Let's Chat Today

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 3:03 am

An early FYI for folks that we'll have a chat on the boards this afternoon starting at 2 p.m. Central time. So bring your NFFC/fantasy football/football in general/life/whatever questions, comments that you have and we'll gather round the Message Board campfire and have some fun. See you all this afternoon.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 3:22 am

I'll get Tom primed up for discussion and give him a few hours to prepare for some questions. Here they come:

How badly hurt is Anquan Boldin?

Is there any chance Ricky Williams can return in 2004 knowing that the Dolphins want over $5 million back of his signing bonus?

Is Chris Chambers a better pick or a worse pick now that the Dolphins have lost Williams and David Boston before their first pre-season game?

Are my beloved Green Bay Packers going to the Super Bowl this year (I have them at 10:1 to win it all!)?

How many signups do you have in the NFFC???? (I knew that was coming.)

Okay, let's get some football talk going today and don't be afraid to post some questions ahead of time for Tom. That will give him the needed time to answer smartly!!! And if we have any fun with this, we'll do it again tomorrow.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 4:52 am

Some early questions...
1) Bush or Kerry?
2) Which position to draft first, K or D?
3) What's going on with the poker tournamant? I haven't heard anything from Hook. If there isn't enough interest, maybe myself or Dyv can arrange something smaller.
4) Is Vegas Gambler in the NFFC. I don't remember seeing his name on the thread. But, he is very easy to forget, so maybe I missed him.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:24 am

1) I'm not showing my political side here.
2) Neither.
3) I just got a call from Hook's contact yesterday and he's ready to go. They have 81 playing in the WCOFF's poker event and he has room for 50 for us. I know we have 6-10 who have contacted me already, so someone take the ball on this and get a thread going. Dyv would have more guys if the take wasn't so high, but let me know if you still want to do this.
4) Not yet, but he's interested.

TamuScarecrow · Post by **TamuScarecrow** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:49 am

Greg, good call on the politics as Gordon and I are going at it pretty heavy in the non-football chat room. Obviously he didn't like my choice. As for Vegas Gambler, I totally disrespect this guy for not being in considering all of the smack he's put out. He needs to put up or shut up. Question #1, Where, if any place, does Quincy Carter go? Question #2, we are already seeing an awful lot of leg problems in training camps. Could this lead to there being a lot more sleeper picks this year than in the past?

Uncle Louie · Post by **Uncle Louie** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:08 am

A suggestion.....

It is quite clear that we will not reach the 602 milestone nor the 450 participants in order to keep all of the contest prizes where they were orginally set.

I know the knee-jerk reaction would be to cut the grand prize in half in order to prevent large losses. I suggest we consider something different....

I suggest that we cut the league prizes down to $3000 (from $5000) as well as cut some of the consolation prizes. I don't believe anyone will complain about winning the league and at least doubling their money, especially when they will still have a 1 in 50 shot to walk away with the big money. The $42,000+ in savings should be used to keep the grand prize as high as possible.

By no means am I a math God nor do I claim to be as wise as Gorden Gekko, but I think mathematically it all works out.

Actually delivering a higher grand prize will only solidify the integrity of this league for years to come. Also, to me, investing (not gambling) $1250 to acquire $200,000 is a lot different then investing $1250 for $100,000 - regradless of the odds.

Please don't think that this post reflects a lack of confidence in you guys - but I think we should be prepared of the inevitable, rather then scrabbling the week before the draft to present the fairest solution.

-Uncle Louie (walking the path less traveled)

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:10 am

What ever happened to Erict Rhett? Or Ron Moore? Or Calvin Williams? Or Fred Barnett? Did Mark Chmura ever marry that 17 year old girl that made him quit his football carrer? I'm trying to steer as far away from politics as I can. lol

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:07 am

It looks like we'll have a fun chat today. I like it.

Louie, rest assurred we will cover every conceivable possibility when we cross the proper bridges with regard to this event. I don't want to speak for Greg, but I feel safe in saying that the absolute last thing we want to do is lower the grand prize. We were able to guarantee the full prize for baseball and I believe that proved to be a huge factor in our favor in terms of establishing our credibility and lending a strong sense of confidence to all of our NFBC members that we were/are a first-class operation and our No. 1 priority here is to provide a first-class event that will become a mainstay in this industry and grow to even more exciting proportions in the future.

I know Greg has been busy looking at everything that could happen with the NFFC event in case we do not reach our desired number of teams and exploring every possible avenue that will be open to us. What we all hope internally here at Krause is that we can guarantee our $200,000 grand prize and move forward and put together an event that you guys are going to enjoy and one that's going to grow and prosper even more in the future. So let's keep spreading the word and getting more people to check our event out, get more signups and then all of this discussion will be a momentary part of the past.

Sound good.

lichtman · Post by **lichtman** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 7:33 am

I would personally vote to keep league prizes high and lower the Grand Prize. When all is said and done, more people will be happy.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 9:23 am

Uncle Louie, I GUARANTEE that the league prize structure will not be changed under any scenario. The $5,000 first place prize along with the second and third place prize money in each league is important to everyone. So I can promise everyone here that no matter how many leagues we finish with, that prize structure will not change.

As Tom said, we continue to work hard to get signups and we've had 12 since Monday morning, which is a good start. We're not B.S.ing anyone when it comes to the FULLY PAID numbers or the interest from people calling and e-mailing about the event. The only numbers that count in the end are the paid entrants. After that, it's putting on a first-class event and contest, two areas I have no concern about from our end.

We guaranteed the prize money for baseball with 195 NFBC members after shooting for 300. Now we're doubling the grand prize from $200,000 to $100,000 for football. Do the math and you can see where we have to get to in order to keep everything intact. Do I wish we had 400 FULLY PAID signups right now? Sure, but we're already at a good level and hope all the interest turns into signups over the next three weeks.

We'll continue to update everyone on everything, but right now nothing has changed on the prizes or the expectations. Keep the signups coming and we'll see where it takes us.