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15 Questions: Fred Hurtubise

Its the golden rule of the USA Football League that to be champion takes character. Character to navigate your way through the off-seasons and assemble a roster of talent and take it all the way to the Lorne Sundby Cup presentation at midfield of the Super Bowl. So now you are asking yourselves, how does this pertain to this interview? Well, its a little known fact that Mr. Hurtubise is "a character" and he snuck by the Golden Rule Police at the Sundby Cup gates.

Seriously though, you have to admire a winning GM. Especially after what he put his team through the past seven seasons. Shipping every veteran off to parts unknown and rebuilt his entire team into a champion. You GMs who are looking for a road-map to the post-season, you should take a look at how Hurtubise accomplished this feat.

In a couple of seasons, Hurtubise's Waiver Wire Claim application will go through its final beta run and everyone will see first hand his latest contribution to the league. It will greatly improve the off-season of the USAFL.

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ARIZONA CARDINALS GM Fred Hurtubise

1. Last season (2033) you won the Lorne Sundby Cup after a 7 year rebuilding movement that included a couple of tough 4-10 seasons. For the newer GMs in our league, you set a great example of how to build a team from the ground up and take them all the way to the championship. How rewarding was last season for you and your players?

It was about time. I was getting very angry with the way the team was playing. I felt like I was losing it. I even thought about quitting because I was not getting any results. I thought I was doing everything correctly to rebuild, but I guess I'm not the right GM to do it. My skills are to keep a team on the winning path :) For those of you watching at home, in 2025, I had what I think was my best team ever. I didn't even reach the final game. So I traded every vet and started a rebuilding program. Prior to 2025, my team had missed playoffs twice including one season before I joined the league (I joined in 2002, so it was in 2001, the first USAFL 3rd era season). So let say that those 7 non playoffs seasons were very tough. But now we are on the right path, and there wont be a rebuilding season in Tempe anymore.

2. You won the NFC West divisional title with a 6-2 divisional record. How proud are you that you were able to sweep Green Bay and Dallas, then split your series with Minnesota and Houston?

I think the Dallas sweep is the most satisfactory given our long-time rivalry, and the GB one was also satisfactory given the skills of the GM. Definitely, NFC West is the best division in the league, and it will stay that way as long as Pat keeps his head cool.

3. You won the championship with former Redskin QB Marvin Farthing running your West Coast offense. Then you promptly shipped him out to Cleveland this past off-season. Is Robert Brooks ready to take control of the offense?

Mike Manuel has been drooling about Brooks since I drafted him. So I believe he is. Not sure how long he will stay in Tempe though because I drafted a polish QB (Dennis Zandofsky) who maybe have a better upside. I can hear the phone calls already :)

4. You had a fairly quiet off-season on the Free Agency front, although you did send OL Corey Wilks an offer (he signed with Pittsburgh). What's your opinion on how the new market system is doing?

I kept a low profile attitude this off-season because I didn't have much money nor players I really wanted. I think the system works well, but needs some tweaking. Last season (2033), I resigned 2 guys (Ryan and Maack) and signed Farthing away from WAS. So the system works. It cost me a lot of money, which is why in 2034 I couldn't spend much. Good thing I didn't have good players available after being a SB team. At least I can count my offer sheets :) One suggestion I want to make about the system is to have non-matching abilities on 11y players. If someone has a bid on such players, they get him no matter what. Would be kinda like a unrestricted/restricted system. And that might create more roster movement.

5. Speaking of applications, how is the Waiver Wire Claim application coming along?

It's already in alpha testing right now. I'm working with Garritt and Andrew on this. Right now, we are at the UI level, and we believe it will be fairly easy to manage for GMs. What you will have to do is order positions you want to draft, and then you order players in each position. So what happens is that based on the position you want, it will figure out who's the highest ranked player on your list. For those of you familiar with Yahoo and ESPN fantasy games, it will be similar to the pre-draft rankings. The only thing you wont be able to do is overall ranking. It will have to be position by position for simplicity reasons. But still, with 120 available players gone by then, the quality of the remaining players shouldn't worry you :)

6. You've been in the USAFL for two years. Was this your first FBPRO-type online league? What other kinds of online competitions have you been involved with?

Yup it was my first FBPRO league. I had immediate success since I got to the SB on my first season, and won it the next one. I thought it was beginner's luck, but besides the disastrous rebuilding process of late, I had a lot of success as you can see in the standings history. USAFL was the 4th online league I've joined. My first one was GABL, a baseball league ran by former SD GM Phill Bennett. That was in 1999. That's where I met Joe, Pat, and Tom. I was introduced to GABL by Jean whom I've known from a previous job starting back in 1997. That league has since died for technical reasons. It was using FBPRO's little brother, BBPRO, and it doesn't work on Windows XP :( In 5 seasons, I went to WS 3 times, winning it on my last try. Talk about a dynasty and 31337 5k311z. Then I joined SCHL, Joe's hockey league. But I quit after 6-7 seasons because the pace was too slow for me. Answer to question #10 will show why :) After that, I joined another FHL league, an all French one, and 2 years ago, USAFL. Since then I've joined SFLSL, Mike Morton's soccer league for those of you who know him, and Flip sucks in that league. COE only applies to USA Sports, so I have the right to say that.

7. Why did you move a successful Xxxxx Xxx franchise to Arizona?

In real life, I'm an Eagles fan (football, not music). When the Xxxx beat the Eagles in the NFL NFC championship game, I was devastated. At the same time, I officially asked to move the franchise. Since I had to pick a NFC team unlike some other GM, I chose the hopeless Cardinals. That way, the fans wont have any expectation, so if I lose, it's ok :) Let say that it worked out well with 7 losing seasons to start with :) Add to that the fact that I was forced to accept an AGM who jinxed me, and you got a winning recipe. At least I took my revenge in 2033 and he went home empty handed. Jinx is over.

8. What do you think of the expansion plans?

Right now we have a solid base of GMs. I think that having 17 active and competitive GMs is tough to get. It's been that way for a couple of seasons too, so we have something solid to work with. As long as we don't fill the 12 spots with Andrew's nephews or another Ricotta, I think we should be alright. Although an all-brothers division could be cool :) As well as an all-Canadians one.

9. In our league, there are several different levels of competiveness. Describe your competitive spirit when it comes to the USAFL. What keeps you involved?

I think my level of competiveness created many frictions in the past. But I realize that its just a game and that there's no money to be won. It's all about bragging rights. Sure I will be jealous when someone pulls a great deal, I'm just frustrated when its the same ones who get to do it :) (COE note: please note the use of plural :)) But that has nothing to do with USAFL, it was the same thing in the other leagues. For sure I always want to be the best, and if my players don't show up, they will get traded. They better take note of it.

10. What one feature of the USAFL would you say is by far, the best component to the league?

Easy. The calendar. Having a fixed 3 weeks calendar is probably the best idea a fantasy league could have and for many reasons. First, you can plan in advance what you have to do. And since seasons fly by, its "easy" to rebuild. You don't have to wait 3-4 months of real time for the next season to start. That's probably what keeps my level of interest so high. You know you can be the champion in only 3 weeks. If only Joe would take note of that, maybe I'd revive the Quebec Carnivals.

11. If you could have any ACTIVE player on your team right now, who would it be?

I already have who I want. RB Russ Billups. He might have a shot at Keith Gunn's records, and he's costing me only 1M$. I always had great running backs in the past, and Billups certain lives up to that reputation. If the answer has to come from another team, I'll pick DL Courtney Odomes from KC. A pure sack machine. Something we haven't add in Tempe for a long while.

12. Let's say you do make the Super Bowl this season, which team would you like to face?

BAL or TEN. ALL-CANADIAN Super Bowl baby! (2034 update) Got close to happen, but oh well.

13. How many of your family/friends know that you are a hard-core USAFLer? Do you talk about it with them? Or are you a closet USAFLer?

Jean knows, does that count? Martin too :) But I don't know Martin as much as Jean. See, Jean knows Tracy, but Martin doesn't. Besides that, my ex-wife would tell you she knows too much :))) Some friends know too. Funny too, the other day, one of them was talking about going on a fishing trip, and he remembered me telling him stories of Garritt driving 12 hours up north to Saskatchewan :) They don't really understand the passion about virtual fantasy games. But I explain them that its because I love statistics, ratings (EICH!) and formulas (REMO!).

14. Describe your environmental setting on a draft night. Do you draft from work/home? Do you order out for pizza/wings/etc? How much paperwork are you looking through to make your selection, or is all your scouting work done on the computer?

It happened a couple of times over a year ago that I drafted from work when I was working late. But lately, it's all been a home thing. What happens is that on Monday nights, I usually go out for a few beers at Baloo's, and then I get home at 7:30. I start cooking my dinner, and then I run my draft script. It sorts out players in a way I feel is the best, and then I go back to cooking, and when it's ready, it's about 8:15 by then. Since I usually don't have picks for the draft, its all good and I'm waiting for the supp rounds to start :) So its a last minute thing, and its all done automatically by Perl scripts I wrote.

15. Which of the following would you rather have in your trophy case? One Lorne Sundby Cup, three James Maurer GM of the Year Awards, six NFC Championship trophies, four Bing Bennett Most Valuable Player Awards, five Tim Arkwright Rookie of the Year Awards, or ten NFC West Division Championship trophies?

I already have 3 Sundbys, 3 Maurers, 8 NFC championships, 4 Bennetts, 2 Arkwrights, and many NFC West division titles. But of all those awards, the GMOY Jim Maurer award is the one I want ever year. It's all about respect. I think COE mentions something about that :)

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NEXT EDITION: Green Bay GM Todd Ricotta