2063 - Repeat After Me: How do you follow up a UMEBA/GBC Cup?

[neugey]

In the second and final part of this BrewsterVerse feature, we look at the ability of UMEBA/GBC champs to win games coming off of a championship year. In the international realm, championship bliss hits hard, especially with the substance abuse and tomfoolery that often occurred in peak UMEBA days. The international level heightens GM turnover and there's the occasional BBA poach of top-line talent, further increasing a champion's roster volatility.

For this research, we'll start with the 2038 season. The UMEBA started in 2037 and ended with the Manama Pearls winning the trophy. But in the inaugural season only 79 games were played and it's very tough to compare that campaign to the rest of the 162-game slates. So starting with 2039, where Jerusalem tried to defend it's first-ever title, here is what the numbers bear out. (NOTE: The Unified History stopped tracking UMEBA/GBC in 2047 so I can't easily determine the general managers beyond that timeframe)

Legend:
Grade:
"." if the team achieved a similar win total as the prior year (0-4 wins less or 0-4 wins more)
"~" A tilde mark for each 5 wins less the team recorded than the prior year.
"*" A star fpr each 5 wins more the team recorded than the prior year.

LYWT - Last Year's Win Total
TYWT - This Year's Win Total
REP - "Y" if the team acheived a championship repeat in this season, otherwise "N"

Year	Team	Grade	LYWT	TYWT	Diff	Rep	General Manager
2039	Jerusalem Hebrew Hammers	~	95	87	-8	N	Brett Schroeder
2040	Mumbai Metro Stars	~~	96	84	-12	N	Calleca/Olmsted
2041	Jerusalem Hebrew Hammers	~~	98	85	-13	N	Ben Heuring
2042	Istanbul Boshphorus	.	90	90	0	Y	Robinson/Russell
2043	Istanbul Boshphorus	*	90	97	0	N	Jason Russell
2044	Kuwait City Alhafr#	.	97	NA	NA	N	Chad Nason
2045	Bucharest Impalers	**	96	109	+13	N	Jim Cox
2046	Mumbai Metro Stars	**	79	97	+18	Y	David Burcicki
2047	Mumbai Metro Stars	.	97	100	+3	Y	David Burcicki
2048	Mumbai Metro Stars	~~~	100	82	-18	N	UNKNOWN
2049	Athens Fighting Centaurs	~~~	92	76	-16	N	UNKNOWN
2050	Bucharest Impalers	~	93	88	-5	N	UNKNOWN
2051	Jerusalem Hebrew Hammers	~~~~~~	99	65	-34	N	UNKNOWN
2052	Tokyo Pearls	.	92	89	-3	N	UNKNOWN
2053	Buenos Aires Brisas	~	92	86	-6	N	UNKNOWN
2054	Tokyo Pearls	.	90	91	+1	N	UNKNOWN
2055	London Monarchs	.	92	92	0	N	UNKNOWN
2056	Cairo Pharaohs	~	94	87	-7	N	UNKNOWN
2057	Jerusalem Hebrew Hammers	~	90	85	-5	N	UNKNOWN
2058	London Monarchs	.	92	91	-1	Y	UNKNOWN
2059	London Monarchs	.	91	89	-2	N	UNKNOWN
2060	Cairo Pharaohs	~	107	98	-9	Y	UNKNOWN
2061	Cairo Pharaohs	.	98	95	-3	Y	UNKNOWN
2062	Cairo Pharaohs	**	95	107	+12	N	UNKNOWN
2063	Moscow Thunder Bears	?	84	?	?	?	Mike Neugebauer

# Per the Unified BBA History, the Alhafr folded after 2043. Thus there was no repeat opportunity.

Findings and Musings:
- The best win total improvement after a championship was +18 recorded David Burcicki's Mumbai team. The 18 win improvement also culminated in a successful repeat.
- The biggest win drop following a championship was the -34 recorded by the 2051 Hebrew Hammers. I think this record may stand the test of time. I should be able to clear this low bar with the 2063 T-Bears. God I hope!
- In a sign that even the BrewsterVerse can be a screwed up place to exist, the 2045 Mumbai team actually won the championship with 79 wins - a losing regular season record. Yuck!
- My math (numbers here are hopefully correct or close to it) shows that a repeat champion on average loses -3.4 wins after winning a Brewster championship of the international variety. I was expecting a worse number here, so this is a mild surprise.

[CTBrewCrew]

My 2040 ‘HAMMAs!

[Dington]

Kuwait hit it and quit it. I wanna say the win differential in their two seasons of existence was 20+ games. The team was a bunch of beer league players in year one and absolutely crushed it year 2 when I was able to make some moves.