Next will be to roll new 2041 sheet (Jouve, you'll be in there!)...this should happen before the day is out.
As always, please don’t hesitate to report errors.
League-wide Report:
While our forum posting did, admittedly, flag a little (163/team last year, 135 this), this league just continues to astound. Only two members ended up under the base expectations, and on the whole the energy around the league continues to be outstanding across the board.
RECORDS SET: Buoyed by a several newish high-volume guys (yes, I’m lookin’ at you, Vic), and some reliable performances from the rest, our TN totals surged, and we also saw the beginnings of a multi-team shared world thread of news stories that we’ve now begun to capture in “Operation Blueprint.” Much fun. Bottom line, the TN totals a per capita basis was a new BBA record.
Similarly, it’s clear the Podcast bug has settled in our midst, with 2040 seeing the rise of several outstanding productions, including Nile’s “What’s Brewing in the Brewster,” the classic AFBI, new division previews in Taylor’s “It’s the Frick’n Pacific,” and the Brett/Fred/Joe/Chris/ “Frontier Roundup.” The Commish rang in with his “Commish’s Corner.” And then came Doug’s sublime “Brewstopocene Reviewed,” which I think we can all agree to give 5-stars. I didn’t do an actual count, but podcasting continues to grow around the BBA, and I’m pretty sure this season saw a new level of achievement.
Here are our numbers on the year (removing me from the numbers)
PPT/Tm: 66.5 (Avg:44.2)
TN/Tm: 18.0 (Avg: 11.2)
Posts/Tm: 163.0 (Avg: 135.1)
Exports: This season also saw a solid 92,8% export rate—which is in the mid-range of our past performance. Export rate is probably the most important measure of participation, but it’s noted that in the end our final number was a shade lower due to life rolls and outside influences rather than GM turnover—which is to be expected. As I said last season, “Overall, the league seems as vibrant and stable today as it ever has, and with a healthy and developing UMEBA (which is filled with solid GMs despite being "raided" by BBA teams at points), the future looks brilliant.”
Here are the top level BBA run-charts:
Slack: I should also note that participation in Slack has also been on the rise, and has seen several very good conversations. The existence of this tool (and Discord) have been the subject of no little conversation (will it reduce participation elsewhere?), so it's noteworthy that the TN and podcast numbers (as well as overall PPT scores) would say it's existence is (if anything) a positive. Forum posts are down, but a scan of where they are down the most is inconclusive in that the larger Slack contributors don't seem to have dramatically reduced their presence on the boards.
While we'll keep paying attention, the bottom line is that the Slacks of the world have clearly not brought the league any great troubles, and may well be enhancing certain elements of it.
If you haven't spent much time there, I'd say you can't go wrong with giving it a shot.
UMEBA
As promised, we’ve now got enough data for the UMEBA to begin a meaningful tracking, so that’s what I’ve done. It’s a bit of a different situation, though, because with only 8 teams, one GM has a lot more influence.
Bottom line, though, we appear to be in very good space even though some raw numbers dropped. (The biggest issue here was with Baghdad and Greg Harren, who had obvious family issues side-track him before he’s eventually had to step down and take a more vulture-like role until he’s ready to rejoin). Greg’s situation resulted in several numbers fading a bit—which is, of course, fine. Fake baseball is all that, but it’s not life, right?
Bottom line, though, while we will still not be strict in enforcing PPT requirements for UMEBA GMs as they come up to speed, three of the eight teams met requirements, a fourth GM (Jerusalem’s Mike Simon) moved to the BBA, where he also me requirements, two others were extremely close, Dillon in Manama started late, but still managed a few TNs and a stellar export record.
With Jovre’s inclusion, I think the UMEBA remains a strong little start-up who could. That we held such a robust conversation on the boards about the future of the league is a very, very good sign.
Here are the UMEBA numbers on the year
PPT: 153 (Avg:161)
TN: 39 (Avg: 18)
Posts: 244 (Avg: 390)
The 200 Club:
I would be remiss in mentioning that 2040 also saw a new member of the previously un-credited "200 Club," in that Chicago’s Vic Cleca scored an amazing 459 PPT, making him the sixth GM in league history to achieve 200+.
He managed this achievement by instituting a series of outstanding modules that included series overviews, farm system reviews, and other existential and always well-done commentaries on his team and the people who run it—not to mention his efforts spawning the aforementioned Operation Blueprint, which is almost certainly of the more twisted series of cross-team storylines the league has ever seen.
Please join me in applauding Vic for putting that kind of effort into making quality content. The man did not just mail it in on his way to 211 TN.
- Al Hoot (2002)
- Ed Murphy (2012, 2013, 2022)
- Aaron Weiner (2019, 2020, 2021)
- Ron Collins (2027, 2031-2039, 2040)
- Joe Lederer (2039)
- Vic Caleca (2040)