[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Stop second guessing!
Brandon Bell, baby!

Was I second guessing there, or not? In retrospect, I'm not sure. Yes, I've mulled over what to do here, but going over all that could happen, the tiny sample size of pre-season action was enough to convince me to trust in our first round pick and go for it with Brandon Bell. Would Moe Sheldon or Francisco Farley have done better? Quite simply, we'll never know.

Digging up some old pieces of writing on the team, made me update an old list and I found some interesting observations. First the list of all our opening day starters in the history of the Merchantmen:
2004 Calvin Snider - 2004 league draft R49 pick
2005 Leonard Lyon - 2005 #31 overall pick
2006-19 Louie Flannery - 2006 #5 overall pick
2020-29 "Rusty" Harrison - 2020 #1 overall pick
2030-32 Jay McGee - 2030 trade acquisition
2033-34 "Rusty" Harrison - 2033 trade acquisition
2035-39 Jay McGee - 2030 trade acquisition
2040 Stanley Bissel - 2040 veteran FA signing
2041-44 Perry Coleman - 2041 veteran FA signing
2045-57 Bryson Chow - 2045 #1 overall pick
2058-64 Lester Lowe - 2057 trade acquisition
2065-69 Alfred Hickman - 2065 trade acquisition
2070 Robbie Rhoades - 2070 veteran FA signing
2071-72 Alfred Hickman - 2071 veteran FA signing
2073 Winston Buckner - 2073 trade acquisition
2074 Robbie Howe - 2071 #19 overall pick
2075-76 Erick Loera - 2075 veteran FA signing
2077 Sammy Erickson - 2077 veteran FA signing
2078 Bennett Morris - 2078 veteran FA signing
2079-87 Ellis McAlister - 2074 #176 overall pick
2088 Francisco Farley - 2087 undrafted rookie FA signing
2089 Brandon Bell - 2088 #13 overall pick

With this being the 86th IHOF season, is that a long or short list? I've actually got no idea. I think it's pretty short. Alfred Hickman, the guy that got us our own IHOF Bowl, was our tenth different quarterback on this list. There are obviously some actual starting quarterbacks missing, guys that were for whatever reason not in the starting lineup in week 1. Brandon Bell is though and as we're about to end the '80s, including the '70s, he's the 10th different guy since we won that IHOF Bowl. But more promising to me, Bell is the 19th name on this list. Oh goody!

With the Paris Musketeers beating the Bordeaux Vineyards 16-13, it looks like our wide margin of victory, or some other obscure tie-breakers currently put us in the division lead, an oh so familiar place to be in:
1. Maassluis 1-0
2. Paris 1-0
3. Bordeaux 0-1
4. Gothenburg 0-1

No time to really enjoy this victory. Up next is a road game at the Frederick Red Menace. Well how about that, the team that didn't want to trade us the #1 overall pick (for good reason). Well, that means this could be a clash of two first round rookie quarterbacks then. Alvin Henson threw for 469 yards in his debut. I think our kid Brandon Bell has something to prove here, that he actually was the right decision here. Well, we can only hope so he does!

Let's do this Merchantmen!