AlphaLikely Playoff Teams - 8Kazan Golden Horde
Last Season: Serious late season meltdown (that I predicted perfectly) led to 9th place Alpha finish, they have normally been a playoff team
Notes: They have more than enough talent to compete, but they still need depth and even though they have a huge stadium, they have limited funds, its very strange. Management are good guys, but I think that they need a serious infusion of talent and new ideas to get this team refreshed. Also, from what I saw last season, they are a "knee jerk" team, in that they change things too much when things go wrong, instead of making gradual small changes and look at the effect, they try to wholesale change things. Good team, solid talent, a few elite players .. they just need more and some fresh people to open up some things. Playoffs are highly likely and with 2 less teams above them this season, 9th place becomes 7th or 8th, they could make higher but that always depends on Sarajevo, RAR, NFL and the middle of the pack of the Alpha playoff teams.
The Geriatric Couch Potatoes
Last Season: Lost in 2nd round to Dubrovnik, Season 3 AAA2 Alpha Champ
Notes: With replacing their owner, GCP brought stability to their team, there are two people on their team inactive right now and one of them is their former owner. They have a lot of solid talent, they lost to other Alpha heavyweight Detroit by 7 (which is a coinflip to me) so they are really in Alpha this season and have to be considered an early favorite for the top 3 teams in that conference. Maybe the only knock against them is that they are TOO deep and that they are giving snaps to players who are 10 levels lower than their starters, while their starters should be playing more snaps. Id personally have cut loose some of the talent on this team and kept the top shelf guys. 100% these guys are in the playoffs, Detroit already knows that they could lose to them when they play again.
Detroit Cheetahs
Last Season: Season 4 AAA2 Alpha Champ
Notes: Higher level team, has high GLB forum prescense, recruits hard. Almost, a completed stadium and a little money. They came into the league and talked a lot of crap about how they were going to run over the league, but honestly they just squeaked by GCP Week 1 and well .. to beat my own drum a little, Prague crushed them. Still, they should be one of the top teams in Alpha this season, if anything its because they have the talent and work hard (or have a lot of free time) for this game.
Vilnius Maulers
Last Season: Managed to push their way into the playoffs despite not boosting until right before the playoffs, but lost Round 1 to Dubrovnik
Notes: Looks like they are holding off boosting again until they are L29, but they still managed to beat Kazan by 21 points Week 1. Their stadium is done and they have 56M$ so they look to be in really good shape and when they boost they will have one of the more solid lineups in EE Pro. I see Vilnius right up there with GCP and Detroit at the top of Alpha this year.
Gen. Patton's Demon Brigade
Last Season: Lost in Round 1 to NFL, as I predicted, I figure they were tired, has always been a real solid playoff team
Notes: Looking at the roster, man .. what has happened here, they have lost serious amount of talent. High quality talent in a few places but they need some serious life support and recruiting. Most of their players dont look like they have boosted and if demonicangel's attitude is representative of their attitude over there, it could be near the end for one of the original two league CCG teams. They could be in the playoffs this season and probably will be because of the weakness of Alpha .. but I just cant see that team keeping up with Vilnius, GCP or Detroit, which is sad.
NFL Fanatix
Last Season: 2nd Round Loss to Eventual EE Pro Champ Barger Hill (but by 30 points)
Notes: Looks like they changed management, there were some issues with management last season and it looks that they managed a bloodless coup and have a new boss over there. Considering that Sid is still there, they must have all kissed and made up. They have competitive levels, particularly because they too havent boosted. There are some concerning inactives, considering one agent has two of their corners and that becomes a major issue to lose two players at one position at one time. Still I expect this team to get it together, they have the talent it looks like they have slugged it out and each of the past two seasons they have improved to become one of the better teams in Alpha, I expect more of the same, Im only wondering why they are holding off on boosting if they are serious about this season.
St. Petersburg Red Army Regulars
Last Season: Lost 1st Round to Eventual Champs Barger Hill, only by 10 (Means 8th seed)
Notes: This has become a more solid team, but they had a HUGE slide last season when their schedule got hard, luckily for them there arent a lot of tough teams left in Alpha and they could possibly only have 4-5 losses, the bad luck of drawing Stalingrad Week 16 shouldnt matter, but games against NFL, Demon Brigade and Kazan will tell where they sit. Based on their talent and their very low level of inactivity they could be the #4 team in Alpha this season.
Sarajevo Reapers
Last Season: Lost to GCP in Round 1 (7th Seed), Perinneal playoff team
Notes: Although they were in the playoffs last season, it came at the expense of the late season meltdowns by Kazan and the RARs. Before Season 4 they lost major talent and just havent replaced it, from what I understand Cary Stayner is the most active person over there and they might benefit from a coup like NFL Fanatix and have a change in management. There are so many inactives on this team, but Omerta brought over a little more talent this season, they just need a lot more to be competitive. CB quality is a major issue, especially from a team that has had its defense carry them in the past. I can see them in the playoffs this season because of the weakness this season in the Demon Brigade, but it also looks like their owner might have thrown in the towel, he has two teams dozens of players and it looks like Sarajevo is going to implode .. If I was an interested member of their team, Id have already messaged support about taking over this team. Furthermore, there are some weaknesses, their starting QB missed boosting last season either because he didnt want to, or just because he was inactive, such things cost a team a lot. I guess we will see what happens here.
Middle and Lower Tier - 6Wroclaw Wolverines
Last Season: Fox News gutted D40 S4, lost in AAA1 CCG
Notes: New owner isnt a newbie, quickly knew what to do and is all over this stuff, solid base team assembled, some talent, but lacking top shelf talent, depth is definately an issue and the new owner hasnt gone "all in" and brought his own L30+ players to the team. Still, this team kept it solid with Demon Brigade in Week 1 and will at least keep it somewhat close their first season, Im curious what he could have done with the resources that Barger Hill has. This team wont make the playoffs, but if they can keep building, they could make it next year maybe.
U.S.S.R. Goons
Last Season: Mostly holdovers from Chaos Theory, were decently competitive, though clearly Tier 3 in Alpha, was sold prior to Season 4, not gutted, but numerous players quit
Notes: Jubs is also not a newbie with several L30+ players, they actually have some higher level talent on this team, but also a LOT of inactives, many with very bad inactive dates. Their lack of depth and lack of defensive levels will make them better than a computer team, but considering what NFL did to them, I cant see them being terribly competitive, their studs on offense cant get the ball if they dont get some OL and DB help. They also have a completed stadium and good resources, and Jubs also hasnt gone "all in" and brought his own players in to give the team an instant talent infusion .. so it comes down to if he can recruit players, which is hard to do during the season and insane to do in the offseason
Minsk Koats
Last Season: Tier 4, barely competitive, they won 2 games and that was enough not to get demoted, was sold and mostly gutted, though not entirely prior to Season 4
Notes: Similar boat to USSR, only worse talent, really just enough talent to keep it from getting really stupid scoring wise, but certainly not enough to be competitive. It seems like all the holdovers who tried to give it a go last season from Minsk went ahead and left in the offseason and werent replaced. They have a CPU starting at SS, which is very bad news. Look for them to beat just enough teams again not to be relegated, unless Bort drastically changes the relegation system.
New York Knights
Last Season: Won enough not to get relegated, but not enough to even be close to being competitive, same as Minsk
Notes: Highest level players on this team are L27 and well, that should probably be the end of that. They beat a few of the horrible and gutted teams last season enough to not get demoted, but their closest games against teams that are left were losses by 16 and 23 points, other games werent close. I actually forget right now which awful Alpha team this was before they gutted, but this team isnt much better, I consider this a typical historical Alpha team, bad enough to be really bad, but just good enough not to get relegated. No chance at the playoffs and they will probably beat the two gutted teams and thats it.
Amsterdam Hallucinations
Last Season: Five wins, beating the two demoted teams, New York, Minsk and Silesia from Zeta
Notes: So I figure considering the number of crappy and gutted teams in Alpha, they can get at least 5 wins again this season and avoid being relegated, particularly since the two relegation spots are currently filled by abandoned AND gutted teams. There are a couple of L29 players on this team and they arent starting any computers, so certainly thats better than the bottom of Alpha, but there isnt a lot positive to say here, there are tons on inactives, no top shelf talent and even competitive talent is rare. This team might keep it respectable (under 100), but dont think that their 19 point win over a REALLY bad New York team said anything.
Washington Chairmen
Last Season: Tier 3, somewhat competitive but not really with the big boys
Notes: This is still a two man team and Greenguy at one time had one of the truely feared and powerful teams in EE Pro, but he lost talent and well .. I think suffered because he had too many of the players on his own team, there wasnt much going on and people looked for more interaction. Now there is some really elite talent by fatherof2 and greenguy and then no depth at all and where those two didnt have players, CPUs .. its pretty sad because with some work that other good new owners have put into the game this team could be really good again, Tier 1 good? No, probably not this season, but it could be right there in the playoff race. Instead, I guess it will be more of the same this season, they will beat up the bad teams with a few elite players and lose to the good teams.
Gutted - 2Dubrovnik
Last Season: A top 3 team in Alpha, good high levels, solid builds but essentially a 3 man team
Notes: Was sold by JBo because he was sick of GLB not making improvements, JBo also retired most of his players, even very good players like CBo the CB. Was bought by some damned newbie whose highest level player is like L13 and he hasnt logged on in 11 days .. hopelessly gutted, at least this newbie owner didnt do too much damage and will likely be repossessed and given to someone else in 3 days with all the finances intact.
Barger Hill
Last Season: EE Pro Champ .. Season 2 AAA Champ, moved up Season 3, was a top 5 Alpha team
Notes: Also more of the same, lack of progress in GLB, the mess that is EE Pro, this team only has 3 human players on it as of Week 2, which basically means nothing. Has good finances still and a completed stadium .. a gutted team with 85M$ .. just think what could be done with that with the right owner, doesnt seem like this guy is it, he has no players and hasnt logged on in 5 days. I have suggested on our GLB Forum EE Pro mess thread that he should also get the team taken away.
And I do realize Vilnius had not boosted when we played them, I grant you that. But still....Barger Hill and Drubnovik were the only teams that really took us to the shed in Alpha and they both gutted. We also came the closest to beating Barger Hill during the regular season in the first meeting.
