Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

by cdwillis » Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:34 am
"PFRA Members,
The current issue of The Coffin Corner is now available in the Members Only section..."

It is really pathetic and a slap at the word "professional" in our name that our newsletter is consistently 6 - 8 weeks behind.
Whoever is responsible for this should hang their heads in shame. Actually, they should toss in the towel and say "I've failed."

We never had this problem when Ken Crippen was running CC. It was when he was "relieved" of that post that the decline began.
It has been a steady and consistent decline with never a positive spike.

And, for the record, it is not the pony express in Florida that has failed. Other ZIP Codes have seen neither hide nor hair of CC for two months.
Two months - an all-time record in futility.

It went to the printers at the same time that it was posted online, and the printing company then mails them all out at the same time. I received the hard copy of Coffin Corner last week. Anyone who has not yet received their issue should send a private message or an e-mail to Chris Willis, to me, or to Ken Crippen and we'll check with the company. Nevertheless, it hasn't been two months since September 29.

ChrisBabcock wrote:The "alternate history" article on the WFL is entertaining. It would be cool to see a "what if" like this written about if the USFL if it had survived.

Another "what if" that would be interesting: What if there was no USFL? The 1983-86 drafts would have been different, and the Firebirds might be Phoenix's team, not the Cardinals.

In the real world - not the fantasy of "what ifs" - a publication dated September-October is in the mail, on the stands, or however one wishes to grasp it
prior to the start of the first-mentioned month.
Ergo: On November 1, the publication is 2 months overdue. That is beyond dispute.

Publishers call that meeting a deadline and there has never been a deadline met since Ken was replaced.
Simple: September - October to November 1 = 2 months overdue (and counting.)

The imaginary date of September 29 has no bearing on the matter.

Unless Ken can get his minions cracking, it might be smart to eliminate the hard copy, lower the dues to just enough to cover the board expense,
and pick up another 200-odd members.
It is quite easy to see that CC has no interest and certainly no impact outside of our closed circle.

The preference to mail an issue two months late is akin to L.L. Bean mailing their Christmas catalog in February.
Not very smart ...

I haven't got this issue yet.

Reaser wrote:I haven't got this issue yet.

Matt-- I'll bring that to the attention of Roy and John-- by now, of course, mailings from Pennsylvania should have reached you in Washington state and Olde Cape Cod in Florida. If anyone else has that situation, please let us know.

oldecapecod11 wrote:by cdwillis » Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:34 am
"PFRA Members,
The current issue of The Coffin Corner is now available in the Members Only section..."

It is really pathetic and a slap at the word "professional" in our name that our newsletter is consistently 6 - 8 weeks behind.
Whoever is responsible for this should hang their heads in shame. Actually, they should toss in the towel and say "I've failed."

We never had this problem when Ken Crippen was running CC. It was when he was "relieved" of that post that the decline began.
It has been a steady and consistent decline with never a positive spike.

And, for the record, it is not the pony express in Florida that has failed. Other ZIP Codes have seen neither hide nor hair of CC for two months.
Two months - an all-time record in futility.

Oh, please! I've been a PFRA member for over 30 years. It has almost never been on time - no matter who is running the show. Why? Lack of articles - which is why they've resorted to "classic" (that is, reprints) articles.

TodMaher wrote: Oh, please! I've been a PFRA member for over 30 years. It has almost never been on time - no matter who is running the show. Why? Lack of articles - which is why they've resorted to "classic" (that is, reprints) articles.

In fairness ---other than the Bob Carroll tribute (which was all reprints) -- there have been only two repeated articles-- two too many, perhaps, but these were Mark Speck's World Bowl piece, and the Lavvie Dilweg bio by Bob Carroll. It's not really a trend; nobody really wants to see old wine in new bottles in our printed issues. But it's sometimes been necessary to fill the 24 pages. I think everyone would like to see new authors, and I remember we had a successful call for them a few years back. The main thing I see is reminding our members that they can get their research published, and that no prior writing experience is necessary.

I'm a lot less concerned about the date that's listed on the issue-- I suppose that if people felt strongly enough about it, it would be solved by simply designating the November/December issue as "January/February 2016" and making creating an extra issue next year, but in my 15 years with PFRA, I've never noticed the issue date corresponding with when I got it, and I've seen only one complaint about it during those years. Ideally, members get six issues per year and these come every couple of months.

Simple: September - October to November 1 = 2 months overdue (and counting.)

The Coffin Corner is always a month or so late. I agree completely. I get that. But on the flip side, as long as a new issue is in the mail at regular 2 month intervals, which it appears to be, what difference does it make what date is on the cover?

Mark L. Ford wrote:Matt-- I'll bring that to the attention of Roy and John-- by now, of course, mailings from Pennsylvania should have reached you in Washington state and Olde Cape Cod in Florida. If anyone else has that situation, please let us know.

Historically I usually get it at least a week - usually two weeks - after everyone else mentions that it's arrived for them. So no need to panic, I'm assuming it gets to me later because I'm in the Great State of Washington.