h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Guys, I'd like to get your opinion on something here.

As you might know, I've been playing American Fotball in Scotland for the past four years, and during that time I've only played with the one team I joined up with when I started.
Recently a new team started up closer to where I stay and they've asked me to sign up for them and move away from my old team.

To be honest, I don't know what to do. It's been on my mind for the past month, going back and forth between the pros and cons for each team.

So I thought I'd see what your thoughts were on the subject.

On the one hand, we have the Glasgow Tigers, the team I started playing with four years ago, where I am currently the starting center. The team has made drastic improvements since I started, from going through my rookie season winless and not scoring a single point, to making our first play-off appearance for a long time this past season being eliminated in the first round of the play offs.
With the Tigers, I know the guys, we have a good chemistry in the team and the O-line is starting to really come together after getting some additions in the past season.
The main reason I'd want to stay is because of the loyalty I feel towards the team and the guys that have become as a family to me here in Scotland. We get up to organising stuff outside of football and generaly have a good time (Strip clubs, poker nights etc etc).
One of the downsides of the Tigers is that it's about an hour's travel to get to practice each time, and with practice twice a week, I will rack up massive amounts of mileage on my car over the football season and it'll cost me a bundle. It also means that on a Wednesday when I have practice, I leave for work at 7 in the morning, and won't be back until about 11pm. The coaches at the Tigers has told me that if the cost of travel is too much, I don't need to make each practice, but since I am who I am, I don't want to not go to a practice session if I'm not physically incapable of doing so. Mainly because it feels like I'm letting my team mates down, and that I'm missing practice time and time to go through the playbook.

On the other hand, we have the West Coast Trojans, the new team starting up in the town where I work. They're just starting up, so I only know a couple of the guys that have played for the Tigers and other teams previously, but most of the faces are totally new to me which means that we'll have to build things up from scratch again.
The main reason why I'd go to the Trojans is because of the shorter travel times where I can go back home from work on a Wednesday and then get back to practice on a week day as it's only about 20 minutes from home or 5 minutes from work. It'll save me a bundle of money because of the cutdown on travel compared to the Tigers, however, since the team is just starting up, it'll cost me more in subs to cover the first season of play.
The drawback with the Trojans. well, the only drawback I can think of, except for the extra subs, is that I'm pretty certain that I'll be fighting for a starting job on the O-line and I'll most certainly not be the Center as they're talking about brining in some guy that's currently playing semi-pro in the US and has USC experience and stuff. On the other hand, I could probably learn a lot by playing and training beside that guy.

Now, what would you do? Would loyalty to your old team and teammates prevail over the uncertainties of the new team? Would the cut in cost of travel be able to sway you to move from your current team?

The difference in subs looks to be abot £200 more for the Trojans season, while the travel costs is most likely a lot more than that to get to the Tigers practices twice a week.

Te Trojans guys wants a definite answer by January 9th..

Ooh a free agency delimma!

I'm consulting my legal team to check the small print.

To give you an indea of how much I travelled last year when playing for the Tigers I'll give you this info:

I bought my car in February of last year. It had 9300 miles on the clock when I bought it.
Mid September, I had my little roundabout incident, which meant that I had to writ ethe car off, and at that time, I had 18000 miles on the clock.
So, that means that I did a lot of travelling, most of it to practice and back.

OK I've played volleyball for a number of teams and these are some of my thoughts ...

- Most importantly ... you have to ensure that you enjoy what you're doing.

- Never do things for the money. Unless you're on the breadline, you should ignore the money situation as much as possible and make your choice based on all other factors. Perhaps you can include the money thing if the two choices weigh up evenly.

- I'm don't believe in the 'loyalty' thing. I believe you make a commitment to your team for the season and you do everything you can to see that through. That includes making it to training every week, put in the time and thought outside of training, and working damn hard during training and at every game.

- I always want to be a better player and improve. Even if I was a NFL RB like Emmitt Smith, I would still be going to training saying "I can improve". For this reason, what are the

- What will the quality of coaching be between these two teams? One of the things that has most annoyed me during my volleyball 'career' is training and playing with teams where I have no opportunity to improve my game.

All in all, I would go train with the new team and see what the prospects are like. Will we be winning? Can I improve as a player?

BBS

My two other thoughts ...

1) you could use the possibility of the new team to try and negotiate less playing costs with your current team. That would show you how much they value you (and your loyalty).

2) Don't let the Trojans pressure you with a January 9th deadline. Especially if you haven't trained with them, or got much fixed info about costs, playing time etc.

BBS

Agree with BBS. Plus:

A) As you played in the BSL last year for another team you would need to arrange to be 'transferred' to the Trojans for next season. Depending on the distance between the two teams should be OK but something think about as both teams would have to agree to it.

B) Go to the team you think is best for your amfoot career.

C) Double check how solid the Trojans are organisationally. New BSL teams have, historically, the tendency to disappear before the season starts or during. New teams sometimes fold after one season as well. What details I have seen of the Trojans they seem very professional & proactive in recruitment & publicity. The BSL have criteria to reduce this in the League application process, but it can happen.

D) If necessary go with your heart!

I have been to a couple of practice sessions with the Trojans, and the thing is that at 4 years of senior experisnce, I'm the most experienced player there, and they don't have a designated Line-coach, so they asked me to take the rookies through the paces and give them some basics and work on their fundamentals.
This means, though, that if I have any bad habits that I don't think about, I will pass them omn to the new guys. so, coaching... Not really. On the other hand, it's the same at the Tigers.

The January 9th deadline, is more of a "We want the players for the 2005 season to be dedicated to the Trojans only when we start back up after the Christmas break, and no one affiliated with another team will be welcome to Trojans practice".
So, if I want to keep training with the Trojans after the 9th, I would need to commit to them.

Weighing the pros and cons, this one actually seemed pretty one-sided to me. On one hand you could have a shorter commute to a team on which you would have a backup role on a potentially bad team. On the other you had a longer drive to a team where you're an established starter on a playoff-caliber club, and you were a part of that rise from ineptitude to competitiveness.

Yeah, it'd be cheaper to be a Trojan, but after all those years of taking your lumps with the Tigers, you deserve the winning atmosphere. Being a Trojan would mean taking your lumps all over again.

And of course, the opportunity to start is yours as a Tiger, and you'd have to earn it all over again as a Trojan.

But on the topic of opportunities, I was suddenly struck by: "at 4 years of senior experisnce, I'm the most experienced player there, and they don't have a designated Line-coach, so they asked me to take the rookies through the paces and give them some basics and work on their fundamentals." Is this an indication of an opportunity to coach? And would you be at all interested?

I think Blathers has summed it quite nicely. Really the main benefit to the Trojans is saving your resources e.g. time & money. Also you may get an opportunity to do some coaching, but perhaps you could do that at the Tigers.

Be careful with the coaching, it has positives and negatives.
My own experience if you do it properly is:
1) in demonstrating good technique to others, it usually improves your own.
2) you don't get time to practice yourself. If you coach properly you'll be watching the others and checking they're doing their thing properly.
3) During games, I find my dominant habit has become to analyse the play of others. Once your concentration wanders, you play below your standard.

Any option to hedge your bets and stay unaffiliated to both teams? Then you could train with them both!

Final point ... you said that you're not guaranteed a starting place at the Tigers because they're possibly going to get a semi-pro guy from the States. Shouldn't he be coaching? Why hasn't he signed by January 9th?

I'm beginning to think stay with the Tigers. Nothing to stop you moving to the new team in 2006.

BBS

Don't know how I missed this and don't know if you've made up your mind yet.

Heres my thought,
I would go to the new club.

Why?
Apart from what is the obvious driver,time and distance.
I'd be excited to be part of a new adventure.
Think about the time you've been at the old club,how much more do you get taught each year being a vetran rather than a rookie.The law of diminishing returns eh?
Think about being put back under the microscope as an unknown,having your technique examined.The chance to enhance and learn new skills.
Also able to influence and mentor the new players coming in who may have no knowledge or technique.
Opportunities to try new positions,who says you have to be starting centre,if the Yank comes in,yes you might get demoted,you might end up at Guard,you'll certainly up your own game,by having competition.
And theres that magic of potential,a new team doesn't necessarily mean a losing season.If the management and coaches focus on fundamentals and you have a core of experienced players,its a starting point to greatness.

You want 'what ifs' look no further than Texas.3 years to get way beyond just respectability to being treated as a serious threat every week.

I had the same dilemma a decade ago,going to a new team after going through the BYAFA ranks with another club,everyone else stayed with the senior team within the club and I really questioned my decision at times.
I went back to being an unknown rookie from being a defensive captain,by the end of my first year I had moved from inside backer to outside backer and end.If anyone had said I'd be playing defensive end the previous year I'd have scoffed loudly.My entire weekly regime changed,my training shifted,I was surrounded by players who were able to give me so many insights.It was an incredible experience.

In any case whatever you decide to do let us know.

Decision has been made, guys.

I decided to stay one more year with the Tigers.

Yes, it would be interesting and exciting to be part of starting afresh with a brand spanking new team, but right now I can't think of enough reasons for me to leave.

The decision is for this season only, so next year, I might decide to transfer over to the Greenock team instead, but for now, and for the rest of the year, I will be a Tiger, not a Trojan.

Hmm.. That just struck me..

Tiger = Beer
Trojan = Condom

HURRAH !!

How's the decision turning out?

BBS

Well, after one game, the Tigers are sitting at 0-0-1 after our almost traditional first game draw against the Edinburgh Wolves, while the Trojans won their first game of the season against the reigning Scottish division champs.
There were a lot of players that signed up for the Trojans towards the start of the season, including a lot of players from the East Kilbride Pirate, who are currently playing in Division 1, so they have a lot of god playerss and a very strong team.

Next weekend, we'll face off against the Trojans at home at Cambuslang Rugby Club, KO at 2.30PM (shameless plug for anyone that might be in the vicinity at the time) and we'll see how we'll fare against them.

Been a lot of driving back and forth to practice and at one point I was wavering towards transfering over to the Trojans, because we had low numbers at practice week in and week out. It's not much fun to run through practice with only 12-14 players each week, and then on game day there's 30-35 people turning up at the bus to get a game. But I'm going to stick with my decision for the entire season and see how things pan out.

Two more games since last update and it's been mixed fortunes for the Tigers.
After about a month of training after the Edinburgh game where we drew, we faced the newcomers to the Scottish division, the West Coast Trojans.
We got humped. Simple as that.
They came out and started beating up on us and on our first drive of the game they got flagged for one unsportsmanlike conduct, one unnecessary roughnes (which should have been another unsportsmanlike, in my opinion as the guy walked over to our QB well after the play was over and hit him over the head) and a defensive holding penalty.
After we scored on that drive, we stalled, and a few series afterwards, they took out our QB with a kidney shot which unfortunately was totally legal as the defender was going for the tackle when the QB was in his passing motion.
After that, it got tougher, but we still held on for the halftime score of 6-6. Second half started the same way as the first, with them physically dominating us, and it's hard to play ball when you're looking over your shoulder trying to see when the next cheap shot will come.
Final score in that game: Trojans 36 - Tigers 6

Yesterday, only one week after the beating we suffered from the Trojans, we travelled to Edinburgh again and we decided that enough was enough and that we had to win the game. First play of the game was a called fake swee left, reverse, and the entire Edinburgh defense fell for the sweep and when the play turned to the other side, there were a ton of blockers keeping the defense from stopping our guy who raced 51 yards for the opening score. That et the tone for the game and the half ended 21-0 to the Tigers after two passing TDs added the to the score.
Also the Tigers Defense once again stopped the Edinburgh D on the 1-yard line (Edinburgh had a 1st and Goal from the 1) as the Edinburgh O-line broke down and the Tigers Defense sacked the QB for a loss of 18 yards. The ensuing field goal attempt as the Wolves didn't manage to punch it in failed to leave the score at 21-0 at the half.

Second half, the Tigers added a 4th score (third passing TD for the Tigers QB) and the Wolves managed once again to move the ball downfield to the 1 yard line, and this time they bulldozed through with about a foot to spare to get the score.

Final score 27-7 in favour of the Glasgow Tigers.

Tigers are now in second place in the Scottish division by virtue of having a win over the Wolves.

Table stands with Trojans at 3-0, Glasgow and Edinburgh both at 1-1-1 and Dundee Hurricanes at 0-3

What did you decide to do this year Ku'Reshtin?

BBS

Staying with the Tigers for the duration of my playing career. Unless I move somewhere completely different, of course.

Having played against the Trojans last season, I now think they're a bunch of cheap-shotting b*tches and wouldn't want to associate myself with them.

How's the season going? Give us an update on your team's fortunes ...

BBS

The season so far this year is a complete disaster.
The week before the season, one of the teams in our division (Edinburgh) decided that they didn't have enough players to complete the season, so they folded, leaving the other three Scottish teams with only 7 games instead of the regular 10 games.

Team morale has been down for a number of reasons, including lack of bodies at practice, some college players feeling left out of the team in general and a lot of injuries.

So far, we're 0-5 this season, and we've gotten worse as the season progressed.
Our first game of the season was against the Scottish Champions (Trojans) and we fought them hard and they beat us by 34-20 or something. We actually held the lead in that game for most of a quarter before they pulled away in the fourth quarter to get the win.
At that game, we had about 29 players, and that number has steadily declined ever since.

The last game (played yesterday), we had 20 players kitted, including one with a cracked collar bone and one with a hairline fracture in his arm. It seemed as if the only position we had enough players was the O-line and D-line, where we had 8 or 9 guys. That, of course meant that we only had about 12 players to play the other positions needed for a football team, and it just didn't work.

So yesterday we got resoundingliy beat by the Trojans 84-0 with them running the ball most of the first half and then, when they were up 44-0, they put in their starting QB in the second half and started passing the ball for another 40 points in the second half.
They even went no huddle offence inside the 2 minute warning of the fourth quarter to try and rack up even more points.

very classy outfit, those Trojans... Can you see now why I don't want to be associated with them?

Hasn't Gregg Easterbrook got a law about teams that run up the score in an unsportmanship like way?