List Mgmt. Is the future of our game WWE?

[Gadzorks]

Watching the suns game was a lesson in misery. Those poor bastards.

The variation of talent across the 18*best 22 players clearly shows how few truly elite players there are across the competition.

Of the 792 listed players let's guess 180 (ten per team) are truly great., 138 (8) who are solid, 138 who are developing and the rest are unlikely to last more than min contact.
We lose players across all groups to injury.

We do not have an expanding talent or supporter pool - we are a small and aging population,
other and new sports are growing, the internet has widened access for other interests to replace sport, and there are athletes who don't want the intense scrutiny of Afl life. Joe is very close to that.

There just aren't enough players for a high quality competition that can put out nine enjoyable, quality games a week.

Watching games where teams are getting flogged (8-10+ goals) isn't fun. And there are multiple games like that every weekend

Sure, the teams at the top might change faster now, but instead of performance improving across the competition it's stacked draws, manipulations of draft, concessions, compensation picks, father son possible changes, salary cap and soon to be academy manipulations that are trying to plug inequities arising from a lack of talent depth. And those changes are supposed to make supporters feel good about their teams.

The longer season, reduced off season for finalists and, shudder, addition of more teams is scary.

I just feel my love of the team as a genuine, ride the waves experience is fading. I'm a bystander in a manipulated sporting story. I HATE WWE wrestling, but wonder if that is where we are headed.

 

[MSB ROYS]

Instead of limiting the number of teams (16 would be optimal), AFL decide to expand to 19 teams with a plan for 20. Quality has to drop. Also, as you say many younger just aren't that into the football codes.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Modern football is, for the most part, as boring as . If it wasn’t for irrational emotional ties to clubs, no one would bother with it.

 

[M Malice]

Instead of limiting the number of teams (16 would be optimal), AFL decide to expand to 19 teams with a plan for 20. Quality has to drop. Also, as you say many younger just aren't that into the football codes.

Totally agree, it's simple mathematics/supply, IMO they have made the same mistake with the AFLW, should have kept the quality higher for a minimum of 10 years or so and gone with a long term imbedded 8-10 team competition, expanded far too quickly and the standard has suffered dramatically.

With the way technology is evolving Homo Sapiens will be a species of Obese jelly people plugged into a Matrix in the not too distant future being entertained by Virtual Holographic sports people anyway... "our" team will win the GF every year and we will be blissfully ignorant little vegemites.

 

[McIvor]

Totally agree, it's simple mathematics/supply, IMO they have made the same mistake with the AFLW, should have kept the quality higher for a minimum of 10 years or so and gone with a long term imbedded 8-10 team competition, expanded far too quickly and the standard has suffered dramatically.

With the way technology is evolving Homo Sapiens will be a species of Obese jelly people plugged into a Matrix in the not too distant future being entertained by Virtual Holographic sports people anyway... "our" team will win the GF every year and we will be blissfully ignorant little vegemites.

I still maintain the AFLW should have been set up independently of the existing AFL clubs as 8-10 standalone teams. Would be a better talent pool, not to mention much easier to track in terms of interest of the sport.

 

[Tom14]

You say this is a bad thing but I’d have paid good money to become a corrupt wwe style umpire and fix last years grand final for us.

 

[kylegee28]

Couldn't think of a better way to determine who gets the number one draft pick.

 

[Elixuh]

You say this is a bad thing but I’d have paid good money to become a corrupt wwe style umpire and fix last years grand final for us.

https://pwwew.net/tv/smackdown/061222.htm

World Heavyweight Champion Batista wished SmackDown fans all over the world Happy Holidays, and as he began to talk about his year, he was visited by Santa Claus. As the Animal helped hand out gifts to the fans in attendance, Santa pulled out a lead pipe and leveled the champion.

Haven't read OP but assume this thread is about the WWE. I never watched the WWE, but happened to be watching on this fateful day. One of the best things I have ever seen. As described on this sketchy website.

 

[Tom14]

https://pwwew.net/tv/smackdown/061222.htm



Haven't read OP but assume this thread is about the WWE. I never watched the WWE, but happened to be watching on this fateful day. One of the best things I have ever seen. As described on this sketchy website.

Several great disguise moments in wwe history. This is a classic from the late 90s:

 

[Elixuh]

Several great disguise moments in wwe history. This is a classic from the late 90s:

90s WWF/WWE and into the early 2000s was the pinnacle of our society. Everything has gone downhill since.

 

[Tom14]

90s WWF/WWE and into the early 2000s was the pinnacle of our society. Everything has gone downhill since.

You can't understand America post the cold war without learning about the wrestling boom of the late 90s. Particularly the inflated stock bubble and the opiate epidemic part of it.

 

[Elixuh]

You can't understand America post the cold war without learning about the wrestling boom of the late 90s. Particularly the inflated stock bubble and the opiate epidemic part of it.

I remember eating dinner in a sports bar in Orlando in 2006 and they had Halo e-sports on free to air TV. That was back in 2006. As a young boy, I was amazed.

America was once the pinnacle.

 

[Tom14]

I remember eating dinner in a sports bar in Orlando in 2006 and they had Halo e-sports on free to air TV. That was back in 2006. As a young boy, I was amazed.

America was once the pinnacle.

Take me back:

 

[Elixuh]

Take me back:

I'm not ashamed to say I just watched that entire video.

 

[martinson]

You can't understand America post the cold war without learning about the wrestling boom of the late 90s. Particularly the inflated stock bubble and the opiate epidemic part of it.

The American dream died when Kennedy was shot and culturally it's been all downhill since. Whilst the USD remains the only currency with reliable back up value they can keep printing that till the cows come home and will maintain economic and military dominance. But the US Empire that began from the First World war is in a period of slow decline

youtube.com/watch?v=3NbQkyvbw18

 

[Tom14]

I'm not ashamed to say I just watched that entire video.

Greatest wrestling promo video ever.

Sometimes I wish I could wake up in the early 2000s, still thinking that the Phantom Menace was a great movie and get to tune in and watch the lions kill freo by 120 points with Lynchy kicking 8 from the square.

Limp Bizkit was the greatest band you'd ever heard, and then after school you'd race home to play goldeneye on the N64. Simpler time!

Anyway, what was this thread about again?

 

[Elixuh]

Greatest wrestling promo video ever.

Sometimes I wish I could wake up in the early 2000s, still thinking that the Phantom Menace was a great movie and get to tune in and watch the lions kill freo by 120 points with Lynchy kicking 8 from the square.

Limp Bizkit was the greatest band you'd ever heard, and then after school you'd race home to play goldeneye on the N64. Simpler time!

Anyway, what was this thread about again?

In a way, reminiscing about better times is in keeping with the theme of this thread. Kinda.

Here is to better times.

 

[Tom14]

The American dream died when Kennedy was shot and culturally it's been all downhill since. Whilst the USD remains the only currency with reliable back up value they can keep printing that till the cows come home and will maintain economic and military dominance. But the US Empire that began from the First World war is in a period of slow decline

youtube.com/watch?v=3NbQkyvbw18

Couldn't agree more. To relate this back to sport/footy chat, basically I'd say that Francis Fukuyama was one of the most overrated political theorists ever - the American victory in the cold war signalling the end of history my ass.

System theorist, building on the work of greater players who came before him and gave him the silver service of America as the sole global power.

Basically he's Nick Maxwell - lauded as this inspirational figure but one of the most overhyped, bottom 6 of the 22 players you'll ever see.

 

[McIvor]

Greatest wrestling promo video ever.

I wasn’t into WWE when these were on but had a friend who loved the stuff and he put me into these two clips where he maintains that in the 80’s the WWE was feeding its wrestlers roids and coke and these clips show Macho Man off his rocker:





Wish Fages would come out Macho Man style in his pressers lol

 

[Johnny Bananas]

There just aren't enough players for a high quality competition that can put out nine enjoyable, quality games a week.

I think there's a simpler solution for that than culling teams, which is reducing the number of players on the field for each side to 15/16. This might also lead to less congestion and more open play. The number on the bench could also fall, leading to list sizes being trimmed and the poorest players being shunted back to the state leagues.

Watching games where teams are getting flogged (8-10+ goals) isn't fun. And there are multiple games like that every weekend

But isn't that a reflection of how talent is distributed, rather than talent overall? I think the problem here is that in other leagues, players in free agency often sign megabucks deals with bad teams, whereas here it doesn't happen as often, players prefer to go to contenders for less money. Maybe that's due to the minimum list spend being too high, which limits how much a bad team can throw at a free agent.

 

[Jivlain]

Totally agree, it's simple mathematics/supply, IMO they have made the same mistake with the AFLW, should have kept the quality higher for a minimum of 10 years or so and gone with a long term imbedded 8-10 team competition, expanded far too quickly and the standard has suffered dramatically.

With the way technology is evolving Homo Sapiens will be a species of Obese jelly people plugged into a Matrix in the not too distant future being entertained by Virtual Holographic sports people anyway... "our" team will win the GF every year and we will be blissfully ignorant little vegemites.

----

Personally, my favourite wrestling matches are when a wrestler takes on the invisible man. Or, one of the best COVID innovations, socially distanced wrestling.

 

[Gadzorks]

I think there's a simpler solution for that than culling teams, which is reducing the number of players on the field for each side to 15/16. This might also lead to less congestion and more open play. The number on the bench could also fall, leading to list sizes being trimmed and the poorest players being shunted back to the state leagues.


But isn't that a reflection of how talent is distributed, rather than talent overall? I think the problem here is that in other leagues, players in free agency often sign megabucks deals with bad teams, whereas here it doesn't happen as often, players prefer to go to contenders for less money. Maybe that's due to the minimum list spend being too high, which limits how much a bad team can throw at a free agent.

The fewer players is my favorite of your options, but never going to happen. Players association world never allow.

 

[dlanod]

I still maintain the AFLW should have been set up independently of the existing AFL clubs as 8-10 standalone teams. Would be a better talent pool, not to mention much easier to track in terms of interest of the sport.

That one's tough - I would have loved to see them stop at that number and increment, but without the ties to the existing clubs and the built-in memberships I don't think it would be as successful as it has been (regardless of absolute terms, it's exploded compared to most other womens sports leagues as opposed to national teams).