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(S26) Ultimus Week - Printable Version

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RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - Jimi64 - 01-13-2021

21) What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why?
Since expansion occurred, I have thought that New York’s branding has been a step above the rest of the league. The reason being that I feel it does an amazing job of not only being a logo that creates a domineering and threatening mascot, but I also think it truly captures the feeling of New York City (at least to a person that has never been there) through various stylistic elements. First off we have the gorilla. Of course this harkens back to King Kong and immediately conjures up images of him hanging on to the Empire State Building. The gorilla on the logo just looks fantastic. It looks ready to strike with its sharp teeth. Next, the marquee style text that states the team’s name. This represents the glitzy, glamorous style of New York. The bright lights of the city that never sleeps. The New York that Sinatra sang about. The rectangular shapes behind the gorilla serve a dual purpose of giving the logo a more defined and balanced shape while calling to mind the skyscrapers of New York City. Finally, the colors. I find that shade of green perfect, though I might be alone in my reasoning as to why. First, it lets the rest of the logo do the talking, but secondly, I find it represents the other part of New York. The part that the tourists and outsiders don’t know to well. The grittier, real life part of the concrete jungle. Even if the artist, who I believe was @KoltClassic , didn’t intend for all these themes to come out from the branding, the fact that I was able to come up with them myself anyway just shows how well done it was.
To answer the second part of the question, San Jose needs a facelift. It’s just not dynamic and uninspiring. No shade to the artist though, I couldn’t have done better.

20) Pretend injuries are a thing in the ISFL and your team has had a lot of them lately – so many that your GM has asked you to play out of position. What position are they asking you to play and what about your player build will help you succeed in this role?
I have always considered my player to be a very modern archetype of an NFL linebacker who is skilled in coverage. With that in mind I would imagine my player, due to emergency injuries, would be placed into the safety position. This might unfortunately mean that my good friend Matt Cross is injured though, which makes me quite sad. I initially had considered cornerback, but there is simply so many years of skill and technique that goes into those 1v1 matchups, having to keep up with receivers while staying knowledgeable of what routes they may run, that my player at linebacker simply couldn’t keep up. Now while playing at safety isn’t necessarily an easier position, being further back would give DeSoto a tiny bit of extra time and an opportunity to assess what is happening during a play. With maxed out intelligence and speed, DeSoto would have a better opportunity of assessing what routes may potentially being run by receivers and what the direction of the ball may be while still possessing the speed to be able to cover a great bit of ground quickly. Maxed out strength will unfortunately not be very effective from this position. Agility, which I have delayed upgrading to this point, would’ve suited me much better in that regard. Regardless, my coach could put me in a more natural environment by simply setting my up to blitz from the safety position. Safeties also have more of an impact on the run game than cornerbacks, so this also influenced my decision to pick safety.

9) What is it that keeps you interested in the league? Is it your love of dot football, the community, a specific job or role you play, or something else? What do you like most about it? What could be improved?
I originally joined the league because of its RPG elements. My brother and I would play the old NCAA football video games, specifically their "Heisman" modes, which were essentially like playing an RPG of your player through college. They were fun, but over time it seemed like more and more of its features were stripped. EA, am I right? Finding this league filled that hole that had existed, and still does. My imagination used to always fill in the holes that EA had left, but here I can actually do a bit of roleplay as a real professional player while also interacting with other's in their own characters. Sometimes I wish that happened a bit more than it actually does, but I know the league is different for everyone, and some just view it as a collection of chat rooms, which it basically is. In fact, that chat room aspect is another part of it that I love. I have met so many people by this point, and I think I was really lucky to join with the class that I did. My fellow Norfolk rookies were a great group, and we were welcomed lovingly by the alums. Norfolk has always fostered a very welcoming, wholesome environment which fit me perfectly, and they became my league family. I couldn't help but want to get more involved with the team, so I started scouting. Scouting causes you to talk to tons of strangers, which gives you the opportunity to talk to some of the best users in the league before they really get started. Whether those users end up on your team or not, it's still a joy to get to know them. Over time I got more and more involved in Norfolk, until I actually became a GM, which feels pretty crazy looking back. Being a GM has been the greatest joy I have experienced in this league. Gm'ng involves a great bit of busy work in some ways, but you are also responsible for building and maintaining a team culture, as well as building the team itself. DSFL GM'ng is unique in that winning really shouldn't be your main focus. Developing your players should be. To me, this took a lot of the stress some might have over the job, as I was able to continue a lot of the practices I had already been enjoying in scouting. Helping players learn the ropes of the forums, helping them update, and helping them earn are all fun for me. I really don’t view the work as a chore, I view it as work that I love. Keeping everyone’s heads up when we’re losing and celebrating with them when we win is lovely. We also exceeded everyone’s expectations this past season. Practically every win was an upset, so the fact that we made playoffs made me immensely proud of my team. The personal connection you get with your draft picks is wonder. Oh yea, drafting is my favorite part of the league no doubt, so being able to make final decisions on it feels amazing. We got 5 fantastic earners out of a non-reddit draft, and I am incredibly happy with that. I can’t wait to see where my first batch of Seawolves gets drafted.


RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - FleshBagSoup - 01-13-2021

22) Your player has been paid to endorse a product/service. What is it? How do you endorse it?

SparkySparky Boom-man has certain physical traits that would allow him to be open to some kinds of sponsors that many of the other players in the league wouldn’t be able to advertise for as well as he could. Large metal prosthetics definitely aren’t something that is common among players in the ISFL so Boom-man could help endorse something very unique. One of the things that Sparky could do to promote the product would be to get the logo of the sponsor to protrude from his arm prosthetic so when he hit the opposing players skin hard enough they would have the logo indented into them or maybe a bruise shaped in a similar way. Another thing he could do is say that the prosthetic makes him faster. All he would have to do is film an ad where he is timed doing a lap or short sprint and then afterwards do the same thing but faster and with the sponsor’s prosthetic. Maybe its legit who knows. Also instead of practical uses maybe they could show the products cosmetic worth by getting his arm in the shape of a teams logo. Boom-man could do a press conference with a big seawolves submarine shaped arm to show it off.


RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - AdamS - 01-13-2021

#1
New Orleans obviously made the Ultimus and lost to the Wraiths (again). I cannot claim we were that much of an underdog or dark horse but I don't think we were anyone's first choice to win. That was before the sim fuckery decided to go nuts. That said, the whole ASFC playoff situation was insane. New York managing to slide into (an unexpectedly modified version of) the first seed was definitely a dark horse in its own right, though. They went into the lasts week of the season hosting Orange County in a playoff situation so complex that half the league was trying to figure out the actual math for the entire day up to and including during the game itself. And we were all wrong. They won, and Orange County who lost jumped Austin, who was ahead of them, and snuck into the 3rd playoff spot based on the records of those four teams and Arizona, who had already been eliminated. So the index showed New York in first with home field advantage, New Orleans in 2nd hosting Orange County, who was listed in 4th, while the 3rd place Austin Copperheads went home. Go home sim, you're fired. Nola beating OCO and then having a home game we shouldn't have made us somehow more unpopular than the Otters who shouldn't have gotten in to begin with. Yet we persevered as the league's first 2nd seeded home team in the ASFC conference finals. Where we ran into New York, after beating each other on the road this season. So even with the advantage we were supposed to have gained form this sim black magic (us, the team that was 4-4 at home including a loss to PHILLY), we were concerned to say the least. So when we began the 4th quarter down 14 after haven given up a freakin' safety, we were not confident. Even when we came back we were on eggshells. We honestly didn't want to believe and get invested until it got close. Even on the game tying drive our QB got sacked with less than 3 minutes left and we kinda thought we were done. But we persevered and got to OT where we finally had the confidence to...no I'm lying we didn't. We were terrified until we picked up the fumble and managed to heart attack our way into the damn Ultimus. There was absolutely nothing easy or simple about our road to even get to the Ultimus. It was just pitfalls and obstacles and a stupidly stacked division alongside a sim that had no shreds of mercy. 

Meanwhile in the NSFC, Yellowknife basically sailed through. Wait, nevermind, scratch that. They were losing to Sarasota until the stream mysteriously went goofy and the Wraiths came back to win with 5 seconds. And then we had the Ultimus. We went up 10-0 in the 1st quarter and with 5 minutes left we were driving deep in YKW territory. With a 10 point lead and 1st and 10 at the 24 yard line, we knew. We knew what was coming. We were not going to darkhorse this to victory (since we actually were an underdog here). This is the moment where I have to address the task's ultimate question. Were you surprised by the outcome? No. The sim has screwed so many teams in so many ways, botched this entire playoff in several ways, and just been an absolute menace. This was it's last hurrah. We knew better. We knew it was about to screw us like a drill driving into the ground. And so it began. The fuckening. As our teeny tiny hope quickly died, the sim took the ball form us so we wouldn't score again, did nothing with it, and then took it form us again with a pick 6 to end a quarter we dominated 10-7. It was the perfect example of how the rest of the game was going to go. Up to and including a CB Blitz allowing for a huge touchdown, even if it wasn't technically a CB Blitz because the CB only went forward as far as the OLine (which was presented as a defense but is actually worse since at least the CB Blitz is attempting something useful). And then the Wraiths proceeded to do an uncomfortable physical examination of our entire team and the offense scored virtually at will alongside the defense grabbing 5 turnovers (including two pick 6's). My personal day can be summed up by the catch I had for -3 yards. 

Apparently the real darkhorse was the turnovers we gave up along the way. And New York who did actually get screwed by the sim's stupid logic. Even with not being surprised by the outcome....even with not being surprised after starting the game by dominating for almost the entirety of the 1st quarter......it still really sucked to be on the receiving end of one of the most vicious one sided beatdowns in Ultimus history. Especially after all the nonsense it took to get there.


RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - LewisMelville - 01-13-2021

Well it is that time of the season again where we are all twiddling our thumbs waiting for the dots to return to our life, so we have some form of normality. For my Ultimus week task I am going to go with Task 3 and do Berlin Fire Salamanders Mount Rushmore, I thought this would be an easy task to complete as the Berlin Fire Salamanders have only been around for 2 seasons, so I do not need to go trecking through the dark dusty archives and talk about players and people I did not know existed.
My 4 players (users) for the Berlin Fire Salamanders Mount Rushmore are: Highhaschdi (Nick Kaepercolin – Quarterback and General Manager), Dewalt (Asher Quinn – Cornerback and General Manager) Swanty (Swantavius Jones - Cornerback), and last but not least Joefish (Joseph Petrongolo – Running back, Wide Receiver aka Swiss Army Knife)

I will start off talking about both Nick Kaepercolin and Asher Quinn and why they are on my Berlin Fire Salamanders Mount Rushmore. Well High and Dewalt met during their time at the Balitmore Hawks, they developed a relationship in the war room and were Co General Managers for a season. The reason the Berlin Fire Salamanders are now a team is due to the recent league expansion for season 26. Both High and Dewalt had been interested in an Expansion and when it was announced decided to bid together. The league had recently switched from National Sim Football League to International Sim Football League and international bids were encouraged, their joint bid was successful. High is from Germany and Dewalt’s ancestry is heavily German the location was easy and thus the Berlin Fire Salamanders were born. Nick Kaepercolin is the holder of all passing (and interception) records in the Berlin Fire Salamanders history. His most impressive season came last season where he threw for 4355 yards (a career high) and 21 passing touchdowns, both of these are team records. In a few seasons time when we review this version of the Berlin Fire Salamanders Mount Rushmore all that will change for Nick Kaepercolin is that is numbers will be vastly more impressive. This takes me on to my next member of the Berlin Fire Salamanders Mount Rushmore and it is none other than High’s Co General Manager Dewalt (Asher Quinn). Now Asher Quinn’s personal numbers may not be as impressive as Nick Kaepercolin’s (he did have 3 interceptions in Berlin’s maiden season) but Asher has been instrumental in nurturing the young defensive backs looking to take over/carry on his Fire Salamander legacy. Most notably he will be looking for Defensive captain of Season 26 Jeeeeroy Lenkins to fill the void he will be leaving behind following his retirement. You cannot have a Mount Rushmore for the Berlin Fire Salamanders without the two General Manager’s; they are Berlin’s version of Laurel and Hardy.
My next nomination for this Mount Rushmore is none other than the season 26 1st overall draft pick Swantavius (Swanty) Jones. This man is the general of the Berlin Fire Salamanders locker room. He is the main support for both General Manager’s and players alike. He is everything you would look for in a first round pick and more. He somehow lost out on defensive captain last season but I think that was down solely to the fact that nobody was aware there was a vote in place and only 1 person voted (me) and I voted for myself Jeeeeroy Lenkins to be the team’s captain. Despite this Jones was still a juggernaut on the field and lead by example. In his 2 years years with the Berlin Fire Salamanders Swantavius Jones has over 200 tackles from slot corner, more than 3 forced fumbles and is much loved within the locker room. Once again when we refer back to his Mount Rushmore Swantavius Jones will be here, the only thing I expect to change is that he might be the first name down and not the third.
Finally that gets me round to my fourth and final pick for the Berlin Fire Salamander Mount Rushmore, I found this quite easy based on the performance he had in season 27 and I only expect his numbers to get better  it is Joseph Petrongolo. As you may have noticed earlier I refer to this man as a Swiss army knife. Now he may not be one of the leaders within the team, but what he lacks in leadership he definitely makes up for in ability. Petrongolo was dominaint in all aspects of his play last season and scored 10 touchdowns in the air alone, he may have lost a few fumbles but nobody is perfect. Even including that in his game he was still one of the highest earning fantasy point scorers for last season across the whole league! Without Joseph Petrongolo’s contributions on the field it is almost certain that Berlin would have had back to back first overall picks, a stat no franchise ever wants attached to their name.

If you read this and disagree with any of my selections or feel hurt that you have been left out, that is just tough I am afraid, this is my personal point task and I feel these 4 gents are worthy of their status atop of the Berlin Fire Salamanders Mount Ruhsmore.


RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - Ace - 01-13-2021

Tier 2 – Task 8 (5 TPE)

C.J. Sonjack grew up in the small, town of Immokalee, Florida. With a population of only 27,000 or so, it was easy to see that most kids would fall into the routine of scraping for a minimum wage to keep a roof over their heads when they grew up. C.J’s daddy was a used car salesman, and he certainly made more money than most of the folk that lived in his town. His momma was a paraprofessional at the local elementary school. They scraped by and lived in a small apartment complex where the most frequent visitors at their home were cockroaches. His momma always told him that “they ain’t roaches, they be palmetto bugs”, as if that was something that made them all feel a little bit better. 

It became abundantly clear when C.J. was six that he was going to be different than his peers. He might have a future that might eclipse slinging Oldsmobile Cutlasses. When all of the other kids were more focused on reading One Fish Two Fish, he was sprinting across the classroom, with the poor underpaid daycare workers pleading for him to slow down. He would line up the Tonka Trucks, sometimes four or five in a row, and see how many he could clear by jumping over them. Other kids worked on their 1s, their 2s, their 3s, he was seeing how high he could climb onto the bookshelves before the teachers caught him and brought him down.

One fateful day when C.J. was in fourth grade, the middle school football coach from the next town over caught him outside his home shooting hoops. C.J. couldn’t have been less than 5’1” at age 12, so he stood out for a young kid. “Son, I see you shooting hoops, but have you ever thought about football?”

“Nah, not really sir.”

“Are your parents home?”

His dad was at the dealership, but his mother was home.

“MOM!” C.J. yelled towards their apartment door, which was left ajar. They didn’t pay for AC – it was a luxury, not a necessity. “What?” she retorted. “This man wants to talk to you about football.”
C.J.’s momma came out with a bewildered look on her face.

“Ma’am, I know you must be busy, I won’t waste your time. Your boy here could have a big future in football. Take my card, think about it, and if you’d like to talk more, give me a call.”

He handed her a business card, and with that, C.J. was set on a path. A path that leads to the ISFL.

Tier 2, Task 9 (5 TPE)
Well, I would be the first to confess that I have not exactly stayed “engaged” in the ISFL. I am now onto my third player, and the league has really failed to “set the hook” so to speak to keep me involved. I think this league has a lot of good things going for it. The sim, despite being clunky at times and having a questionable reputation from the users that spend much more time than I with analysis and experiencing it, offers a highly entertaining and fast-paced product to consume live which I recall enjoying when tuning in for the games. Where the league really flourishes, in my estimation, is with the events department. I recall tuning in to my first live draft with Bex at the forefront and the other interesting analysts. It was engrossing, and I felt like an actual player racked with nervousness, eagerly awaiting my player's name to be called. It was supremely humorous that when it was finally my time to be drafted, the stream seemed to disconnect and all the “analysis” on my pick was rendered useless. It was all squared away in time for the next player to be picked though, naturally. But hey, I was picked! That was exciting.

The way that the Events team creates custom graphics really polishes and makes the ISFL experience that much more robust and engaging. I am happy to see that my league that I spend most of my time in, the SHL, has recently adopted this sort of model and we are beginning to see the results from that team take shape.

I hope I can land in a similar locker room to what the Butchers had going on. With Eller, I had a good time, but my plan was to be a gun for hire as I was not planning to do anything to earn money, and I was hardly going to be a max earner. There was not a whole lot of appetite for that sort of player in the league, and I can understand why. Chicago’s LR was engaging, wanted the best out of their players, and seemed to be a bit like a family. I want, with my newfound motivation, to end up in a similar scenario.

I think one of the ways we could improve the ISFL is by allowing for a better understanding of football itself. I am a casual fan, but I do not know the difference between a cornerback, lineman, safety, what the hell is a Dime formation, etc. Perhaps a brief explanation on all the archetypes of what the position is known for, best attributes for those positions, etc. Not to encourage a meta, but to at least give some context as I felt utterly clueless when doing my first initial build.


RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - Tayjay - 01-13-2021

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10) Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?
For a team that stormed out to a large lead in the division last year only to lose in the conference championship, we set our eyes directly towards getting back to the top. It wasn't as pretty as last year but we still had the league best offense and a defense that when it wanted to would put effort in. The defense ranked around the bottom of the league heading into the final couple of weeks. Then the defense picked it up and allowed 20 or less points in 6 of their last 7 games. 4 of those 7 games they allowed 14 or less. Through the last 7 weeks they averaged 14.4 points given up. That is a touchdown better than their first 7 games! They gave up, on average 23 points per game over the first 7 weeks. They gave up 14.4 points over the second half of the season. That would put them up near the top 3 in defense over a full season. That is a remarkable. It's also a reason that Bondi Beach made such an improvement over the latter part of the season. They were able to improve defensively and even pitch a shutout in the playoffs against Norfolk. They then held Portland to just 17 points. All of which that came in the first half, which led to a second half comeback and Ultimini win. It has been a full team effort that starts at the top with our GM's. We weathered the storm early relying on our fantastic offense and then the defense was able to pick it up and contribute.

Leonard Taylor led the team in tackles in back to back years. He contributed more this season in other categories but still was mostly a one category linebacker. Last year Taylor had 108 tackles with 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 interception. In the only playoff game in Season 25 Taylor had 16 tackles and no other stats. Solid season but tackles only isn't really where you want to be for the captain of the defense. In Season 26 Taylor had 147 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 3 fumbles forced, 1 fumble recovered, 3 sacks and 1 interception. A massive improvement over Season 25. In the playoffs he had 24 tackles in the 2 games. I should be called up to Yellowknife, the reigning ISFL champions, and position switching over to Defensive End. I have loved linebacker but I always wanted to be more of a pass rusher in a legacy dedicated to Lawrence Taylor. Pass rushing was what I wanted to do in this league and I think that I can step into this defense next year and produce enough that could make us repeat champions.
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28) The league is moving on to a new sim. What do you think about it? Are you excited to leave the old one behind? Maybe not so excited about it? Which parts of it do you think will be great, or not so great?
I have never really been a huge fan of the sim. Coming from OOTP I always loved how the sim looked and watched it. So when I first heard of ISFL I thought it might be on a game like Madden, NFL 2k, or one of the newer football IP's. It was not but I have come to love the football sim. The only thing that I haven't liked is the clock management and the lack of sacks for Defensive Ends. When I came into the league I wanted to get sacks very badly, but Defensive Ends apparently only get tackle for loss. In my 2 years I have only seen linebackers and safeties get a lot of sacks. The new sim engine looks better and I really like how you can see the ball in the air. You can follow the game better instead of just teleporting to a receiver and I think the stats will be way more realistic. I'm also pumped for the new archetypes and the traits. I still need to see how it works and how much of an impact it will have but I like the archetypes and glad that they got reworked to be more different. I always thought it was weird that move positions had 85 or 90 speed for almost every position. It seems that speed has been reworked which I think should help a lot. 
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17) You’re in charge of entertainment for the Ultimus or Ultimini half-time show. What would you do?
I think the recent Wild Card game between the Bears and Saints brought back some old, fond memories of my childhood. With Nickelodeon broadcasting the game as well as the normal television rights I think we should bring back the old 90's tv show competitions. For the Ultimini we will bring back Double Dare. The two teams will be fans for their respective teams. After playing a quick couple of games to see who gets to play a final game, the stadium is being transformed into the ultimate Double Dare obstacle course.  There will be classic like the nose picker, and diving into fake pancakes to find the flag. It will be Double Dare like you have never seen it. For the Ultimus halftime show we are bringing back none other than the Guts Agrorock. We will bring in two fans of each playoff team. They will play in a few game until we get to the Agrorock. Not sure if we could bring this in at halftime or if we build the Agrorock outside the stadium and do the other game modes like biking obstacle course inside the stadium. Either way, the tv game show idea brings back some competition to the halftime show and brings in a lot of youth to our viewing fan base. 217 words


RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - KingSean - 01-13-2021

1) This week will see the S26 Ultimus and Ultimini races begin in earnest. How did each team arrive at the playoffs? Were there any dark horse teams that went unexpectedly far, or any presumptive favorites that fell flat? Who do you think will win the final? If you’re writing this after the finals were decided, were you surprised by the outcome?

Background - My player is Mario Messi, the wide receiver of Pythons. I will just adopt the player's perspective and describe the trajectory of Pythons in this season. But at a high level, it was an amazing season for Pythons, although the ending was really not perfect. I think a story without a perfect ending might be a strong story, at least in the long run.

People in Pythons - This season, Pythons put together a really amazing team. At the end of the season, you can see eight players from Pythons capped at 250 TPEs. Besides my player (Mario Messi), there are seven other great players: Christiansen, Jaxson, Skeeter, Jones, LBJ, McGrady and Miler. Six of them came from the same S26 cohort - what a great choice the manager made in the S26 draft! These players deliver very effectively in the games; for example, our star QB LBJ III ranks as the first QB among all the eight major QBs. Messi ranks as the third in receives and yards, and the first in TDs. We also have great S27 cohorts - six of them were fairly active users, and three of them obtained more than 200 TPEs at the end of the season. With these players, it would not be surprised that Pythons got great records in S26. (A big thank you to the great manager SouthPaw)

Pythons Regular Games - Pythons dominated the 14 games in the regular season. In the preseason games, we won three out of the four games, sending out a great signal as the starting point. The only game we lost is to Grey Ducks, and it was a very close game with the scores ending at 23-20. For the regular games, the Pythons won 13 out of the 14 games, and we only lost once to Buccaneers (sadly the second time was in the finals). On the offense side, Pythons got 308 points in total, and it ranks second in the league. Pythons had pretty balanced running vs. rushing plays. The main running back Christiansen is gigantic and powerful, so he can always penetrate the defensive line. The rushing plays were led by the amazing QB LBJ, and two great WRs (Messi and McGrady; oh, I do want to see Messi and McGrady play real games together). Both WRs have fairly high TPEs, and rank as the third and seventh in the final receiving stat by yards. On the defense side, Pythons' defense was just astonishingly effective, lost only 174 points in the whole season. It ranks the best in all 8 teams. In fact, simply comparing the lost points of Pythons to the second (Buccaneers), we lost 87 fewer. In many individual games, Pythons were quite dominant, such as the 42-14 win over Grey Ducks, 29-13 win over Seawolves; but some of the games were also pretty close - particularly the games against Buccaneers: we got a 17-16 win and a 10-13 loss.

Other Teams - Since the Pythons lost to Buccaneers in the final, I would like to check Buccaneers' records more. TPE wise, Buccaneers is a much older team than Pythons, since they have six players older than S25, and four of them come from S24, as opposed to Pythons, which has only one person from S25. Buccaneers have accumulated about nine players capped at 250 TPEs, and six others accumulated 100-250 TPEs. While Buccaneers had more capped players (nine) than Pythons, four of them come from S25 and S24. I think it is a bit unfair to Pythons to play against a team like this, due to the age difference. Buccaneers did not have a great starting point in S26 - they lost four games out of the first seven games (to Pythons, Royals, Seawolves, and Grey Ducks). I am not sure about the underlying reasons, to be honest. But in the second half, Buccaneers was particularly strong - they won five out of the seven games, although still lost to Birddogs and Grey Ducks. The losing pattern of the Buccaneers is not very clear. I guess they might have adjusted their gaming strategy during the half of the past season. Overall, Buccaneers has many more older players than Pythons, but its S27 and S26 cohorts are not as good. I know that the league has limitations on non-active players - but can the league also consider some limitations on the number of old players in DSFL? It seems hard to compete with a team that has a lot of seasoned players.

Pythons Playoffs - Pythons beat London in the semi-final, but Pythons lost to Buccaneers in the final. The point was a 17-20 loss. Note that the average points of Buccaneers in the regular games is: 24 - 18, while the average points of Pythons are: 22 - 12. It is clear that Pythons underperforms on both the offense and defense sides. The two regular games between Pythons and Buccaneers are L13-10 and W17-16. The games between Pythons and Buccaneers have been very close in the regular season, so it would not be a big surprise by the final point. What surprises me is the process of the final. Pythons got a 17-0 lead in the first two quarters, but then we experienced a painful comeback and lost by 17-20. Even in the final quarter, during which I believe Pythons still had some chance to get 3 points through a field goal, but the Sim just arranged a lot of running plays that cannot work out for the Buccaneers' defense. No real team would play the last quarter like that, given the only 3 points behind - we only needed one more field goal to drag the game to overtime. But I guess this is what it is. The final end is still acceptable, within the margin of errors based on the past records between the two teams.

Salute to all the great players in Pythons. I will move to Hawks now, but I will miss everyone in Pythons.


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RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - Tylus - 01-13-2021

8. Tychondrius Hood has always been a fan of sports. The ancient ones said when Tychondrius was born he came out with a Florida Gator birthmark on his head. His parents took this as a sign from the gods that he was born to be a successful sports player of some kind. Growing up, Hood would initially take an interest in less contact sports like soccer, tennis, and volley ball. Hood would start out playing at local parks with other children, but would eventually graduate to full organized sports at his local clubs and for events. Once Tychondrius got to Junior High School he would play soccer for the school's team, breaking many records and leading the soccer team to a regional and state championship. After such a successful season on the soccer pitch, he would be noticed by coaches and scouts for the school’s football program. These coaches would eventually reach out to Mr. Hood and offer him a leading position on the school’s football team. Hood would think it over and eventually accept their offer, spending his first season playing wide receiver immediately, and his football reign would start early, lighting up end zones, stat sheets and scoreboards. Hood would break records at his small school, and lead them to a state championship in football as well. Once entering high school he would immediately make the team and start for the varsity squad in his freshman year on the team. Hood would be known statewide as one of the best receivers in the state, as well as a highly touted four star recruit during only his second year while playing for his hometown school. During his senior year Hood would receive offers from Florida, Georgia, LSU, as well as other highly known major college school teams. After a long deliberation Hood would eventually accept the offer from the University of Florida, where he was excited to make a name for himself at the next level of play. After arriving at the University, Hood would begin his career by making a name for himself in the special teams game, receiving punts and scoring multiple times on returns his freshman year. From his sophomore campaign onwards Hood would be a key weapon in the Gators offense, being known as a secret weapon, and an explosion waiting to happen. Even with weak play at quarterback, Hood was able to get noticed by scout, being drafted 6th overall in the season 23 draft by the San Jose Sabercats.

20. This season the San Jose Sabercats suffered a multitude of injuries on the team, which slowed them down from their past two ultimus appearances and wins. With this in mind, and the team being in a more ground based mode offensively, Coach Royal asked Tychondrius Hood if he would be willing to play in a defensive back position. Hood, while really enjoying making big plays on offense, is a team player and would be willing to help the defense out. Hood would be in my opinion a star at cornerback or safety. Having all the tools needed, such as his speed, allowing him to keep up with any wide receiver in the league. His agility is also one of his key features, you won’t see Hood be juked out very often, nor will you see him getting obviously beat. Tychondrius Hood is also well known for his endurance, being able to stay at 100% for much longer than the average player, meaning that when wide receivers are slowing down Hood is still in the driver's seat and ready to roll. With all of these attributes in mind, I believe that Hood could be a top ten player at cornerback or safety or even as a coverage linebacker!

25. If the San Jose Sabercats managed to win a third Ultimus with myself on the team, it would be one of, if not the most powerful and proud moment I will have had in this league. With that in mind a celebration for such an event must be well planned and exciting. If I were in charge I would surely come up with something special. A team trip to Hawaii could be fun, and also not as expensive seeing as we’re already in California. The team could rent out an entire small island and have a massive party for all sabercat players, staff, and even VIP fans! Another fun idea would be to take the team to Las Vegas. We could rent out an entire hotel floor of suites or even an entire casino! We could perhaps reserve a major fight and give the entire staff and players front row seats to the event. One last idea I have is to take the team to medieval times! Who doesn’t enjoy watching grown men on horses pretend they are knights, while eating a half a chicken and some mead? You can even buy a wooden sword and shield and hit eachother with them like kids! Those are about the best Idears I can come up with.


RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - Duilio05 - 01-13-2021

17) The Season twenty six ultimus half time show should be a magical composition of the leagues best entertainers recreating the sponge bob half time show from the bubble bowl. Dermot would be squidward as dermot is always grouchy. The leagues musical genius would be Tom Hanks as Sponge Bob. Dewalt could be the plankton. We got AdamS on the drums. Frick Nasty on the guitar. And just a bunch of others who want to take part in this epic awesomeness that everyone the league would want to take part in, so much so that players from the teams in the Ultimus would want to participate in the half time show instead of playing in the game. It would be one for the record books. Just like everything else we do in this league it would seem like a colossal mistake where things potentially blow up and dermot gets super stressed out about things not going correctly. However in the end when it becomes time we pull it together and all those on the outside watching will have no idea how close we were to a complete disaster. Who knows maybe we do such a good job espn will show us on top 10 list and we suddenly get a billion new creates that HO has no idea how to handle.


18) ISFL is the sim league i joined first, but eventually joined PBE as well. I named my PBE player after my ISFL player - Walter White. White is a pitcher and has been playing with Boise Raptors for several seasons now. He has really enjoyed his time there and plans to retire as a raptor hoping that one of these seasons he is able to help the raptors win the world series. I’m not as active in PBE as i am in ISFL. the only PBE discord im in is the Raptors team LR, and even then i only make an appearance a couple times a month. However every has been super helpful and friendly. Petra, Eso, and CMac are great team GMs and leaders. I definitely wou;dn’t have as good a time or player career if i didn’t have their leadership and understanding. My oly issue with PBE is that teams seem to form dynasteys a lot easier than in ISFL. Sure YKW OCO Yeti have been the top dogs in the league for several seasons now, but SJS is the first back to back champions in a long time. In PBE triple crown winners are really common and almost expected. Players seem to be more willing to keep signing with the same two teams during FA which makes league parity more difficult.

28) I am really excited about the new sim. Ddspf21 looks a lot moe crisp and clean compared to ddspf16, and hopeful that encompasses how player attributes affect performance as well. I chose the slot receiver archetype because i don’t expect many other players to choose it. With team compositions being more important in ddspf21, i hope that will allow me to stick out of the crowd and be more desired by teams. This would really allow me to achieve my league goals of being a mercenary through out my career, going to which ever teams shows the want me the most. It will be interesting if league culture continues to blame sim luck with regard to wins and losses, or if tpe levels become more definitive for determining win and loss success. There have been several teams that have been able to punch above their tpe level multiple seasons in a row, and changing sims could ruin that potentially. Beyond what i saw during the trade deadline prospect game i haven’t played or used the new sim myself, so everything i’m learning has been from others and watching the streams. I trust the sim migration team to have everything irioned out to help keep the league from getting into a meta rut like we have been for several seasons now. We have figured out almost every detail of ddspf16 to the point that we could even control who wins regardless of tpe levels or team composition.

30) The scouting report for Sam indicates a lot of promise. Rumors circulating that he has been contacted by every DSFL team, however a few teams are put off by his blunt approach and almost disregard for the DSFL. One anonymous source says he only cares about getting to the ISFL immediately after his one required DSFL season. Despite the odd personality he is a recreate, and as such a well known commodity inthe ISFL community. The anonymous source indicates that it would a major surprise to the entire league if Sam fell out of the first round, as he has personal connections to almost every DSFL War Room. So far he is a max earner having declared for the DSFL at the ISFL trade deadline. Sam is one of only 6 Wide Recievers in this class despite the large recruitment effort this season. He additionally has the destinction of being the first ever Slot Reciever in the entire league, a distinction he hopes will help him succeed in his goals in the ISFL. Based on his current tpe spending, he is aiming to get the Slot Receiver Trait as quickly as he can. A very encouraging sign for any GM that is on top of their research.


RE: (S26) Ultimus Week - marklol - 01-13-2021

9) What is it that keeps you interested in the league? Is it your love of dot football, the community, a specific job or role you play, or something else? What do you like most about it? What could be improved?

The community and the overall idea of the league really helps me to stay interested in the league. First, the community is one of the most overall nice people I’ve met in a huge group. I have yet to meet a bad apple, or don’t think I’ll even meet one. You could ask anyone for help and they will do their best to answer your question. From a vet who answers the question with their experience, to a rookie who will help you find the person who will answer properly. The love of the game is also a huge part of why it keeps me interested. When I moved to the United States, I made a ton of friends in a school with a language that’s completely foreign to me, with a sport that was completely foreign to me. Not much other activities on this planet can unite people with such passion about a game where being a tough person is the key. I don’t have a job in the league yet, but I look forward to one because the experience I had even without being in a team is already amazing, and the best is yet to even come. I don’t think there’s much improvement for the league, minor things really. Training mini-games that help a player earn points for themselves would be my only suggestion so far. With a new simulator being used this upcoming season, I look forward to seeing how that would affect the league and rosters, with some archetypes becoming better than others and some archetypes losing their viability. The whole idea of archetypes is really creative, it allows individuality for every player. Another idea that allows individuality is the twitter and media parts which allow the league to deepen the experience and intractability. I look forward to writing media and maybe creating a twitter for my player in the future. Being a prospect, I’ve been really lucky to have an opportunity to speak to General Managers who are planning on their DSFL, and it’s been nice to talk to all of them and see how they want to run their teams and what their future plans are. It’s been a great part to talk to the prospects I got to talk to and hope to compete with them in the future, and hopefully soon I will also meet my new teammates. This about the community and the combination of the love for the game is the reason why I am looking forward to draft night and seeing how the future pans out for me in this wonderful league.

20) Pretend injuries are a thing in the ISFL and your team has had a lot of them lately – so many that your GM has asked you to play out of position. What position are they asking you to play and what about your player build will help you succeed in this role?

Originally, when I came into the league I really wanted to play cornerback, but seeing how many defensive backs there were I decided to go for a challenge and play quarterback. If my team ever has an injury bug, the coach would probably ask to help out on offense as either a running back (due to my scrambler archetype), or a fullback (again due to the scrambler archetype). Running slot plays, doing scrambles and improvising in the pocket, or help out on the special teams with returning a punt or kick, despite that being unheard of from a quarterback. The player that would closely resemble what was written above would be Taysom Hill. He was a quarterback prospect, but signed by the Saints to be a utility player that can fill in any hole in the team, from running back to even quarterback for when the QB1 went down. I’d love to help my team that way if injuries were introduced into the league. The player build I currently have is around the arm strength and speed, so I would have to change the arm strength into agility to help out with running plays as in the new sim, the agility and speed seem to be important stats for runners. As well as improvement in the hands department would help out hugely too, because offensive plays require good usage of hands in order to catch.



22) Your player has been paid to endorse a product/service. What is it? How do you endorse it?

One of my favorite ever ads in sports is the ad where Joel Embiid, the 76ers center, advertises the fact that Hulu has live sports. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjBssvRlMi4). The straight forwardness and the bluntness has so much comedic effect that it becomes funnier without necessarily trying to be. I’d love for my player to endorse a product in the same way, with a cringey advertisement followed by a fan asking “Why are you doing this?”, followed by the player saying “Money”. The advertisement I also like was a Cristiano Ronaldo Shopee ad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EMLSRA57JM). I’d love to combine both for a funny ad that gets lots of exposure due to how obnoxious it is, which is a modern tactic for ads because the more obnoxious it is, the more exposure it gets due to memes, and internet sharing it a lot. My player would probably advertise vitamin gummies, or a drink like PowerAde or Gatorade with an annoying song, followed by a fan coming up to ask why I do this, and my reply would be “money”. It’s a really corny idea, and seems totally forced but that’s an effective way to advertise in the modern day, with cringey ads becoming more and more exposed due to how easy it is to ruin them with memes.