Hi Roger, good questions.  And yes, I was in that photo fromthe preview yesterday. 😎 They use some of my photos but also have students that take photos for them so they tend to use those a bit more as I think they pay them.  

And yes it was a VERY rough game.  

Rankings are based on record but usually have a strength of schedule (SOS) factor involved too.

Carthage has played a tougher schedule than we have so that goes a long way to determine ranking in most of these various sites.  Here are a few different ones:

https://masseyratings.com/cmvol/ncaa-d3/ratings

https://frogjumpvolleyball.com/2024/04/07/last-t100-for-2024-regular-season/

https://insidehitter.com/2024/04/07/updated-ranking-4-8/

https://www.avca.org/polls-awards/polls/?_divisions=division-iii-men

The Frog Jump site does some interesting analysis.  

Here's the summary of where we are:

1) We finished the regular season on Sunday (18-6; best record in program history)

2) We are the #3 seed in the 4-team conference tourney (the 5th/6th place teams to not participate)

3) We play at Carthage again on Wednesday.  If we lose the season is over.  If we win we play again Saturday.

4) If we win both then we go to the 16-team national championship bracket.  

On the Augie website preview* of yesterday's game with Carthage (a rough day at the office from what I saw) it says the no.7 Firebirds were 16-5 for the season, whilst Augie were 18-5.  Given this implies the Vikings are having a better season, why is it Carthage are the ranked team?  I presume there's some clever algorithm in the background that only Steve, John and Kevin would understand.

* I noted that although the photo on the website had some volleyball players in the foreground, the composition was clearly focused on the handsome gentleman in the bleachers with his camera...

Unfortunately I couldn't watch the game as the link from the website went to YouTube but not the game. I just had to watch Live Score and curse Aiden Bolan in the second set at all his attack errors at set point.

Thanks for watching Steve.

Below is a link to a second set play that Max had.  Essentially he played it off his shoulder, it hit the big ceiling scoreboard, stayed on our side and our MB platform set the ball to our RS for a kill.   Whatever it takes.  😎

https://www.youtube.com/live/DFaPPp96lTU?si=OJMBID84dLcywx0g&t=2030

For those that don't follow the Augie team website:

In Thursday Augie won their 10th game in a row to go 13-1 on the season. Their previous highest number of wins in a season was 12 and there's 10 games to go.

Tonight at 9 PM (I think) they play their first Conference game - I'm guessing this is going to be more of a test.

Thanks Allan for your explanation. I didn't realise it was below the entry of the recruitings.

Recruiting Tie

We had the scenario happen in TMVL this week where two teams finished with the same RP Bid:

You can see that it led to some questions.

Tiebreaker

In TMVL we use this tiebreaker for these types of ties (see recruiting page and entry tab and look down to NOTES section:

Why?

Anything that I have to deal with manually has a chance of not happening correctly (or more likely to be forgotten...by me).  So I try to automate everything I possibly can.   For this one we go with the team that is less strong in terms of results (current season).  The setup is similar to MSWL where I need to automate a winner as well.  

Rules Help

If anyone would like to help me manage the rules (this should probably go in the main set of rules) by making documentation updates, I would appreciate it. Please drop me an email if you have time to make occasional updates.

Match has just finished - I couldn't find it on YouTube livestream so watched what looked like the TMVL Viewer. I won't spoil the result but I have a question: two or possibly three players who haven't played before today came on as substitutes. Were these tactical to get a "better" server or the coach giving other players playing time?

Just caught the last few minutes of the Vikings' 3rd set.

Great diving save from Max for the 20th point - full length dive and setting up the ball beautifully for the point

Three sweeps.

I can honestly say I don't understand the game any better after watching the match but it doesn't really matter when you're cheering for one side and one player in particular.  And what a player Max is - I lost count of the amount of times I heard the commentators say "...and that's a great dig by Sellers".  Pumping up the rest of the team is clearly a speciality too!

It was also a lot of fun to play Where's Wally/Waldo and try and spot where Al had got to to get the best camera angles.  If you could wear a red and white striped jumper next time it would make my day...😎

GREAT observations Steve and thank you for watching!  

That is awesome that Jacob was asking questions and had some interest.  YES, the Chihuahuas have a great logo!  😎

And yes, Max does wear the Viking helmet in the Pre-match "ceremony" to get the team fired up.  Like this from yesterday:

YES, you found all of us in the bleachers too Steve.  I move around a lot but Amy (yellow sweatshirt) and Kelsey are here:

YES, our Saturday opponent was picked to finish 4th in their conference.  I thought we had a 50/50 chance and our team won in 3 sets. The teams below them in their conference that play:

- We play the 5th, MSOE, next Saturday

- the 7th Illinois Tech in a few weeks

- the 8th was Concordia Chicago that we beat on Thursday

- the 9th we play in Green Bay in 2 weeks

- the 10th we play on Thursday

- the 12th we play later in the season

So if "whomever" said yesterday's team was the 4th best that means if we continue to play well we will have some success.  

Max - Passing.  Yes, Max had a good game.  The announcers are college kids who were new to volleyball (I watched a little while I categorized/compiled my 2500 photos from the game today).  So they did things like called passes digs and didn't understand a lot, but they were excited to do it.  The announcer kept calling it a "Roooof" when Augustana made a big block.

YES - Aidan Bolan is a great server!  He does a jump topspin serve.   I saw the "Aces" thread Roger has and YES it is on Max and my list to add a serving "tactic" tweak at some point.  More over the next year on that.  

Basically a power serve does this:

- It gets you more aces

- It ALSO gets you more service errors

- It puts the opponent in TOUGH situations to make a good pass/set/attack (and this is the common, effective outcome)

YES, you have the right analysis on the MB/L swap in match.  Liberos can't serve in college for NCAA Div 1, 2, or 3. (they can serve in NAIA).  For the women's game liberos CAN serve at all levels.  It makes no sense.  We play an NAIA team in 3 matches I think, so hoping Max can serve then in a couple of them.

SUBS - YES you are correct.  In TMVL we did not set it up for subs (just the MB/L swap which is not officially a sub).  Subs "could be" a future enhancement but it would take a lot of thought.

Essentially Augustana (and many teams; 30%?) play 2 setters.  So the sub scenario is that when a setter would move to the front row, a RS comes in for them.  At the same time when a RS moves to back row, a S comes in for them.  I think it was Degnan/Schaefer as Steve notes and then the RS were McNelis and Carlson.  

This means the Setter (S) is always in the back row and can set 3 players in the front row: OH, MB, RS.  In TMVL when the setter is in the front row he can only set the OH and MB.  I think the strategy here is that we want the Setters in the back row (and they can only serve as back row players) which means the RS players in this scenario don't serve.  

The stats from Saturday show you that the 2 setter approach yielded (in this case) an equal number of assists for both setters. Also Max had 4 as the Libero.

YES, I try to get into different spots each match to get some different angles and backgrounds.  I have 2 cameras and 3 lenses I use and I move around a bit...

I've just watched the game against  Concordia Wisconsin Falcons: a few points I picked up.

The Falcons were stronger than Augie's previous opponents - it didn't matter, the Vikings were hot.

Max had some great defensive plays, one great dig was from a tough serve that Max controlled leading to winning the point and the second set. Aiden Bolen's serves - wow!

Substitutions: I noticed two patterns, the first is like TMVL. Augie's MBs were (I believe) Ty Heater and Ben Schultz. Liberos don't serve here so when Heater served Max was off court. When Augie lost the point Max replaced Heater. Over the next service changes Max moves from I to VI to V. When he's to move to IV he goes off, Heater comes back on and Schultz serves. Max replaces Schultz when his serve results in a losing point.

The other was a double substitution. Augie have 2 setters, Degnan and Schaefer.  It seemed to me that Degnan and Carlson always came on together to replace Schaefer and possibly Moreano. Degnan always came on in the #1 spot to serve immediately. I'm guessing he replaced Moreano (a poor server?) He didn't replace Schaefer as he served. I never really noticed when Schaefer and presumably Moreano came on but it didn't seem to be to serve.

I enjoyed playing "Where's Al" who I spotted in 4 positions and there would be at least one more out of camera shot.

If you haven't watched a game and still don't get it, I'd recommend it. Augie's next game is Thursday 25th January. I believecthey are streamed live but this could be late for UK viewers. The games are on YouTube the day after anyway.

I'd just finished watching the Vikings' game on YouTube when my lad came into the room. Jacob asked why I was watching basketball and, after I corrected him, he asked if my team won. I said Max plays for the team and showed him TMVL again explaining that Max has the Scarecrows and his dad has Quincy, showing the logos. Jacob said, "I bet that's Max" pointing at the player wearing the helmet. I couldn't see Max so moved back on YouTube to where the teams exchanged handshakes and spotted Al, Amy and Kelsey. I showed Jacob their photos for confirmation and he said "I like the Chihuahuas the best."

I'd go with that idea, reckon the Panthers would take it easily. 😉 

Seeing as how John and Steve "matched up" in a D+ v. D+ event this past weekend...I'm (not seriously, but hear me out) thinking of a new cup.

In high school me and I guess some weird friends would play giveaway chess at lunch.  You won by LOSING all your pieces.  If the opponent was able to take a chess piece they had to.

Fast forward 40 years to Columbia - Sheboygan...D+ v. D+.  Sure John won the match, but SORRY JOHN you lost the point total.

Do we need a new comp where you advance by losing?  Hey, my team is worse than yours?  Tell me I'm crazy...  😎

Seems very unbalanced with 8 very strong teams (historically or currently) on the right hand side : Quincy, St Charles, Baton Rouge, Cincinnati, New Orleans, San Jose, Nashville and Pekin.

Happy New Year to All!  I wish you all the best in 2024. If you need support or someone to lean on please feel free to reach out to me.  I have some things to work through this year too and am hoping to make progress.  None of us go through life undefeated...

Hopefully we will see Micki back soon.  Maybe we need a letter writing campaign.  Would that help Phil?

Oh and thanks for starting the naked mascot thing Phil.  That call you are about to receive is from TMVL Human Resources...

Onto more important matters...I like to remind my friends who to focus on.

Below are your top T-7's for this coming week, also known as your Overlords...

#1 Portland - Paul has built a juggernaut.  

#2 Pekin - Rockin' Roger is off to a slow start, but look out!

#3 Cinci - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...

#4 Nashville - Welcome to the SEC...where all y'all are 3 games behind the Pandas in conference play

#5 Columbia - As they say, Steve Turner does not rebuild, he reloads.  Another strong team and start for Los Crazies

Let me just say that I regret ever breaching this topic. It was not worth the 5 RP's it garnered. Please let it rest in peace.

we don´t want to imagine it at all................

and we miss her hats!

On the subject of nude mascots, our Sasquatch is only shown from the chest up, so you'll have to use your imagination. What kind of pants (trousers) is he wearing, if he's wearing any at all?

Perhaps she could return some time in the future. I miss her barbs.

Merry Christmas everybody.

...the banana's wardrobe is appealing.

Merry Christmas to all, but especially Steve Turner. Hang in there! Some of us don't have a CP/XP plan to lose! 🤪

Glad you weren't injured. Micki still talks about Steve as her favorite part of TMVL.

A lot of hyphens in that subject.

Sorry to hear about Steve's car situation and I'm glad he is okay.

Will coaches take advantage of Steve this weekend?

In the meantime here are your top 5 teams for effective T-7.  Look at that BIG-8...Q-City is nowhere to be found (sigh)...

Last Friday my car was written off in an accident. I'm ok as it wasn't a hard hit but they're scrapping the car as too old to economically repair. We have a free hire car until a week after the insurance pays up. Unfortunately that looks like being very soon as the other party's insurance has agreed the price. We aren't rich and would like a nice car so my wife has putbinbfor extra hours to help pay a credit agreement. We have no idea what our budget is or if this car goes back during my holiday. Nightmare at the moment.

Also Monday my phone looked like it was not going to charge so I prepared  a spare  phone to transfer essential apps. Then it was suddenly ok. Then last night as it was going flat I put the charger in only to find it wouldn't go in. So a couple of things I hadn't transferred were lost including my CP/XP plan. Yes I can redo them but Christmas is around the corner and spare time is at a premium.

So take advantage this weekend as I don't know how many games I need certain players to play.

And the Manatees are just showing off

It must be noted the vast majority of mascots in this league aren't wearing nothing at all, including a twister, and a mushroom, and a banana.

Well, fair, the banana is arguably wearing gloves, but the mushroom is fighting bare-knuckle.

It appears the PAC 8 mascots are all sans vestments.  It's a West Coast nudie vibe thing, apparently.  At least the chihuahua is wearing his collar.  Then again, it appears the Big East is similarly non-clothed.  Perhaps Phil should petition to move to the well-dressed Big 8 (St. C, Quincy, Portland) and request a new mascot.

Or not. Because that might open the door to conference realignment and the PAC 8 might be dissolved entirely within 2 seasons.

being all green they can still be mistaken for a Shrimp. ahhhh but they are pointless in PAC8. maybe not then.......

Maybe the chameleon is wearing pants but they're camouflaged to look like lizards legs

Or.some unscrupulous seller sold your mascot pants and claimed they were invisible 

Other mascots have clothes, why can't I? Even the manatee gets a tank top, and he's just a fat fish. Mule has un ugly Christmas sweater, hound dog has pajamas, and even Bananaman has gloves. I want PANTS!

I'd like a Cup as well please, just for you know being me 😇

Thanks for noticing Al. I await the XP Audit Cup being added to my Team Awards 🥳

During my XP audit to make sure teams used them...  

There was something I noticed this time around.  The players with the MOST XPs were:

1) Tommy Ryerson (MB Pekin) 87

2-tied) Geordi La Forge (OH T-Town) and Bill Stearn (MB San Jose) 86

...the commish has created a new "pay for no kiss of death" promotion where the commissioner agrees NOT to advertise a team's win streaks (some call it the "Al Kiss of Death") should that manager provide a donation to support web hosting costs...

Again, this idea has not been discussed...

I was trying not to break the simulator in case it was using unsigned 16-bit integers to store its data...

There's a few comments on John's bid for Klein and I mention it today but it is likely to be lost .

65535 isn't as random as it looks as it is 2^16 - 1 or FFFF in hexadecimal.

I would always prioritise XP over winning unless it was something to play for, such as the Nationals or Conference title. I realised I might have a problem with Dave Dohm so played him twice last week and had the possibility of having to play him twice this week or next week. However I was fortunate to get enough sets played and won, and checked calculations on CP and find I don't need to play him again (though he will play today against Manitowoc)

I am always interested in this part of the season, where there's a struggle between getting XP where it needs to be for max effect after the season vs needing/wanting to win. I find myself looking to play some lower skilled players more than in prior weeks to get the extra sets and bump the XPs to where they need to be. Yet I want to win, haha. To quote Al in his famed paraphrasing of me...where is my stuff!?

I'll take them off your hands if they're any good Brian 😁

Is there an equivalent of non-league sales if you don't want to retain a players services?

Thanks for the heads up Steve. If only more coaches could be open and upfront about what side they're putting out this would be a much easier game to play 😁

Columbia have a 66.7% record. If we T7 and win every Conference game and every Nationals game and lose every TMVL Shield game then we still finish with a 66.7% record 26-13

However if we T7 and win the Conference and Shield games and throw the National game against Pekin we finish with the same 26 wins but only 10 losses for 72.2%.

So, if you're listening, Roger you can take it easy in our National game and concentrate on your Conference and TMVL games.

https://x.com/skillsleveI/status/1713877987488420044?s=20

I learned some new terms , pancake and joust !!

Don't worry about the Hounds.

We're still this bad that every walk-on helps.

At the midway point of the season I'm getting concerned about a Tax Man visit for certain colleges...

Here is why the bad session for Kentucky,  distracted 

...for clarifying.  I only have access to the data for later seasons.  

Agree with you that 2000+ RPs could be reached next session.  Brehme will be dominating defences for years to come - and I can only imagine the disappointment Coaches would feel if they lose out by a few measly RPs trying to be parsimonious with a bid of only 1700 or 1800.  

As you can probably tell, I'm gutted to miss out myself but, sadly, having recruited Flores last season, a megastar OH just isn't on my shopping list this year.

The most expensive was Iker Zubizarreta of Baton Rouge, a 5* setter with max SET +2. He went for 1701 RP but this was before we settled into the current system so I don't know how much RP was about back then.

I think the record will be broken - I don't think the OH will go for 2000 RP though.

It will be more.

Way back in Season 6 the Red Pandas snapped up Sean Berryhill, MB (Max +2 Blk) for the princely sum of 1562 RPs.  He remains the most expensive player in TMVL but as a perennial feature in the Team of the Week has surely proved to be money well spent.

Which brings us to the Session 4 commits.  Huge interest in three 5* players - Sheridan S (Max Set), Brehme OH (Max +2 Atk) and Idaho MB.  Is the record about to be broken?  Brehme looks most likely (and I reckon it'll be Roy again) but even at 2000 RPs he would definitely be value for money. 

My friend Roy said:

Nashville appear to have done well, but as Steve pointed out if you recruit 5 star players instead of 3/4 you will have higher SL.

So as usual I'm just quoting my friend Roy.  I had to laugh at the "5-star is better than 3 or 4 star" implications in a Spinal Tap "these amps go to 11" sort of way.  So once again I'd like to blame my friend Roy.  😎

Thanks Steve for your explanation. It will helps me to understand volleyball and/or this game better. I've used the-libero-instead-of-the-MB before, but not with fully knowing the impact. 

Libel. I've been misquoted or misrepresented or it's been taken out of context.

I saw that Roy mentioned it but I want to know when I supposedly said something so obvious.

The nearest I can think of is that 5* players cost more to CP than 3/4*

You'll be hearing from my lawyers.

Pierre asked this after his 3-0 loss to Columbia despite a 6 point per man advantage (80% chance of a win based on Kev's post about this last season.)

Al gave a good answer about the setter/OH combinations. He neglected to mention that we were probably lucky.

We were 6 points worse because I had a weak MB and weak OH. Fortunately this didn't hurt much as the OH was next to a better ATK RS - so when the software had a choice and picks the better of the two the RS received the set more often. Also the MB didn't get many attacks and this was probably fortunate that when he was at the net there wasn't a good receive/pass.

But the biggest thing I spotted was the libero not serving in any of Mendon's games. In all three he was a better server and defender than the weaker MB. The libero is on the court all game apart from when a MB serves. The Libero can serve for one of them. If the MB serves he will also be on court when the ball comes back on your side and he might have to try and dig the ball.

If the Libero is a better server and defender than one of the MBs always play him to serve for MB. If he's weaker at both then never do this. If he's stronger at DEF but weaker at SRV then it's a judgement call. It is very unlikely he will be stronger at SRV and weaker at DEF (1* freshman L and 5* senior MB maybe) but again a judgement call.

It doesn't matter about the MB's ATK or BLK because in the server position #1 he won't be able to do either.

Last chance for recruiting this session and I've only managed to secure one player...desperate!

Mrs Sellers going to get a 5* Libero at minimum price or will Christer get his orders in? Or maybe Keeley make a last minute bid?

As of this post, we have a three-way tie on record between Pekin, Dallas & St. Charles, and they all still play each other over the last three sessions.  Will we have one team dominate and ride to victory, or will they all knock each other around and let one of the two teams lurking just a win back overtake them?  Is there a Dark Horse (or Mule) that is the favorite in the race if anyone falters?

Five Big East teams in the National Championship tournament, including three of the top four seeds.

Surely Vick's is the best of all.  I think it is a hat - it is just so big, that the picture doesn't capture it all.

It seems Phil finally has another rival  for who has the best hat job.

I laughed at Kevin's remark.

I never tinkered playing PBM Diplomacy (Well once I posted my orders). Not much tinkering cab be done with 3 or 4 units.

Even with PBEM I probably only changed my moves once or twice. But I was on the computer every night as a GM anyway so knew I'd be able to send in last minute orders.

But this online stuff is terrible lol. Though I've noticed I tinker less recently - maybe that's why Columbia is doing so badly.

I'm enjoying the posts on PBEM, good stuff.  I think we were two week sessions back in the day when I ran the original MSWL in 1989 and entered/printed everything on a Commodore 64.

Thanks John for the nice comment.  

James: 6-8 weeks a turn, that would be brutal!

Kevin: Ha!  Yes, I'm not sure Steve would have had as much tinker time...

===============================

Slight delay this week on the "Why Do I Care" segment this week, but its up now and includes this gem from Craig on the WGM Cup Final...

I imagine that as often as Steve T tweaks his orders each week, having to play by mail would either drive him crazy as he couldn't amend what he sent out last week, or else bankrupt him as he sends out Next Day Air Mail posts every day leading up to the deadline.

When I (and familiar names here) started this Play be X journey it was PBM and snail mail.  Results every 6-8 weeks.  Anticipating the arrival of the zine.  Panic at trying to catch the postman to make deadlines and early deadlines.  None of this dashing out some orders with a few minutes to spare, before results. Simpler and slower days!

A whole TMVL season takes the same time as 2 sessions would have been.

Interesting to think that play by email games are in decline, which makes sense - I think one of the reasons OLMEC has done so well is that it has a slick non-email design and keeps the manager base hooked for a long time...

Thank you Eduard for looking into it.  

On popular demand ...

Around the late 90's a guy named Rien Kooy adapted some United concepts (aging, market etc) to the game of Volleyball. Only e-mail then, no web site.
I've played a couple of matches in an experimental proto season - my data got lost though.
It didn't quite click with me, so when he started for real, I didn't continue.

So I don't know how long it lasted, but I would be very surprised if it was still running. Some quick web archeology at least showed no results.

Welcome to the game Eduard. Nice to see you have a lot of experience with other games and a Dutch volleyball game. I even didn't know we have had a pbem volleyball game in the Netherlands. 

A couple of minor upgrades to the tournaments that are wrapping up: WGM Cup & Conference Tournaments

Both now have:

• The competition name clearly shown
• A listing of the defending champs (so you know who REALLY wants to win this competition)

Conference tournaments now have logos which I "borrowed" from the internet. 

I'll integrate the features to the others eventually.

I need to bracket the TMVL Cup/Shield.  Its on the list.  

Thanks again for joining us Eduard.  I had "coach bio" section on the team page for the football/soccer leagues.  Maybe I'll have to add that.

PLEASE send me a link (or info via email) on that Dutch Volleyball game you mentioned.  I'd like to learn more.

Also, a warning for everyone.   It is very clear Eduard is a quick learner and has a strong background in these types of games so as he notes: enjoy your easy wins...for now.  😎

Also be aware that with one more win the past session the Hounds would be on a 4-match winning streak...

Another veteran incoming.

Born and raised around Düsseldorf / Germany. 
Graduated in CS and subsequently made some money from computers in several ways, currently mostly by consulting.
Initiated way too long ago with German style United games, I've pretty soon moved on to mainly EEFL style leagues.
I've even visited Ultra Cricket and - seriously - a short-lived Dutch Volleyball pbem. Yes, TMVL isn't the 1st of its kind.

After the decline and disappearance of many leagues, I've looked around what was still alive and running. 
And so - Al conscripted me to get the TMVL Bloodhounds on course.

Alas, Starkville's glory days might be in some very distant future.

So, for now, enjoy your easy wins.

Back in season 5 the Crazy Tomatoes had a 34-4 season. It was a perfect storm for me as I'd gotten the game as my team was very strong and all the new teams were added. I wasn't sure itvwoukd ever be beaten.

But halfway through the season we have New Orleans on 19-1 and Cincinnati on 18-2. Surely one of these teams will do it.

I will add this to my list this week to watch the episode you guys mentioned.  

I think I like Steve's optimism though...just a slight downward streak lately, to be corrected hopefully soon.  😎

I found the episode on YouTube, Roger, (Season 1 Episode 7 No Hiding Place) but it wasn't fog but a flooded pitch.

With thanks to Al - photo now up Steve. I think it's from the very episode you remember.

Pity the picture isn't showing. 

I used to enjoy watching but only remember one episode: Bob and Terry spend all day trying to avoid knowing the result of an England football match sonthey can watch the highlights. Only to find out the match was cancelled due to fog.

As for me and Terry - we've both suffered from poor recruitment and bad luck with those we have gotten. But we'll be back.

Photo: Steve and Al watching Dallas storm to another Conference win

Something strange is happening in Big 8.  Normally at this stage of the season Columbia and Quincy are sat at the top of the standings miles ahead of the opposition (except occasionally for St. Charles) and in pole position for yet another match up in the Conference Tourney Final.  While it's probably still unwise to bet against Bob and Terry, I mean Steve and Al, pulling it out of the bag, you've got to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for the Likely Lads.

(with apologies for those too young or too American to get the cultural reference)

What a heartfelt blog by my Darlo 'friend'.

Was a tear shed? No, no, of course not, I had something in my eye, nothing more

Rivaly in sport has many faces most often born from locale and competition for trophies/league placings. There are cities in the UK where you'll find families split supporting 2 local rival teams - Liverpool/Everton (Merseyside), Celtic/Rangers (Glasgow) etc - where the fanbase has a more divisive split you can get a bit more animosity (there's usually a religious element). But you also get great camaraderie and respect.

There's also a great sketch by stand-up comedian Jason Mansford (A mancunian) about rivalry.

I will paraphrase a great routine - talking about rivals you have the red side of Manchester and the blue side. But what about Merseyside? Well yes, if it's a battle of the great North West powers, then red and blue will stand together. Ok but what if it was East vs West? Well then we'd stand with our scouse brother vs the Mackems & Tackems of the North East. Southerners? Well yes, then men of the North we will stand together against the soft southerners. Scotland? Well obviously the English are united against the Haggis eaters. Europe? Didn't we leave them recently? Well the good old red, white and blue will stand firm against the Europeans. Our transatlantic cousins? Well there's the golf. We'll take our little white balls and see them off. The rest of the world? Ok we can do that. The universe? Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!

You more often than not have more in common with your rival team than you might like to admit. Which brings me back to Pools. In 2009 Darlington went into administration and was trying to find a buyer for the club. They decided to put on a charity match to raise funds to try and help save the club. I went along with friends and family and we decided to sit in the end usually reserved for away fans as we aren't usally allowed to sit there. As the stadium filled up we noticed a family sitting a couple of rows in front of us all wearing familiar blue and white striped tops - Pooly fans. They had come to support their local rivals put their hands in their pockets to help save the club. The tannoy mentioned that their were fans from other teams in the ground and mentioned Hartlepool. The fans waved and got a round of applause.

We still went into administration but it was a very heart-warming moment.

So when Dallas beat St Charles last weekend and stayed top of the Big 8 it reminded me of last season when with 2 sessions left to go Nashville was joint top with Baton Rouge and I suddenly thought "Can we win this?" So rivals yes, but against the powerhouses within the Big 8 I'm siding with the local boy.

Welcome again Eduard!  And a big thanks to Eduard for jumping in right away to get some orders in within a couple of hours today.  He has already mastered the "play your freshmen against us" approach.  😎

I've added a couple of website updates today:

1) Conference Tournament Bracket (I still have some work to do but its a start).

2) Added link to conference bracket from the preview page.

Good luck this week.  Please wish me good luck.  I really need it.

And best of luck!

I've just adopted the Starkville Bloodhounds (on very short notice) - so please have mercy with the new guy.
It's still time to play all freshmen against us.

I've realised that the Panthers spot in the SEC ladder is actually correct.  I'm from Australia sometimes called the land down under,  so being at the "bottom" of the world puts me looking at the ladder from a different angle and shows the Panthers at the top. Makes perfect sense 😇

Here are a couple of examples of the new preview match page I've been working on for the past 3 weeks. The first 2 weeks were mostly data gathering (like what you saw with coaching records) to help get some numbers for this and future things.  Now, I'm finally getting to the payoff part of adding stuff.  The bottom left TEAM STATS is a work in progress (still some stats to go/add).  The bottom right category (obviously) will be replaced by something else.  I have in mind some player stats from each team.

Please spot check me on numbers.  If something looks off, call it out and I'll investigate as there are/have been a lot of moving parts here...thanks.  

For the tournaments we will have a link to competition info and a bracket (as I have time to add it) as you see below for BRB-AA.  Can I say that the CCT-DAL looks like two Top-5 teams (look at all those top ranks for team stats!).

Is Rob really 3-3 at home versus Senator Mike?

Be warned, there's a Cardassian in the auction! Lot #1, MB Gul Dukat will try to take over and then ultimately destroy whatever team he is recruited onto. You are all warned! He is a false emmissary!

I see Roger is helping his fellow coaches know who they can and cannot sign at RS...what with the large Pekin RP War Chest and all...

And then I needed to post Christer's comment:

I love the words from Christer (more threat than proclamanation).  I am SO GLAD I do not have to play the Squirrels this week.  Good luck to Aires, Dr. White, and Senator Mike versus Schenectady.  You will need it.  

There seems to be a lot of recruiting interest in Right Sides at the moment, especially CJ Hawke who looks like he's going to be a cracking player.  

In the spirit of openness and transparency, I thought I'd give you a heads up that a top quality RS is number one on Pekin's shopping list and we're fairly confident of getting our man later in the season. So if you're after a great Right Side, to avoid disappointment in the future, now might not be the best time to skimp on your bidding. 😁

In case anyone's looking for a new team nickname, look no further than this Japanese sentient butter roll: https://twitter.com/mondomascots/status/1664679922495782913?s=20

I don't think luck is zero sum. For instance on June 18th Dallas will be lucky to win a set when we beat them.

To be clear Paul, Mrs. Sellers does not mean "everyone".  She is really only wishing a handful or less of teams "good luck".  I've gotten used to her sarcasm over 30 years to know what she really means...  😎

When you see "good luck everyone" it really means "good luck 'everyone'"...

Is that possible?  Isn't luck zero-sum?  If some people have good luck doesn't that mean that others must have bad luck?

Good luck to everyone! 

Yes, I have Rob. I think Al has stitched me up big time. Oh well, always next season!

For once, in any league, I'm not going to argue that I'm in the group of death... has everyone seen Group A? WOW!

Thanks Steve, John, and Jason.

I will add those to my list for next season, although with my condition the Len Nicodemo may hit a little close to home...

Thank you!  Please keep the ideas coming...and yes I know John has a very random, random name generator available if I need it.  🤠  

No Bob Sacamano, either. But I do see Tim Whatley, Jackie Chiles, and David Puddy.

We got a Crazy Joe Davola but no Len Nicodemo or Jay Riemenschneider...

I was just perusing the list of players and noticed a couple of Next Generation names, two from DS9, one original Star Yrek, two from Battlestar Galactica and a couple of so-so United managers.

I expect there's quite a few I've missed from TV I've seen.

I thought Al's clarification was triggered by my earlier question about the rules - does the 2500 cap hit before or after media and competition bonuses. The new drafting clears this up.

I was actually over the cap at season end but chose to pick up a 17th squad member through the walk on process so I didn't lose the RPs.  Starting the season with 2497 would have been nice though...

I like the new wording. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Roger unaffected by this? Even if the media bonus were added, he'd still be at 2,497 (and, therefore, just under the cap).

It seems unfair to implement it this season just for Roger. I know the bank tax in MSWL is after session 7 or 8 - perhaps we could implement the tax after session 4 or 5 or 6?

We don't want teams stockpiling RPs, but we also want to incentivise RP collection, so this would force teams to use excess RPs in the first few recruiting periods.

New wording reads clear and concise to me.  Therefore, there were clearly no lawyers involved in the scripting of this revision.

I'm no legal expert but your proposed new wording on the 2500 limit is much clearer Al.

Not quite so sure about the drafting below though - no competition finish bonuses for Pekin this year it seems! 🤣

"...Roger gets his 500 RP bonus that we all get, but we also get competition finish bonuses..."

Those are not random numbers. They are where my friend Roger starts the season on RPs.  Roger is the leader (by 400+ over Derek who is in second).  

Please take a minute to review this rules snippet:

At the start of session 1, (after receiving their 500 RP) a team with more than 2500 RP gets their total dropped to a max of 2500 RP.

I think this was John's suggestion back in the day.  John also had a CP for RP or RP for CP scheme (sort of like how you can trade X reward points from your credit card for X points for your airline) that I didn't implement so maybe it was tied to that.  I'm not saying it was a bad idea.  I think it was a good idea.  We've just never made it very close.  

Anyway, in hindsight, I need all you lawyers to help me rewrite the above.  I was monitoring it as one of my end of season tasks.  It is a little vague like, well, Roger gets his 500 RP bonus that we all get, but we also get competition finish bonuses (and maybe a media bonus if it works/worked).  So would it be better stated as:

At the start of session 1, a team with more than 2500 RPs gets their total RPs dropped to 2500 RPs.

Also, let's not fall asleep on U2 1st Division leader and tactical genius CB over there with his big RP war chest...

I've been looking at some of the team stats.

Not surprisingly Cincinnati top most of the attacking stats but what I find unbelievable is that Columbia are 2nd in Set% when I consider our Setters average at best. We did have some great attackers in Gallo (MB) and White (RS), the former way better than the 2nd placed in % and the latter very high in kills/set though only .500 overall. These two carried the Setters.

One other thing I found surprising was the digging stats. Manitowoc topped digs/set, Burlington and Albuquerque top Serve receive %.

Can I point out that you got the TMVL Cup and Shield mixed up and that Columbia also finished with a double win.

I'm getting better at working out who to vote for and where to find the results. (Just found the Shield final session under Score) so here's my round up of the final session and who could be up for consideration (Nashville) if you're going to vote:

San Jose won the National Championship final, they had already wrapped up the Pac 8 division

Cincinnati were runners up in the NC final, however the did win the TMVL Cup and had already wrapped up the Big East division.

St Charles won the Holyoke Invitational trophy. They finished the season with three 3-0 wins.

Nashville were runners up in the Holyoke and finished joint top of the SEC division.

Baton Rouge finished joint top of the SEC division.

Columbia won the TMVL Shield final

Antioch were runners up in the Shield final

Mendon were runners up in the TMVL Cup final

Quincy won both their matches and had already won the Big 8 division

Also finishing the season with a double win:

Carlsbad, Tucson, Burlington, Teutopolis, Albuquerque and Spokane (who finished 3rd in the Shield)

Thanks Steve, that's helpful. The rules are clear that the 2500 limit is after the additional 500, but I wasn't sure if it was before the final media bonus / prize money.

The TMVL Cup, National and Holyoake finals all featured teams with very close average ratings (86-89). I assume all teams played T7 in these games and it shows how close teams are. 3 points is nothing in these games where I've seen 10 point differences overcome  and I think Quincy lost a game this season with a 13 point advantage. That's 13 points per player - or something like all As vs all Bs.

Yes that is correct - although I'm not 100% sure when the 2500 RP cap is applied.

Can anyone clarify whether I am right in thinking that the following happens to our RP totals (in this order) before the start of Session 1:

1. Cost of any walk ons is subtracted

2. Any media bonus / prize money is added (but this session we don't get the standard 140 RPs)

3. End of season 500 RPs is added

4. Any balances above 2500 RPs are reduced to 2500

5. New season starts

With Quincy, Columbia, and Teutopolis all falling in the national quarterfinals, it is now guaranteed that someone will get their first-ever National Championship. Good luck to Pekin, Cincinnati, San Jose, and whatever the other team is (I can't remember).

The National Championship bracket chooses the Top 16 in this manner:

- WGM Cup AND Conference Tournament Winners

- Remaining 11-12 teams with best overall record: Win Pct, then Set Win Pct, then Points For/Against are the tiebreakers

This session we had a team (Denali) win a Conference Tournament and they should have received an automatic bid as a Top 16 team.  They did not.  The code looks like it did "some" of the analysis but in the end it did not schedule Denali in the National Championship bracket as it should have.  So I've done a manual update.  Here's what changed since an hour or two ago:

Alton was a #16 National Championship Seed.  They move to the #1 Holyoke Seed.

St. Charles was a #1 Holyoke Seed.  They move to the #2 Holyoke Seed.

Denali was a #2 Holyoke Seed.  They move to the #15 National Championship Seed.  The Conference Tournament win over Tucson means they get the automatic bid to join the field in the National Championship. However, their 12-12 record is the worst of the 16 teams, hence the #16 seed.  

There may be a danger of reducing TMVL to the level of a wargame....

Does this get into the realm of BRBs for this game? I'd be in favor of something like that. 

Jason suggested a "Fan Intimidation" element

Proposal:

1) Each team gets two "special" home games each season where they will have a MASSIVE fan base that impacts the match.

2) Currently for home court the only difference is that the home team gets +1 for each player's SL in ATK, BLK, and DEF.  This addition would allow the home team to get the added benefit of their massive crowd harrassing the away team when they serve.  So the away team's players would all get a -1 for their SRV SL in the match.

3) Each team gets to type in a text box to "name" their special home match night.  Such as: Senior Day, Mrs. Sellers Day, Green out, Kiss of Death Night, Beat My Brother, etc…

4) Obviously, we'd probably need some code so that no team could use this against Quincy because that would be unfair.  😎

5) #4 is probably a joke.  But seriously I like the idea of selectively using it so the away team will feel like a victim (or I will remind them they are) and get vengeance later.  🤓

We will talk about this one a bit more though before moving forward to potentially add in a future season.   I've added it in to my task list as a future idea.  

Al, your post about Mrs. Sellers's imposing presence at Max's match gave me an idea. What if we coded "fan intimidation" into the game? Home court advantage is one thing -- being comfortable in your surroundings, such as the light, the temperature, and the overall feel of the gym, etc. -- but maybe a coach could spend RP or CP to have a loud fan really knock the opponent off their game and earn an extra point or two per set. I'm definitely not being facetious here.

...to make the family play Monopoly just because they interrupted your volleyball watching Steve 😉

Thank you Steve for watching the matches this weekend! As for the ceiling question, if you dig a ball and it hits the ceiling and lands on the other side, it is the attacking side's point. That has happened to me a lot about it recently.

I saw a bit of this game, part way through second set (when I saw the email) to part way through the third (Monopoly with family). Some very good defence on both sides with long rallies and Augustana played better than yesterday. And I noticed they did swap ends between sets.

One thing I did forget to mention: the announcer said that normally the Augie support is easily the loudest (in the conference?).

Also I was surprised that the teams didn't swap ends between sets but having just thought about it, the subs and coaching staff would also have to swap unlike in American Football where they are on opposite sidelines.

Thanks for watching the match Steve!

Ha! Yes, Mrs. Sellers said she could not say "Go Vikings" during the match.

Also, when a North Park server clearly stepped on the line when serving (line judge did not see it/call it) that player became a target for Mrs. Sellers wrath.  Every time he came up to serve Mrs. Sellers was yelling:

"HE'S A FOOT FAULTER!!  WATCH HIS FEET!!"

That server missed a lot of serves after that.  Everyone knows Mrs. Sellers is good for 2 points a set when she's in the building.  😎

You are right on with the serving Steve.  North Park was effective with their serves and I believe had a bunch of aces (9 aces, 10 errors).  Our serving wasn't too bad for us, but 0 aces and 7 errors makes a difference showing North Park was way better.

The other thing about their serve was that when we passed the ball we often made our setter chase it (so like a 1 or 2 pass) and then its difficult to put a hitter in a good spot to attack for a kill.  That was a key challenge along with the fact that North Park played GREAT defense.  When we had great attacks they were able to dig almost everything.  No free points for Augie.

The ceiling plays an issue in these smaller gyms.  That happened a lot.  The home team always knows about it (home court advantage) and knows how to play it off the ceiling.  For us, I think we didn't always spot it.

For your Scenario on if we hit the ball, it hits the ceiling, and goes over the net in bounds...what happens?

That's considered out of bounds (ceiling can't 'help' the ball) and the other team gets the point. 

If you hit the ceiling on your side and the ball stays on your side to continue getting your 3 contacts, then that's fine.

This is a team we played a 5-setter against last season.  They played much better than we did.'

Thanks again for watching Steve!

I watched all this game and so a few comments.

1. Excellent video feed though the camera could do with zooming out a little to show both baselines, which themselves were hard to see until I spotted the back(?) judge(?).

2. Good commentary and not too unbiased - confusing at first as both teams were Vikings.

3. North Park's serves were awesome in the first two sets and Augie just couldn't handle them - they just didn't seem ready. Augie also served too many errors.

4. Augie blocked pretty well it seemed to me.

5. I don't know if it was poor setting or bad timing by the attackers but a lot of Augie attacks had the player getting under the ball too much and not being able to get his hand over the ball so hit the ball too long, or hitting too low into the net.

6. Augie never got going, the 3rd set was close, and I was hopeful, mainly due to poor North Park serving. Augie got a run of four points in that set but that was the only time, often lucky to get consecutive points.

7. The ball hit the ceiling at least three times with that causing the team to lose the point  due to timing. These were all on the same side of the net as receiving/digging team. What happens if a player hits the ball so hard that it hits the ceiling, goes over the net and in?

I'm putting out a request for everyone to take a vacation from recruiting in the next couple of weeks. Antioch is low on RP funds, but we still have a couple of areas of need. If folks can take a break for a few weeks, and then, when I've gotten a few cheap recruits, you can all pick back up. Sound like a good plan? Yeah? cool.

I better get my orders done otherwise I won't have time to tweak them with family down for the weekend.

Four matches this week and the last one is against my son in a tournament in which I am suprised to still be playing.

We play Dallas away in both the Conference and WGM next up. Quincy play Ames at home in both competitions. 

The winners of the WGM games (Ames and Dallas based on coaches' pessimism) play each other in the next round.

Per Steve's suggestion I've added the player rating at the end of the player's page.  So if you go to your team page and click on a player name you'll get to something like this where Christer's Libero was a PERFECT (even the Russian judge loved him) 10.0.

You might notice that Christer rested his top Libero this session...so he'll be even better for the rest of the season!

And then there's our poor Rabid Biting Mules...here's a typical player rating thing for us...

We are lucky if we get a rating in the 4's...

What Steve didn't say was that one of those teams that spent all their CP on fitness was Al's Quincy. Although neither of the other Sellers had the same tactic.

The one to watch in the Big East Cincinnati raised the fitness of their senior players.

My own tactic is to rest my freshmen in the first session of the season, bringing all their skills up to a slightly more competitive level. This also means the T-7 are all out for the first session hoping to bag some points early doors. Obviously with 4 OHs and 4 MBs in a 3 match session you can rotate 3 of them to rest the 4th.

So that's my fitness tactic for now. Doesn't cost any CP. Although I see the benefit of spending CP the Freshman's fitness levels as it costs less.

Looking at the blog post of Steve, I was curious how every team has focused on the fit +1. 

Looking at all the teams there is a range of 0 until 12 players with +1. 
The most teams have got 2 players with +1 (6 teams), 3 players with +1 (4 teams) en 4 players with +1 (5 teams). 
The average amount of players with +1 after 1 session is 5.1 players with 19 teams below average (I've counted 5 players also as below average) and 13 teams above average. 

Some interesting tactics out there in the first session. I haven't looked at all the teams but have spotted two that used all their CP on Fit and nothing on skills. One of them has their T7 all Fit +1, the other only 5 of them. As for Columbia, I could have gotten T7 to Fit +1 but decided I wanted to get my best but weak Setter's SET skill up as well as the player's Fit.

I hope I can do better with my recruiting this year now that I am starting to understand it better.

We're ready to get Season 8 underway! Antioch is angling to make this season the first season where we hook a trophy in one of the competitions. Unlike the mighty salmon though, we are not the greatest at swimming upstream. 

i only spotted the three better call saul characters, Howard Hamlin, Mike Ehrmantraut and Nacho Varga. so now we need to look for others!

Just spotted Biggs Darklighter and Jek Porkins in the first Recruitment draft.

Nice little nod to two Star Wars characters who both died flying X-Wings on the attack on the first death star

I am also working on it....

 Not this season but soon my friends, soon. Keep the faith

No it's not.

Sorry Roger, we're fighting a losing battle.

...the Big 8 to the Big 3?  Whilst Columbia, Quincy and St. Charles sweep all before them - Ames, Arlington, Dallas, Pekin and Portland have a combined trophy score of zero. Is this the season one of us finally breaks through?

Micki kicked my butt in our final match, and that meant that we were part of a four-way tie for first in the PAC 8! 

I like spoilers, it saves time, and it's always nice to be spoilt occasionally

...you're not (doing it right).

I recommend stopping posting spoliers.

It is beyond you.

Put the keyboard down and just stick to buttering up the Olmec Gods and delivering Kiss of Death quips as these are two areas you excel in.

Rolls eyes

Congratulations to James Tucker on winning the BIG EAST!

Oh and I like this SEC vs. BIG 8 rivalry between Senator Halpin and Olmec Steve!  😎

You can't shout spoiler then congratulate those involved in the same subject heading lol :)

It would mean reading the word spoiler then immediately averting your eyes.

Only my eyes roll that fast

In a TMVL first, we have a 4-way tie for conference champions.

Santa Clara, Tucson, San Jose, and Albuquerque (I've been to 2 of these cities; its not a competition) all finish at 8-6 and will each a conference co-champions title!

WOW!

I think with the National Champions, the WGM champion, 2 of the top 3 NET/ELO/Overall standing as well as 1st and two 2nd= in the non conference BIG 8 has a food claim for the best conference.

Demonstrating why the SEC is the best TMVL conference! 

Why, Oh Why on this last weekend of the season do I have to face the two youngsters (Micki and Max) that I root for when we are not playing against one another?

Muttley was my favourite character and I think I did want Dick Dastardly to win at least once.

I quite liked the Ant Hill Mob.

The Slag brothers Rock and Gravel drove the Boulder Mobile and they were the inspiration for Captain Caveman

I believe their names were and I'm happy to be corrected but Captain Caveman and Son ring a bell.

Both Colin and Steve are spot on - Dick Dastardly said 'drat and double drat' in Whacky Races.

So, for those who remember Whacky Races....who was your favourite?

Mine were the cavemen...soz, can't remember their actual names but I'm sure you know who I mean :)

Aye, I’ve done something similar myself this season. Too late to fix it now and gives me a challenge next season.

Without googling I'd say Dick Dastardly.

I did the same thing with my freshman right-side.  Too late I realised there weren't enough sessions to fill all the slots I wanted.

It's a fine balance between coaching players and Fit. I decided not to coach my junior OH and save the CP for Fit. Next season he'll be my 3rd OH anyway and was never going to be a superstar.

Firstly, name the reference in my subject ;)

Secondly, a bit late in the day now but just remember for next season to have at least a loose idea of what you need to do to max out your budding stars of tomorrow with CP use.

I've royally cocked mine up.

All I did, as far as planning its use, was think back to last season where I had CP to burn and found myself trying to find where to spend them in the last couple of sessions.....so based on that, I decided to burn a load of CP on FIT this season and as a result I won't max out some of my star players.

Imbecile.

A friend of mine was telling me how he had fallen out with a work colleague at Tesco while were chatting over a pint in the pub. One of the local hard men overheard us and asks my friend who the guy at work is and when the name is revealed the goon says he knows him too and he would sort him out for a pound. A pound? my friend asks. Aye, says big Arty, I normally charge more but seeing as I don't like him I'll do it for a pound. My friend hands over the pound and I go up the road.

Turns out big Arty did sort the guy out. He turned up at his place of work and throttled the poor guy. He then saw two folk watching and to avoid any witnesses he throttles them too.

I only know this information from what I read in the local newspaper which had the headline

BIG ARTY CHOKES 3 FOR A POUND IN TESCO

Beware of lumberjacks, they swing in all directions....  

Tomatoes can be considered a fruit and a vegetable - we're crazy that way.

Tomatoes don't hunt but just hang around waiting for the time to be ripe.

A Panther is actually a jaguar or leopard

The Panther is a stealthy hunter

Panthers are incredibly quick and strong

There is such a thing as toad in a hole in the US of A but that is just an egg fried in a slice of bread/toast that has a hole in it.

I bet that gets the Americans googling.

Hole in the head I don't need

Hole in the toad is the wrong way round

Hole in One in Golf is Good

Hole in the ground can be good and bad

Hole in the bucket is not good

As I approached 65, I wet for a rare haircut, and was asked if I was entitled to a discout.  The very thought!  What an insult!

At my next haircut, I was asked the same question.  How wonderful!  What a compliment! 

Last session I confidently predicted Quincy to win the Cup, Columbia the Shield and Portland the Holyoake. Clearly Al isn't the only one with the power 👹  Although I'm not sure what went wrong with the Championship....

New Year: when does it stop being new?  It could be when you wish the last person Happy New Year, as I have been told.  But you would never know when that was, would you? And what if you met somebody you hadn't seen for three years? Happy New Year, Happy Previous New Year & Happy New Year Twice Removed? And what if you met somebody you hadn't seen since school 45 years ago.  Ridiculous

Actually I really wanted to respond to Paul Cockayne's point about middle age and being old.  Nobody really wants to be old or at least to be called old do they?  And yet Society reinforces the message that you are old all the time.  I have been receiving my UK state pension for a few months - widely referred to as the old age pension which makes me an OAP - Old Age Pensioer.  When I turned sixty, I was initially chuffed to find that lost of places - cinemas, atttractions small & large etc - offer a discount.  Except that for sometimes a tiny benefit - say 80p off your £9 admission - you have to state your elderliness to some ticket seller who then, disbelieving, asks how old you are before disdainfully allowing the pathetic reduction.  And then there's the place in many forms when "for analysis purposes" you have to state which aged band you are in.  There is no consistency in what these ranges are but the cruellest has to be, for example, under 20, 20-40, 40-65, 65+.  That + is code for "really old" isn't it?

I am sure we could find some difficult to pronounce towns in Wisconsin that could be Cheese towns, like Mukwanago Muensters. 

During expansion, I really should have pitched the Leicester Roquefort as a bona fide internet volleyball team.

In Volleyball the ball goes over the net

In Basketball the ball goes through the net

In Football (Soccer) the ball goes into the net

In Baseball the net stops the crowd behind the batter getting hit.

In Fishing there is constantly a hole in the net so the fish keeps escaping 😒

The city of San Jose has banned prawn sandwiches. We don´t want to be compared to old trafford.

If we're going to add a Sandwich division, we're going to need some cheese-based mascots.

Also, did John just call a hot dog a sandwich? Be careful wading into that debate.

There'll definitely be room for the Saint Donatus (Iowa) Sausage Dogs (San Diego is taken)

More importantly the Sausage Dogs would feature in the Sandwich Cup (mascots which when combined would make good sandwiches), especially when they would play New Orleans, which might be the top delicacy in TMVL.

Urgh, do I not like that.

My post should read 'an' English Bulldog not 'a'.....it's because I typed British Bulldog the first time

Bulldogs are the best. Fact.

I have a French Bulldog and she is very funny.

Our next dog will be a English Bulldog - mega lazy so we'll get on well :)

Don't forget that Bulldogs are also the BEST at volleyball. This is also a fact.

Thank you for confirming that I was right. I had heard it a couple of times, but Allan would not believe me and was kind of stubborn about it. It was his suggestion that we consult the UK experts. I told him now he should get me a sausage dog since I was right.  Just kidding, I have a few friends with them and I have heard in general that they can be quite stubbon and don't listen.

sausage dogs is certainly how thy are known on this side of the pond

...are definitely called sausage dogs in the UK.  This is not, as is commonly thought, because they resemble a sausage but because they are about as affectionate as a frozen sausage.

Thank you for your prompt response.  If I had to guess, I would think that perhaps the large number of German immigrants to the U.S. probably had something to do with us using the term "weiner" 

Sausage would be the correct term in Britain. Weiner isn't a thing here.

To keep this fair, no names will be specified.  Need to settle a family dispute. A friend recently got a Dachshund puppy (very adorable) in the U.S. they are sometimes called "wiener dogs". One of us said to the other "in the U.K. They are called "sausage dogs". The other disagreed stubbornly and vehemently. Then in an Episode of Derry Girls there was a reference to "sausage dogs", thereby proving that person correct, but the other still disagreed and suggested we bring it to the blog for an answer. Who is right? 

Despite valiant resistance from Vick's Shrimps, Big 8's Columbia took the WGM Cup last session. At the same time, Dallas topped the Non Conference, closely followed by Ames and Portland in joint second place. In fact the eight Big 8 teams occupied the top 13 places in the NC table.

Looking ahead, Quincy are the top rated team left in the Cup. Despite the presence of a lot of top teams, Columbia must be clear favourites for the Shield. Quincy are #1 seed for the National Championship and Portland #1 seed for the Holyoke. What odds for a Big 8 clean sweep this season?

Big session for the little shrimp underdogs this week as we face the Tomato Beasts of TMVL who rolled over some tough opposition in the Anglerfish away from home 3-0 to reach the WGM Cup Final. Now they are at home in the final and have better players than us in every position. It is not looking good is it, but the Shrimps have pushed above their weight to get here, beating both Denali and Cincinnati on the road to get this far. We should probably just enjoy the day and now concentrate on winning more achievable games this session as the Tomatoes have already vowed to put out their top dogs. Probably we should, but it is the final and the Shrimps do like a good scrap.....................

First of all, ouch...a thief?!

Second of all, on an unrelated note I just bought some of the quietest shoes ever and a nice black turtleneck.

Following a quiet Christmas, more quiet at the new year.  A birthday to contend with though I find that I am counting in fives thses days.  Next year (or strictly, this year), I may be forced to admit to being old....or can I push "late middle age" out until I hit 75?

Those on the national championship tournament bubble will have an eye on two matches: #5 Mat-Su v #2 Tucson in the Pac 8 and #3 Teutopolis v #1 Baton Rouge as well as the WGM Cup Final as San Jose play Columbia.

The winners of all these games clinch a spot in the national tournament.

Mat-Su and San Jose are currently on the wrong side of the bubble while Tucson and Teutopolis are on the "right" side.

The Mat-Su/Tucson winner will clinch a spot and with Mat-Su having a difficult schedule they probably need a win while a win would probably be enough for Tucson to get an at-large bid anyways but would still cement them in the tourney.

Same goes for Teutopolis - a win would secure their spot but would also basically clinch an at-large bid.

San Jose though are just off the pace and could would slide into the field with a win over Steve's Columbia in the final - another situation where the standings are so close a win would probably launch them into the at-large conversation anyways.

This leaves Mat-Su as the one "true" bid thief.

I must say I LOVE Christmas. Definitely my most favourite time of the year.

Not only do you get presents, which is ace (yes, I am 12), but it is enforced relaxation with the family whilst eating and drinking too much.

It's also one of the only times of the year that family will play a board game with me.....but this year we didn't!! Booooo

Like Roger, grown up kids so we took a back seat at Christmas, nothing more energetic than throwing the grandkids around a bit.  Getting old has its benefits

It's just past 10pm on Christmas Day here in the UK, and what better way to round off the day than getting Al's email to say results are in. Thanks Al 😁

Hope you all have had / are having / will have a great day. The weather in the States looks scary (if a little cool compared to the drab rainy grey day we've had in the middle of England. 

Steve - hope you got a bit of a lie-in. I'm glad my kids are all grown up, and not only sleep in but cook the dinner too 🍲

Asleep by 1 AM if I'm lucky. Awake at 6 AM I expect.

to wish everyone here a very happy Christmas. 

It's a 100 minutes away from Christmas Day here as I type and we're just getting stuff out of the hiding places for the kids for tomorrow. We always hope for an early night but never get to bed before midnight.

It's Christmas Day here in Australia so Merry Christmas to you all. Enjoy your presents, food and drink and family and friends. Remember it's a time of giving...so more wins to the Panthers please 😁😁

I notice that Phil has failed to challenge my authority to the best hat throne. He has finally given up on fighting for it, so I am the winner! (You can't see me, but I'm gloating to Phil.)

Winner, Winner, Taco Dinner?  I think not. Micki's hat is far superior and substantial. I can't believe I am playing they McIntosh family this weekend. May the best hat win!

Just like Craig said, that hat is a much more insignificant than my hat is. Micki will be winner. Micki is always winner. Micki is winner. Micki also has money and is willing to bribe the waiter to make sure Phil's grubby hands stay off my hat.

That looks like a significantly different hat to the one worn by Micki.

It is smaller and less impressive.

Therefore your claim is null and void.

Micki is still the winner

I have won. I have won the right to claim Micki's hat. Note the look of concession on her face. Winner!

I noticed this as well. Doesn't bode well as we have never reached the semi-finals of the WGM.

At the bottom left side of the Round of 32 WGM Cup Bracket we have this:

-----------

The first matchup has the Big East 1st Place Burlington Bullfrogs playing the ALSO 1st Place Sheboygan Vampire Bats.

Aires vs. John

Mega matchup

Recent quotes by these coaches include:

Aires - Getting it done

John - Once again, we're way too high (is there a time machine involved and are the Bats following the Grateful Dead around the US?)

-----------

Then its Mad Max and the Crows versus Steve and the Tomatoes.

Just as with the above...MEGA MATCHUP

"Rebuilding Steve" won 3 titles two seasons ago and 2 this past season.  Can he make that 4th seed work for him in this corner of the bracket?  

And even if you claim that your hat is the hat of all hats (which is totally not true) mine still looks better. :)

Well, the thing is is that I wear my hat more often than you do! And they give free desserts because they like me better.

And, I actually own my hat. As opposed to someone who gets to wear their hat one day a year at the Mexican restaurant (or any other day of the year when she tells them it is her birthday to sneak a free dessert....she thinks they don't know, but Micki....THEY KNOW!!)

Well, of course I'm not wearing my hat at this moment. Because I'm cleaning bathrooms. Including YOUR bathroom. By the way, you are welcome and this situation is about to change!

Well, of course I'm not wearing my hat at this moment. Because I'm cleaning bathrooms. Including YOUR bathroom. By the way, you are welcome and this situation is about to change!

Oh, your actually wearing your hat today? I thought it was in your closet gathering dust.

Oh, I'm sorry Micki. Did I overlook your hat comment? 

I'll say it again, slowly, so that everyone understands. MY hat is THE hat in TMVL. I actually own my hat. And I love all the attention it gets. If I fail to respond, it is because MY hat actually speaks for itself.  And today it is telling me, "tilt me forward a bit down toward the nose. I'm feeling rowdy today."

All this talk and nobody answers the question...

WHY ARE THE WOLVES ANGRY?

Denali is the native word for tall mountain. The Russians used to call it the big mountain.

The word Sahara just means desert and the river Avon in the UK means river.

The word kangaroo does not mean 'your finger' but the Yucatan in Mexico does translate to 'I don't know what you mean'

Finally Canada means village, it's believed the first explorers knew this but still decided to refer to it as the Canadas region.

I'm realizing now I completely misread Roy's post and thought he was actually asking where it is. Oops.

Roy,

Denali is in Alaska. It's the name of the tallest mountain in North America, which was formerly known as Mount McKinley. Denali is also the name of the borough (similar to a county in the rest of the United States) in which the mountain is located. 

This time they asked where in the US is Denali?

As Andy manages the Angry Wolves I had looked up where they were.

Would anyone else know in which state you would find Denali?

Code Updates this week

1. An issue with MBs making an error but their team getting the point was identified and fixed.  Thanks to Steve for helping with examples.

2. Issues with setting assists/attempts were identified and I believe resolved.  Again thanks to Steve for his analysis here too.

3.  When I look at the preview sometimes it doesn't always hit me why the home team has a high winning percent (for the ELO part) when the ratings are close.  I added the "+145" to highlight it is a home match and its really the rating PLUS 145 that gets you to the higher chance of winning.

Craig

I'll try to add more strategy ideas but it may not be for about 3 weeks as I'll be away for a bit.  One consideration though is to think about playing 1-2 of your best players all 3 matches from time to time (obviously not this week).  It will cost some FIT/CP for FIT but may yield results.

Steve

When Steve says "You can't win every game" he means the "you" as in the other 31 teams.  Steve, in fact, CAN win every game as evidenced by his amazing 34-4 mark in season 5.  😎

Seriously though his analysis is of course exactly right.  It will be harder to have those types of seasons now that we have coaches who are gaining knowledge and building strong teams.  Good stuff!

Very curious though about those "two things" Steve is holding back though on strategy.  🤔

Misc

Good to hear TMVL is providing all the answers to House of Games.  That's funny.

Hats

That reminds me, I need to add some code to show people with hats for their photos more often...

Craig, one thing I did two seasons ago was to look at the opposition and decide how much I wanted to win. Today we play Quincy and I've had to decide between T7 and throwing the game. T10 wouldn't be worth it, Against the Scarecrows last week I decide to throw that game and concentrate on the others. You play Quincy today and and in your place I'd probably throw the game - however Quincy play us and will want a home advanage in the WGM. Al won't T7 against you - but you won't let him live it down if you win 😁

Next weekend we play you and I'll decide if I can throttle back a little off T7 and still be favourites (and it also depends on my other games and if there's one I will throw). All this depends on today's skill and fitness levels.

Our second best Libero is 10 points better than your best after home advantage is taken into account. I could play Bianchi

My Middles are 9 points better, with 2 and 3 nearly equal. If I dropped my #1 MB we'd be roughly equal and that would be risky. Tough call.

My Outside Hitters are worse anyway so it's my top 2.

My second Right Side is much worse than yours so White would play.

My secont Setter is much worse than yours so Lam plays.

All the above assumes my priority is beating Dallas and expecting a T7 side from you. You have three tough games next week and I'd I'd expect T7 in one, nealy in the second and throw the third.

OK, Phil is way overdue on a hat update. I mean, cowboy hats were SO last season. I don't think he has the guts to challenge my rein of the throne.

Next week I wouldn't be surprised to hear a question asking which town is the series Last Man On Earth set? (Tucson) and in the final Answer Smash round they show pictures of cute animals including Red Pandas, Raccoons, Squirrels and Chihuahuas. The winner will take away a golden fondue set emblazoned with the Quincy Rabid Biting Mules logo...

I also like that this week they did a champions edition in which a former winner came back who had got engaged to the host Richard Osman since her first appearance on the show.

Is someone here secretly writing the questions for House of Games quiz on the BBC? As Roy pointed out they recently had a question on Liberos, earlier this week was one on an Anglerfish, and today there was one on the election slogan of H'Angus the monkey who became Hartlepool mayor.

I don't think my 34-4 record will be beaten anytime soon. Quincy had the best chance last season as they were way better than anybody else. I got lucky because my team peaked with A+ players everywhere but MB and it was the first season with all the new managers who took a while to get into it. A perfect storm you could say. Last season the new teams and managers were better so it was harder for Quincy than it was for us.

As for tactics - I've posted loads here and there and there's really only two things I haven't mentioned and I'm keeping them to myself for now.

...win every game. Literally?

I'm looking at those serial winners.

I need lots of 'A's and 'A+'s yes but I want those tactical geniuses out there (yes, just like me) to share literally all of their tactical prowess and secrets.

In a forum or blog entry

For all to see

So I/we stand a chance of beating them

I'm doing this for everyone, especially us little guys

Any known health issues?

Do they like walks or not really fussed? (I've heard both! ie those that are quite up for it and those that hate it)

Training? Waste of time or does he love it?

For a moment there I thought James was talking about the St Charles coach

His name is Max, which I thought was oddly appropiate for this game.

He is lazy which is just as well as he could probably run through the wall if he built up enough speed he is that solid.

Despite his looks (everyone thinks he is scary) he is a big softy that loves to cuddle in and get clapped and rubbed

This official TMVL website statsheet has Max and I at 7th and 6th for Roster respectively Rob.  I'm not sure where you found your graphic.😎

Looks to me like Antioch is a solid 4th here...

With the new player rankings system, is anyone surprised that the Sellers' boys have the top 2 teams in the league for T7?

James! Is that a British Bulldog I spy on your photos??

If so, please tell me more!

I have a Frenchie and a Puggle but next on the list is a British Bulldog so feel free to tell me anything/everything :)

Thanks :)

If Jason turns the corner, he will be round the bend....

Is this the season Spokane's rebuilding process begins yielding results? It's unlikely we'll seriously compete for a National Championship (or any other trophy), but with a solid recruiting class and a mid-level T7, we can aspire to a .500 record. If we bring in a 5-star or two, as well, then we may really be in business next year. 

In United you can add a new article/journal from the Team Page but I don't have that yet for TMVL.  It is on my to do list.

You can add one from the Front Page Andy under the Team News section.

Didn't you used to be able to do a team post blog from here ?

Has it been deleted or just missed off ?

Thanks to Roy, John, James, Paul, and Aires for your post of thanks.  And thanks to the rest of you who sent me an email or also posted and I missed it.  I always appreciate the feedback in this and the United leagues I run so it is always nice to hear.

I've coded most of the scheduling items that I've been leaning on Steve and others to help me with the past 2 seasons when we shifted to 32 teams.  Thank you to Steve and the guys for helping!  So I think I have a good plan there to move that forward.  I do need to do a little verification.  I need to check my list for other things, but I think I'm on a trajectory to officially run things next weekend with a session 1 deadline of Nov 12th.

Roy: I love your story on liberos!  ?  Tell me more on your ideas.  Maybe you can help with an example or perhaps you see something similar in another league, website, etc that we could "borrow".  Even itemizing suggestions like (we need the home/away/neutral indicator on this page and that page and the indication of tournament stage on this page, etc) is helpful.

More to come this week.   

A big thanks to Al and everyone who supported him running TMVL this season.

TMVL is currently my favourite management game to play. We have a quiz show on the BBC called House of Games and they had a picture question asking the contenders to identify the libero. From watching the video Al posted last season of the Women's Championship and knowing how the libero functions in the games I could pick out the player in the different coloured top. (None of the contestants picked this player and 2 of them picked the umpire...)

The one thing in TMVL I still feel a bit lost about is which competition is which. When I'm managing matches I know which is which, what I struggle with is to work out what competition other teams are playing in and doing well in - especially when it gets to the final stages when most of us are knocked out.

It doesn't affect the gameplay but when we're doing the voting for best coach of the round it can be a bit tricky to know who's done best and I know James' Alton missed out on votes in the final session despite winning the TMVL Shield.

I know you can select the Scores menu and then select the round to see what matches are played but it there a way to make it more accessible? Or.. could someone summarise any key matches coming up? CB likes to talk...

Wall to wall crap this season.

Next season will be win everything.

Obviously.

An undistinguished season for Portland, but decent recruiting and hopes for better results to come

I already had beard envy over Jason, but Rob's latest photos definitely raise the bar even further. Top whiskers sir!

Damn right they are. Someone asked why the minimum cost is more than other players.

I played T7 apart from my setter against Pekin thinking it would be an easy-ish win. Borowski's set rating for the game was only 11 but I played him to give me enough XP to increase his Attack rating - with hindsight 9 rather than 8 attack wasn't worth the risk.

Because of his Set rating he's setting a 1 or 2 a lot which means 2 or 3 blockers a lot. Pekin had 47 assisted blocks (adding up all the 2 and 3 blocker). Torres (attack 18) seemed to be the victim with 15 errors (blocks or hit out) and only 12 kills. He also had 12 attacks dug, pobably also due to poor sets -> more poor attacks -> easier to defend.

I use that same strategy, for the most part, Rob. 

Planning for best use of CPs is and interesting aspect of the game.  One can, of course, play younger players to gain them experiance that can be used to coach them at the end of the season. But is that an effective use of CPs?  Very hard to calculate, which, of course, adds to the interest in the game.

I tend to plan my CP expenditure out so that, at the end of the season, I can use XP to get the last coaching in place. So, towards the end of the season, I end up coaching up the Juniors more than anything because i focused on the underclassmen early in the season. But my team can't win anything, so maybe I don't have the right strategy... 

It is an interesting and rare dynamic that you can have too many CPs in an OLMEC-style game.

I found this to be the case during an extreme rebuild in MSWL-U. I stripped the team to the bone probably around season 18 or so and by the end of the season had "too many" CPs! The team was so youth orientated that playing the youth was enough to improve them and none of the other players were really worth levelling up.

There's probably some sort of game strategy where you could "bank" CPs that you don't spend for round one of the following season, but I'm not sure what that proposal would look like.

I think that if people grumble about having too many CPs they should have them confiscated and donated to people who grumble about having too few.

I have too few, by the way....

"I suspect some managers may take it personally and try to win more games against Pekin."

Surely you underestimate the generosity of spirit that pervades this wonderful community Al?  I would imagine most managers would understand how difficult it is for Pekin (#32 out of 32 for roster strength) to spend CPs for long term benefit when all their good players are graduating at the end of the season, and sympathise with a rookie manager who has clearly mismanaged their squad. They'd probably see games against Pekin as a great opportunity to play all their Freshmen and earn the XP they need to make up their CP shortfall. Especially Kevin and Jason in our semi-final match ups....??

I absolutely LOVE Roger telling us that he doesn't know what to do with all these CP he has.  ? 

I suspect some managers may take it personally and try to win more games against Pekin.  I don't know who those managers are, but I certainly will not.  ?

My answer is a resounding "NO" it is not a normal thing.   I wish it were.  I'm still trying to ensure I have enough.  But I have also used (overused?) some CP to support keeping some players at FIT +1 this season so that's my fault.

Personally I'd recommend picking the Freshman.  Turning OFF the Netflix and build him enough to be a player that can fill in a little next season.  

If you have 4 strong OH players you will be hard to beat.  I know for my team I have 3 and have one up in the stands watching Netflix.  I'd rather not have that, but that's the way it goes.  With the OH players playing all the way around (all rotations) and passing they are so important.   

You have an interesting team and it might be easy to say "just CP everyone".  Maybe another approach would be to only have 2 players on the roster watching netflix (max of 2) and the rest getting built up even if they don't have a ton of potential.  

Steve is (of course) right.  Get that RS Freshman built up so he can be the "reserve RS" for the 5-star you have signed.  

I'm still really excited about the subject line I put in this post...  ?

Thanks as ever Steve. I realised I'd have a CP glut a few sessions ago and (reluctantly) began coaching Hall as next year's reserve RS. He won't make potential this season but it won't matter because he's going to spend a lot of time during Season 7 watching Netflix in the stands while I overplay Bonati (and pay the 4 FIT each session to keep him in top condition). I think it only works as a plan because Bonati goes straight into my T7 even if every dice roll he gets in the off season is a dud.

Should that I be so lucky! I'm thinking I'm going to be short thanks to all the 3-0 wins and losses.

I would certainly have spent some on the Freshman RS. He isn't great but like you say you will waste them. 

Just use all you can and carry 15 over even if you think it's a waste.

Is it usual to get to this stage of the season and really struggle to know what to do with all your CPs?  I've coached all the players I want to, used tons on FIT, and I'm still probably going to just bin around 60 at the end of the next session.

with Rob's post below. Not worth bidding on that libero.

Not to be a c-c-c-combo breaker here... but I want to draw everyone's attention to Eddie Kinslow, the 5-star L with Max+1 SRV up for recruiting bids this week. There are 6 eligible teams, many with deep pockets. I encourage everyone to max out their RPs on this massively hyped recruit!

Strength of schedule being a term of art (at least in the U.S.; it's meaningless in, e.g., European soccer, where everyone plays everyone else an equal number of times), I prefer reserving that term to something along the lines of what Kevin suggests.

Kevin's suggestion is a good start for SoS, but it would also help to see how an opponent's strength of schedule contributes to your own team's strength of schedule. For example, say Spokane's opponents have a combined winning percentage (sets won over total sets) of .550. You'd say Spokane has a high strength of schedule, right? But what if Spokane's opponents all happened to play a bunch of cupcakes? That would inflate Spokane's opponents' records and make it seem, possibly inaccurately, that Spokane is playing more difficult opponents. Granted, with the number of matches we play in TMVL, this effect would be diminished over the course of a season. But, you could probably get a more precise overall SoS number by weighting a team's strength of opponents together with the strength of the opponents' opponents. A calculation I've seen for this is [2(opponents' total winning percentage) + opponents' opponents total winning percentage]/3. 

I also think Steve's idea is very interesting. It's a metric of whether you overachieved, underachieved, or did about exactly what would be expected given the quality of the players your opponent put on the floor. I think comparing sets won with the quality of the opponent's players would be helpful, but comparing points won with opponent quality would be even better. Unfortunately, I'm not adept enough with statistics to come up with a workable formula for this. But maybe someone else will be inspired by the idea. 

For an over all season strength of schedule I'd agree with Kevin but I was thinking about a session by session rating. We don't all play T7 every game but we could face three T7 teams in a session. When I pick my coach of the session I do tend to go simply on wins and try to guess which teams had it tougher to break ties. If a team goes 3-0 in a session facing 205 and another goes 3-0 facing 220 then I know which I'm more likely to vote for.

But also beating Quincy is worth more to me than a low team simply because it's brave to try.

For a Strength of Schedule rating, seems easiest to take all a team's opponents and tally their total Sets Won and Sets Lost, and calculate the Opponents' Set Won %.  If you play a team twice, you count their totals twice.  Three times? Count 'em thrice.  That will give a reflection of opponent strength or quality, based on season-to-date results.  No need to reference any other current ranking system which might take a session or three to adjust.

I know this has been discussed before briefly but I've just been looking at the overall grades for everyone's T7, T11 and Roster and think there's room for change?!?

T7

A raters = 7

A- raters = 11

B+ raters = 12

B raters = 2

T11

A- raters = 3

B+ raters = 7

B raters = 12

B- raters = 8

C+ raters = 2

Rosters

A- raters = 1

B+ raters = 8

B raters = 9

B- raters = 11

C+ raters = 3

So my question is, should there be more difference between the top and bottom teams or are we ok with how it is?

I must admit, when T7 plays T7 a team of A+ against a team of mostly A with maybe one B+ usually wins comfortably (I think?!? I haven't done the research lol) so imagine who it'd be if the gap was bigger?

I think I've answered my own question.

This is fake news. Sorry.

You may go about your business. Move along, move along.

#shamelessRPgrab

Steve had some interesting numbers in his wall post on opponents he played and their average overall rating.

How would we go about developing a "strength of schedule" type stat/number to show?  The NET rankings certainly show some teams with a small, medium, large amount of Quad I opponents for example.

Does anyone have some ideas on that and/or how we could present it (maybe show it on the rankings page and/or team page in rankings tab).

It certainly seems like some teams play very tough schedules...I'd just like to know who they are.  ?

Of course every team Quincy plays is a tough team.  

Three more losses for Portland, nine in a row now.  Only five sets won.  What I need is a cunning plan, or failing that, some better players.  

When I was studying for my finals in 1976, I became quite expert in drawing up cunning plans.  

I'd wake up in the morning feeling overwhelmed by the amount of revision I needed to do in a short space of time.  So I'd draw up a revision plan, timetabling exactly what I was going to revise each day, starting tomorrow.  Then, feeling much better, I'd go to the pub.

The next day I'd wake up and start on my revision, but ineviatbly would fail to complete the daily plan.  In my defence, 1976 was a very hot summer in the UK, and my efforts to revise were not helped by the heat, or by the Italian girl who sunbathed topless in the back garden, which my desk overlooked.  Or my laziness.  So, feeling a failure, I'd go to the pub.

I'd wake up in the morning feeling overwhelmed by the amount of revision I needed to do in a short space of time.....many a cunning plan did I write that summer....

While I was laid up this week I watched one of the women's college matches this week.  Texas (#1 in USA) vs. unranked Kansas at Kansas.  It shows what a fired up home team (of lesser talent) can do against, well, the best team in the USA at the moment.  

The women's game has a lot more rallys (back and forth during a point).  The mens game is more about power so more quicker kills/points.  

Here's the link.  If you happen to watch and have questions about certain points or what happens please feel free to ask.  The announcers are pretty good and typically have good insights to share.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOxSz6Hf-UE

One thing you will see is that volleyball is a big momentum sport.  Sometime things go well and a lesser skilled team gets unstoppable.  Sometimes a great team serves 4 straight into the net. Sometimes a called timeout "freezes" the opposing server and they miss a serve (similarly on a challenge call).  Sometimes a team playing poorly that has an "automatic kill" attacker gets smart and sets THAT player often to stay in a match.  

Boxscore is here:

https://texassports.com/sports/womens-volleyball/stats/2022/kansas/boxscore/14969

Again, if you can watch a few minutes please ask if you have questions.  

Turns out I misread my notes.  I have a cunning PLANT!  A venus fly-trap, (Dionaea muscipula), which feeds off small insects and TMVL managers.  So maybe it doubles as a cunning plan....

I want to apologise (British spelling) to the Queen for my poor showing that I dedicated in her honour (British spelling).  

Welcome to Wrexham. I can relate.

My cunning plan hasn't quite come to fruition yet....

I dedicate my games this week to her Majesty the Queen. May she rest in peace!