[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Calm before the storm?
It's oh so quiet, it's oh so still...

Well, is it, really? Away from the football field, it's hectic, but on the field, it's not silent as well. The Maassluis Merchantmen are 2 games into the 2093 season and, lo and behold, we're undefeated untied division leaders. on the other hand, it's just 2 games, what's that really worth?

We kicked off at and kicked a lot against Bordeaux. Mark Giles converted 4 field goals, scoring the lionshare of points in our 19-10 victory at the Vineyards. Moe Sheldon struggled (16/33 for 142 yards, 2 interceptions), but the running tandem Patter (93 yards, 1 td) and Thong' (102 yards) made the offense look much less pale. We lost rookie wideout Ed Schulz to a concussion during the game. But the cream of the team was our pass defense, holding the Vineyards' wonderkid Walt Czech to 95 yards passing on 28 attempts. How about that?

Our home game against the Frederick Red Menace was quite the opposite in production. Previous time we played a then rookie 1.1 pick Angel Henson, our 1.13 rookie Brandon Bell came out of that game victorious. Today, Bell has retired from football, while Henson is still throwing the ball 60 times per game. This time in Oranje Have it was 66 attempts, completing half of them for 422 yards and a score. Our response was to lean heavily on 4 big plays for a touchdown. Moe Sheldon found Theo for 44 yards and Clarence Gore for 46 yards, while Francisco Patter broke out for 64-yard and 52-yard touchdown runs. All that en route to a 31-16 victory.

Division:
1. Maassluis 2-0
2. Gothenburg 1-1
3. Paris 1-1
4. Bordeaux 0-2

Yeah, all's right with the world when you see the standings like this. Albeit, Bordeaux looks ready to break out sooner or later.

Our star linebacker Brandon Brady is going to be a free agent next off-season. I went against a final bid for him and instead decided to lock up our free safety tandem Jon Brotzman and Chuck Murray, and change of pace defensive tackle Kurt Ackerman. Brady's contract will be of the $250M over 5 years kind, that looks like it's unavoidable. The good news: we might actually have the cap space for him at that point in time.

Otherwise, it's becoming survival of the fittest. These are weird times away from the football field, we'll move on and hope for the best. I'll try to find the energy to share the stories, perhaps can continue to make telling about the Merchantmen a way to forget about it. But when the wrong distractions keep coming back and the good ones are locked out, it won't just be a physical battle, it will also become a mental survival of the fittest. And that's what we're good at here in Oranje Haven. Keep on dreaming and believing that "good things will come" indeed.