World Baseball Classic Discussion Thread

[Schiltzberg]

Dear World Baseball Classic council members,

As it is now 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone on Friday, December 9, 2016, sign-ups for World Baseball Classic 38 are officially closed. Now, we open voting for the hosting of World Baseball Classic 38, as well as two proposed amendments to the WBC constitution. Please vote for each one of these categories, and distinguish which votes are for which of the three voting topics. Do not vote in this thread, but rather, send your votes to Sandberg, who is my puppet. I will be sending telegrams to all of the council members individually as well. Voting will close 72 hours from now, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern TIme Zone, on Monday, December 12, 2016.

For WBC 38 hosting, our options are:
1. Accept the host bid from Newmanistan
2. Re-open host bidding
3. Abstain

Here is the potential amendment to the constitution, as proposed by Saintland. You may vote as follows:
1. For
2. Against
3. Abstain

Finally, here is the potential amendment to the constitution, as proposed by Frenline Delpha. You may vote as follows:
1. For
2. Against
3. Abstain

[Schiltzberg]

For funzies, I was digging through the old Jolt thread, and came upon the thread where the WBC was founded. At 2:19 a.m. on April 4, 2007 (or as Bono would say, "Early morning, April 4th"), American Fist invented NationStates' version of the World Baseball Classic. It is a shame that he never got to participate in his own tournament, but his legacy will live on, even though he was only a nation for just over a month. Here is a link to the thread.

[Drawkland]

For funzies, I was digging through the old Jolt thread, and came upon the thread where the WBC was founded. At 2:19 a.m. on April 4, 2007 (or as Bono would say, "Early morning, April 4th"), American Fist invented NationStates' version of the World Baseball Classic. It is a shame that he never got to participate in his own tournament, but his legacy will live on, even though he was only a nation for just over a month. Here is a link to the thread.

Zwangzug Wed, 4 Apr 2007 02:42 AM Post: 12507220

>American Fist
And the Cubs are beyond hope compadre.

Blatantly false. There is always hope, and the Cubs exemplify that.

Zwang called it 9 years in advance, folks.

[Schiltzberg]

For funzies, I was digging through the old Jolt thread, and came upon the thread where the WBC was founded. At 2:19 a.m. on April 4, 2007 (or as Bono would say, "Early morning, April 4th"), American Fist invented NationStates' version of the World Baseball Classic. It is a shame that he never got to participate in his own tournament, but his legacy will live on, even though he was only a nation for just over a month. Here is a link to the thread.

Zwangzug Wed, 4 Apr 2007 02:42 AM Post: 12507220

>American Fist
And the Cubs are beyond hope compadre.

Blatantly false. There is always hope, and the Cubs exemplify that.

Zwang called it 9 years in advance, folks.

That's my boy! I have to say, I called it in 2014 that the Cubs would win it in 2016, but I also guessed wrongly several times. :/

[Frenline Delpha]

Zwang called it 9 years in advance, folks.

That's my boy! I have to say, I called it in 2014 that the Cubs would win it in 2016, but I also guessed wrongly several times. :/

Gotta inflate that sample size somehow.

[Schiltzberg]

If we do not get a few more votes in, I may need to extend the voting period and re-send telegrams. Right now, we only have 7 people who have voted, and I don't know if we want to base our decision on that. Maybe more votes will come in. Also, Kaboomlandia submitted a formal resignation from the WBC council in the WBC 38 sign-up thread, so the council now looks like this:

Anglatia
Chromatika
Drawkland
Ethane
Frenline Delpha
Gregoryisgodistan
Maklohi Vai
Nova Anglicana
Saintland
Schiltzberg
Super-Llamaland/Hicana
Zyarus (South Yerfilag)

[Saintland]

If we do not get a few more votes in, I may need to extend the voting period and re-send telegrams. Right now, we only have 7 people who have voted, and I don't know if we want to base our decision on that.

Well, 7 is a quorum when there are 12 (or even 13) council members and previous presidents have allowed votes to stand without a quorum (but with a much larger council, iirc). It may be worth TGing the 5 that haven't voted, though, just to remind them that they should vote (or officially abstain if they don't want to vote).

[Schiltzberg]

If we do not get a few more votes in, I may need to extend the voting period and re-send telegrams. Right now, we only have 7 people who have voted, and I don't know if we want to base our decision on that.

Well, 7 is a quorum when there are 12 (or even 13) council members and previous presidents have allowed votes to stand without a quorum (but with a much larger council, iirc). It may be worth TGing the 5 that haven't voted, though, just to remind them that they should vote (or officially abstain if they don't want to vote).

Okay, fair enough. I will do that and then close voting at the scheduled time.

[Schiltzberg]

Thank you to all of you who have voted, as we now have received votes from almost all of the council members. It is three hours shy of the cutoff for voting, but according to Article VII Section 3 of the WBC Constitution, I may close the voting, since options on the host bidding and the two referendums have received approval from a majority plus one of the votes of the council, and are therefore automatically approved. Without further ado, I present to you the results:

WBC 38 Host Bidding: 10 ACCEPT NEWMANISTAN'S HOST BID, 0 re-open host bidding, 0 abstain.

Saintland's Amendment: 8 FOR, 2 against, 0 abstain.

Frenline Delpha's Amendment: 9 FOR, 0 against, 1 abstain.

Upon receiving these results, on behalf of the WBC council, I hand over World Baseball Classic 38 to Newmanistan to begin hosting. Congratulations and good luck!

Both of the Amendments have been accepted to the Constitution. I will post the updated Constitution on a separate post.

[Schiltzberg]

WBC Constitution, December 2016
(previously amended April 2014 and December 2013)

Article I: Council Eligibility

Section 1: To be eligible to become a member of the Council, a nation must have participated in the previous 2 Classics or have hosted at least one of the previous 3 Classics.

Section 2: Following each Classic, the Council shall vote on whether or not to admit any nations that are eligible to become members of the Council. A simple majority vote in favor shall be required to become a member of the Council.

Section 3: Nations that do not participate in two consecutive Classics shall be removed from the Council, unless they have hosted one of the three most recent editions of the Classic. Nations that are removed from the Council due to inactivity may regain membership through the process laid out above.

Section 4: For the purposes of this Article, a nation that posted a roster and at least ONE RP in an edition of the Classic has "participated" in that edition.

Section 5: For the purposes of this Article, multiple nations operated by the same OOC user are regarded as a single nation.

Article II: Rights and Responsibilities of the Council

Section 1: The Council shall be the voters for the next Host of the Classic and shall choose from the available bids.

Section 2: The Council shall be the determining body for changes, (ie: repealing, amending or introduction of new rules), to the WBC Constitution. A two-thirds majority shall be needed to amend or repeal any part of the WBC Constitution, but a simple majority vote shall be sufficient for introduction of new rules to the Constitution.

Section 3: Any member of the Council can withdraw from the Council without prejudice, but shall be subject to the above eligibility guidelines if they seek re-instatement.

Section 4: Council members may "go on vacation" (ie: take a NS break) for a maximum of two Classics; but shall be subject to the above eligibility guidelines if they seek re-instatement if they are gone for more than two consecutive Classics.

Section 5: The Council is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the Classic and for advertising of the same.

Section 6: The Council shall be held to any subsequent rights and/or responsibilities that are created henceforth into the WBC Constitution.

Article III: President of the Council

Section 1: The Council will be headed by a president who will be elected by the members of the council, using the same election procedures as outlined in Article VI.

Section 2: The president will be elected after every third World Baseball Classic, and will serve terms of three Classics. No one may serve as president for two consecutive terms.

Section 3: The president's duties are the following: opening the sign-up thread; opening and collecting host voting; opening and collecting constitutional proposal voting; keeping the council list updated; opening and collecting council member election voting; and making any other arbitrary decisions which are not fit to be decided by the council as a whole.

Section 4: The president must appoint a vice-president to serve in his/her absence. If the president goes missing for an extended period of time, or ceases to exist, the vice-president has the right to step up and serve as the president pro tempore.

Section 5: The president may be impeached under the procedures of Article IV. If the president is impeached and removed from the council, the vice-president becomes the new president.

Article IV: Impeachment Procedures

Section 1: In order to initiate impeachment and/or removal from office proceedings against a current member of the World Baseball Classic Council, another member in good standing must motion for impeachment. If a different member seconds the motion, the member is considered impeached.

Section 2: In the event that a Council member is impeached, the full Council shall have one RL week to discuss whether or not to remove the impeached member. During that period, the impeached member is still considered a full voting member of the Council on any items other than those involving the impeachment proceedings.

Section 3: The council president shall initiate the removal vote, which shall only take place in the event two thirds of votes cast are in favour of removal from office. If the president is the one being impeached, the vice-president shall serve the same role as the president for the purposes of this section.

Section 4: In the event that two third of votes cast are in favour of removal from office, the Council member shall be removed from the Council with immediate effect for a period of two World Baseball Classics. At the end of the two World Baseball Classic period, the member may petition to rejoin the Council and initiate a plan to address any concerns outlined in the impeachment proceedings.

Section 5: Any Council member removed due to impeachment proceedings must be nominated to rejoin the Council and must be formally seconded. If that occurs, the Council may vote on readmission when votes for new Council members are being taken. If a simple majority of votes cast are in favour of readmission, the impeached member shall rejoin the Council with immediate effect.

Article V: Formula for World Rankings

Section 1: For each Classic, divide the number of games a team won by the number of games played by the team playing the most games.

Section 2: A team's ranking is the sum of:
Clause a. Four times their Section 1 quotient for the most recently completed Classic;
Clause b. Twice their Section 1 quotient for the next-most-recent completed Classic; and
Clause c. The unmodified Section 1 quotient for the third-most-recent completed Classic.

Section 3: When calculating the rankings, any games won due to forfeit are still treated as bona fide wins.

Article VI: Tournament Sportsmanship

Section 1: No team may voluntarily forfeit games or entire series after a World Baseball Classic has started.

Section 2: Only nations that have ceased to exist during the playoffs of the World Baseball Classic before being eliminated are deemed as forfeiting.

Section 3: Nations that cease to exist during a group stage or equivalent of the World Baseball Classic shall be prohibited from advancing beyond that stage, but must play out the remainder of their schedule in that stage. Nations that are subsequently re-founded prior to the end of the stage may advance beyond that stage.

Section 4: Forfeited games due to CTE by a nation are automatic victories for the opposing team and should be scorinated as such.

Section 5: The score of a forfeit is 9-0.

Article VII: Voting Procedures

Section 1: For a Council vote to be considered valid, a motion must have a simple majority of votes cast provided that a quorum of Council members votes in favour of or against the motion at vote.

Section 2: For the purposes of this amendment, a "quorum" shall be defined as one more than half the current voting membership of the Council.

Section 3: Any measure that receives the votes of one more than half the active Council membership shall be automatically approved.

Article VIII: Miscellaneous Procedures

Section 1: When creating the signup thread, the thread creator is to provide (at minimum) a link to the winning bid of the last World Baseball Classic and set a definitive deadline for when host bids must be received by.

Article IX: Hall of Fame

Section 1: In order to recognize excellent achievements through the storied history of the longest running tournament of the four North American sports, and to recognize the nations who helped make it that way, this council seeks to establish a Hall of Fame.

Section 2: There are three ways to reach the Hall of Fame. The first is to reach 20 points through a scale that awards points based on how well a nation did in previous World Baseball Classics. Nations that achieve 20 points are automatically inducted without the need for a council vote. The following scale gives the number of points scored per result in previous World Baseball Classics:
6 points per championship
4 points for a runner-up
2 points for third place
1 point for fourth place
3 points for hosting
4 points for WBC President (Full cycle; 3 WBCs)
2 points for partial presidency (Less than a full cycle)

Section 3: The second way to reach the Hall of Fame is to have participated in ten World Baseball Classics (this applies to users, and not specifically nations). However, the entrance may not take place if the nation in question has less than ten points.

Section 4: If a nation or person behind said nation is denied into the Hall of Fame after ten WBCs, their membership into the Hall of Fame shall again be looked at in increments of five. This means that if a nation doesn’t make it into the Hall of Fame in ten World Baseball Classics, they may be eligible to enter the Hall of Fame again after participating in fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, etc. World Baseball Classics, provided they have ten points.

Section 5: The third way for a nation to be elected into the Hall of Fame is by nomination. A World Baseball Classic council member or any nation who participated in WBC 1-20 may nominate any nation that has more than 10 points and less than 20 points to be potentially voted into the Hall of Fame. After receiving nomination, the entire council will vote on whether or not the nation should be elected into the Hall of Fame, and if the nation receives 50%+1 of the votes of the council, then that nation is inducted into the Hall of Fame. There is no requirement regarding the number of seasons participated in for a nation to be nominated in this way.

Section 6: Hall of Fame membership is to be one nation per person, as to not load down the Hall of Fame with puppets.

Section 7: Inductions into the Hall of Fame will take place after each WBC, if any nation not already in the Hall of Fame has met one of the above listed criteria. Multiple, different nations can be inducted at one time.

Section 8: A nation that has Ceased to Exist (hereby referred to as CTE) may still be admitted into the Hall of Fame if they had enough points to qualify for the Hall of Fame before they CTE.

Section 9: Nations that are recognized as being a politically constituent part of a main nation will have their points added to the main nation’s total. Two nations shall be considered constituent if one inherited the rank of the other while participating in a WBC. Puppets that are not connected in character to the main nation of any user may not contribute to the main nation’s point total. Such puppets may not earn points themselves, unless the master nation under control of the same user does not have above ten points.

[Newmanistan]

Thank you everyone for your support.
Watch for an everything thread to be posted by the end of the night.

[Schiltzberg]

We hadn't clarified this, but I'm assuming that we will be doing HOF voting and inaugurations at the same time as when we do council eligibility voting at the end of WBC 38.

[Maklohi Vai]

We hadn't clarified this, but I'm assuming that we will be doing HOF voting and inaugurations at the same time as when we do council eligibility voting at the end of WBC 38.

Yup, fine by me.

[Frenline Delpha]

We hadn't clarified this, but I'm assuming that we will be doing HOF voting and inaugurations at the same time as when we do council eligibility voting at the end of WBC 38.

That was the plan.

[Frenline Delpha]

That's a mighty big horn you have there, Shiltzberg.

[Drawkland]

That's a mighty big horn you have there, Shiltzberg.

Yeah, Jesus Christ.

[Frenline Delpha]

That's a mighty big horn you have there, Shiltzberg.

Yeah, Jesus Christ.

Do I smell an Icarus happening?

[Drawkland]

Yeah, Jesus Christ.

Do I smell an Icarus happening?

*hopes really hard the Final is Schiltz vs Newmanistan*

That would actually be the most high-stakes WBC probably in its entire history.

[Schiltzberg]

That's a mighty big horn you have there, Shiltzberg.

Did you just assume my horniness?

EDIT: really, I don't get what you're talking about.

Do I smell an Icarus happening?

*hopes really hard the Final is Schiltz vs Newmanistan*

That would actually be the most high-stakes WBC probably in its entire history.

Oh man, imagine that. Last year's was high stakes enough with two 3-time winners going at it. Imagine two 4-time winners. That would be insane.

[Frenline Delpha]

That's a mighty big horn you have there, Shiltzberg.

Did you just assume my horniness?

EDIT: really, I don't get what you're talking about.

*hopes really hard the Final is Schiltz vs Newmanistan*

That would actually be the most high-stakes WBC probably in its entire history.

Oh man, imagine that. Last year's was high stakes enough with two 3-time winners going at it. Imagine two 4-time winners. That would be insane.

I was referring to your roster. The tone of it is so sumg that a cat would have trouble breathing in it. But I can see why you chose to do that, so... it was more of a joke than a serious statement.

[Schiltzberg]

Did you just assume my horniness?

EDIT: really, I don't get what you're talking about.

Oh man, imagine that. Last year's was high stakes enough with two 3-time winners going at it. Imagine two 4-time winners. That would be insane.

I was referring to your roster. The tone of it is so sumg that a cat would have trouble breathing in it. But I can see why you chose to do that, so... it was more of a joke than a serious statement.

Yes, it is basically propaganda. IC the Schiltzbergers are extremely arrogant, and honestly, have kind of earned the right to be so far.

[Schiltzberg]

I am so anxious for WBC 38 to start! Who's ready?

[Newmanistan]

Friendly reminder that the group draw will be later this afternoon/evening, and the first games will be scorinated Monday evening, with cutoff times planned for 9pm Eastern USA time.

[Schiltzberg]

I noticed that in the list of participating nations, West Saintland is listed as a puppet of Free Republics, but I'm pretty sure in the past it has been the other way around. User behind Saintland, maybe you could weigh in here.

[Newmanistan]

I noticed that in the list of participating nations, West Saintland is listed as a puppet of Free Republics, but I'm pretty sure in the past it has been the other way around. User behind Saintland, maybe you could weigh in here.

At signup, he posted it as West Saintland being the puppet, though I can change it if he wants.

Group draw will probably be up within the next two hours.