Beirut Resigns.

[ca13]

Effective immediately, I resign as GM of Beriut.

I'm sorry, but this just isn't for me. The contraction plan proposed by the league leadership is the fourth major change made in the less than a season and a half that I've been here with absolutely no consideration for the wishes of the UMEBA constituent GMs. In fact, if a 30 year BBA vet, Brett Schroeder, hadn't mentioned contraction in slack yesterday, we wouldn't have know it was coming. He then proposed what I thought was a pretty neat and elegant idea, and there was no acknowledgment from the governing board that of that idea at all. To be clear, I'm not quitting because you didn't use the idea. I'm leaving because the fact that UMEBA GMs had ideas about their own league wasn't even acknowledged. Again.

This is a pattern. The previously, clearly rushed and obviously nonsensical at the time (if anyone had bothered to ask us) expansion was announced suddenly. Without warning. Without adequate preparation time given to GMs.

Then there was the cap increase. Another arbitrary decision. Clearly not thought through because I (a person with literally 3 months of GM tenure) had to point out that no one had revenue to spend to that new cap so the UMEBA would become a "spend PP to win league". So after I said that revenue was increased. But a GM on the governing board even admittedly publicly that this hadn't been considered.

There was the abandonment of the rule 6 and 7 drafts. Again, no notice given to the UMEBA GMs. Some people traded players they would probably have kept had they known this was coming.

And now this.

Four major league structure changes. With no warning. No input from the member GMs requested.

This isn't even counting minor stuff like suddenly imposing a roster limit on a minor league level without telling us it happened at all. Many of us were over due to draft changes (the UMEBA had too many teenagers in the drafts so our low levels were flooded).

This is all against a backdrop of many of those GMs repeatedly asking for things and getting no response. One at least three different occasions, it was pointed out that a particular team in the UMEBA was not fielding a complete/competitive roster. That team went from an over .500 wining percentage, to a sub .250 one. This is the definition of tanking. It went on for more than half the season. It affected playoff races. Our league is small. We play the same teams over and over. One team tanking is potentially a huge disruption here. Again, this was brought up multiple times. Nothing was done. No response about our concerns was even given.

That's the pattern. A complete lack of giving a shit about what the GMs in the actual UMEBA think. You don't even bother to acknowledge that we're talking. You treat us very poorly.

And that's why I'm leaving. The league leadership has made it clear they do not care about the experience of the GMs in the UMEBA. You aren't going to listen to us. You aren't even going to bother to say 'I hear you, but were going this other direction." I mean, at the very least, make an effort to respond to your own GMs.

Maybe the BBA is a great league. I don't know. But the UMEBA isn't. And it is a bad league because the leadership doesn't allow it's member GMs any ownership of the league. The only interest is keeping them around to fill spots in their fancy big boy league, so they don't have to suffer through absentee GMs like we do. And they ask us to suffer through being in a shit league with absentee GMs, without even bothering to pay attention when we say the actions/inaction of one of those GMs is screwing things up.

This sort of treatment does not really make me want to wait to get a BBA team. I find it hard to believe that a governing body can be so capricious with only one part of its membership.

I would suggest, that the way to keep a league viable, is to pay attention to the concerns of the people in it. At the very least acknowledge when they are talking. When one of the major problems causing instability is arbitrary changes (like an unnecessary expansion) perhaps more arbitrary changes aren't the solution. Maybe a considered approach with input from people who actually have skin in the game would be better.

Anyway, thanks for the opportunity. But this clearly isn't for me. Take care.

[recte44]

Effective immediately, I resign as GM of Beriut.

I'm sorry, but this just isn't for me. The contraction plan proposed by the league leadership is the fourth major change made in the less than a season and a half that I've been here with absolutely no consideration for the wishes of the UMEBA constituent GMs. In fact, if a 30 year BBA vet, Brett Schroeder, hadn't mentioned contraction in slack yesterday, we wouldn't have know it was coming. He then proposed what I thought was a pretty neat and elegant idea, and there was no acknowledgment from the governing board that of that idea at all. To be clear, I'm not quitting because you didn't use the idea. I'm leaving because the fact that UMEBA GMs had ideas about their own league wasn't even acknowledged. Again.

This is a pattern. The previously, clearly rushed and obviously nonsensical at the time (if anyone had bothered to ask us) expansion was announced suddenly. Without warning. Without adequate preparation time given to GMs.

Then there was the cap increase. Another arbitrary decision. Clearly not thought through because I (a person with literally 3 months of GM tenure) had to point out that no one had revenue to spend to that new cap so the UMEBA would become a "spend PP to win league". So after I said that revenue was increased. But a GM on the governing board even admittedly publicly that this hadn't been considered.

There was the abandonment of the rule 6 and 7 drafts. Again, no notice given to the UMEBA GMs. Some people traded players they would probably have kept had they known this was coming.

And now this.

Four major league structure changes. With no warning. No input from the member GMs requested.

This isn't even counting minor stuff like suddenly imposing a roster limit on a minor league level without telling us it happened at all. Many of us were over due to draft changes (the UMEBA had too many teenagers in the drafts so our low levels were flooded).

This is all against a backdrop of many of those GMs repeatedly asking for things and getting no response. One at least three different occasions, it was pointed out that a particular team in the UMEBA was not fielding a complete/competitive roster. That team went from an over .500 wining percentage, to a sub .250 one. This is the definition of tanking. It went on for more than half the season. It affected playoff races. Our league is small. We play the same teams over and over. One team tanking is potentially a huge disruption here. Again, this was brought up multiple times. Nothing was done. No response about our concerns was even given.

That's the pattern. A complete lack of giving a shit about what the GMs in the actual UMEBA think. You don't even bother to acknowledge that we're talking. You treat us very poorly.

And that's why I'm leaving. The league leadership has made it clear they do not care about the experience of the GMs in the UMEBA. You aren't going to listen to us. You aren't even going to bother to say 'I hear you, but were going this other direction." I mean, at the very least, make an effort to respond to your own GMs.

Maybe the BBA is a great league. I don't know. But the UMEBA isn't. And it is a bad league because the leadership doesn't allow it's member GMs any ownership of the league. The only interest is keeping them around to fill spots in their fancy big boy league, so they don't have to suffer through absentee GMs like we do. And they ask us to suffer through being in a shit league with absentee GMs, without even bothering to pay attention when we say the actions/inaction of one of those GMs is screwing things up.

This sort of treatment does not really make me want to wait to get a BBA team. I find it hard to believe that a governing body can be so capricious with only one part of its membership.

I would suggest, that the way to keep a league viable, is to pay attention to the concerns of the people in it. At the very least acknowledge when they are talking. When one of the major problems causing instability is arbitrary changes (like an unnecessary expansion) perhaps more arbitrary changes aren't the solution. Maybe a considered approach with input from people who actually have skin in the game would be better.

Anyway, thanks for the opportunity. But this clearly isn't for me. Take care.

You're right. We haven't listened to you. It's been tough of late. I reacted to a flurry of interest and then because the UMEBA completely served the purpose it was here for when we had some BBA turnover, it now is kind of like a ghost town.

There's clearly a huge disconnect here between the UMEBA GM's and myself and the GB. It's tough because I completely hear you that you wanted input as to the direction of the league. Completely understand it.

Now look from my point of view. There's roughly three legitimate active participants in the UMEBA right now in my eyes. The UMEBA was always supposed to be a developmental league designed to get folks acclimated to our community. The following quote from you makes me believe that you think differently:

Off Topic

The only interest is keeping them around to fill spots in their fancy big boy league, so they don't have to suffer through absentee GMs like we do.

You said it with biting sarcasm, but the general comment spells out exactly why the UMEBA exists. I have a hard time putting in a bunch of work for a twelve team league in which roughly three people actually give a shit. Things like promotion/relegation are ideas that create huge workloads with very little in return except for the three people who are invested.

I'm rambling at this point. I want to hear your solutions and proposals. Let me know what you want and would like to see. Please know, however, that at the end of the day the UMEBA is primarily a "GM Feeder" system for the BBA. That is and will continue to be its purpose.

[recte44]

Also consider that the idea floated in Slack is heavily dependent on AI GM's, which is just a horrific idea and a nightmare scenario for transactions (AI teams will always sign/claim guys during a sim before anyone else has an opportunity).

[Dington]

Sad to see you go, but I understand your frustration. I understood the UMEBA to be a feeder league, but it sort of evolved into its own beast and I wanted to remain. However, I quickly changed my mind once I realized that was a mirage and I remembered the purpose of the league. I do believe there should be a little more transparency with UMEBA GMs about discussions on changing how the league will work moving forward instead of “oh btw were adding more teams and money to the league.” It’s pointless accumulating a good farm system, because by the time those players get promoted, you’re likely in the BBA. Again, that was my own delusion and I should have realized that when told this was a feeder league.

[ca13]

I completely appreciate the idea that this is a bunch of work. I have little understanding of what it takes to run a league. I apologize for the sarcasm, but I have been very frustrated.

If the UMEBA is too much work, then delegate some of it. That's what good leadership does. You night have more owners that cared, if the environment was one that encouraged people to care. Those few GMs that do care, didn't create the league. You did. They weren't told, "Hey, while you're waiting, we're not going to treat you with any degree of respect because we're not going to manage the league you are in to the standard of the one you are auditioning for."

Responding to someone asking the leadership of a body for a response is the bare minimum a leadership body should provide. If it is too much work, and I don't mean that in a derogatory sense, then either don't have the league, or delegate someone to take on that role and give them the authority to manage it. If a relegation system is too much work, that's fine. But then say, hey, that's way too much work. Don't just ignore people.

Do you see how frustrating and insulting that is? Why would someone bother to try in a system where that is the message you get?

I would guess that there is a process of cycling through GMs to find ones that will stick. But then someone has to do that cycling. A team was allowed to tank for 2/3rds of a season and the repeated statements by GMs in the UMEBA about it weren't even acknowledge.

I fully understand that a TON of work goes into running a league. Running two leagues is probably too much too ask. But SOMEONE has to run it. You can't just let it adrift and expect the member GMs to stay invested or not get frustrated.

As far as it being simply a feeder league/holding ground for GMs. I find that statement and other statements and actions by the GB to be at odds. If that's the case, then treat it like one. Don't have expansions. Or big rule changes. Or budget changes. Make it clear when GMs make statements about their teams and desire to run them that the league will be largely ignored and its only a holding ground. Don't have governing board members tell me that the league is "a robust league" in its own right. Don't encourage writing and team ownership in it. Its not logically consistent to ask a prospective BBA GM to invest themselves in something to prove themself, but then not return that care to their investment.

The idea of using the UMEBA as a grooming ground for BBA GMs, essentially a holding ground so that it is not affected by the revolving door of bad GMs make sense from a macro perspective, but it's a somewhat tough thing to ask of the people in the holding ground. And it should be made absolutely clear that's all the BBA is. It wasn't to me. At all. In fact, many statements and actions were made to the contrary. And I can't be the only one, because four or five UMEBA GMs turned down promotions while I was here. There's no way that happens if we are all understanding it's only a holding ground.

[ca13]

If I'm not clear enough, we in the UMEBA have known the whole season that there are major problems. We have been very concerned about those problems. We have made multiple statements in slack and the forums about this. The has been no response or action taken. Not even a "Hey, we know and we're working on it." Nothing. Is it really too much to ask to treat people with basic courtesy?

That is why I'm leaving. The message has been, "You don't matter." If I don't matter now, because I'm not in the BBA. Why should I want to be in it?

[ca13]

You said it with biting sarcasm, but the general comment spells out exactly why the UMEBA exists. I have a hard time putting in a bunch of work for a twelve team league in which roughly three people actually give a shit. Things like promotion/relegation are ideas that create huge workloads with very little in return except for the three people who are invested.

I'm sorry, i'm having a hard time getting over how ridiculous this statement is. You make a league. Manage it so poorly that you can't maintain active GMs. Then when one of the people who is actually trying to make it work get annoyed at how little effort you're willing to commit, you tell them that you have a hard time committing any effort of your own to the thing you're mismanaging?

That's so incredibly rude I can't believe that you have thought it through. Why the FUCK should anyone want to be in the UMEBA if this is the overriding philosophy? And to ask someone to audition for the BBA under this premise is a blatant insult. Wow.

[recte44]

You said it with biting sarcasm, but the general comment spells out exactly why the UMEBA exists. I have a hard time putting in a bunch of work for a twelve team league in which roughly three people actually give a shit. Things like promotion/relegation are ideas that create huge workloads with very little in return except for the three people who are invested.

I'm sorry, i'm having a hard time getting over how ridiculous this statement is. You make a league. Manage it so poorly that you can't maintain active GMs. Then when one of the people who is actually trying to make it work get annoyed at how little effort you're willing to commit, you tell them that you have a hard time committing any effort of your own to the thing you're mismanaging?

That's so incredibly rude I can't believe that you have thought it through. Why the FUCK should anyone want to be in the UMEBA if this is the overriding philosophy? And to ask someone to audition for the BBA under this premise is a blatant insult. Wow.

It's clear that you will not be able to see my point of view; nor will you accept the reason the UMEBA exists in the first place without feeling insulted or that I am being rude to you, so let's agree to disagree.

[recte44]

If I'm not clear enough, we in the UMEBA have known the whole season that there are major problems. We have been very concerned about those problems. We have made multiple statements in slack and the forums about this. The has been no response or action taken. Not even a "Hey, we know and we're working on it." Nothing. Is it really too much to ask to treat people with basic courtesy?

That is why I'm leaving. The message has been, "You don't matter." If I don't matter now, because I'm not in the BBA. Why should I want to be in it?

That's a fair statement. I completely accept the fact that I have dropped the ball in communication this past season, mostly through frustration. Over the past three seasons I have responded to UMEBA GM's wants and desires by giving the UMEBA all the things they wanted, like more money, like better access to BBA players in free agency, like more teams, like a better schedule, like more minor leagues, like better drafts.

And for all of those things I truly apologize. It has been a huge mistake to have listened to all of those concerns and implement things the UMEBA GM's wanted because now here we are.

[usnspecialist]

he greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

We will miss you chuck.

[RonCo]

Sorry to see you leave, Chuck, though I get it. I apologize to you for calling the UMEBA a robust league in it's own right. I did believe that was the case when I said it, and I think was true then. Participation was very good, and getting better. Perhaps that was just the COVID speaking, though. As I've said before, since the end of the 2042 season, I feel that the entire league has taken a deep breath to reset.

I should note the this is the blurb we have in the Noob Guide to explain the UMEBA. I think it still applies, though admittedly the "fun place" is dependent upon people and time.

Off Topic

UMEBA:
The United Middle East Baseball Association (UMEBA) is set up as an independent league in the BBA universe. It's a small league with limited minors, set to be considered a tier down in quality. The value of the league, besides creating a fun place for people to compete, is multi-tiered and includes the idea that it's a good place for new GMs to come into our world and get used to our complexities, allows a place for older BBA players to continue their careers in some cases, provides a fun and fresh source of players.

Though the UMEBA as s fully dynamic element of the BBA world, it is generally separate from the BBA in all fundamental aspects of its operation.

[RonCo]

At some level a league like this is what we make it.

[ca13]

You said it with biting sarcasm, but the general comment spells out exactly why the UMEBA exists. I have a hard time putting in a bunch of work for a twelve team league in which roughly three people actually give a shit. Things like promotion/relegation are ideas that create huge workloads with very little in return except for the three people who are invested.

I'm sorry, i'm having a hard time getting over how ridiculous this statement is. You make a league. Manage it so poorly that you can't maintain active GMs. Then when one of the people who is actually trying to make it work get annoyed at how little effort you're willing to commit, you tell them that you have a hard time committing any effort of your own to the thing you're mismanaging?

That's so incredibly rude I can't believe that you have thought it through. Why the FUCK should anyone want to be in the UMEBA if this is the overriding philosophy? And to ask someone to audition for the BBA under this premise is a blatant insult. Wow.

It's clear that you will not be able to see my point of view; nor will you accept the reason the UMEBA exists in the first place without feeling insulted or that I am being rude to you, so let's agree to disagree.

I'm a little frustrated with this whole experience. So I apologize. The intent was not to be accusatory. It was to try to convey how this feels from the UMEBA GM end. Its very obvious that the UMEBA is fledgling attempt and there have been bumps. It's very easy to not immediately see how things play out. It's also very easy to not see how you actions or statements will be perceived by others. I failed at this just now. I'm was not trying to be a jerk. The amount of vitriol in my statement is half frustration, and half me trying to convey how irritating it has been to feel like you've been shouting at a wall. I'm not refusing to see things your way or accept why the UMEBA existed. I apparently was wrong about its purpose. I accept that. I won't accept that I'm delusional and a whackjob for thinking it was anything other than a feeder league when it clearly hasn't been approached that way and other people have acted similarly in running their teams.

Furthermore, I will not accept is the idea that not responding to or talking to people is acceptable. Asking people to put in work to audition, even in a simple feeder league, then never taking time to actually respond to their concerns is rude. There are multiple people on the governing board. Any one of them could have done it. Any one of you could have let us know that contraction was being considered before announcing it and see how we felt. Even if you only got three responses. Same with all the other changes.

My mother used to be get really frustrated with my father. He had a job that demanded he be home very little. She was an excellent homemaker. She would get very upset that he didn't seem to appreciate all the things she did around the house. Frankly, he probably didn't appreciate some of them enough. But some of them he simply didn't care about. For literal decades, she was busting her ass to do things that she didn't need for herself. Many of them, if she has asked, he would have told her he didn't care if those things were done. And there were others things that she could have done he would have appreciated. That doesn't mean he shouldn't have appreciated that they were done for him. That's my fault here. Btu it also means she shouldn't have expected appreciation for things she did without making sure they were what was desired. And I think that's where you guys could have communicated better.

(As an aside, I realize the gender roles here are outdated. But my parents had a very healthy understanding of the partnership of out of the house job and in the house job and respect for the other person's role.)

Not seeing things this way doesn't mean I think anyone one involved in leadership is a bad person. Or a jerk. It is normal to make mistake without intending to do so. It is easy to take action with the best intention and not have a desired result. Or not have that result appreciated as you thought it should be. But communication is important in preventing these sorts of things from happening.

Sorry again for any feelings I hurt. It was not my intent.

[Fat Nige]

I’m sorry to see you go Chuck, as a former UMEBA GM I can see a lot of your points. The UMEBA experience really does rely on the participation of your follow GMs. If you hit the league in one of its down cycles it can be quite brutal being there by yourself. The thing is you have to enter the league mindful of its stated purpose which is to get new GMs used to the world of the BBA, it’s GMs and some of our quirky little rules and behaviours.
It’s a young league, less than a game time decade old ( probably two to three real life years), as is still finding out exactly what rules, finances and makeup suits it best. Matt has run this league now for over a decade, there’s not many OOTP leagues that can say they’ve had that consistency over such a length of time. Sometimes things do go wrong, no one can be right all the time, and the league hasn’t a particularly good track record with the ancillary leagues like the EBA and UMEBA. The purpose of the leagues is sound but we haven’t just slotted all the pieces into the right spot yet. Matt has always been a busy person with a lot of different things to take his time and stress him but there league has evolved without missing a beat through a real-life decade.
It’s not so easy to delegate running things as a OOTP commissioner, yes, you can get people to look after admin and monitoring duties but all the work on the file and the actual implementation of league changes all falls on the commissioner’s shoulders, he just can’t pass the file around willy nilly. Some decisions by the commissioner go right some go wrong, having been here for a lot of the league’s decade ( and been missing in action for parts of it too) my opinion is that Matt is well ahead on the right/wrong decisions. Yes there’s a lot of tweaking the UMEBA yet, it’s almost like playing a beta league, expect changes any time lol, it is designed to be just an introduction here, that’s the hard part we have to all get our heads around. The more the GMs there though throw themselves into participation and getting to know the league, the better the UMEBA GMs experiences will be

[HerbD]

communication is really the key to all of this. Some of it has been discussed before on slack or the forums. I understand the constitution says the UMEBA is meant to be a holding area but all the chatter(including the recruitment thread on the OOTP boards) made it seem like the UMEBA was heading into a direction of a stand alone league. I didn't expect the amount of turnover in the BBA for this season(I don't think anyone did) that sucked quite a few active GMs from the UMEBA. I liked the thought of starting a team from scratch, that is why I passed up the BBA team. If I had known at the time where the UMEBA was headed then I certainly would not have said no. I run my own league so I know how hard it is to get good people. To Chucks point, if you are going to treat the GM feeder league with such disregard then why not just have a wait list...that solves all of the too much work problem.

[Fat Nige]

The thing with having just a waiting list is that it’s so easy for people to forget about the league and drift away especially if you have a generally low turnover as we do. If you have a play-in/holdover/waiting/whatever league it is at least keeping you involved in the league to some extent and more likely to be around to step up and fill a vacancy. Yes, it’s not a full wholesome GM experience but you’re learning the ways of the league and the GMs while you wait and not just sitting on the telephone waiting for that call up

[usnspecialist]

For reference this year (since last landis) we had 4 GM changes in the BBA (brooklyn, valencia x2, las vegas), and while i cant confirm this i feel that is about normal as 3-4 seems to be stickign in my head.

[RonCo]

As the guy who updates the PPT tracker, I'd say we generally have 1-3 BBA teams turn over in a season (so, say we average 2). Editorializing now, I'd say about half of these come from eating our own children (like happened with Dillon this year) and the other half from burnout or guys just not sticking. The UMEBA has reduced the "guys not sticking" pile in the BBA, but obviously impacts the UMEBA.

Herb has it about right to my view. The UMEBA had been in transition from a sidecar league to a league of its own, and IMHO, was/is very close to having the momentum to be self sustaining. We'll see what the future holds. In the end, every online league is as successful as its GMs and administrators make it.

[allenciox]

So I have to admit, in 2043 season I kind of dropped the ball a bit on active participation for Bucharest in UMEBA. I continued to manage the team as well as I could, but I even missed the draft (thought it was going to be later, then it was over), and not putting in the time to put in posts or figure out how to get back on slack, etc. I was primarily focused on Perfect Team and figuring out optimal strategies for doing the best I could in tournaments, etc.

However, I have come to believe that the real fun is in "real" management of "fake" players, not "fake" management of "real" players as in perfect team. There is always somebody who is going to put in more time than you, and the "unrealism" is really getting to me. So I am committing to being a more active Bucharest GM this season, and hopefully in the future.

Anyway, apologies to anybody if I contributed to the unease about last season with my lack of posting, etc. And I have gotten back onto slack, too! And I have already put in two posts for the Bucharest team channel.

By the way, when does the draft start this year? I want to make sure I don't miss it.

[recte44]

Thanks @allenciox