do think that is overlooked is, as the contest owner, these decisions are yours, not the majority of the players. If we don't like the product, our decision is whether to come back or not. That is our decision.
There has been an enormous amount of expansion in the NFBC in the last 2 years and that is a GREAT thing, but at times this year, it was the first time where I could feel the growth may hurt the customer service a little. Greg/Tom and Jeff are still great - but even processing payments took a few calls to the accounting department. The woman I spoke with (I apologize, I forget her name) was very nice and great to work with also, but this kind of thing didn't happen in the past).
The last thing I want to ask is, in the past, Las vegas has always had the perception of being the top priority. I understand more leagues are filled out there and have no issue with that, but at times, it feels like the other locations, while treated great, are just considered a notch below. Will you go to Las Vegas every year or move around and meet some of the other participants also?
Just my two cents. This is still the premier fantasy event. I really think part of the "problem" was the expanded growth - again problem is not the correct word, but I would think it makes it a little harder to handle everything and keep people happy as you grow.
I don't know you from Adam, but I'm sure you didn't sign on with the intention to fail. (Not saying you failed, but you did allow a software to be released that wasn't working). You don't owe us hourly updates, but an occasion update during this time really would have made some feel more comfortable.
Greg - that invitation to come out East or Midwest, etc applies to you also! Tom is great, but would be nice to meet some others as well. (Although I can't blame you, I'd hang in Vegas over NYC if I had the choice also)! [/QUOTE]We have to continue to provide top notch customer service in order to facilitate our customers requirements. It's something we talk about a lot.
We have three of the best: Greg / Tom / Geoff. We also have a full-time, 7 days a week, staff in St. Louis that will help with this game in the future.
[/QUOTE]I agree they are 3 of the best AND they provide the BEST customer service in the business.....BAR NONE.
HOWEVER....that only goes so far. If you were a new company, people might understand, but the NFFC/NFBC was (will be?) awesome, and honestly, Fanball's interface came into this merger with a less than stellar reputation.
The bad part of Fanball (the part that existed before the merger, and still seems to exist) needs to be fixed because you can have Jesus and the 3 wise men as your customer reps, and it won't make a difference if the product is crap.
quote:Originally posted by poopy tooth:
quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:
specific questions for you!
1) I along with many others feel like you have been focused on all of the wrong things. I hear a lot of hype and glitz versus substance. Are we wrong? Were we right and do you get that the course needs to change?
2) We will do better is not going to satisfy this crowd because so few people trust fanball. You fix issues like this with more resources, different priorities, changing personnel etc. In general terms how are you going to fix it?
3) Why have you waited so long to post this?
I as one of 435 accept your apology. I think we all just want some more information from you. I would like to echo the questions of Chest - especially the #1 and #3.
As you are aware, this is a pretty tough crowd and although you will never please all, I think responding sooner may have been helpful. Taking 30 minutes to provide an update would have possibly gone a long way, at least to me.
I do understand that when you customize a product, there is a good chance there will be a lot of bugs to work out. Unlike some others, I don't feel a refund is required becuase of this, but I do feel, being upfront and explaining the situation would have calmed lot of owners - not all, but a lot more. I don't know what was done for testing before deciding to "go live," but if there was some beta testing you had to know there were issues, if those were known, and still opting to push it forward would be a wrong decision in my mind.
One thing I do think that is overlooked is, as the contest owner, these decisions are yours, not the majority of the players. If we don't like the product, our decision is whether to come back or not. That is our decision.
There has been an enormous amount of expansion in the NFBC in the last 2 years and that is a GREAT thing, but at times this year, it was the first time where I could feel the growth may hurt the customer service a little. Greg/Tom and Jeff are still great - but even processing payments took a few calls to the accounting department. The woman I spoke with (I apologize, I forget her name) was very nice and great to work with also, but this kind of thing didn't happen in the past).
The last thing I want to ask is, in the past, Las vegas has always had the perception of being the top priority. I understand more leagues are filled out there and have no issue with that, but at times, it feels like the other locations, while treated great, are just considered a notch below. Will you go to Las Vegas every year or move around and meet some of the other participants also?
Just my two cents. This is still the premier fantasy event. I really think part of the "problem" was the expanded growth - again problem is not the correct word, but I would think it makes it a little harder to handle everything and keep people happy as you grow.
I don't know you from Adam, but I'm sure you didn't sign on with the intention to fail. (Not saying you failed, but you did allow a software to be released that wasn't working). You don't owe us hourly updates, but an occasion update during this time really would have made some feel more comfortable.
Greg - that invitation to come out East or Midwest, etc applies to you also! Tom is great, but would be nice to meet some others as well. (Although I can't blame you, I'd hang in Vegas over NYC if I had the choice also)! [/QUOTE]We have to continue to provide top notch customer service in order to facilitate our customers requirements. It's something we talk about a lot.
We have three of the best: Greg / Tom / Geoff. We also have a full-time, 7 days a week, staff in St. Louis that will help with this game in the future.
[/QUOTE]I agree they are 3 of the best AND they provide the BEST customer service in the business.....BAR NONE.
HOWEVER....that only goes so far. If you were a new company, people might understand, but the NFFC/NFBC was (will be?) awesome, and honestly, Fanball's interface came into this merger with a less than stellar reputation.
The bad part of Fanball (the part that existed before the merger, and still seems to exist) needs to be fixed because you can have Jesus and the 3 wise men as your customer reps, and it won't make a difference if the product is crap.
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sportsbettingman
- Posts: 3038
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I know Greg really loves Vegas but maybe we'll mix them up a bit to let everyone get to know all of us. Somewhere in the darkness, a tear just rolled down Gregs face.
I know Greg really loves Vegas but maybe we'll mix them up a bit to let everyone get to know all of us. Somewhere in the darkness, a tear just rolled down Gregs face.
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
~Albert Einstein
~Albert Einstein
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Chest Rockwell
- Posts: 2400
- Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by sportsbettingman:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I know Greg really loves Vegas but maybe we'll mix them up a bit to let everyone get to know all of us. Somewhere in the darkness, a tear just rolled down Gregs face. [/QUOTE]Actually Lance it flew off his face as he is trembling waiting for an E meltdown Panther Pride almost put him over the top.
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I know Greg really loves Vegas but maybe we'll mix them up a bit to let everyone get to know all of us. Somewhere in the darkness, a tear just rolled down Gregs face.
[/QUOTE]Actually Lance it flew off his face as he is trembling waiting for an E meltdown Panther Pride almost put him over the top.I Apologize
Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by Hawk:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I'm sensitive to the question. I've got 136 emails in my inbox that all think the same way you do. However, I wanted to clarify that development is one part of our business. Creative is another part. Live events is a different part. All of those units work together -- but Creative + Live Event divisions didn't cause the problems you felt over the last 7 days.
If I'm completely honest with all of you -- I'd say that it had a lot to do with testing but also a lot to do with requirements. When we purchased the business we did not receive extensive requirements documentation (development blueprints so to speak) of all the nuances of this game.
There were a lot of preventable issues -- and we can talk about all the "why" but I'd rather focus on "rectify" and ensure we get it right.
I always tell me kids "you can't change the past - all you can do is learn from it and make better choices". I'm hopeful we will do that without forgetting what a poor first impression we made.
We feel terrible Chest. But believing that we focused too much on making it "pretty" is simply not accurate. Regarding the bolded part, Did you not receive it because you did not ask for it or did you not receive it because it did not exist? [/QUOTE]It did not exist. [/QB][/QUOTE]I'm sure you recognized that not having that info was likely to result in problems. Not having that kind of info is literally a devil in the details scenario. Was this discussed with the folks at NFBC as a need? If so, what did they say? Was there some kind of risk assessment performed where it was determined that the resources needed to create this info were better served on other facets of the project?
quote:Originally posted by Hawk:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I'm sensitive to the question. I've got 136 emails in my inbox that all think the same way you do. However, I wanted to clarify that development is one part of our business. Creative is another part. Live events is a different part. All of those units work together -- but Creative + Live Event divisions didn't cause the problems you felt over the last 7 days.
If I'm completely honest with all of you -- I'd say that it had a lot to do with testing but also a lot to do with requirements. When we purchased the business we did not receive extensive requirements documentation (development blueprints so to speak) of all the nuances of this game.
There were a lot of preventable issues -- and we can talk about all the "why" but I'd rather focus on "rectify" and ensure we get it right.
I always tell me kids "you can't change the past - all you can do is learn from it and make better choices". I'm hopeful we will do that without forgetting what a poor first impression we made.
We feel terrible Chest. But believing that we focused too much on making it "pretty" is simply not accurate. Regarding the bolded part, Did you not receive it because you did not ask for it or did you not receive it because it did not exist? [/QUOTE]It did not exist. [/QB][/QUOTE]I'm sure you recognized that not having that info was likely to result in problems. Not having that kind of info is literally a devil in the details scenario. Was this discussed with the folks at NFBC as a need? If so, what did they say? Was there some kind of risk assessment performed where it was determined that the resources needed to create this info were better served on other facets of the project?
My NFBC Blog (updated 8-June)
http://slocumbifyagotem.wordpress.com/
http://slocumbifyagotem.wordpress.com/
-
Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by Hawk:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
Probably could have done a lot of things differently but for every person who wanted me to speak -- there were emails in my inbox telling me they never wanted to talk to me again.
Listen -- I wasn't being a coward. From day one I've been beaten up and abused. I faced the crowd in Las Vegas - shook hands and never made a customer feel as if they weren't wanted to be in this contest. Hell -- I even worked an auction much to the criticism of King of Queens.
Sure - I could have handled it differently but Greg and I agreed on how to handle it and that is what we did. As Greg stated several times -- he didn't need an EVP working the message boards, he needed us working on making progress. I think we accomplished that (still a lot to do) and we continue to do what is needed to rectify the outstanding issues.
I accept your criticism with open arms -- and I know that we'll never make everyone happy with the decisions we make. That's just reality and I'm still answering questions about why we chose Bellagio over Flamingo. It's the nature of having this many passionate people playing this game.
I'm sorry you don't feel I handled this properly. Regarding what you did at live events, that's great but not what we are discussing here.
Here's the problem.
Ryan's here when things are going well but when things are going poorly, no Ryan. You, as EVP, should have recognized how that would look to your user community.
See what I'm saying here? You're either here for us to talk to, complain to, flame or praise... or you're not. Doing it the way you did it was wrong and you should have known that. [/QB][/QUOTE]Hawk -- first you are wrong. All things are not going well. We still have a lot of work to do.
In regards to the criticism for me apologizing today - Greg and I made the decision and we'll stick by it. It may not meet everyone's timeframe, but it is what we thought was best. Obviously many don't agree -- and I'll apologize to you that don't feel it was timely enough. I understand that no matter what I do or don't do -- it's going to be controversial at this point. After all -- we've failed to make this a successful contest for you and honestly -- that is all that truly matters.
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
Probably could have done a lot of things differently but for every person who wanted me to speak -- there were emails in my inbox telling me they never wanted to talk to me again.
Listen -- I wasn't being a coward. From day one I've been beaten up and abused. I faced the crowd in Las Vegas - shook hands and never made a customer feel as if they weren't wanted to be in this contest. Hell -- I even worked an auction much to the criticism of King of Queens.
Sure - I could have handled it differently but Greg and I agreed on how to handle it and that is what we did. As Greg stated several times -- he didn't need an EVP working the message boards, he needed us working on making progress. I think we accomplished that (still a lot to do) and we continue to do what is needed to rectify the outstanding issues.
I accept your criticism with open arms -- and I know that we'll never make everyone happy with the decisions we make. That's just reality and I'm still answering questions about why we chose Bellagio over Flamingo. It's the nature of having this many passionate people playing this game.
I'm sorry you don't feel I handled this properly. Regarding what you did at live events, that's great but not what we are discussing here.
Here's the problem.
Ryan's here when things are going well but when things are going poorly, no Ryan. You, as EVP, should have recognized how that would look to your user community.
See what I'm saying here? You're either here for us to talk to, complain to, flame or praise... or you're not. Doing it the way you did it was wrong and you should have known that. [/QB][/QUOTE]Hawk -- first you are wrong. All things are not going well. We still have a lot of work to do.
In regards to the criticism for me apologizing today - Greg and I made the decision and we'll stick by it. It may not meet everyone's timeframe, but it is what we thought was best. Obviously many don't agree -- and I'll apologize to you that don't feel it was timely enough. I understand that no matter what I do or don't do -- it's going to be controversial at this point. After all -- we've failed to make this a successful contest for you and honestly -- that is all that truly matters.
I Apologize
I am as ticked an anybody by what has gone on the last 8 days in the NFBC, especially tonight. However, a lot of you guys are making this personal with Ryan and almost get pleasure out of taking personal shots at him. Ryan is a great dude that values his customers. I know this first hand after spending time with him in Vegas. If any of you met him in person, you wouldn't be posting like this. I ask the question, don't you think Ryan is pissed at this stuff? Do you not think that he hasn't ripped the IT department's ass for what has gone on?
If it makes anybody feel better, that other 5 letter league still hasn't ran their FAAB tonight and it's almost midnight. Uh oh
If it makes anybody feel better, that other 5 letter league still hasn't ran their FAAB tonight and it's almost midnight. Uh oh
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Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by billywaz:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by poopy tooth:
quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:
specific questions for you!
1) I along with many others feel like you have been focused on all of the wrong things. I hear a lot of hype and glitz versus substance. Are we wrong? Were we right and do you get that the course needs to change?
2) We will do better is not going to satisfy this crowd because so few people trust fanball. You fix issues like this with more resources, different priorities, changing personnel etc. In general terms how are you going to fix it?
3) Why have you waited so long to post this?
I as one of 435 accept your apology. I think we all just want some more information from you. I would like to echo the questions of Chest - especially the #1 and #3.
As you are aware, this is a pretty tough crowd and although you will never please all, I think responding sooner may have been helpful. Taking 30 minutes to provide an update would have possibly gone a long way, at least to me.
I do understand that when you customize a product, there is a good chance there will be a lot of bugs to work out. Unlike some others, I don't feel a refund is required becuase of this, but I do feel, being upfront and explaining the situation would have calmed lot of owners - not all, but a lot more. I don't know what was done for testing before deciding to "go live," but if there was some beta testing you had to know there were issues, if those were known, and still opting to push it forward would be a wrong decision in my mind.
One thing I do think that is overlooked is, as the contest owner, these decisions are yours, not the majority of the players. If we don't like the product, our decision is whether to come back or not. That is our decision.
There has been an enormous amount of expansion in the NFBC in the last 2 years and that is a GREAT thing, but at times this year, it was the first time where I could feel the growth may hurt the customer service a little. Greg/Tom and Jeff are still great - but even processing payments took a few calls to the accounting department. The woman I spoke with (I apologize, I forget her name) was very nice and great to work with also, but this kind of thing didn't happen in the past).
The last thing I want to ask is, in the past, Las vegas has always had the perception of being the top priority. I understand more leagues are filled out there and have no issue with that, but at times, it feels like the other locations, while treated great, are just considered a notch below. Will you go to Las Vegas every year or move around and meet some of the other participants also?
Just my two cents. This is still the premier fantasy event. I really think part of the "problem" was the expanded growth - again problem is not the correct word, but I would think it makes it a little harder to handle everything and keep people happy as you grow.
I don't know you from Adam, but I'm sure you didn't sign on with the intention to fail. (Not saying you failed, but you did allow a software to be released that wasn't working). You don't owe us hourly updates, but an occasion update during this time really would have made some feel more comfortable.
Greg - that invitation to come out East or Midwest, etc applies to you also! Tom is great, but would be nice to meet some others as well. (Although I can't blame you, I'd hang in Vegas over NYC if I had the choice also)! [/QUOTE]We have to continue to provide top notch customer service in order to facilitate our customers requirements. It's something we talk about a lot.
We have three of the best: Greg / Tom / Geoff. We also have a full-time, 7 days a week, staff in St. Louis that will help with this game in the future.
[/QUOTE]I agree they are 3 of the best AND they provide the BEST customer service in the business.....BAR NONE.
HOWEVER....that only goes so far. If you were a new company, people might understand, but the NFFC/NFBC was (will be?) awesome, and honestly, Fanball's interface came into this merger with a less than stellar reputation.
The bad part of Fanball (the part that existed before the merger, and still seems to exist) needs to be fixed because you can have Jesus and the 3 wise men as your customer reps, and it won't make a difference if the product is crap. [/QUOTE]I agree with all your statements here. 100% in agreement here.
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by poopy tooth:
quote:Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:
specific questions for you!
1) I along with many others feel like you have been focused on all of the wrong things. I hear a lot of hype and glitz versus substance. Are we wrong? Were we right and do you get that the course needs to change?
2) We will do better is not going to satisfy this crowd because so few people trust fanball. You fix issues like this with more resources, different priorities, changing personnel etc. In general terms how are you going to fix it?
3) Why have you waited so long to post this?
I as one of 435 accept your apology. I think we all just want some more information from you. I would like to echo the questions of Chest - especially the #1 and #3.
As you are aware, this is a pretty tough crowd and although you will never please all, I think responding sooner may have been helpful. Taking 30 minutes to provide an update would have possibly gone a long way, at least to me.
I do understand that when you customize a product, there is a good chance there will be a lot of bugs to work out. Unlike some others, I don't feel a refund is required becuase of this, but I do feel, being upfront and explaining the situation would have calmed lot of owners - not all, but a lot more. I don't know what was done for testing before deciding to "go live," but if there was some beta testing you had to know there were issues, if those were known, and still opting to push it forward would be a wrong decision in my mind.
One thing I do think that is overlooked is, as the contest owner, these decisions are yours, not the majority of the players. If we don't like the product, our decision is whether to come back or not. That is our decision.
There has been an enormous amount of expansion in the NFBC in the last 2 years and that is a GREAT thing, but at times this year, it was the first time where I could feel the growth may hurt the customer service a little. Greg/Tom and Jeff are still great - but even processing payments took a few calls to the accounting department. The woman I spoke with (I apologize, I forget her name) was very nice and great to work with also, but this kind of thing didn't happen in the past).
The last thing I want to ask is, in the past, Las vegas has always had the perception of being the top priority. I understand more leagues are filled out there and have no issue with that, but at times, it feels like the other locations, while treated great, are just considered a notch below. Will you go to Las Vegas every year or move around and meet some of the other participants also?
Just my two cents. This is still the premier fantasy event. I really think part of the "problem" was the expanded growth - again problem is not the correct word, but I would think it makes it a little harder to handle everything and keep people happy as you grow.
I don't know you from Adam, but I'm sure you didn't sign on with the intention to fail. (Not saying you failed, but you did allow a software to be released that wasn't working). You don't owe us hourly updates, but an occasion update during this time really would have made some feel more comfortable.
Greg - that invitation to come out East or Midwest, etc applies to you also! Tom is great, but would be nice to meet some others as well. (Although I can't blame you, I'd hang in Vegas over NYC if I had the choice also)! [/QUOTE]We have to continue to provide top notch customer service in order to facilitate our customers requirements. It's something we talk about a lot.
We have three of the best: Greg / Tom / Geoff. We also have a full-time, 7 days a week, staff in St. Louis that will help with this game in the future.
[/QUOTE]I agree they are 3 of the best AND they provide the BEST customer service in the business.....BAR NONE.
HOWEVER....that only goes so far. If you were a new company, people might understand, but the NFFC/NFBC was (will be?) awesome, and honestly, Fanball's interface came into this merger with a less than stellar reputation.
The bad part of Fanball (the part that existed before the merger, and still seems to exist) needs to be fixed because you can have Jesus and the 3 wise men as your customer reps, and it won't make a difference if the product is crap. [/QUOTE]I agree with all your statements here. 100% in agreement here.
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Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
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I Apologize
Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:
quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I know Greg really loves Vegas but maybe we'll mix them up a bit to let everyone get to know all of us. Somewhere in the darkness, a tear just rolled down Gregs face. [/QUOTE]Actually Lance it flew off his face as he is trembling waiting for an E meltdown Panther Pride almost put him over the top. [/QUOTE]Chest -- nothing can compare to the meltdown I had last Monday.
quote:Originally posted by sportsbettingman:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I know Greg really loves Vegas but maybe we'll mix them up a bit to let everyone get to know all of us. Somewhere in the darkness, a tear just rolled down Gregs face.
[/QUOTE]Actually Lance it flew off his face as he is trembling waiting for an E meltdown Panther Pride almost put him over the top. [/QUOTE]Chest -- nothing can compare to the meltdown I had last Monday.
I Apologize
with "the tech team at Fanball working around the clock", how did FAAB bidding get locked 15 minutes early at 7.45pm tonight?
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Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Ryan, We trust Greg, Tom, Geoff and the NFBC gang.
Why should we trust you and Fanball?
As of now, the trust is sparce. We know what the NFBC staff is doing, what are YOU doing to regain that trust?
What, personally, have you done during the last week to assist with the problems? I'm not asking you to trust me. Why would you?
You paid money to play in a contest and we failed to live up to your expectations. Until that changes -- no reason to trust us or me.
All we can do is continue to push to meet everyone's expectations and that is what we are all going to keep doing.
Ryan, We trust Greg, Tom, Geoff and the NFBC gang.
Why should we trust you and Fanball?
As of now, the trust is sparce. We know what the NFBC staff is doing, what are YOU doing to regain that trust?
What, personally, have you done during the last week to assist with the problems? I'm not asking you to trust me. Why would you?
You paid money to play in a contest and we failed to live up to your expectations. Until that changes -- no reason to trust us or me.
All we can do is continue to push to meet everyone's expectations and that is what we are all going to keep doing.
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Sebadiah23
- Posts: 702
- Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by Hawk:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I'm sensitive to the question. I've got 136 emails in my inbox that all think the same way you do. However, I wanted to clarify that development is one part of our business. Creative is another part. Live events is a different part. All of those units work together -- but Creative + Live Event divisions didn't cause the problems you felt over the last 7 days.
If I'm completely honest with all of you -- I'd say that it had a lot to do with testing but also a lot to do with requirements. When we purchased the business we did not receive extensive requirements documentation (development blueprints so to speak) of all the nuances of this game.
There were a lot of preventable issues -- and we can talk about all the "why" but I'd rather focus on "rectify" and ensure we get it right.
I always tell me kids "you can't change the past - all you can do is learn from it and make better choices". I'm hopeful we will do that without forgetting what a poor first impression we made.
We feel terrible Chest. But believing that we focused too much on making it "pretty" is simply not accurate. Regarding the bolded part, Did you not receive it because you did not ask for it or did you not receive it because it did not exist? [/QUOTE]It did not exist. [/QB][/QUOTE]This is a typical cop-out that I hear from programmers in my own real life as a manager in IT. A living and breathing fully functional Stats website is plenty of functional requirements for anyone intelligent to go off of when coupled with asking questions of Greg, Tom, or any NFBC player about every nuance of the website. Which any of us would have been honored to contribute for free.
In the company i work for the programming team writes their own function requirements based on these types of conversations. To not have this communication is the fault of the programming team and no one else. Those types of programmers expecting exact requirements are referred to as "code monkeys".
Ryan, this is not a slam on you personally. When it took 6 weeks for Fanball to fix my login and I was emailing you in January about it, I knew where this was heading.
I think I'm just mad about my team ponits, sorry.
-Craig
quote:Originally posted by Hawk:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I'm sensitive to the question. I've got 136 emails in my inbox that all think the same way you do. However, I wanted to clarify that development is one part of our business. Creative is another part. Live events is a different part. All of those units work together -- but Creative + Live Event divisions didn't cause the problems you felt over the last 7 days.
If I'm completely honest with all of you -- I'd say that it had a lot to do with testing but also a lot to do with requirements. When we purchased the business we did not receive extensive requirements documentation (development blueprints so to speak) of all the nuances of this game.
There were a lot of preventable issues -- and we can talk about all the "why" but I'd rather focus on "rectify" and ensure we get it right.
I always tell me kids "you can't change the past - all you can do is learn from it and make better choices". I'm hopeful we will do that without forgetting what a poor first impression we made.
We feel terrible Chest. But believing that we focused too much on making it "pretty" is simply not accurate. Regarding the bolded part, Did you not receive it because you did not ask for it or did you not receive it because it did not exist? [/QUOTE]It did not exist. [/QB][/QUOTE]This is a typical cop-out that I hear from programmers in my own real life as a manager in IT. A living and breathing fully functional Stats website is plenty of functional requirements for anyone intelligent to go off of when coupled with asking questions of Greg, Tom, or any NFBC player about every nuance of the website. Which any of us would have been honored to contribute for free.
In the company i work for the programming team writes their own function requirements based on these types of conversations. To not have this communication is the fault of the programming team and no one else. Those types of programmers expecting exact requirements are referred to as "code monkeys".
Ryan, this is not a slam on you personally. When it took 6 weeks for Fanball to fix my login and I was emailing you in January about it, I knew where this was heading.
I think I'm just mad about my team ponits, sorry.
-Craig
We drove 22 miles, country around Farmington. Signs started appearing. THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED BARN IN AMERICA. Cars,tour bus,cameras;postcards sold.
No one sees the barn,
They are taking pictures of taking pictures
-Don DeLillo
@Sebadiah23, IG:sebadiah26
No one sees the barn,
They are taking pictures of taking pictures
-Don DeLillo
@Sebadiah23, IG:sebadiah26
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Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by Gekko:
with "the tech team at Fanball working around the clock", how did FAAB bidding get locked 15 minutes early at 7.45pm tonight? It was intended to start backing up 15 minutes prior - and instead it got turned off momentarily.
Another oversight -- and these are the kinds of things we have to ensure don't continue to happen.
with "the tech team at Fanball working around the clock", how did FAAB bidding get locked 15 minutes early at 7.45pm tonight? It was intended to start backing up 15 minutes prior - and instead it got turned off momentarily.
Another oversight -- and these are the kinds of things we have to ensure don't continue to happen.
I Apologize
Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Ryan, We trust Greg, Tom, Geoff and the NFBC gang.
Why should we trust you and Fanball?
As of now, the trust is sparce. We know what the NFBC staff is doing, what are YOU doing to regain that trust?
What, personally, have you done during the last week to assist with the problems? I'm not asking you to trust me. Why would you?
You paid money to play in a contest and we failed to live up to your expectations. Until that changes -- no reason to trust us or me.
All we can do is continue to push to meet everyone's expectations and that is what we are all going to keep doing. [/QUOTE]If we can't trust the face of Fanball, how can we, as a group, trust Fanball?
quote:Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Ryan, We trust Greg, Tom, Geoff and the NFBC gang.
Why should we trust you and Fanball?
As of now, the trust is sparce. We know what the NFBC staff is doing, what are YOU doing to regain that trust?
What, personally, have you done during the last week to assist with the problems? I'm not asking you to trust me. Why would you?
You paid money to play in a contest and we failed to live up to your expectations. Until that changes -- no reason to trust us or me.
All we can do is continue to push to meet everyone's expectations and that is what we are all going to keep doing. [/QUOTE]If we can't trust the face of Fanball, how can we, as a group, trust Fanball?
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
-
Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by Sebadiah23:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by Hawk:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I'm sensitive to the question. I've got 136 emails in my inbox that all think the same way you do. However, I wanted to clarify that development is one part of our business. Creative is another part. Live events is a different part. All of those units work together -- but Creative + Live Event divisions didn't cause the problems you felt over the last 7 days.
If I'm completely honest with all of you -- I'd say that it had a lot to do with testing but also a lot to do with requirements. When we purchased the business we did not receive extensive requirements documentation (development blueprints so to speak) of all the nuances of this game.
There were a lot of preventable issues -- and we can talk about all the "why" but I'd rather focus on "rectify" and ensure we get it right.
I always tell me kids "you can't change the past - all you can do is learn from it and make better choices". I'm hopeful we will do that without forgetting what a poor first impression we made.
We feel terrible Chest. But believing that we focused too much on making it "pretty" is simply not accurate. Regarding the bolded part, Did you not receive it because you did not ask for it or did you not receive it because it did not exist? [/QUOTE]It did not exist. [/QUOTE]This is a typical cop-out that I hear from programmers in my own real life as a manager in IT. A living and breathing fully functional Stats website is plenty of functional requirements for anyone intelligent to go off of when coupled with asking questions of Greg, Tom, or any NFBC player about every nuance of the website. Which any of us would have been honored to contribute for free.
In the company i work for the programming team writes their own function requirements based on these types of conversations. To not have this communication is the fault of the programming team and no one else. Those types of programmers expecting exact requirements are referred to as "code monkeys".
Ryan, this is not a slam on you personally. When it took 6 weeks for Fanball to fix my login and I was emailing you in January about it, I knew where this was heading.
I think I'm just mad about my team ponits, sorry.
-Craig [/QB][/QUOTE]Hey Craig -- no reason to apologize. I'm just as mad as you are and I appreciate your insight. Lots of blame to move around here but John and I will accept it and keep pushing to make it better. That's all we can do at this point - regardless of what we had or didn't have to start this build.
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by Hawk:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
I'm sensitive to the question. I've got 136 emails in my inbox that all think the same way you do. However, I wanted to clarify that development is one part of our business. Creative is another part. Live events is a different part. All of those units work together -- but Creative + Live Event divisions didn't cause the problems you felt over the last 7 days.
If I'm completely honest with all of you -- I'd say that it had a lot to do with testing but also a lot to do with requirements. When we purchased the business we did not receive extensive requirements documentation (development blueprints so to speak) of all the nuances of this game.
There were a lot of preventable issues -- and we can talk about all the "why" but I'd rather focus on "rectify" and ensure we get it right.
I always tell me kids "you can't change the past - all you can do is learn from it and make better choices". I'm hopeful we will do that without forgetting what a poor first impression we made.
We feel terrible Chest. But believing that we focused too much on making it "pretty" is simply not accurate. Regarding the bolded part, Did you not receive it because you did not ask for it or did you not receive it because it did not exist? [/QUOTE]It did not exist. [/QUOTE]This is a typical cop-out that I hear from programmers in my own real life as a manager in IT. A living and breathing fully functional Stats website is plenty of functional requirements for anyone intelligent to go off of when coupled with asking questions of Greg, Tom, or any NFBC player about every nuance of the website. Which any of us would have been honored to contribute for free.
In the company i work for the programming team writes their own function requirements based on these types of conversations. To not have this communication is the fault of the programming team and no one else. Those types of programmers expecting exact requirements are referred to as "code monkeys".
Ryan, this is not a slam on you personally. When it took 6 weeks for Fanball to fix my login and I was emailing you in January about it, I knew where this was heading.
I think I'm just mad about my team ponits, sorry.
-Craig [/QB][/QUOTE]Hey Craig -- no reason to apologize. I'm just as mad as you are and I appreciate your insight. Lots of blame to move around here but John and I will accept it and keep pushing to make it better. That's all we can do at this point - regardless of what we had or didn't have to start this build.
-
Ryan E. Houston
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Ryan, We trust Greg, Tom, Geoff and the NFBC gang.
Why should we trust you and Fanball?
As of now, the trust is sparce. We know what the NFBC staff is doing, what are YOU doing to regain that trust?
What, personally, have you done during the last week to assist with the problems? I'm not asking you to trust me. Why would you?
You paid money to play in a contest and we failed to live up to your expectations. Until that changes -- no reason to trust us or me.
All we can do is continue to push to meet everyone's expectations and that is what we are all going to keep doing. [/QUOTE]If we can't trust the face of Fanball, how can we, as a group, trust Fanball? [/QUOTE]Let me ask a rhetorical question:
Given what you've been through in the last 8 days -- how can you trust me or Fanball?
In regards to "face of this franchise" -- I'm one of a very large team of Fanball employees and we are all working to earn your trust.
That's all I can say about that at this point.
quote:Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:
Ryan, We trust Greg, Tom, Geoff and the NFBC gang.
Why should we trust you and Fanball?
As of now, the trust is sparce. We know what the NFBC staff is doing, what are YOU doing to regain that trust?
What, personally, have you done during the last week to assist with the problems? I'm not asking you to trust me. Why would you?
You paid money to play in a contest and we failed to live up to your expectations. Until that changes -- no reason to trust us or me.
All we can do is continue to push to meet everyone's expectations and that is what we are all going to keep doing. [/QUOTE]If we can't trust the face of Fanball, how can we, as a group, trust Fanball? [/QUOTE]Let me ask a rhetorical question:
Given what you've been through in the last 8 days -- how can you trust me or Fanball?
In regards to "face of this franchise" -- I'm one of a very large team of Fanball employees and we are all working to earn your trust.
That's all I can say about that at this point.
I Apologize
Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
Another oversight AFTER last sunday and mondays debacle, this is really inexcusable. a whole week to test EVERYTHING FOR A PERFECT RUN TONIGHT.
i just can't believe the level of trust, respect, and enjoyment the programming group at fanball has sucked out of the NFBC this year.
Another oversight AFTER last sunday and mondays debacle, this is really inexcusable. a whole week to test EVERYTHING FOR A PERFECT RUN TONIGHT.
i just can't believe the level of trust, respect, and enjoyment the programming group at fanball has sucked out of the NFBC this year.
I Apologize
At the least, it seems you are at least getting the ponit.
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
I Apologize
Originally posted by Ryan E. Houston:
quote:Originally posted by Gekko:
with "the tech team at Fanball working around the clock", how did FAAB bidding get locked 15 minutes early at 7.45pm tonight? It was intended to start backing up 15 minutes prior - and instead it got turned off momentarily.
Another oversight -- and these are the kinds of things we have to ensure don't continue to happen. [/QUOTE]Very understandable ponit - you never got the blueprint!
quote:Originally posted by Gekko:
with "the tech team at Fanball working around the clock", how did FAAB bidding get locked 15 minutes early at 7.45pm tonight? It was intended to start backing up 15 minutes prior - and instead it got turned off momentarily.
Another oversight -- and these are the kinds of things we have to ensure don't continue to happen. [/QUOTE]Very understandable ponit - you never got the blueprint!
I Apologize
My 2 cents. Yeah. last Sunday/Monday was a total disaster. hard to believe an event of this scale was so unprepaired to run these leagues starting opening weekend.
That said, you guys have sure shifted gears and the site has improved a whole lot in the past week. Not sure what happened at 7:45 tonight, but given the events of last Sunday, I made sure my bids were done, saved, and printed by 6PM.
I love the live scoring. I could quibble over the order of the stats, but that's not an issue. Everybody has a different order they'd like to see stats in. The quickness of calling up other team's rosters, switching between week/year stats is great. Oh, and for you guys who don't need the "daily Points"...I don't see the reason for even bringing it up, just don't use it.
If this site moves ahead this coming week as well as it did this week, we'll be getting real close to a very nice, well functioning site. Yeah, it all should have been that way last week, but it wasn't. Let's move on and get this thing working right!
The one thing that needs to be a major priority now, 2 free agent periods into the season is...WE NEED TO SEE EVERYBODY'S FAAB SOON!!
Keep tweeking guys. I hope we're done with the mishaps, and we see marked improvement daily with the site.
That said, you guys have sure shifted gears and the site has improved a whole lot in the past week. Not sure what happened at 7:45 tonight, but given the events of last Sunday, I made sure my bids were done, saved, and printed by 6PM.
I love the live scoring. I could quibble over the order of the stats, but that's not an issue. Everybody has a different order they'd like to see stats in. The quickness of calling up other team's rosters, switching between week/year stats is great. Oh, and for you guys who don't need the "daily Points"...I don't see the reason for even bringing it up, just don't use it.
If this site moves ahead this coming week as well as it did this week, we'll be getting real close to a very nice, well functioning site. Yeah, it all should have been that way last week, but it wasn't. Let's move on and get this thing working right!
The one thing that needs to be a major priority now, 2 free agent periods into the season is...WE NEED TO SEE EVERYBODY'S FAAB SOON!!
Keep tweeking guys. I hope we're done with the mishaps, and we see marked improvement daily with the site.
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sportsbettingman
- Posts: 3038
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 6:00 pm
- Contact:
I Apologize
It sounds as if your tech will be a permanent part of the Fanball staff and will be able to fine tune/adjust how things run and are delivered all season long? (or are they more on a rental when needed basis) When everything is perfected, I guess they will be downsized as opposed to sitting at a desk twiddling their thumbs. I assume they will have their share of work to do here and also getting prepared for the football launch as well as any other tweaks here and the addition of other fantasy sports. I'm just wondering if they will be able to quickly alter/tweak things until we have a kick ass product. If that's the case, then there is a tiny bit of sunlight emerging from the end of the tunnel.
Side note...laying odds on a swimming pool chicken fight between Eddie (base) and Childs (top) VS. KOQ (base) and KJ (top) would be pretty hard!
Side note...laying odds on a swimming pool chicken fight between Eddie (base) and Childs (top) VS. KOQ (base) and KJ (top) would be pretty hard!
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
~Albert Einstein
~Albert Einstein
I Apologize
Originally posted by RichV:
The one thing that needs to be a major priority now, 2 free agent periods into the season is...WE NEED TO SEE EVERYBODY'S FAAB SOON!!
That's available now under Transactions - Team Finances.
The one thing that needs to be a major priority now, 2 free agent periods into the season is...WE NEED TO SEE EVERYBODY'S FAAB SOON!!
That's available now under Transactions - Team Finances.
My NFBC Blog (updated 8-June)
http://slocumbifyagotem.wordpress.com/
http://slocumbifyagotem.wordpress.com/