It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of the BuzzerBeater world, which I will perform in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great people into a new age, out of one of the most conservative regimes of all, championships themselves seeming to be in the balance.
But the right is more precious than ordinary, and I shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts: for glory, for the right of those who help authority to have a voice in their own National management, for the rights and liberties of small managers. To such a task I can dedicate my time and fortune. Everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when Canada is privileged to spend her time and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness which she has treasured. The BuzzerBeater Gods helping her, she can do no other.
Turning once again to the question of elections, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long seasons of which we boast with an absolute guarantee against failure. In the days of Napoleon, the same wind which would have carried his transports across the Channel might have driven away the blockading fleet. There was always the chance, and it is that chance which has excited and befooled the imaginations of many Canadian BuzzerBeater managers. Many are the tales that are told. We are assured that novel methods will be adopted, and when we see the originality of malice, the ingenuity of aggression, which our enemies display, we may certainly prepare ourselves for every kind of novel stratagem and every kind of brutal and treacherous maneuver. I think that no idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered and viewed with a searching, but at the same time, I hope, it is with a steady eye, my eye.
I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, we shall prove ourselves mighty once again, able to ride out the storms, and to outlive the menace of tyranny. At any rate, that is what I am going to try to do. That is the resolve of my 2 year term-every team among them will feel my wrath, Canada’s wrath. That is the will of Canada and the players. The National Team manager and the Canadian managers, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death our honour, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of our strengths. Even though large tracts of the world and many old and famous dynasties have fallen or may fall into the grip of tyranny, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight on this continent, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength on the courts, we shall defend our legacy, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this country or a large part of it were subjugated to failure, then our Canadian managers, those who do not actively participate in these matters, will rise up, inspired by our heroic actions, armed and guarded by the Canadian players, will carry on the struggle, until, in the BuzzerBeater God's good time, the New Era, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.
I, Napoleon Bonaparte, ask you to vote for me in the National Team elections.