This is a piece written by myself regarding my FBA team - the San Jose Thrust now that the dust has settled on the end of the season - and what this now means for the purple pack!

The FBA is copyright to  buckhopper

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Written by Desmond Kielty, reporter for WorldBaller Magazine

FOO FOO FACES WORST NIGHTMARE

Beyond all the tickertape, the fireworks and the great performances that saw the Dakota Bikers take the 2013 World Title following a fantasic post season (that surpassed a rather rocky performance in the season proper) – one team has its head in its hands and faces huge issues – a club that has fallen falt on its face – and that club is the San Jose Thrust.

With much fanfare, Foo-Foo took over the Thrust with big plans, big intentions – and a total rebrand. Gone was Stanislaus, with a hefty relocation to a more ‘desireable’ location in San Jose, gone were the big stars with big wage packets, replaced with steady eddies and up and coming stars – even the purple hue started to dissolve from the team known so much for their ‘Viola’ branding. The team turned up in San Jose with huge praise , but once the smoke and mirrors had been removed and the true plans shown – much of the chat turned to murmuring. There are many ways to swing the argument, but it is undeniable that Buck Hopper was a huge attraction to people buying up season passes in their droves, only for them to find out days later that he was making his highly controversial move to the Bikers. Hopper had been all over the promotional material that decorated the town, the fact that he wasn’t part of the big plan was both unfair on fans and a mistake on behalf of the owners. With the moneyball approach being taken on with unspectacular signings such as Billy Joe James and Devon Kellendyne, it was down to a new coach – Dimi Kabat to make this all somehow work. The Thrust needed a really good start to the season to quieten the diseenters and stop accusations that the club had turned into a ‘basket-case’.

As it was – the club couldn’t get the good start they needed, and lost their first seven games. Huge queues formed at the ticket desks – fans asking for their money backed, an understandably reactionary judgement of a team made simply of nobodies. However – it turned out the owners and Kabat may have had more of an eye for a player then first thought. Slowly and surely – the team started to turn around their fortunes with some defensive steel and some astute trades – mainly the trade for the experienced campaigner of Donell Macon some seriously needed size to the team. It seemed with every passing week, we had a new star emerging – first the mule Billy Joe James, then it was Conner the cougar captain finally coming into fruitition after having blown hot and cold, then the explosion of Kellendyne who made the shot of his life to ignite a great post season (a player who sure to attract attention in pre-season) and finally Chip Nelson who made shot after shot from the woods in a great series against the Bikers.

Narrowly missing out on winning their division, the Thrust were paired cruelly against the Dakota Bikers, and the bunny who has left them. The fans were now firmly behind the team, believing that this new approach was capable of beating the sheer star power of Hopper and Malone. The early indications showed this was right, and the Thrust hung on in there in a tough series, the bench of the Bikers incapable of imposing themselves, whilst the likes of Nelson played the games of their lives. It was redemption, albeit one tinged with sadness as the Thrust final went down in a seven game series, simply running out of energy in a team last game in Sturgis. The Thrust had come very close to knocking out the pre-season joint favourites, came so close to recovering from losing its talisman, and ultimately gave the Bikers its stiffest test in the whole of the playoffs – even the Typhoons who barely missed a step during the season could only take the series against the Bikers to six games. Kabat’s troops should have been lauded for an impressive display in which many thought they might even miss the playoffs altogether.

However none of that matters now, and Foo Foo knows it. Why?

The one image that Foo Foo could not afford to be plastered across the web, across the national press for her ‘project’ in San Jose to be seen to be working was Buck Hopper lifting the Healey Davis trophy. Looking at the team set-up, the season they has with reason reveals a team with perhaps a bright future, but the image of the player she sold winning the title for another team clearly undermines all that. It makes marketing the team a nightmare, and makes the team look like failures again. With the second stage of the project approaching – and the need to try and secure the All Star game for the new Rabbit Pavillion Stadium (ironically in a toss-up between the Thrust and yet again The Bikers) the development of the Bikers delivering a shock title win threatens to rock the fanbase and ruin ticket sales. Foo Foos vision was one of grow your own, build from simple blocks, round pegs in round holes and ultimately team-work, team-work, team-work. This vision meshes well by the thinking approach of Hungarian coach Kabat. However, that vision is hard to buy into when the team who has just won is doing the opposite – buying the big stars, getting by with average to good players elsewhere and destroying the play-offs. The dissenters could return.

So where does this leave Foo-Foo? Well it certainly means she has to act in kind, and has to do something pretty drastic to keep the fans onside and make the club remain credible. She could go out and buy a big star player, but this somewhat undermines the vision – but in the face of fans accusing her of even potential pocketing profits, this could be something she actively chases. Securing the All Star game would be a good start as well – but ultimately its now Old Project 1 – 0 New Project – and now she knows one thing. When she gazes into the mirror, only one thing will be on her mind. Only ONE thing will do.

The title. Now.