Contents this issue: Editor's PrerogativeWords of Wisdom: A Note from the Commissioner
Pontification: Narrowing the Field
Forum: Youth, Depth, and Injuries
Mistake of the Week
Random Thoughts for New Managers
Let's start off with a quick explanation from Nick Guoth (Roxburgh Kittens) about how to communicate with Munch:
From: Nick.Guoth@anu.edu.au (Nick Guoth)
Some of you may receive a certain strange error when you send in your lineup:
Error load line 17 of lineup 1
To translate this for you, it means that you mispelt the name of the player on line 17 in the lineup of the 1st week. Line 17 is the 17th line after the "start" line. That is, and this is important, the "start" line is not included in the line numbers of the error messages.
Hope this helps some of you out there.
Next, a brilliant script by Kevin Pankhurst (NY Hungry Vultures) which turns that ENORMOUS rawstats files into a more manageable scouting tool. By the way, any such scripts written that you're willing to share with the SPARF public are most welcome: I use Mel's "comparer" every week, and Scott Emery (Livermore Rowdy Yobbos) is developing a tool which lists players field-by- field in terms of strength and results. The latter tool is interesting because it allows you to see how your team passes the ball (see ToW 2.1).
From: k.pankhurst@ic.ac.uk (Kevin J. Pankhurst)
Hi,
I am not sure if other managers agree with me, but I found the rawstat file that we use to have last season more readable than this season's one. Therefore I have written this small program, that other managers might like, which will convert the new style to the old style.
i.e.
Defgood Alan Rutheun (Roxburgh Kittens) Defgood Alan Rutheun (Roxburgh Kittens) Defgood Alice Skelton (Palo Alto Guild) Defgood Allan McMurray (ADFA Rams) Defgood Allan Nordveg (Cambridge Tigers) Defgood Allan Nordveg (Cambridge Tigers) Defgood Allan Nordveg (Cambridge Tigers)
to
2 Defgood Alan Rutheun (Roxburgh Kittens) 1 Defgood Alice Skelton (Palo Alto Guild) 1 Defgood Allan McMurray (ADFA Rams) 3 Defgood Allan Nordveg (Cambridge Tigers)
After compiling the program ('cc -o rawstater rawstater.c -lm' on unix system,
where rawstater is the executable program name and rawstater.c is the code file
name) basically run it by typing rawstater
[Editor's Caveat: When I followed the instructions, the C complier choked. You may have more success, but be warned. When I told Kevin of the error, he sent me an alternate program (also included) which I didn't test because I had deleted the rawstats already and was too lazy/busy (you choose) to get some more with which to test it.]
Code follows:
---------------------------CUT HERE----------------------------------------- #include < stdio.h>char buf[256]; char buf2[256]; FILE *f1, *f2;
main(int argc, char **argv) { int i; f1 = fopen(argv[1], "r"); if (f1 == 0) { printf("Cannot open %s\n", argv[1]); exit(1); } f2 = fopen(argv[2], "w"); if (f2 == 0) { printf("Cannot open %s\n", argv[2]); exit(1); } i = 1; fgets(buf, 256, f1); while (!feof(f1)) { fgets(buf2, 256, f1); if (strcmp(buf, buf2)) { fprintf(f2, "%d %s", i, buf); memcpy( buf, buf2, 256); i = 1; } else i++; } } ---------------------------CUT HERE-----------------------------------------
[Editor's Clarification: Here is the alternate code.]
The only explanation way of solving the error as far as I can see is:
change
main(int argc, char **argv)
to
main(argc, argv) int argc; char **argv;
This might work.
If it doesn't then here is the code slightly altered. You cannot input the name of the files anymore. Instead, the input file is "rawstats" and the output file is "newrawstats". You can change these names by changing the names in the fopen commands.
------------------------------CUT HERE----------------------------------------
#include < stdio.h>
char buf[256];
char buf2[256];
FILE *f1, *f2;
main()
{
int i;
f1 = fopen("rawstats", "r");
if (f1 == 0) {
printf("Cannot open rawstats\n");
exit(1);
}
f2 = fopen("newrawstats, "w");
if (f2 == 0) {
printf("Cannot open newrawstats\n" );
exit(1);
}
i = 1;
fgets(buf, 256, f1);
while (!feof(f1)) {
fgets(buf2, 256, f1);
if (strcmp(buf, buf2)) {
fprintf(f2, "%d %s", i, buf);
memcpy( buf, buf2, 256);
i = 1;
}
else
i++;
}
}
The lack of content in this section is entirely the fault of the Editor, as I thought it would be more useful to send this out before the results were out so that you could experiment with Kevin's script in time for the new rawstats to be useful. Mel has promised, among other things, a comprehensive mail alias file, so whatever I receive will come out as an addendum to Tales of Woe as soon as I receive it.
You've heard about Longball (ToW 1.2?), you've heard about the mid- field, but here's an idea that may or may not work, but will certainly either show my fine intuitive grasp of how SPARF works or flaunt my ignorance thereof.
Basically, the idea behind setting up your "front nine" (LW/C/RW + HBs and FPs) is that the lines from midfield to full forward want to get the ball to the goal posts. That is, your midfield needs to get and pass the ball to the halfbacks, who can either take long shots themselves (Van Boughner's "Longball") or pass it forward to the front line for superior players to take easier shots. Of course, your mobiles are involved, but they should be no-brainer lineup decisions: they are your best players. So progressively from back to front, you need players with increasingly more marking/scrambling/kicking ability and progressively less defense. That is, the higher the Scramble, the more open they can be for passes; the higher the Mark, the more passes they will catch; the higher the Kick, the more goals they will score AND (this is important) the better they can pass the ball forward to the next line.
As a quick aside, it MIGHT be a good strategy to give your defenders a little better Kick so that they can pass it forward when they steal the ball: personally, I depend on my defenders to GET the ball and wing it out to a MOBILE and let the mobile do the work of getting it up the field. Is this good? Would you believe me if I told you one way or the other?
Anyway, look at your lineup: perhaps you have nine great players week after week who can "hurl that spheroid down the field and fight fight fight," but if you have fewer, this is no cause for despair. Just as Van's Longball basically said, "Hey, look, your BPs and FB are just plain too good for me to score from FP and FF, so I'll cede them to you and go from HB," the Sideline Shift might help at LEAST keep possession of the ball. If you have SIX offensive players (two with at least moderate defensive skills), think about this: let the left (right) third of the field go to hell and pack them with low-Scramble players. These guys won't get open, so they won't get the ball. Tough. But if you put your HIGH Scramble/Mark players in the Center and Right (Left) thirds of the fields, then logic would suggest that as you get an offensive opportunity your players will say, "Look! The guy over there is covered like a bed, but over on the other side, he's open!" Thus you have cleared a "lane" for passing, and ultimately scoring.
The major drawback of this, of course, is that you are cutting down your opportunities. After all, he could guess right, stack his defense, and shut you completely down. But if your side is short on talent, this might be a way to maximize limited resources. And besides, if he guesses WRONG...
Rather than try desperately to think up a topic for open discussion (since Fred's fine suggestions generated NONE), I thought I'd include Scott Emery's Secret Plan as a springboard for future diatribes.
From: emery@acfcri2.arc.nasa.gov (Scott Emery)
This could go into the Mistake area or the Pontification area... We will be able to tell by the end of the season.
I am one of the "youth movement" teams in SPARF. Injuries scare the daylights out of me and I do insane things to avoid them. Bruce Anarchist is an example. I picked up an extra player last year and put him on stress duty (along with a zero I had lying around). The whole point was to make a year one mobile (or two) so that I could avoid worrying about popping a mobile mid-season (I probably will, but I won't worry about it). The down side of this frantic effort to get a young mobile is that my experienced (year 4) mobiles are good solid citizens rather than the dynamite powerhouses that they could be. Of course, if it was one of these old dynamite powerhouses that I lost mid-season I could get seriously disappointed and not have any backup. With this in mind I chose my present course.
In order to put Bruce and Lester "online" as quickly as possible I trimmed my team radically and plan to trim more during the season. This means that I will eat injuries and retain the players (trades ignored for this discussion). My strategy is based on my team's injury experience from last year. This is not as unrealistic as it may sound, As I eyeball my team this year I estimate that the average age has gone up no more than .25 which I guesstimate will mean that I get 15 "injuries" this year. If my luck holds, only 6 of these will result in hospitalization, allowing me to cut newly dead wood and bring my new year zeros into play. Of course, last year I had a couple of games where injuries went "out of control" and I had four injuries to cover. (Hold your snickers if four injuries don't seem like a big deal, I am comparing this to my last season and my present strategy) This would definitely eat into my zero training, if it happened early in the season. My basic "problem" here is that my experienced players are so much better than my zeros that it is going to take a massive effort to get them up to "placeholder" status. If the random number generator smiles on me, you will not see any of these bozos until the mid-season. In the mean time I will be fatigue up a new batch of "young mobiles" for next year.
This week's Mistake comes from the Twin Peaks Owls, Top of Tin Within Our Lifetimes! :-)
From: ralphey@msl.oz.au (Russell Alphey)
When you submit a lineup, Munch "confirms" it by sending you back what used to be called "myscout": that is, a partial scouting report of your team only (with all those AVGs and GOODs and VGOODs, etc.). Get the scouting report of your opponent from last week (either through WBRG or by contacting HIS last-week's opponent directly) and try running the comparing script on a file which includes your new lineup and his old one. Lineups change, of course, but basics stay the same (no one has so much depth that they can change their lineup COMPLETELY), and by doing this, you can get a rough estimation of how you'll do. Not only that, but if you've submitted your lineup early enough and the comparer tells you you'd get waxed, you can try adjusting your lineup to compensate, since Munch will replace your old, bad orders with new and improved ones, provided you beat the deadline.
Or it may replace the old, bad orders with new, worse ones. Kind of depends on how keen your foresight is (Madame Venusia need not apply)...
Subject: Quick ToW Addendum Cc: mel@soda.berkeley.edu
Folks,
Some UNIX commands work better than others: one I've never had trouble with is "talk emery@acfcri2.arc.nasa.gov"; he's always on-line! :-)
Anyway, Scott Emery sends this pearl of wisdom for those of you who have trouble compiling Kevin's C code. For those of you on non-UNIX machines (hi, Henri!), well, get into the '90s, people! :-)
From: emery@acfcri2.arc.nasa.gov (Scott Emery)
One of the great things about unix is that there are more ways to do things than there is time to do them...
try: "uniq -c rawstats.new > rawstats.old"
There may be may be versions of unix that do not support uniq, and I spit on them...
Er, that should have a smiley on the end of it...
Scott Emery Livermore Rowdy Yobbos emery@acfcri2.arc.nasa.gov