STATE OF THE LEAGUE ADDRESS

Dear Shoeless Joe Owners,

Thank you all for reading. In my opinion, one of the best reasons to join the Shoeless Joe World is that rollover never takes any time at all. Going from one season to the next is usually seamless and pain-free. From the time the world rolls to the time I push the “Approve Owners” button to start the season, Shoeless Joe doesn’t take any longer than a day. In fact, the last two seasons have been 12 hours and 11 hours, respectively. That is totally unheard of, especially in this time of HBD uncertainty. Worlds being merged due to low turnover, public worlds sitting for weeks on end just waiting to be filled.. Shoeless Joe has been extremely successful in that aspect. With S9 right around the corner, I am here to tell you all that I fully expect the same this season, or possibly.. even better!

As many of you know, I start recruiting for the next season around game #130. That's when I first post the recruiting thread in the Classifieds. This season, I’ve had an incredible response. We now have a pretty lengthy waitlist for S9. All those on the list are established owners who have either replied to the forum post, or have contacted me via sitemail. They all are eager and ready to join Shoeless Joe for S9. Its been so successful, that I seriously doubt I’ll be able to get them all in. I’ve been TC’ing all of you, asking what your plans are for next season. If you plan to return, or not. So far, I have 27 verbal commits/reserved teams. I’m still waiting on a few of you, but overall, it looks good. Now I realize that things happen, and some will abruptly leave. It’s the nature of the beast. That’s why I believe in recruiting early… getting a waitlist up… being prepared for the unexpected. I feel that’s a major reason why we roll so quick from one season to the next. It’s a trend that I hope to continue from now until the end.

Now for some of you who are on the fence and haven’t decided if you want to return or not, we have big plans for S9. Lots of new ideas for Blog posts are being kicked around. I plan to do a major Blog Page overhaul. I want to change the layout completely, maybe adding a 3rd column on the page for more information. Possibly making the layout a little cleaner… we will see. I might be changing the chat to a different style. I’ve seen some new chat rooms that are out, and might make a change from xat.com, which is the one we use now. Plus, with inspiration from Knucklebones… Shoeless Joe World, the radio show?? It might happen, folks. Still in the discussion phase, but it’s a legit possibility.

In summary, the outlook of Shoeless Joe is looking brighter than ever. I could work day and night on this world, but in all reality… the league is what it is today, because of the owners. I like to thank each and every one of you for joining and sticking around. Let’s make S9 the best season ever!

Thank you…

Sincerely,

ROB ROOT

-Shoeless Joe Commissioner