*The Yeti Front Office Open Their Doors

[dropbear]

The Colorado Yeti have been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons of late. Despite having the opportunity to secure their second consecutive playoff berth for the first time in franchise history when they play the Yellowknife Wraiths on Friday night, the media are focusing on the shock disappearance of the team's former general manager, and the decision of quarterback Ryan Applehort to opt out of his contract or Season 11.

In light of these events, the Yeti front office has decided to release an official announcement to inform fans, current players, and potential future players of the team's intentions moving forward, and to react to what has occurred already.

Speaking with New Head Colorado Yeti General Manager, Scott Michaels

Q. Scott, first of all, can you shed some light on the situation with the organisation's former general manager?

A. Absolutely. There's not really anything to share, in truth. My colleague had been at the helm for a number of seasons that were, to put it lightly, tumultuous. He was thrust into the lead role when our long-time head general manager was removed by the NSFL, and while I know that he was already shouldering the majority of the workload anyway, the added expectations certainly seemed to wear him down.

With that said, his sudden disappearance was nonetheless a shock to the team. There weren't any indications that he was looking to leave - especially so suddenly - so it did really take us all by surprise. But we have a great leadership group in place in Colorado, so the absence of one man was far from damning. The remaining people simply picked up the slack, as we've always done.

Q. How do you feel about stepping into the head general manager role?

A. I'm honoured, to be totally honest. I'm excited about what this franchise has in its future and to be the person at the forefront of that is really special to me. But, as I said, this team is run through a group effort, and certainly within our front office we don't distinguish between the general manager or co-GM. In most instances, we don't consider our general managers to be any different from our captains. We all have an interest and a say in the team's future, and that's what counts.

Q. Tell me about your new co-GM. What made you select him for the role?

A. I can hardly take credit for it being a genius hire. The guy's resume speaks for itself, and frankly, any team looking to fill a front office role would be insane not to hire him. For the last couple years he has essentially been the NSFL and DSFL drafts, as they wouldn't exist - at least in their current form - without his efforts. So not only is he deeply involved in the league, he also has an intimate knowledge of a lot of its new or up-and-coming players. That's invaluable to us. But overall it's just his work ethic that we were excited about... That, and the fact that he's a Yeti fan.

Q. Now, this may be a touchy subject, but what can you tell us about Ryan [Applehort]? He recently opted out of his contract for next season, which makes him a free agent after the playoffs. What insight can you give us into the situation?

A. Well, as I touched on earlier, the Yeti's recent management history has been a bit rocky. Obviously we've still had success in that timeframe, going to the playoffs last year for the first time since the league's inaugural season, and this year backing it up with a .500 record at worst. But Ryan has still expressed concern at the lack of continuity in the organisation, and is a bit dismayed at the state of the locker room compared with when he was a rookie. We are understanding of Ryan's feeling and certainly didn't want to stand in the way of him feeling satisfied with his place in the league. We have explained where we stand, and he's done the same. At present, we have two plans in place for the future: one with Ryan in it, and one without him. We're equally excited about both. All that matters to us in regard to this situation is that Ryan is happy where he's playing football. If that's not in Colorado, so be it.

Q. You mentioned his opinion on the locker room. Can you elaborate on that?

A. Now, to put things in perspective, when the locker room was at its most active, the team was losing constantly. Let's not forget that we recently suffered through two straight winless seasons. During that time, the locker rooms was nonetheless abuzz, spurring each other on to keep working hard and not lose faith in the team.

I think what's happened is a lot of guys pushed through that rough period with the specific intent of seeing things through until they managed to break the losing streak. Then, when we did, that sort of felt like the end of the line for them. There was certainly a palpable shift in the locker room at that point. Then we made the playoffs, and that was another box ticked off. The guys had been through so much by that point, I think the Ultimus wasn't really of any concern to them anymore. They'd turned the team around, which was a win in and of itself, and so they each slowly went their separate ways.

Q. So, what does that mean for the future, and any players who may join the team in upcoming drafts or through free agency?

A. What it means is that where once we had a losing franchise with a great culture, we now have a winning franchise with a clean slate. We're looking now to bring in people who won't be satisfied with anything less than an Ultimus win - and multiple wins, preferably. We have the cornerstones in place to compete in seasons to come, and we're now looking at building the next generation Colorado Yeti team. We used to be so driven to get ourselves over the hump and start seeing checks in the win column; what we want now is that same hunger, that same drive and unified sense of direction amongst the team, but with much, much higher aspirations.

Q. You say that the team has cornerstones in place to compete. Who are those players? What about the number of upcoming retirees you have?

A. Yes, we are losing Brister, Fox, Flock, and Saint this offseason. The former three were short-term hires aimed at getting us into the playoffs this season, which we looked poised to achieve. They were never in consideration for long-term plans, and are thus no loss. Saint is undoubtedly a superstar of this franchise, and one of the best, if not the very best, players this team has ever had. However, at this point in his career, he has passed the mantle to younger teammates Ramero and, in particular, Ishigawa. We're extremely disappointed to lose someone of the calibre of Saint, especially as he is so dedicated to this team, but we have been preparing for this day.

In terms of the players we truly consider our cornerstones, they are Howard Miller, Dwayne Aaron, Mark Grau, Norman Bagwell, Antonio Sandoval, Eli Kamka, Ricky Ramero, Haruki Ishigawa, Michael Tillman, Andre Bly Jr., and Micycle MccCormick. While you may think that some of those names aren't particularly impressive, they nonetheless form the foundation of the team for the next 3 to 5 seasons, upon which our championship team will be built.

The Yeti have been notoriously unfortunate with recent drafts picks, but we feel that if we can suffer through our scant upcoming draft and really hit on our picks in those that follow, we'll be in a fantastic position. There's a number of future hall-of-famers in this team, and they're just waiting for a few extra pieces to complete what will be an Ultimus-winning roster.

Code:

1340 words