I stumbled onto this game just over 5 years ago. I started in a launch league, then got into PB99T2 when it was just starting. Since that time I have picked up 2 more teams (in K17 and PB00T2). Back then and since, I heard several of the complaints we have currently been talking about (Delays, Trade Approvals, Overall Frustrations, Manual Interpretations, Etc.) get debated, discussed and vented over usually with the conclusion that things would slowly improve by building a larger customer base, having more money come in, the game changing and getting better and blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately, I have not seen any improvement in the game over the past 5 years except for a few minor kinks worked out and a few small updates to the manual. And, of course, we had the contraction draft which made things better for some people. Most owners have resigned themselves to dutifully putting up with the frustrations out of a love for the game. Whatever happened to those informal league commissioners who were to report on happenings and events in their leagues to stimulate interest and dialogue and help solve problems with owners, etc. They might be operating in other leagues but I hardly ever hear from one in my leagues. Trading is difficult in many leagues for a variety of reasons but mostly there are too many owners who only seek to help themselves and have zero interest in a good mutual swap of players or picks. I have a ten-year-old boy who has shown an interest in this PB game the last year or so and perhaps some of those owners could take a lesson from him. He thinks of the other team when he talks about a trade...fair exchange is still in his vocabulary and the cutt-throat tactics are not. He doesn't like to lose but he doesn't take advantage of people just to win.

Now, PB is not all bad...its a fun game to play and watch your team grow and develop. I've always said that there is something about this game which, when bad things happened, made me grit my teeth and put up with the result and keep playing. There are some great owners who put in a great deal of their time and effort into this game and their teams. Hopefully, there are some new recruits that have made up for some of the disappointed and ticked off people who have left. And that last item, people leaving, is about the point that I'm at now since that is the only solution to these problems that is always given...either deal with it or leave. My kid will be sad if we stop playing and so will I, but maybe that's the best thing to do at this point. Oh well...see ya!