ckparrothead
Premium Member
As many of you know, the Draft Gurus have held an annual guru draft chat for the last three years. If you ask me, it has been a smashing success all three years. In the years that we've been doing it, I have not received one complaint about it not being worth anyone's time, have not heard one person express regret.
Traditionally, this has been a three-man operation between myself, Boomer and KB21. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Keith (KB21) as he has this year become a full fledged Doctor. His residency is done, if I'm not mistaken, and he's out there saving lives. Well, except for his own life, since the poor sap also just got married this year.
Anyway, Keith has been an excellent draft mind over the years and an even better friend to Simon and I, but understandably he has had to take a relative back seat this draft season as he's got more on his plate than I'm sure we can imagine. His input is always welcome.
This year we have welcomed a new personality into our midst, the lead founder of Universal Draft, a draft site run by the three of us. You all know him as Conuficus. I just know him as just "Richard", or "the guy who puts 'gay' in his pronunciation of 'against'".
I believe that most have found this to be a worthwhile experience, as I said before. We try to make it informative, while at the same time maintaining a community feel amongst friends. Many find that by the time we get into the 4th through 7th rounds, some of the names being called out are a little bit unfamiliar, and that's where we come in attempting to give our take on the players in question.
Now, here's the controversy. Or, at least some might think it controversial though as I've said we have yet to hear a complaint. We do charge $5 as a 'cover' to get in. It isn't that we're greedy or money-grubbing or anything like that. Trust me when I say that I can't abscond with the revenues from this event and retire on a beach in Mexico. Simon tried that last year and didn't get further than Twickenham for all the gas (or 'petrol' in British-ese) it bought him. He tried to buy some coke and strippers and he got store brand cola and a long-legged tart named 'Steve'.
The reason we charge is because we're trying to separate the people that are serious about what they're doing in this draft chat, from the people that would otherwise waltz in for free and start bombing the chat with lines of stupidity. There aren't many out there that value the opportunity to be stupid and annoying at the ultra high price of five dollars, when there are so many other venues to be stupid and annoying for free. But there are a lot of folks that value the opportunity to have a genuine good time in chat at that price tag.
We do have to limit it as much as possible otherwise it gets out of hand. As with the last few years, we set the bar at 40 simply because we want to keep the atmosphere as familial as possible. We are open to the idea of expanding to around 50 or so, because we have not noticed too many issues with having too many people in the past.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED: Here is what you do. First you check THIS THREAD, and see if reservations are still available. As you can see, at the bottom of the post here, there is a big fat bold-lettered statement that "RESERVATIONS ARE STILL AVAILABLE". When we reach capacity, I'll be changing that statement and at that point it's too late...and you have our deepest apologies.
We are accepting PayPal payments. Feel free to transfer PayPal funds to ckparrothead@yahoo.com. Just transfer $5, I think they charge a nickel or something like that for the transfer but don't worry about it.
What I will do after that is email the person that sent me $5 with the specifics on where, when and how. Expect this email on Friday night before the draft. Everyone should be able to participate in the chat, as it is not complicated or software-sensitive. There will be a password, and I will be sending that password out on the Friday night before the Draft. When you wake up in the morning of that magical day, it should be waiting for you. If the email address associated with your PayPal account is not the proper email address to reach you, please note so along with the transfer.
I'm sorry if the 'first come, first served' thing sounds unfair, but if there are 150 people in the chat room, then it really doesn't work. If all we cared about was the money, we'd let everyone that wanted to pay in...but as I said, it's more about the experience than the money. It's the right atmosphere that counts and with more than 40 or 50, it's you guys that are paying and giving up your free time that suffer. Richard, Simon and I would be doing it regardless.
Anyway, I hope that makes sense. This offer is open to other message boards as well, so keep that in mind when deciding whether to participate.
IMPORTANT: I've decided to experiment with an idea. Some folks I've found are busy on one day but not on the other, or have obligations during certain parts of the draft, and they're not sure whether or not it would be appropriate to participate in that case. That is up to you, but as I've got a handy iPhone that sends multiple text messages at once, I'm open to the idea of pooling together a list of phone numbers that will be out doing some OTHER important thing (what can be more important than the Draft?!?) and to those people, if they want, I will send them text updates on the draft picks. Not necessarily any commentary, as I've found many phones limit the number of text characters they can receive in one msg...but this way you stay up to date on the draft (so long as you don't mind your phone vibrating every 10 minutes...and you have unlimited text). If you sign up for the Guru Chat knowing that you'll be away from a TV or Internet connection during any part of the draft, just hand me your number and I'll add your number to the list of those I'm text-updating with draft picks. Or you can go to www.drafttext.com and pay $20 for the same thing. Your choice. :)
Best wishes,
CK
(Remember - ckparrothead@yahoo.com)
RESERVATIONS STILL OPEN
Traditionally, this has been a three-man operation between myself, Boomer and KB21. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Keith (KB21) as he has this year become a full fledged Doctor. His residency is done, if I'm not mistaken, and he's out there saving lives. Well, except for his own life, since the poor sap also just got married this year.
Anyway, Keith has been an excellent draft mind over the years and an even better friend to Simon and I, but understandably he has had to take a relative back seat this draft season as he's got more on his plate than I'm sure we can imagine. His input is always welcome.
This year we have welcomed a new personality into our midst, the lead founder of Universal Draft, a draft site run by the three of us. You all know him as Conuficus. I just know him as just "Richard", or "the guy who puts 'gay' in his pronunciation of 'against'".
I believe that most have found this to be a worthwhile experience, as I said before. We try to make it informative, while at the same time maintaining a community feel amongst friends. Many find that by the time we get into the 4th through 7th rounds, some of the names being called out are a little bit unfamiliar, and that's where we come in attempting to give our take on the players in question.
Now, here's the controversy. Or, at least some might think it controversial though as I've said we have yet to hear a complaint. We do charge $5 as a 'cover' to get in. It isn't that we're greedy or money-grubbing or anything like that. Trust me when I say that I can't abscond with the revenues from this event and retire on a beach in Mexico. Simon tried that last year and didn't get further than Twickenham for all the gas (or 'petrol' in British-ese) it bought him. He tried to buy some coke and strippers and he got store brand cola and a long-legged tart named 'Steve'.
The reason we charge is because we're trying to separate the people that are serious about what they're doing in this draft chat, from the people that would otherwise waltz in for free and start bombing the chat with lines of stupidity. There aren't many out there that value the opportunity to be stupid and annoying at the ultra high price of five dollars, when there are so many other venues to be stupid and annoying for free. But there are a lot of folks that value the opportunity to have a genuine good time in chat at that price tag.
We do have to limit it as much as possible otherwise it gets out of hand. As with the last few years, we set the bar at 40 simply because we want to keep the atmosphere as familial as possible. We are open to the idea of expanding to around 50 or so, because we have not noticed too many issues with having too many people in the past.
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED: Here is what you do. First you check THIS THREAD, and see if reservations are still available. As you can see, at the bottom of the post here, there is a big fat bold-lettered statement that "RESERVATIONS ARE STILL AVAILABLE". When we reach capacity, I'll be changing that statement and at that point it's too late...and you have our deepest apologies.
We are accepting PayPal payments. Feel free to transfer PayPal funds to ckparrothead@yahoo.com. Just transfer $5, I think they charge a nickel or something like that for the transfer but don't worry about it.
What I will do after that is email the person that sent me $5 with the specifics on where, when and how. Expect this email on Friday night before the draft. Everyone should be able to participate in the chat, as it is not complicated or software-sensitive. There will be a password, and I will be sending that password out on the Friday night before the Draft. When you wake up in the morning of that magical day, it should be waiting for you. If the email address associated with your PayPal account is not the proper email address to reach you, please note so along with the transfer.
I'm sorry if the 'first come, first served' thing sounds unfair, but if there are 150 people in the chat room, then it really doesn't work. If all we cared about was the money, we'd let everyone that wanted to pay in...but as I said, it's more about the experience than the money. It's the right atmosphere that counts and with more than 40 or 50, it's you guys that are paying and giving up your free time that suffer. Richard, Simon and I would be doing it regardless.
Anyway, I hope that makes sense. This offer is open to other message boards as well, so keep that in mind when deciding whether to participate.
IMPORTANT: I've decided to experiment with an idea. Some folks I've found are busy on one day but not on the other, or have obligations during certain parts of the draft, and they're not sure whether or not it would be appropriate to participate in that case. That is up to you, but as I've got a handy iPhone that sends multiple text messages at once, I'm open to the idea of pooling together a list of phone numbers that will be out doing some OTHER important thing (what can be more important than the Draft?!?) and to those people, if they want, I will send them text updates on the draft picks. Not necessarily any commentary, as I've found many phones limit the number of text characters they can receive in one msg...but this way you stay up to date on the draft (so long as you don't mind your phone vibrating every 10 minutes...and you have unlimited text). If you sign up for the Guru Chat knowing that you'll be away from a TV or Internet connection during any part of the draft, just hand me your number and I'll add your number to the list of those I'm text-updating with draft picks. Or you can go to www.drafttext.com and pay $20 for the same thing. Your choice. :)
Best wishes,
CK
(Remember - ckparrothead@yahoo.com)
RESERVATIONS STILL OPEN
