FSA DS Deadline Status: DEFCON 4

From yesterday’s deadline post, you probably know that the deadline is approaching to submit your FSA Directeur Sportif team, and that I am using the old movie War Games to dramatize the urgency of the situation. I am also using an alternative Ronde van Vlaanderen condition to similarly motivate you to finish your team.

WIth the deadline now only four days away, NORAD has moved our worldwide FSA Directeur Sportif DEFCON level to 4.

For all details about the game, read this post. Or if you are already a member of the Cafe (i.e. you have a login here), then go directly to the FSA DS game page and get started. Or you already started but haven’t finished. So do that. Remember, until you hit “SUBMIT” on your team, you’re not in.

DEFCON 4 translates to “above normal readiness” in terms of military status, and includes increased intelligence watch and strengthened security measures. To put that in more useful terms, it means you have to be a bit more ready to submit your team. There aren’t any races happening today, so if you are going to implement increased intelligence and strengthened security, then you should watch some YouTube videos of a few one-pointers and maybe do some research about team leadership plans at grand tours.

DEFCON 4 has been used a number of times, such as in the aftermath of 9/11, and probably a few other times we don’t know about which are decidedly un-funny to contemplate. In the film, NORAD is at DEFCON 4 while Ferris Bueller is left alone in an office with access to a secure computer, notwithstanding the fact that he’s only in NORAD because he had previously hacked into the computer system from a Tandy T100 or whatever that he bought at Radio Shack. Northern Exposure’s Mace Mobrey and the bad boss from 9 to 5 are down on the main floor of the operations chamber arguing about what’s going on when a secretary discovers Ferris hacking into the system again — except Ferris discovers the war game he previously launched inadvertently is still happening. General Mace Mobrey wants Ferris taken to GITMO but Mr. Hart, the bad boss, is in charge of the computer system and hears pangs of truth in what Ferris is screaming as he’s being dragged away. The Russkies haven’t launched anything, but their submarine movements are troubling. That’s DEFCON 4.

To put it in terms of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, the race is approaching 100km to go and there are two breaks up the road, one of which has a few riders in it who could be important riders to control the break’s movements as the race reaches the bulk of the climbs. Nothing is won or lost yet, but if your people aren’t in the right place now, or very soon, your options will begin to narrow.

Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images

Stop messing around. Get your team wrapped up soon. Tell your friends. Wake the kids. Game time approaches.