some bits and pieces i haven't seen brought up as much as some of the other topics around rossy's dropping. curious what other people know/feel or if you all can fill the gaps in my knowledge. obvious bias alert from my side but open to hearing alternative ideas.
- what were expectations for rossy's role?
rossy mentions in his interview that he joined the team when runi was still going to be a part of c9; only later did v1c get brought on and runi get cut (the time between rossy and v1c getting signed isn't specified so this may have been very short). immi also mentioned that other igls were tried while rossy was on the team (v1c, moose), which to me is pretty major for an igl who was only brought onto the team a month or so prior. was rossy always intended to be the igl? a secondary caller?
if he wasn't meant to be a main caller, this could help to explain why some of rossy's tendencies as an igl weren't identified before signing, but if it is the case then giving him less than two months to work on his issues is particularly egregious.
- who should get a say in game?
one of the issues hinted at is that players didn't feel they got enough of a say under rossy, like they weren't able to contribute ideas of their own in games. my hunch based on immi's comments is that v1c was one of these people - not sure if it was a shared sentiment or if i'm right about v1c.
on the other hand, comms from the sen city games (where available) make it seem like rossy had a hard time getting the team to listen to him. his comms were overridden by the team's words or actions multiple times, even in the first game, where there is less of an excuse that the teammates were already tilted. there are tons of caveats here (only short snippets, rossy himself thinks he did a poor job at sen city, unimportant tourney + the first one as a team, etc. etc.). it did make me wonder if some of rossy's shut-off nature, though, could stem from a feeling that he was unheard.
- how much did rossy know about his performance before the conversation where he was cut?
rossy's interview makes it seem like he was pretty blindsided by the cutting conversation. immi's comments, on the other hand, mention discussing issues with him prior. i'll note that in the interview, immi is sometimes vague about who exactly he was talking to (e.g. were these conversations held between the other members of c9 or was this sitting down directly with rossy) - this could definitely just be his way of speaking but in a semi-prepared setting like this interview i read a bit more into vague language like that and i wonder how much was shared with him prior to his final day.
given the short timeline this dropping happened on (even shorter when you consider that he was already looking to be cut prior to rbhg), i think it's pretty critical that rossy was given direct feedback on his performance, which components needed work, and how to improve on them in order to justify getting rid of him so quickly. it is very possible that did happen, but with our current amount of information it is not clear to me if it did or did not.
- what were immi and oxy's expectations for the cutting conversation?
to me, this conversation sounds like it was set up for failure. on a dime, rossy was asked to defend his position before a hostile audience. i don't blame him for not giving a strong answer, as it sounds like happened, since it seems like people's minds were mostly made up. however, immi and oxy say that he wouldn't have been cut if he gave a satisfactory answer in that conversation.
what could rossy have said, especially in the moment + on the spot, that would have convinced immi and oxy or the team as a whole that rossy was going to make the changes needed to keep him on the roster?
- isn't oxy a sweetie?
the answer is yes but what i mean to say is i appreciate that oxy as a player is putting himself out there to discuss what happened - according to xeppaa this interview is something he really wanted to do, not something he was made to do. on the flipside, his presence highlights the absence of the other team members, especially moose and v1c (since xeppaa has streamed + discussed the issue solo). since it seems like they were the players who had more qualms with rossy, their absence is glaring.