CSL Review - August 12th, 2004

Greetings & Salutations In an effort to improve communication in the league, this will serve as a newsletter for all members of the Cyber Sports League regarding various topics in the league. It will keep everyone up to date with what is going on around the league & give you some insight on where the league is going in the future.

Around The CSL

NFL: Season 5 is currently in the play offs & Season 6 is currently forming. Good luck to all the participants currently in the play offs. Season 6 is set to kick off at the conclusion of the Season 5 play offs.

NBA: Season 2 is currently underway. Although we would like to see more participation in the league, the 8 owners currently involved are enjoying the league at this point. Hopefully in subsequent seasons we'll be able to add more owners.

MLB: Season 1 is well underway. There has been a steady turnover in owners in this league. We hope to nail down several more owners who will be in it for the long haul to increase the stability of the league.

NHL: Season 1 is currently in the play offs. The next version of hockey is due out in September & we hope to see an influx of new owners joining the league thereafter.

Tennis: For those who haven't noticed...I am in the process of putting together a Tennis league for the CSL. At this point we have 5-6 of us interested in playing. The game we have selected is Top Spin. It will be our first X-Box title featured in the CSL. We're still in the testing phases...but it seems like XSNSports.com has all of the tools we'll need to run the league smoothly. Although the participation level is low (5 players)...we hope to see an increase as the league continues to develop.

CBA & SOCOM

Due to a lack of participation...I have decided to close down the CBA league & SOCOM team. The CBA started out with a flourish but the dedication of the owners started to wane as the weeks passed. We re-formatted the structure of the league in hopes of jump starting it, but it seemed as if it was a little too late as the participants in the league continued to dwindle with each passing day. The SOCOM team was a good idea, but it just never really surfaced. The CBA & SOCOM websites & forums will be removed from our site over the next few days.

New Leagues

There are plans in the works for the CSL to expand into both the golf & soccer arenas in the near future. Hot Shots Fore! has been targetted as the game of choice for the golf league. We are still working out the specifics on how the league will be run & what rules need to be in place. Once the game is officially released, we'll have a better idea of what online capabilities are offered. As far as soccer goes, talk has focused on either the Winning Eleven series or FIFA series being used as the game of choice. Winning Eleven currently doesn't support online play, so it is likely that the FIFA series will likely be used if this league surfaces in the next year. We'll keep everyone informed as things develop.

In addition to golf & soccer, there is also potential for a Volleyball & a racing league to develop in the future. Volleyball isn't a priority...but we could possibly look into using Outlaw Volleyball (X-Box). The racing league is mainly a follow-up to Bruce's desire to bring NASCAR (aka Neck-Car) to the CSL. A title still has not been identified as the game of choice. If & when a title is identified & a league is going to form...Bruce will likely slide over from his role as NFL Commissioner into that of NASCAR Commissioner. If & when that happens...Joe, Jeff & Than will be given the opportunity to take over as the NFL Commissioner.

Ladders

As great of an idea as this was...and as great as it is to have a monthly tournament. It just doesn't look like the league is dedicated enough to support this. From my view point...the concept of a ladder simply hasn't caught on...and it just doesn't seem as if the league wants to support this. We've lost several of our ladders due to inactivity (i.e., the hosting site has deleted our ladders for games not being reported to the ladder for a period of time; I believe 1 month). At this point, we'll forego the use of our current ladder system (i.e., myleagues.com). If & when the demand for a ladder and/or regular tournaments surfaces, we can re-evaluate this decision.

Scheduling Restrictions

I have decided to go forward with my original idea of restricting all subsequent leagues from scheduling more than a single game for a given week. The main reason here is that I want to encourage more of the CSL owners to participate in multiple CSL leagues. I think playing owners in multiple leagues grants a type of continuity & promotes more rivalries between league members. Since it is unlikely that owners would be able to dominate in all of the games that the CSL offers...it will also force some owners to learn to be humble...both in victory & defeat. I think with our current structure...where league commissioners can vary the schedule as they see fit...it makes it very hard for owners to participate in multiple leagues.

CSL Website

I'd like to see a little more updating on our league websites. I think something along the lines of a weekly address to the league by the league commissioner would go a long ways. I think just giving everyone in your league an update with what has transpired over the past week would be ideal. You could also use it as a platform to give some feedback to your owners as to how you see them performing or not performing. You could also use it as an opportunity to post a FAQ (frequently asked question)...I think a lot of owners (new & old) just aren't completely familiar with the rules...and a weekly close up of a snippet of the rules would be a great way to ensure that everyone is familiar with the rules. As a side note...each league commissioner should become intimately familiar with your league website. Look it over...read through the information that is posted there...and let me know if anything needs to be updated or changed. Another thing that league commissioners can consider is to select a feature writer to cover the league. When we first started out, Bruce did a great job with his Inside the CSL report. Personally, I thought the report added a lot of depth & personality to what would otherwise just be playing an online game against faceless opponents. We could see similar reports for the other leagues as well...CSL Inside Stuff (NBA), CSL Baseball Tonight (MLB), CSL NHL 2Night (NHL), etc.

Rule Enforcement

Plans are underway to re-vamp the rules. A lot of it needs to be re-written or at least explained a little better. I'm thinking about breaking it into 4 sections...General, League, Settings & Amendments. General would basically be a set of rules that I would come up with that would govern all CSL leagues. It would basically cover the conduct of owners & what is expected of them as a member of the CSL. League would cover league specific rules...which would be organized by the league commissioner. Settings would just cover the game specific settings we will be using for the league. Finally...Amendments would cover any rules that have changed or clarified since the beginning of the league. We would also identify these in the League rules by highlighting them in Red.

For those who have been here from the start, you probably noticed that the enforcement of league rules have become a little laxed as of late. You can expect this to end immediately. We have established rules for the betterment of the league & it will be our duty to make sure that it is enforced. Scheduling games & getting games in on time are two of the main rules that we intend on cracking down on from this point on. This allows us to weed out "dead beat" owners & it keeps the league operating smoothly & productively. It's better to weed out the troublesome owners than keeping them in just to keep our numbers up & just end up pissing off a solid owner who may get discouraged because he can't get in any games each week. As in the past, warnings will be given to owners who break our rules. Warnings will lead to suspensions & eventual dismissal from the league...so everyone needs to make sure they are intimately familiar with the rules for the leagues they are participating in. If you have a question regarding a rule, either contact the league commissioner or myself for clarification. Ignorance of a rule is not a valid excuse.

IRC - #cybersportsleague

This is another tool that seems to have not caught on with the league. I hope to be able to put together a walk-through to post on the web...basically showing everyone how to log in to the channel via Trillian. I think this would be an ideal method of keeping in touch with everyone...scheduling games...meeting for games...etc. We hope to have more of a presence on the channel on a daily basis. I've only seen a handful of people use the channel so far. It is a great tool...one that we should try our best to take advantage of.

League Daddy

For those owners who are participating in the NBA, MLB & NHL leagues...you are all intimately familiar with the capabilities of League Daddy. It makes our lives as league commissioners a lot easier & it ensures that league scores & statistics are updated in real time. In the past, you would have to wait until I had enough free time to make updates to the website. Through the use of League Daddy, the majority of the pertinent information (i.e., standings, scores, stats, etc.) are being updated by each of the owners in the league. It also allows for owners to submit reports on the game. This gives each owner the ability to show some of their personality.

On a more serious note, the league commissioners for each of the aforementioned leagues (Tony, James & Eric) have paid for the League Daddy fees out of their own pocket. They weren't asked to do this, but did it out of their goodness of their hearts. We can't expect any of them to continue to absorb the ongoing expense of using League Daddy...so each of the league participants should consider making a donation to the league so we can help defray the costs. I have set up two Pay Pal accounts for league use. Paypal@cybersportsleague.net is set up for those who have their checking or savings account tied to their Pay Pal account & creditcard@cybersportsleague.net has been set up for those who wish to use their credit cards to help out. If we do plan to use League Daddy as a long term solution for subsequent leagues, we will likely need to discuss charging some type of nominal fee $2-$5 per owner per league. We'll certainly discuss the pros & cons of such an arrangement before a final decision is made.

Miscellaneous

Although we get a lot of applications each week (we have hundreds on file)...we still need each of you to actively seek out the type of owner we are looking for in the CSL. We especially want to encourage you to invite your personal friends & acquaintances to join our league. It's a lot easier to welcome a new owner to the group if we have someone who can vouch for them.

I hope each of you are looking over the information posted on each of our league websites. If there is information missing...information that is inaccurate...etc...get with me so we can get these issues resolved. I try my best to do this on my own...but it will be a lot easier once we are all working on this together. If there are sections that you would like to see added, feel free to let me know as well.

Let me know if anyone has any suggestions...thoughts...questions...etc...

Kawika
CSLxLonewolf
CSL Commissioner

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Last Updated: Thursday, August 12th, 2004.
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