On Draft Day, Pama was very nervous. "I talked a big game, pre draft. One of the biggest out of anyone around. Now, granted, I didn't talk a big game about the most prominent positions, I didn't pull a Ruschmann or a Chambers and think I was going to get drafted in the first round...even if Ruschmann ended up getting picked in the first round anyways! But, I did have a personal goal for myself, which was to get picked in the first 20 people who hadn't previously established themselves in the league as a recreate or a waiver wire pickup."
Considering that 3 out of the first 4 picks were one of those two things, Pama felt that hedging was a bit wise on his part. "Still, I was starting to run out of time as we got near the end of the third round of the draft."
After seeing Marlon "B. B." Alexander go off the board with the 21st overall pick, the Royals third pick, Pama felt he had his new lowest possible draft spot. "At that point, I felt very confident saying that I was going to go by the Royals 4th round pick, if not earlier. I had been in the locker room a while, built up a pretty large nest egg through working on media and a couple wiki pages, and I was one of the higher earners of the class so far at 150 TPE as of today."
Pama did not, however, expect to be drafted literally with the next pick, 22nd overall by the Portland Pythons.
"Perhaps I should have expected to be drafted by Portland, considering how I got a call pretty recently from them asking whether I would be up to changing positions. I don't know if that was while the draft was happening or not, but it was definitely a sign that they were interested in me, at the very least."
With that conversation in the back of his mind, and watching the next few rounds of the draft, Darren Pama figured his days as a Tight End were numbered once the 4th round of the draft began and the Pythons selected their third Tight End in a row, Dave Batista. After receiving a call from his new GM, qWest, a couple minutes after the draft, he knew what was about to happen. The only question was to what.
"Definitely did not expect to be made the new starting running back at that point, but I'll take it."
From that day forward, Pama had worked on slimming down his weight and building up his speed.
By the time the preseason had started, Pama had slimmed down and sped up. Sped up a lot, in fact.
"As far as I can tell, I'm the second fastest player on the team. I'm actually faster than a couple of the guys who were considered for Running Back of the Year last year, at least right now. Hopefully I can get even better as the season goes on."
As for the locker room of the Pythons? "So far it's great! I get along really well with Dan Foster, and Angelo Cerilli has seemed like a great guy from what I've gotten to know of him. Besides that, I also really like the GM qWest and the atmosphere so far has been very welcoming, especially to a new guy like me. Right now the defense is trying to name their sack celebrations off of snake puns, so I think they're having a good time as well."
What about the league? How good did he think the Pythons were going to do in this year's DSFL considering they were the worst team by record last year?
"Well, part of the thing about the DSFL is that if you don't have a good year, then you probably don't have a ton of great players. And if you don't have a ton of great players, people are probably going to stay down another year. So hopefully that will benefit the Pythons, although I haven't exactly combed through the lists and seen who's going up to the ISFL and who's been sent down. Besides that? That's what the draft is for. They got a ton of big bodies in the late rounds to hopefully just create running lanes for me, and I know that people like Dan and I have the potential to be studs. Also, Davriel Lavigne looks to be an excellent draft pick and I'm very excited to see how they'll perform. Etrigan T. Slayer impressed me when I got to see him in training camp, and assuming he avoids the lawsuits from DC's lawyers long enough to play in this league, I'm sure he'll be a great player. Simply put, though, the Pythons just didn't have a ton of star players last year and I'm pretty sure just by existing a number of their draft picks will massively improve the team. That's basically it, hoping I and other players the Pythons drafted live up to their position and surpass it in a couple places, and that the talent drain will affect other teams more heavily than them."
What did Pama see as the strengths of the Pythons? "I mean, I'd say running back, but I'd be a liar! As is, I've got a ways to go to catch up to people like Zoe Watts, Danny King, and Crowbar Theeks, and I'm assuming at least one of those is going to stay down this year, if not more than one. In reality? Safety. Joel Drake was a stud last season, and if he stays down for one more season, he's going to be paired up immediately with a massive upgrade in Davriel Lavigne."
So, then, how did he feel the Pythons were going to do this year? "I have no freaking idea, but I'm guessing we're probably not going to win. It's hard to go from worst to first in any sports league, even one with only 8 teams. On the other hand, the DSFL is probably uniquely made to allow a worst to first to happen...I'm going to claim we'll challenge for the playoffs. And if we make it there, anything can happen!"
(1038 words)
Considering that 3 out of the first 4 picks were one of those two things, Pama felt that hedging was a bit wise on his part. "Still, I was starting to run out of time as we got near the end of the third round of the draft."
After seeing Marlon "B. B." Alexander go off the board with the 21st overall pick, the Royals third pick, Pama felt he had his new lowest possible draft spot. "At that point, I felt very confident saying that I was going to go by the Royals 4th round pick, if not earlier. I had been in the locker room a while, built up a pretty large nest egg through working on media and a couple wiki pages, and I was one of the higher earners of the class so far at 150 TPE as of today."
Pama did not, however, expect to be drafted literally with the next pick, 22nd overall by the Portland Pythons.
"Perhaps I should have expected to be drafted by Portland, considering how I got a call pretty recently from them asking whether I would be up to changing positions. I don't know if that was while the draft was happening or not, but it was definitely a sign that they were interested in me, at the very least."
With that conversation in the back of his mind, and watching the next few rounds of the draft, Darren Pama figured his days as a Tight End were numbered once the 4th round of the draft began and the Pythons selected their third Tight End in a row, Dave Batista. After receiving a call from his new GM, qWest, a couple minutes after the draft, he knew what was about to happen. The only question was to what.
"Definitely did not expect to be made the new starting running back at that point, but I'll take it."
From that day forward, Pama had worked on slimming down his weight and building up his speed.
By the time the preseason had started, Pama had slimmed down and sped up. Sped up a lot, in fact.
"As far as I can tell, I'm the second fastest player on the team. I'm actually faster than a couple of the guys who were considered for Running Back of the Year last year, at least right now. Hopefully I can get even better as the season goes on."
As for the locker room of the Pythons? "So far it's great! I get along really well with Dan Foster, and Angelo Cerilli has seemed like a great guy from what I've gotten to know of him. Besides that, I also really like the GM qWest and the atmosphere so far has been very welcoming, especially to a new guy like me. Right now the defense is trying to name their sack celebrations off of snake puns, so I think they're having a good time as well."
What about the league? How good did he think the Pythons were going to do in this year's DSFL considering they were the worst team by record last year?
"Well, part of the thing about the DSFL is that if you don't have a good year, then you probably don't have a ton of great players. And if you don't have a ton of great players, people are probably going to stay down another year. So hopefully that will benefit the Pythons, although I haven't exactly combed through the lists and seen who's going up to the ISFL and who's been sent down. Besides that? That's what the draft is for. They got a ton of big bodies in the late rounds to hopefully just create running lanes for me, and I know that people like Dan and I have the potential to be studs. Also, Davriel Lavigne looks to be an excellent draft pick and I'm very excited to see how they'll perform. Etrigan T. Slayer impressed me when I got to see him in training camp, and assuming he avoids the lawsuits from DC's lawyers long enough to play in this league, I'm sure he'll be a great player. Simply put, though, the Pythons just didn't have a ton of star players last year and I'm pretty sure just by existing a number of their draft picks will massively improve the team. That's basically it, hoping I and other players the Pythons drafted live up to their position and surpass it in a couple places, and that the talent drain will affect other teams more heavily than them."
What did Pama see as the strengths of the Pythons? "I mean, I'd say running back, but I'd be a liar! As is, I've got a ways to go to catch up to people like Zoe Watts, Danny King, and Crowbar Theeks, and I'm assuming at least one of those is going to stay down this year, if not more than one. In reality? Safety. Joel Drake was a stud last season, and if he stays down for one more season, he's going to be paired up immediately with a massive upgrade in Davriel Lavigne."
So, then, how did he feel the Pythons were going to do this year? "I have no freaking idea, but I'm guessing we're probably not going to win. It's hard to go from worst to first in any sports league, even one with only 8 teams. On the other hand, the DSFL is probably uniquely made to allow a worst to first to happen...I'm going to claim we'll challenge for the playoffs. And if we make it there, anything can happen!"
(1038 words)
![[Image: xzfGZKP.png]](https://i.imgur.com/xzfGZKP.png)
![[Image: qWest.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/qWest.gif)
