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I'll put this here because it involves more than just TWL. We made a mistake in having a summer league, let's face it. As an example, half of my squad lives in places like Finnland, Iceland, and Seattle, three places where you do not take the 2 months of sun you get a year for granted. In short, no one wants to be home during the weekend in the summer. But what's done is done, and here's to looking forward.
We have already had 2 seasons of TWL this year, so a complete third season is unreasonable and will burn TWL players out. So it is a good idea to have the draft tournament next; however, I think it would be a really bad idea to wait until 2012 to start playing TWL again. 6 whole months with no TWL, at this point in TW's life-span could be devastating. In short, we will lose a lot of players if we wait so long to get back into it. So here's the brief summary of what I propose we do:
After TWL ends, have a 2 week break and release the TW Draft Tournament Rating thread in early September. This time of the year has historically been the time when activity jumps back up, we should take advantage of this and start a buzz over the draft tournament. Allow 2 weeks for the rating to come in and be flamed and reviewed, pick the teams, and start the tournament. After it is finished, which should take 9 weeks, everyone will be ready for TWL. Begin TWL in November and play half of the games before Xmas break. Have a mid-season all-star game during the break. Come back in january and finish the second half of the season which takes much longer than the first half with replaysa nd playoffs, and will go through February. Then you can think about whether you want to try BWC or do TWDT again, and then start TWL again in September.
So here's what it will look like:
August 14: Season 15 finals, TWL ends. Take 2 week off.
August 28: Rating thread is released, captains assigned, allow 1 week for ratings to be updated and discussed.
September 4: Draft players, create teams, allow 1 week for trades.
September 11: Begin TWDT, 7 games played, 2 weeks for playoffs, 9 weeks total.
November 6: TWDT Finals, announce TWL qualification date to be cutoff in 1 week, and to begin in 2 weeks.
November 20: Begin TWL Season 16. There were 10 teams this season, assuming that doesn't change, that gives 9 weeks of regular season games. Have the first 5 before X-mas break, game #1 nov. 20, #2 nov. 27, #3 Dec. 4, #4 Dec. 11th, and game #5 Dec. 18.
December 25, January 1: X-mas break. 3 week breaks are too long IMO. We could have the all-star game anywhere in this time period, as no one really cares about it but it would be nice to have it for shits and giggles, or not, who cares.
January 8: Game 6, and finish out the 4 regular season games, 1 week for make ups, and 3 weeks for playoffs, this has the season ending at the end of February.
Conclusion: It may seem unorthodox to split the season like this, but we have done it in the past, 1 year I had to wait 3 weeks after semi's to play finals. The most important thing is with our current season ending in 3 weeks, we will have to wait way too long to start again if we wait til 2012, and I think TW is too fragile to hope people will stay around or come back after such a delay.
Notes: I only allowed 2 weeks for playoffs in TWDT. IMO, only 4 teams should make playoffs and we shouild start at semifinals. We do not need 6 of the 8 teams making playoffs or the regular season becomes almost meaningless. We can have a 2 week break after this TWL season ends, with plenty of time to pick players for TWDT, as well as have a another 2 week break after TWDT ends before we start TWL season 16. What do you guys think?
We have already had 2 seasons of TWL this year, so a complete third season is unreasonable and will burn TWL players out. So it is a good idea to have the draft tournament next; however, I think it would be a really bad idea to wait until 2012 to start playing TWL again. 6 whole months with no TWL, at this point in TW's life-span could be devastating. In short, we will lose a lot of players if we wait so long to get back into it. So here's the brief summary of what I propose we do:
After TWL ends, have a 2 week break and release the TW Draft Tournament Rating thread in early September. This time of the year has historically been the time when activity jumps back up, we should take advantage of this and start a buzz over the draft tournament. Allow 2 weeks for the rating to come in and be flamed and reviewed, pick the teams, and start the tournament. After it is finished, which should take 9 weeks, everyone will be ready for TWL. Begin TWL in November and play half of the games before Xmas break. Have a mid-season all-star game during the break. Come back in january and finish the second half of the season which takes much longer than the first half with replaysa nd playoffs, and will go through February. Then you can think about whether you want to try BWC or do TWDT again, and then start TWL again in September.
So here's what it will look like:
August 14: Season 15 finals, TWL ends. Take 2 week off.
August 28: Rating thread is released, captains assigned, allow 1 week for ratings to be updated and discussed.
September 4: Draft players, create teams, allow 1 week for trades.
September 11: Begin TWDT, 7 games played, 2 weeks for playoffs, 9 weeks total.
November 6: TWDT Finals, announce TWL qualification date to be cutoff in 1 week, and to begin in 2 weeks.
November 20: Begin TWL Season 16. There were 10 teams this season, assuming that doesn't change, that gives 9 weeks of regular season games. Have the first 5 before X-mas break, game #1 nov. 20, #2 nov. 27, #3 Dec. 4, #4 Dec. 11th, and game #5 Dec. 18.
December 25, January 1: X-mas break. 3 week breaks are too long IMO. We could have the all-star game anywhere in this time period, as no one really cares about it but it would be nice to have it for shits and giggles, or not, who cares.
January 8: Game 6, and finish out the 4 regular season games, 1 week for make ups, and 3 weeks for playoffs, this has the season ending at the end of February.
Conclusion: It may seem unorthodox to split the season like this, but we have done it in the past, 1 year I had to wait 3 weeks after semi's to play finals. The most important thing is with our current season ending in 3 weeks, we will have to wait way too long to start again if we wait til 2012, and I think TW is too fragile to hope people will stay around or come back after such a delay.
Notes: I only allowed 2 weeks for playoffs in TWDT. IMO, only 4 teams should make playoffs and we shouild start at semifinals. We do not need 6 of the 8 teams making playoffs or the regular season becomes almost meaningless. We can have a 2 week break after this TWL season ends, with plenty of time to pick players for TWDT, as well as have a another 2 week break after TWDT ends before we start TWL season 16. What do you guys think?
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