Revisiting The Collapse - 64.02
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2025 9:12 pm
Revisiting the Collapse
It’s been almost a year since Mike Bauer took control of GBC Moscow, but the veteran GM is still trying to piece together what all went wrong in the 2063 collapse. While many in the media are pointing fingers in several directions and perhaps drawing hasty conclusions, there’s one renowned fan who has the pulse of this T-Bears team and believes he has the most accurate read of the situation.
Meet Kerry Kirilenko, the man with the giant Thunder Bears podcast and one of the hardest working content creators in the GBC – if not the BBA. He created his media brand in 2058, shortly after it was first announced that Moscow would receive a GBC franchise. But even he never expected the exhaustive highs and lows that were to come to the team in just 4 seasons of GBC play. Here is an excerpt from Kirilenko’s channel, he discusses how we got here, and where the team might be headed.
You have to go back to the start in 2059 and the culture Brandon Tucker put in. The first season was rough, and that was to be expected. The whole expansion year thing. But 2060 was incredible, a first-place finish and things were put together ideally. When Tucker left for the BBA – which I totally understand, Mexico City is an awesome team – it did its damage down the line. It was strange to see him exit and yet have the team continue to prosper and reach even greater heights.
We ignored the danger signs as a few prospective GM’s quickly came and went. We then thought interim general managers could get it done. And they did. But there was a little part of it that didn’t feel right. It wasn’t natural.
Maybe I was even to blame for some of this. I got caught up in the hype. After Tucker left, the front office stopped giving interviews or putting out content. Our owner Razvan Carstea is quite reclusive. He’s a very standoff owner that always deals with the team in private. Doesn’t like any spotlight at all. So with the lack of info coming out of Moscow HQ, my business boomed, as I got a chance to fill that void and become the voice of the team – for better or for worse. I got to cover another division title and then in 2062 we won it all. It was exciting and exhilarating. But what I failed to see was that the franchise got overconfident and overlooked the things that were not being done. And then in 2063, things really crumbled.
The turning point was during and right after the championship. No one organized a parade. No discounts or free food at Denny’s. We did more to celebrate on my podcast than the actual franchise did. There was a lot of nervousness in the clubhouse despite winning it all. Everyone was acting too safe, just politely clapping instead of getting rowdy and having fun out there. The reason for that? The entire coaching staff was on the last year of their contract. It was the elephant in the room during that 2062 run. And then in a few weeks after we won it all, our worst fears were realized. The whole coaching staff – gone. No contracts renewed. A whole new coaching staff hired, but still no full-time GM. No comment from the ownership or front office. Radio silence.
You can only imagine what that does to the players on a championship team. The disillusionment. You could see it on the field, as everyone felt they were going through the motions, playing for coaches no one knew. It showed up most often on the defensive side. Fielders didn’t make the plays they were supposed to make. No focus and the errors piled up. Too many hitters were walked, too many gopher balls. We played unprepared and didn’t focus on the details. By the time our new GM Mike Bauer joined, it was too late. The team played well in short bursts, but it was tough to reset and shake off the stink of the terrible start.
All of this took its toll on the new manager Brayden Bonaddio. The stress piled up as he tried to manage the team under these strange circumstances. And changing GM’s during the season probably added to his stress, despite what Bauer might claim. His retirement last October probably shouldn’t have been a surprise.
I say all of this as we start the new 2064 season. I’m cautiously optimistic that better days are ahead. Bauer is settled in now, and the organization is running a tight ship again. This new manager Caldwell might be okay. He’s at least had more time to bond with the GM and the team than Bonaddio got. There’s a lot of communication from the front office and the fans no longer feel left in the dark. Tickets are a little cheaper. The team is younger now, but they haven’t stopped spending and they’re trying to build a solid core. Even if the winning doesn’t come as quickly as it did with Tucker, we’re in a better place than last year.
It’s been almost a year since Mike Bauer took control of GBC Moscow, but the veteran GM is still trying to piece together what all went wrong in the 2063 collapse. While many in the media are pointing fingers in several directions and perhaps drawing hasty conclusions, there’s one renowned fan who has the pulse of this T-Bears team and believes he has the most accurate read of the situation.
Meet Kerry Kirilenko, the man with the giant Thunder Bears podcast and one of the hardest working content creators in the GBC – if not the BBA. He created his media brand in 2058, shortly after it was first announced that Moscow would receive a GBC franchise. But even he never expected the exhaustive highs and lows that were to come to the team in just 4 seasons of GBC play. Here is an excerpt from Kirilenko’s channel, he discusses how we got here, and where the team might be headed.
- kerry_k.jpg (20.96 KiB) Viewed 296 times
We ignored the danger signs as a few prospective GM’s quickly came and went. We then thought interim general managers could get it done. And they did. But there was a little part of it that didn’t feel right. It wasn’t natural.
Maybe I was even to blame for some of this. I got caught up in the hype. After Tucker left, the front office stopped giving interviews or putting out content. Our owner Razvan Carstea is quite reclusive. He’s a very standoff owner that always deals with the team in private. Doesn’t like any spotlight at all. So with the lack of info coming out of Moscow HQ, my business boomed, as I got a chance to fill that void and become the voice of the team – for better or for worse. I got to cover another division title and then in 2062 we won it all. It was exciting and exhilarating. But what I failed to see was that the franchise got overconfident and overlooked the things that were not being done. And then in 2063, things really crumbled.
The turning point was during and right after the championship. No one organized a parade. No discounts or free food at Denny’s. We did more to celebrate on my podcast than the actual franchise did. There was a lot of nervousness in the clubhouse despite winning it all. Everyone was acting too safe, just politely clapping instead of getting rowdy and having fun out there. The reason for that? The entire coaching staff was on the last year of their contract. It was the elephant in the room during that 2062 run. And then in a few weeks after we won it all, our worst fears were realized. The whole coaching staff – gone. No contracts renewed. A whole new coaching staff hired, but still no full-time GM. No comment from the ownership or front office. Radio silence.
You can only imagine what that does to the players on a championship team. The disillusionment. You could see it on the field, as everyone felt they were going through the motions, playing for coaches no one knew. It showed up most often on the defensive side. Fielders didn’t make the plays they were supposed to make. No focus and the errors piled up. Too many hitters were walked, too many gopher balls. We played unprepared and didn’t focus on the details. By the time our new GM Mike Bauer joined, it was too late. The team played well in short bursts, but it was tough to reset and shake off the stink of the terrible start.
All of this took its toll on the new manager Brayden Bonaddio. The stress piled up as he tried to manage the team under these strange circumstances. And changing GM’s during the season probably added to his stress, despite what Bauer might claim. His retirement last October probably shouldn’t have been a surprise.
I say all of this as we start the new 2064 season. I’m cautiously optimistic that better days are ahead. Bauer is settled in now, and the organization is running a tight ship again. This new manager Caldwell might be okay. He’s at least had more time to bond with the GM and the team than Bonaddio got. There’s a lot of communication from the front office and the fans no longer feel left in the dark. Tickets are a little cheaper. The team is younger now, but they haven’t stopped spending and they’re trying to build a solid core. Even if the winning doesn’t come as quickly as it did with Tucker, we’re in a better place than last year.