Hello, FBA Fans!

First off, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who attended the first general meeting of the 2013-2014 FBA Season!! It was a huge hit, and VERY well attended. I was really stunned by how many of you showed up! Thank you all so much for your continued interest in the FBA, even after my extended vacation!

And speaking of that-- yes, my vacation went longer than I had anticipated. Unfortunately, while the job relocation is full of wonderful things (closer to home, brand new office) it is full of tons of WORK. I've been spending weeks packing up things and pulling wires and now unpacking things and repulling those wires. Not to mention all the big chunks of foam I've been tacking onto the walls in my new office. It's all towards good things, but it's been very exhausting and has kept me from paying attention to the FBA for longer than I wanted!

But I tell you all, it feels GREAT to get back into things again. I know I needed that break bad after the Finals. But boy, sometimes I forget just how much a part of my life the FBA really is. :)

Anyway, for those of you who missed the meeting, here's the important crib notes...

#1. There will not be a 2014-2015 FBA Season

I opened this with a doozy, I know. The FBA has gotten so big and messy, there really is no other option for me but to take a year off in order to organize the mess. I had considered taking off this coming season, but given the huge events of the previous season, I felt it necessary to keep things rolling for one more year. Besides, this way I can give everyone a heads up to plan.

The idea is that in-world, the FBA Player's Association collective bargaining agreement will expire at the end of the 2013-2014 season. When it does and the FBA has to renegotiate with the union, there will be a disagreement, fighting, and nothing will be signed by the time the new season is scheduled to begin. Therefore, the season will be cancelled.

Of course, this is all IC stuff that no one in the FBA Universe knows will happen, so you can't have your stories and characters react as if it's going to. The FBA PA contract expiring is scheduled, so characters can speculate, but no one knows until it actually happens that the negotiation will go so sour.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me directly.

#2. Team Relocations

It's not just my job that's relocating. There's been interest in seeing some relocations in the Western Conference, specifically of the Galveston Sand Dollars and the Kansas City Clefs. Many locations were suggested for the new teams, so I will be collecting votes.

The suggested relocations are:

For the Galveston Sand Dollars...
* Provo, UT
* Honolulu, HI
* Victoria, BC
* El Paso, TX
* Regina, SK

For the Kansas City Clefs...
* Austin, TX
* Pueblo, CO
* St. Louis, MO
* Casper, WY
* Monterrey, Mexico

I'm going to try doing the vote simply and just ask everyone to email me with their selections for these 2 cities at fba@furrybasketball.com. Please include the words "CITY VOTE" in the subject line, just to help me keep the emails straight. Thank you!

#3. General Manager Assignments

All General Manager positions are up for reassignment, meaning there will be NO automatic general manager assignments. If you want to be a GM for the 2013-2014 season, you MUST send me an email requesting it to fba[at]furrybasketball.com

ALL GMs must send me an email. I know that some of our teams have had the same GM since the beginning, and I will allow GMs to remain with teams they have previously managed, but I MUST hear from EVERY GM who wants to manage a team for next season. We will be choosing the GM's soon, hopefully by next weekend.

And by the way, I am giving up GMing the San Jose Thrust this year. Please, someone volunteer to manage this team!

#4. 2013 Draft Candidate Combine

The 2013 Draft Candidate Combine is a brand new event where the top 24 players from the 2013 FBA Draft Pool will play in a special exhibition match to see how well they perform.

This match will be played TOMORROW, Monday, September 2nd tentatively at 3:00pm Pacific (UTC-7)!

In order for this match to be successful, I need a small amount of information for every one of the Top 24 players. At the moment, we're doing great-- out of 24 players, only 9 have not yet received character information. Those 9 are...

Alessandro Serra
Mahmud Zarif
Raoul Kidane
René Lacoste
Russell Savoy
Siegfried Romanoren
Terrence Tolliver
Vladimir Andreiovich Zhidkov
Zack Plushpaw

If you are the creator of one of the players listed above, please go to this website and fill in the form as best you can:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet.....IdUloaVE#gid=0

Details on how to fill out the form have been posted on the WikiFBA... which by the way, is now our main site. To go there, you only need to go to http://furrybasketball.com

http://furrybasketball.com/wiki/ind.....didate_Combine

#5. 2013 FBA Draft

The 2013 FBA Draft is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, October 6th. The draft typically begins in the afternoon around 3:00pm Pacific and ends around midnight.

ALL General Managers will be expected to be available during this time window. Even if you cannot attend and watch the Livestream, you will be expected to be reachable by email, text message, telephone-- anything. Just be able to send in your picks when called.

More details on the draft will be coming soon. The above date is not set in stone, it can be moved back if needed, but I would like to get the draft done by then if at all possible.

#6. The 2013-2014 FBA Season

The 2013-2014 FBA Season will begin on Thursday, October 31st for Howlereen 2013. The Howlers' opponent has not yet been determined. It will be selected after general managers have been picked.

Head coaches for the next season will be chosen just before Howlereen.

Other things were discussed, but these were the most important topics. As always, please send any questions you have to fba[at]furrybasketball.com or send them through FA messages.

Thanks again, and lets make the 2013-2014 FBA Season the best one yet!!!

B-Hop #7