(S25) - Ultimus Week

[Attopax]

Give a thorough examination of a league scandal from any point in time. What made this particular drama so noteworthy? Who were the major participants involved, and what was the offense? What kind of impact did this scandal create on the league, and have any permanent changes come about as a result?

The Bachelorette. Most league scandals involve human error resulting in an incorrect depth chart, a non-updated depth chart or other oversight that allegedly affects a game. These scandals usually result in factions forming that debate the merits of each side and then debate the ramifications of whatever ultimate decision is made by the powers that be. This scandal was unique in that it involved a non-football event with zero game impact. It was also unique in that there was no two "factions" to speak of. The pushback and objections were somewhat unanimous and instantaneous. The collective opinion was so conclusive that Head Office took prompt steps to issue a formal opinion and the plug was pulled in the event immediately. The issue that I had with the event had several parts. In the time following the post, the organizers claimed that it "wasn't serious" and was just good fun. Yet, if that was the case, then why did they feel it necessary to say loud and clear that you needed to be over 18 and single? That springboards into a whole other line of questioning. For example, what was the end goal of this event? Even if there were no objections to its appropriateness, format, or anything... The advertised prize was a date with the Commissioner. After the game was over, what would the winner have won? What would the prize have actually materialized into? While my guess is that it would have more than likely turned into a "spend a few hours chillin' or playing games with the Commissioner," when you add into the mix the **requirements** of being single and over 18, it paints a more than Rated R scenario.


Even though this was recent history, because of the nature of this scandal, I feel like naming the participants would be unfairly targeting them, but it involved several prominent league individuals. In terms of impact on the league, the scandal rippled across and had undeniable backlash. Head Office immediately distanced themselves from the event by issuing a formal statement, canceling the event, and even moving the posted announcement of it to a non-announcement section to downgrade its publicity. The concernw as that it painted the league in a bad light and would affect recruitment and public image moving forward. Head Office stated they would review formal events better and ultimately waited for things to die down. The memes flowed. While people moved on, they did not forget.

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The league is prone to change. Reflect on a past change in either the ISFL or DSFL that significantly impacted something - be it a rules change, an expansion or contraction, or even a complete rebranding. What were the effects of this change, and how has it shaken the status quo?

While it wasn't an intentional change, he most recent recruitment drive shocked the league and was certainly an anomaly. Reddit recruitment drives are always injections into the league, but the 2040 DSFL Draft took things to new highs. The draft lasted a jaw dropping 18 Rounds! The DSFL was packed to the brim with talent in a way that instantaeously had people talking about DSFL expansion. Player experience must have undoubtedly been impacted because all positions had to share playing time. DSFL quarterbacks and running backs are no stranger to splitting reps. Quarterbacks are used to sharing time and "running back by committee" is an established paradigm, but in 2040 pretty much all defensive positions were rotating players in order to give everyone playing time. I didn't follow the awards season as closely as I usually do, but I'm sure it might it harder. The draft helping fuel the 2 new ISFL expansion teams. Although they were not at the top of the conferences, they showed flashes of competitive spirit. Further, retaining these active players will make these teams very competitive much sooner than teams in the past since they would not need to wait multiple draft cycles to retain as many active plyers. But ultimately the effect on the DSFL was not permanent since player retention always has a DSFL ebb and flow (and the inactives rule doesn't keep corpses in there long).

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Some positions are still under appreciated. Talk about the offensive linemen and/or special teamers on your squad. Show how they have contributed to the team, both on and off the field, and why they deserve recognition.

Because the prompt does not talk about in the ISFL or in real life, I'll answer both. Special Teams are special in that the attention they receive is very specific. Kickers are underappreciated across the board because you get no praise if you do your job perfectly, and your head gets called for if you make one mistake. Blame for losing close games fall squarely on your shoulders regardless of how other players have played and how many points are attributable to their mistakes. Even if the quarterback threw 5 interceptions and the running back fumbled 3 more times, kickers will get axed for missing the game winning field goal. We have seen it time after time (although less so kickers getting axed in the ISFL). Bears fans still feel the pain of the "double doink." All teams have experienced their team missing a "chip shot." Punters can also be included. While they less so receive the scrutiny that kickers do in terms of "losing games," the "Miracle in the New Meadowlands" is a shining example of a punter losing an otherwise won game. Therefore, kickers and punters both are paid to be largely forgotten during most scenarios except when the stakes are the highest, and usually they are asked to push the limits of not only what they have historically done, but what anyone has historically done, like successfully make kicks that are 62, 63, 64, 65+ yards away from the posts. Yet, sometimes... they do.

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[Sylphreni]

6) Write 800 words or more on something that interests you. It could be related to statistics, to a league issue you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s Werewolf server. Be warned that freedom comes with risk, and this category will be judged especially stringently for anyone trying to spew complete nonsense.

I will be opting to do my Ultimus Week this season on the recent discussion that has begun to take place across the league regarding another potential expansion, and the need for more teams.I am personally against this idea, and hope to convince whoever might read this piece, that the league is not in a place where it could sustain another two teams in the International Simulation Football League at this point in time.

Firstly, lets look at the recent recruitment numbers. S22 and S25 saw us bring in two huge draft classes of talent. Indeed it is fair to say S22 is probably the best draft class the league has ever seen with so many of their ranks now holding positions around the league ranging from Head Office to General Managers to War Room members and league jobs. S25 likewise has proven to be an extremely strong class, while not the size of S22, S25 members have quickly found themselves at home in the league, and have taken to jobs. While these classes are indeed impressive, The classes between them, and now after them are not nearly as strong. S23 saw several fantastic users enter the league, but has had nowhere near the impact of some of the other classes. Likewise S24, while arguably stronger then S23, lacked the depth necessary to make it a flagship class. Looking at the current draft of S26, while there are some strong new members and recreates, its a very unbalanced class. Too many WRs and LBS, not enough of the positions a number of teams lack, specifically secondary and defensive line come to mind.

And this is the first point I’ll make. One of the primary arguments of the “we need to expand again argument” is that there aren’t enough positions for our active members to play at. I disagree with this sentiment however, and would instead suggest that we don’t have enough skill positions available. There is a large backlog of running backs, wide receivers, and even Quarterbacks at time in the league and only so many spots on each team. Most teams start 2 running backs and 3 wide receivers, these are also generally the most coveted roles across the league, as users tend to love the stats that come with them. Looking at the numbers though, using the examples above, as a league we have room for 28 running backs, and 42 wide receivers. Currently, the league shows as having 65 Running Backs and 97(!) Wide Receivers. That’s literally DOUBLE the amount of WR starting spots available to the league. Conversely, there are 151 Defensive Backs in the league. Most teams start 5 of them, meaning we have room for roughly 70ish DBs in the league, while it’s true that number is double as well… With 5 players at the position, it increases the number of players regressing and dying out at the various defensive back positions. Also, Defensive Back is a position that ideally you let sit a season in the DSFL for a season before bringing them up, whereas a Wide Receiver has the ability to be called up right away and make an impact, in fact some players have begun demanding that for their recreates in the hopes of breaking statistical records in the league.

The other point I’d like to make against expanding the league again is the harm it would do to the DSFL. While ISFL teams struggle to draft strong teams with these weaker draft classes the DSFL struggles to put together decently sized locker rooms, and maintain active rosters. Many teams have to make the tough decisions regarding drafting users vs. needs, and figuring out to move players around to fill things out. Expanding now would harm the DSFL even more then it has been already, which would be such a shame… I am a strong believer that the DSFL is the place where people fall in love with the league. Like it or not, your DSFL team becomes your first “league family” and indeed some players are closer to their DSFL family then their ISFL teams. Potentially harming that experience for a new user by expanding the ISFL, and forcing more call ups would be a mistake. Cutting off your nose to spite your face.

We’re in a period of growth right now, buoyed by two large draft classes that have drastically effected the landscape of the league, and padded our numbers with an extreme amount of active users who are absolutely incredible. That said, I think caution is to be suggested. Expanding the league too quickly will leave rosters, and more importantly locker rooms barer then they already are, and members are likely to fall through the cracks as they begin to get disenfranchised by the lack of activity in their particular locker room. I expect Head Office knows much of this already, as we’ve not double expanded…. But Ultimus week requires an 800 word post… so here we are.

[Air Crou]

Long task #2
The season 23 International Simulation Football League playoffs will be remembered for ages. Especially in a small town in the Northern Territories, called Yellowknife. It was the season they won their second ever Ultimus, first after season 8 and four straight Ultimus losses from season 18 to season 21. There, they took revenge of their season 20 Ultimus loss, beating the Austin Copperheads 38-13, never even giving them a chance to believe they could pull the upset again. But let's rewind back to the start of the playoffs. How did each team get here? Yellowknife and the Colorado Yeti tied for the #1 seed in the National Conference, with a 10-6 record. They split the games between them, with each team winning the AWAY game. Both teams were +69 (nice) in point differential, with YKW finally edging the Yeti, by having the better offence, 406 points for to Colorado's 354. All that despite COL going on a 4 game winstreak to end the season and YKW dropping their last two. It seemed like luck was with YKW this time. The #3 seed of the NSFC were the 9-7 Philly Liberty, who beat YKW in w16 to punch their ticket to the playoffs and Colorado, for the wildcard game.

The NSFC wildcard game was a high scoring affair and very close. Philly jumped to an early 9-0 lead with 4:43 left on the 1st, after a Lefty Louis FG and a 15yd receiving touchdown by Randy Vuxta, with Louis missing the XP. Colorado finally responded, with 8:05 left in the 2nd quarter, when Wolfie McDummy found Richard GIlbert for a 2yd completion in the PHI endzone. Silver Banana made the kick, and the lead was cut down to 2, PHI up 9-7. Nothing changed until halftime. Early in the third, a Louis' FG put Philly up by 5, 12-7. Colorado were quick to respond, when William Lim caught a pass from McDummy, and got it in the house for a receiving TD. The kick was good and COL were up by 2, 14-12. Or so they thought. Richard D'Attoria V returned the ensuing kickoff to the house, 93 yards. Louis made the kick, and Philly were back up, 19-14. The game had picked up a frantic pace. With 4:22 left in the 3rd, McDummy took the ball in the endzone himself. XP was good and COL was up 21-19 after three. The 4th quarter was crazy. Colorado get a 5 point lead after a 45-yard FG from Banana, only for Philly's RB, Sam Torenson, to run it in, giving Philly a 1 point lead, with 6:48 left in the game. The two point conversion was no good, and Colorado had almost 7 minutes to score. And they did. With 3:16 on the clock, McDummy took it on himself. He scored on a 2yd rush. The 2pt conversion was good, and the Yeti were up by 7, 32-25. Philly needed a touchdown and the XP to win the game. Rush by Dodson for 12. Pass to Vuxta for 12. Pass to Varga for 30. With 2:02 on the clock, PHI was at COL's 26yd line, knocking on the door. 8 yard pass to Varga. 2nd and 2. Pass to Varga. Dropped. Then the Colorado magic happened. Blackstone sacked Phoenix for a loss of 11. 4th and 13. Phoenix tried to find Torenson. Berry had another idea. He slapped the ball so hard, it almost burst. Turnover on downs. Colorado would travel to YKW for the championship game.

The NSFCCG was wild as well. The third time YKW and COL faced each other with an Ultimus ticket at stake the last four seasons. YKW had won in S20, COL were the reigning champions. The game was a hot mess. COL had 10 first downs. YKW had 14. Both teams were 3/15 in third down conversions. But it started promising, after each team got a touchdown in the first quarter. Then, it was a kickers and punters' paradise. 2 punts for each team in the second, before Banana scored a 35yd field goal, to put COL up, 10-7. Punt by YKW. COL march down to end the half. Banana attempts a 55 yarder with 15 seconds on the half. Blocked by Alexander, and to halftime we go. YKW turned it around, behind two field goals from Dougie Smalls, a 47yd with 8:54 in the 3rd, and a 57yd right at the start of the 4th. Again, the game turned into a puntfest. Until Smalls missed a 42 yarder to ice the game, with 1:46 left. COL didn't capitalize. A penalty on a 2nd and 7 that made it a 2nd and 12, followed by a sack for a loss of 11, it was an uphill battle from there. COL turned the ball over on downs on their own 25. 13-10 final score, YKW are going to the Ultimus again.

The American Conference battle cleared in the last two weeks. Until then, Orange County and New Orleans were tied for #1, with a 9-5 record. Austin and Honolulu were tied at #4, with a 6-8 record, and Arizona was #3, with 7-7. OCO won out, NOLA lost out, AUS won out, HON and ARI split their remaining two games, and OCO were #1 with 11-5, NOLA were #2 with 9-7, and AUS edged ARI on the 8-8 tie for #3. NOLA host Austin in the wildcard game. The game was back and forth. NOLA drew first blood after a Prohaska 45-yarder, 8 minutes in the first quarter. Austin responded early in the second with a Cole-to-Tidwell touchdown. Crisco was on point and Austin was in the lead. A lead that was evaporated after Prohaska's fifth field goal of the game, early in the 4th, putting NOLA up, 15-13. The math is easy here. Prohaska was NOLA's only scorer for the game. But Austin were the last ones to score and win the game, after a Mendonca 2yd rush, with 9:40 in the game. The kick was good, Austin was up 20-15. NOLA had to score. But rookie Colt Mendoza picked Stan Francisco at the 1-yd line. NOLA should have run it there. But the game wasn't over yet. Austin were forced to punt, with 79 seconds left in the game. Francisco couldn't complete a pass to save his life. Austin would now visit Santa Ana, home of the Otters of Orange County.

The ASFC championship game was a far easier work for the Copperheads. They were in the lead for the majority of the game, even by 11, 17-6, after a Mendonca 3yd rush, with 6:42 left in the 2nd. The game got spicy, when OCO took a 19-17 lead with 2:02 left in the third, after a Alex D. FG, for OCO's 13th unanswered point. It seemed like OCO would win the game now they were ahead. But Armstrong threw a pick-six, with 14:13 left in the game, giving the lead back to Austin, 24-19. With 7:19 left, OCO cut the lead down to 2, and needed a stop. Austin just had to not give the ball away. A smart 4-minute drive ended up with Kichwa Jones scoring on a 1yd rush. Crisco was on point, and Austin had taken the game away, being 31-22 up, with 3:05 left in the game. They had done it again. Second away win. Reminiscent of the YKW run in S21. They had one miracle left. In the ice cold Yellowknife.

The stage was set. Ultimus Bowl XXIII. Wraiths versus Copperheads. Or if you want, Ullimus Bowl XX, the rematch. The Wraiths were all business. The front seven were just terrifying, sacking Cole 7 times. Cole was limited to 144 passing yards, no touchdowns. Jones scored Austin's only touchdown, early in the first quarter. Afterwards, it was all Yellowknife. Cooter to Jackson for 8 yards. Then Skyline on the goaline punch. Then Smalls on the 34-yarder. Then Skyline again on the goaline. With 12 minutes left in the 3rd, YKW were up by 17, 24-7. Frisco cut the lead to 14, only for Skyline to get another goaline punch, increasing YKW's lead to 21 points at the end of the 3rd. It was over before it even began. The Wraiths were just too good for the Copperheads. Final score, Wraiths 38, Copperheads 13. The Wraiths were finally the champions.

[pauadrian]

Tier 1 - Task 6 
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Well I’d like to start this off with a thank you for incorporating in character stuff for ISFL point tasks. I really do appreciate that since it gave me a lot of time to character build for my guy Tom Teboat. I would like to extend this though over to Ultimus week. Yes Ultimus week which is this exact thing I’m doing right now, thank god I found something to write about. Ultimus week is very hard for players like me who don’t know or don’t care enough about the league or other aspects of it such as players, teams, stats or just the overall league in general. I really only care about my player so I would like to have a certain point task during Ultimus Week for people like me. An in character point task, I don’t really know how this could be handled or critiqued really but I have some ideas. Maybe an in character point task about what the player’s offseason plans are. What occurred during the season or maybe his plans for next season?

Now these ideas are not perfect and I am absolutely sure that head office or the people in charge of point tasks could come up with something more efficient or effective to do something like this. I am just putting it out there that this is something I would like to have done. At least for me it was a little demoralizing seeing point tasks be league or team based when I just do not care at all. Now I was told last season that Ultimus Week was the biggest week for earning, the most stressful week or whatever. What I found was that it was exactly that but only because I could not find absolutely anything that I could write about. The cool thing is if you’re a rookie you can actually write about something of how the experience in the league is going and all that. I also really do appreciate that but it’s only for non recreates and only exclusive to the new rookies. Actually there’s another idea for you, how has your CHARACTER adapted to the league and what challenges has he faced so far? I knew I could do this point task last year which is why I didn’t do this rant before. Here we are though me doing the eventual article or point task I dreaded on doing.

I also really do believe this type of point task would actually help engagement during the league with the offseason since it would give people something to do rather than just wait for the season or even preseason games to begin.I would sadly imagine someone like me who is not really interested in the offseason part would just flat out fail to engage in the league besides checking in once a week to see if there are any new point tasks to look forward to. An in character point task during ultimus week would be quite big for me next season. I am not even asking for it to be 800 words. It can be 1500 for the max tpe for all I care. Another example is that it could be done doing maybe 400 words for the middle point task which I believe is called tier 2.

Yet another benefit of doing in character point tasks during ultimus week is that it allows for us to see what type of character everyone has. There are a ton of wacky characters and shit in this league that once I do get to know through twitter or locker room experience are amazing. Take for example Laszlo Forty-Two which is Van’s character. It’s actually hilarious that he even would do basically the same character as before which is Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze, which before he was just regularly Arnold Schwarezenegger. Tom Teboat which is mine which a lot of you may not know is basically Tim Tebow but the baseball version NOT the NFL version which a lot of people would confuse him by. It would give the league a little extra spice that it at the moment needs for me. Yeah graphics, stats and accomplishments/awards are cool and all but I wanna read more about your character and his personality. This ultimus Tier 1 or Tier 2 task would be great if set through a theme that head office provides or a free reign one that would come at the expense of writing more words. Anyways I hope you take into consideration what I have written as I’m a major fan of these and a strong advocate for character development. I hope that someone can take a look and read this and grant my wish as it has already been granted before during the weekly point tasks. Sorry for being overall naggy or seeming negative towards Ultimus Week in general. Have a great day

[mithrandir]

4) The offseason is a critical reflection point for the league, during which the directions of entire franchises can shift dramatically. Choose any offseason up to and including the S24 Draft, and focus on a singular team. What strategies did this particular team employ to land the players they desired? What were the team needs during the offseason, and what was the overarching plan for the future? Did they lose or land any free agents that impacted roster holes? How have the players that they drafted contributed to the team?

The offseason going into the S24 draft for the Tijuana Luchadores was a vitally important one. After winning the Ultimus in S22, their roster was completely ravaged by call ups, inactives becoming ineligible, and even a surprise retirement from OL Kevin Malone. With a small S23 draft class, the Luchadores were only able to grab a couple key pieces to begin their rebuild, most notably, safety Maverick Bowie, quarterback Mike Boss Jr., and linebacker Adam Schell. With a skeletal roster they managed to reach 6-8 in S23, but missed the playoffs. Going into S24, they knew they had to nail a lot of draft picks to rebuild the roster into a championship contending squad. They had holes all over the roster, needing two defensive ends, two defensive tackles, a linebacker, two cornerbacks, a safety, a nickelback, an offensive tackle, a running back, a tight end, and a slot wide receiver. Tijuana had a tall task, as finding thirteen starters in a draft is pretty much unheard of. Luckily, the S24 DSFL draft class (ISFL S25 class) was the third largest class in league history, so Tijuana at least had a chance of filling most of those spots with great scouting and drafting.
The strategy - Given our great need, we knew we had to do three things to have a successful draft: Scout thoroughly, trade effectively to acquire players and accumulate extra draft picks, and focus on defense early and often. Given we were only returning 3 defensive starters we absolutely needed a defense-heavy draft, as we could probably manage with Boss Jr. at quarterback, reigning OPoY Crowbar Theeks at RB, and superstar kiwi receiver duo Friedrich Vequain and Doug Howlett.
Scouting thoroughly ¬– Our scouts set us up for success. They evaluated every player, looking for locker room fit, which is highly important to our franchise, as well as talent and potential. All of our scouts deserve credit for their great effort, as each made important contributions for drafting the right players. @Bigred1580 scouted the quarterbacks and kickers, @SwankyPants31 scouted the running backs and tight ends, @Rufio_NZ scouted the wide receivers, @CalvinGolladay scouted the offensive linemen, @Jay_Doctor scouted the defensive tackles, @JPach scouted the defensive ends, @Cincyfan96 scouted the linebackers, @mithrandir scouted the cornerbacks, and @Tonzy scouted the safeties. With so many people helping out, we were each able to have conversations with every prospect and evaluate them on an individual basis and give each the attention they deserved.
Trade effectively – We were able to make three trades that offseason, trading a draft pick for a sophomore tight end, trading a quarterback we drafted for a rookie cornerback, and trading back with Dallas by giving up one pick for three picks. All three of these trades worked out very much in our favor and was a big reason for our success.
Focus on defense – We always intended to heavily draft defense going into the draft, and we stayed true to our gameplan, taking defenders with six of our first seven picks, including our first and second round selections. Overall, we selected one safety, three cornerbacks, two defensive ends, two linebackers, and one defensive tackle.
The players acquired – Our very first selection was safety NationalSimulation FootballLeague. He played two seasons for Tijuana, made a key playoff interception in S25, and his user, SDCore, joined the league Head Office. Our second round pick was cornerback Rich Triplet. Triplet was a starter at outside cornerback for two seasons, and was voted a captain at the end of his rookie year. The user, Kotasa, also became a Rookie Mentor. Our third round pick was running back Bronko Mills. He joined Crowbar Theeks to form a nasty duo, and won offensive rookie of the year. His user, Payton, had previously won an Ultimini as a GM of Tijuana. Our fourth round pick was defensive end Tex Wrecks. Wrecks was a force for Tijuana, recording seventeen TFLs and four sacks in his rookie season. His user, 209 tacos, is a graphics designer for many Luchadores. Our fifth round pick was linebacker Terry Tate. This was perhaps the first pick that could be considered a draft bust. Tate initially showed great promise for the Luchadores, racking up eight sacks in his rookie year, but retired after just one season with the team due to injury concerns. Our sixth round pick was defensive tackle Vance Slattery. He was a great run stopper in the middle of the defense for two seasons. His user, Punter715, went on to be the GM for the Philadelphia Liberty of the ISFL. Tijuana traded their seventh round pick for the eighth, tenth, and thirteenth picks of the Dallas Birddogs. With their own eighth rounder, they took defensive end Owen Isaac, a solid contributor who is still on the team. With the pick acquired from Dallas, Tijuana finally went back to the offensive side of the ball and drafted offensive tackle Adam Mellott. Despite being the eighth OL drafted, Mellott blossomed into one of the best linemen in the class. His user, GuitarMaster116, went on to be an HO intern and a rookie mentor. With our ninth round pick, we took kicker Jack Burton. This was our first miss of the draft. Burton kicked for Tijuana for one season before being cut for his poor play. Tijuana made another trade in the tenth, sending their pick to Portland for tight end Thomas Engine. While Portland used the pick on WR TJ Evans, who is no longer rostered in the league, Tijuana got a tight end who has been a solid blocker and receiver for three seasons with the team. Tijuana used Dallas’s draft pick to acquire WR Mark Walker. Walker spent a season as the team’s slot receiver, before exceeding expectations and being called up immediately to the Yellowknife Wraiths. In round eleven, we selected quarterback Owen Holloway. The QB-needy Myrtle Beach ended up trading for Holloway, sending star cornerback Ben Alexander-Arnold to Tijuana in returner. His user, Ben, is one of the most active Tijuana war room members and an Ultimini-winning GM. The last significant contributor came from Tijuana’s next pick, twelfth rounder Mason Gillion. Gillion has played two stellar seasons as Tijuana’s nickelback, and has a knack for forcing turnovers and finding the endzone.
Summary and results – All in all, Tijuana turned the S24 draft into three cornerbacks, a safety, a linebacker, two defensive ends, a defensive tackle, a running back, a wide receiver, a tight end, an offensive line, and a kicker, all of whom started for the team for at least a year. Of those thirteen players, ten of those reached the 250 TPE cap for the DSFL, and DE Owen Isaac is only thirteen TPE away from joining those ten. Many of these users have become captains for the team and have gone on to do great things in the league as users or players. The Luchadores used this franchise-altering offseason to win the division and go 10-4 in S24 and win their eighth Ultimini in S25.

[Baron1898]

6) Write 800 words or more on something that interests you. It could be related to statistics, to a league issue you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s Werewolf server. Be warned that freedom comes with risk, and this category will be judged especially stringently for anyone trying to spew complete nonsense.

The awards show is already concluded, and Venus Powers won KOTY by an overwhelming majority of the vote (deservedly so). How did the field stack up this year? I’m going to rank every single kicker’s season from worst to best based solely on kicking stats, so punters are just out of luck.

#1: Venus Powers
49/49 extra points, 35/36 field goals, 46 long

This shouldn’t be controversial at all. Only one missed kick over the entire season gives Powers arguably one of the strongest kicking seasons in recent memory, especially considering that up until that missed kick, Powers set the record for the longest consecutive kicks without a miss (133, beating Iyah Blewitt) and consecutive games without a missed kick (29, beating Micycle McCormick), both by pretty solid margins. No attempts from beyond the 50 yard line, but her accuracy more than compensates.

#2: Blago Kokot
39/40 extra points, 28/29 field goals, 57 long

A strong showing by Kokot, who probably should’ve taken Kicker of the Year home if not for Venus Powers and who deservedly placed second in voting. One of four kickers to miss two kicks, Kokot tied for the longest kick of the year (57 yards being the traditional barrier of accurate kickers) and tied for the league lead in 50+ yarders with 2.

#3: Jake Fencik
37/37 extra points, 31/33 field goals, 47 long

Fencik barely missed out on second place, boosted by not missing any extra points on the year but just knocked down by Kokot on the virtue of kick distance. Still a very strong showing by Fencik - let’s see if he will become the latest talented kicker to fall victim to the Philly curse.

#4: Matthew McDiarmid
39/41 extra points, 23/23 field goals, 45 long

Mr. McDiarmid likely isn’t very phased by being placed fourth on this list, since his team is enjoying two straight Ultimus victories. Still a good kicking year, just not a particularly long one, and missing two extra points hurts.

#5: Karmichael Hunt
31/33 extra points, 27/27 field goals, 56 long

Hunt is the lowest ranked of the four two-miss kickers, also missing both of them via extra points. He finds himself a nudge below McDiarmid since the latter edges him on volume.

#6: Dougie Smalls
37/38 extra points, 30/32 field goals, 51 long

Smalls had a pretty good year for a pretty mediocre team. Smalls found himself frozen out of awards contention by being on the cusp of the top five, but three misses over the entire year is nothing to sneeze at, especially since only one of them was a shanked extra point. Also he got Punter of the Year, so there’s that!

#7: Alex Dasistwirklichseinnachname
51/53 extra points, 27/28 field goals, 46 long

I’m pretty sure the veteran kicker is either very close to or has already passed Turk Turkleton’s volume records for field goals and extra points over a career. The benefits of playing your entire career for Orange County I suppose.

#8: Sam Sidekick
37/38 extra points, 28/30 field goals, 53 long

The last of the three miss squad, Sidekick was about as league average as a kicker can be. He finds himself below Alex D. because of the gap in volume, once again courtesy of Orange County being a broken dynasty.

#9: Pseudo QB
44/46 extra points, 31/33 field goals, 56 long

The kicker whose name is quarterback missed two apiece for each category but did land a 56 yarder to smooth things out a tad. He also enjoyed a good bit of opportunity in volume, even though Austin ended up missing the playoffs.

#10: Datsum PhastBawls
33/34 extra points, 36/41 field goals, 57 long

Here’s where we start to see a precipitous drop off in kicker performance. PhastBawls only missed one extra point over the entire year, better than many of the peers above him on this list, but missed 5 field goals on an 87.8% accuracy, both the worst in the league. His volume and ability to knock in easier extra points keeps him higher on the list.

#11: Jacob Small
51/55 extra points, 29/31 field goals, 47 long

Conversely, Small only missed two field goals but missed four extra points, the easier kick to make. His 92.7% extra point accuracy is second worst in the league, only slightly dampened by the context of his high volume.

#12: J.J. Jay-Jamison
44/47 extra points, 35/39 field goals, 53 long

JJJJ and the kicker below him are splitting hairs in terms of performance. Neither did that well this year, missing three extra points and four field goals apiece. The difference is purely volume: JJJJ kicked one less XP and two more FGs, so the edge goes to him.

#13: Silver Banana
45/48 extra points, 33/37 field goals, 57 long

Colorado gets to pick #13 in the draft for the second year in a row. Just a coincidence.

#14: J. Thomason
20/22 extra points, 15/16 field goals, 47 long

Thomason ended up starting only 15 games, splitting snaps with journeyman Lefty Louis. His 90.9% extra point accuracy is actually the worst in the league, so even though his volume is low, his precision leaves much to be desired.

#15: Lefty Louis
17/17 extra points, 15/15 field goals, 46 long

Technically this is the sixth ever season in history without a missed kick all year. Having only played in 7 games, it hardly counts, and such low volume gives Louis the bottom rung by default.

[speculadora]

Tier 1: Long Form Tasks (800+ words)
Choose ONE for 10 TPE.

6) Write 800 words or more on something that interests you. It could be related to statistics, to a league issue you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s Werewolf server. Be warned that freedom comes with risk, and this category will be judged especially stringently for anyone trying to spew complete nonsense.


For my free form Ultimus Week task this season, I am going to write about the absolute job that the Orange County Otters general managers, jeffie43 and Laser, have done sustaining the success and standing in this league that has long been associated with the Otters. This will pretty much just be a gross long form thank you to them, so if you don't like the Otters definitely don't read this. First of all, let's go back a few seasons to when I handed the reigns to Laser and Revolution, who should by no means be snubbed here. Laser and Rev took over back in Season 20, I believe. I walked away after our three-peat, because it just felt like the right time. The two of them proceeded to go 7-6, 10-3, 10-3, and 11-5 together. That's amazing. That included several more ASFC Conference Championship appearances, and an Ultimus appearance that ended in a way that we try to avoid talking about in Orange County. Unfortunately Rev had to step down for some personal reasons, but major props to him for hitting the ground running and not really needing a transitional period to get up and running. When Rev walked away, jeffie stepped up, and I can't even begin to say how much I appreciate not only the work that he's done, but also the fact that he was willing to let the whole tampering punishment be history and return to a prominent role in this league. It's a much better place here in the ISFL for having him around and engaged, so Rev's stepping down was no doubt a blessing in disguise. Now, in the Jeffie/Laser tandem's first season, we won another 9 games. Unfortunately we hit a rough patch at the end of that season and ended up blowing the conference's top seed to San Jose, who went on to win the Ultimus. Heading into this season we knew that we could be Ultimus contenders once more, and the two of them worked tirelessly to make that a reality. We got off to a blazing hot start, before once again watching the wheels fall off toward the end of the season. That does not detract, however, from the fact that we won the ASFC's regular season title. We very unfortunately choked that advantage away to San Jose, but such is life. Now, on to the really important stuff. The two of them could have sulked, gotten down about another early playoff exit, and in doing so brought down the overall vibe of the team, which was still generally positive despite the loss. I guess going from 9-0 to 11-5 kind of conditioned us to expect a possible unhappy ending. Anyway. They didn't do any of that. What they did instead was bust their asses as general managers in order to get us in an even better position for next season. This off-season had one of the most loaded free agent classes in league history. A lot of players are going to be donning new colors next season, but perhaps none are as impactful as the three players that the Otters signed: Heath Evans, Brandon Booker, and Rotticus Scott. All three are Season 21 creates, so they're pretty much in the prime of their respective careers. Evans is an unreal tight end, Booker a top tier cornerback, and Scott is a huge presence on the defensive line. Not only did Jeffie and Laser put in the work to convince those three that Orange County would be the best place for them to continue their careers after the somewhat bleak way our season ended, but they have deftly navigated dealing with overlap in talent, managing the salary cap, and keeping everyone happy even as a ton of pieces are being shuffled. I don't think any team in league history has improved quite as much through free agency as they improved this team. And I don't say that to be like oh man look how great Orange County is, suck it other teams. I say it because I think it's actually a fact. That's about 3.5K TPE that was added. Plenty of teams have had incredible off-seasons, but that is definitely a haul that will be tough to match. Or maybe I just have orange-colored glasses on. Who knows. An additional special shout out for the Brandon Booker signing because of the crazy circumstances there. After some miscommunication to Mori led him to believe he was traded to Sarasota before that deal was pulled out from under him and he was told he would be an Otter, he opted to just test free agency instead. That was definitely a bummer for us because the trade we had in place was one that had us excited to get Mori on board and hit the ground running. Once again, Jeffie and Laser put together an amazing pitch for Mori, answered all of his questions in detail, provided him with test sim data, and just went overall above and beyond to prove to him that we were still the best fit in spite of all of the weirdness with the failed trade. Huge props to them, I can't say it enough. Incredible job not just in sustaining the winning ways of Orange County, but making some really awesome moves to extend those well into the future. I couldn't be happier with the way this team has continued to grow since I stepped down, and it makes me feel so much more secure in that decision every time I think about it.

928 words

[TheRealMazatt]

Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks
Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.

Affiliate PT from SHL for 2.5 TPE
To note: my username on SHL is Mazatt, my username on ISFL is TheRealMazatt


22) Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, highlights, or totally fraudulent mail-in ballots. Whatever rookies get up to these days.

Oooh boy. The DSFL won't even know what hit it in a couple weeks when Candice D. Fitinyomouf breaks onto the scene--now, you might think that's odd to say. I can hear you asking "Oh, Mr. Mazatt, he's already broken into the league." And you're entirely right. First off, let's take a look at the 2 games Fitinyomouf played in the regular season. In his only two appearances he was running above a tackle per game, with 3 in his first two games, including a multi-tackle game in his second match-up. I can only assume 1 goal = 1 tackle from hockey to football, which makes Fitinyomouf and INSANE player. Then you look at how he gets those tackles. Speed. Candice has a speed rating of 70 at the ripe weight of 307 hulking pounds. This is like an entire slab of meat from a cow bearing down (cowing down?) to run you out of town. Pure, 100%, Alberta beef, baby. Not only that, but if you put Fitinyomouf in an arm wrestling contest they would firmly place in the 7-10 rang, but fuck, he's a rookie. That's really good from what I fear.

For the future portion of this scouting report, Fitinyomouf's potential is like his gut. Absolutely huge. He takes in mass at an unprecedented rate. You see those. Rumour has it, this was Fitinyomouf in a different life.



Really, that's all you need to know about potential. Honestly, what the fuck else other than eat and tackle to DT's even do? 


25) Imagine that the league’s Pro Bowl included a skills competition similar to the NFL. What sorts of  games could you see being implemented? Which players do you think would perform the best in ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, or other games? Which conference would come out on top?

An ISFL pro-bowl, possibly DSFL pro-bowl? One of THE most in-demand demographics for all businesses right now is social media. Integrating social media ideas in the pro-bowl seem very simply. Prior to the competition, all pro-bowlers will have created a Tik Tok, Instagram post, Twitter--whatever you want it to be, as long as it is decided upon prior to the compeititon which universal platform should be used. Three days prior to the pro-bowl starting, each player will post, for example, their Tik Tok, and whoever can garner the most views by the end of the pro-bowl will be crowned the prom queen/king of the pro-bowl, and deemed most popular ISFLer. Does this seem divisive? Meant to stir the pot at all? Because it should. That's the whole point baby, the new pro-bowl is meant to build feuds, get people angry. That's where the next "skill" comes in, roast battles. People focus so much on the bodies of famous athletes when their mouths are just as powerful as their biceps in the real world. To create more exciting cross conference rivalries, each team will come up with roasts, and have it televised live to homes everywhere. It could be a diss track, a haiku, who cares. Excitement! That is what the league needs. Personally, I believe the NSFC would win easily. They have easy pickings, Ben Slothlisberger, for any roast battle, and his Tik Tok skills are well below par. Either way, these new skills being introduced would be a massive boon to the popularity of the league with the young crowds of tomorrow.



Affiliation + 22 + 25 should equal to 7.5 TPE (rounded up to 8, I presume)

[MobiausGrander]

Tier 2 #8: In this league, there is a high abundance of quality, capable talent spread out across both the DSFL. As such, for the end of the year awards, there is a high level of competition for the prestigious awards, most notably that of the Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of The Year awards. For the award that is more applicable to me in the ISFL, the DPOY, I believe that my teammate, Blaylock, overwhelmingly deserves the award! To begin with, looking at his stats for Season 25 in the DSFL, Blaylock had a godlike defensive season recording 87 tackles, 0 tackles-for-loss, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 7 sacks and contributed to multiple coverage sacks, 11 pass deflections, and 5 interceptions all as a free safety! What makes this current season more impressive is that he not only had to share the defensive side of the field with his fellow playermakers, Toblerone, Light, Bode, and myself, who all also had great and impressive seasons under each of their own rights, but he single-handedly can cover both sides of the field as a lockdown defensive back! The biggest reason I believe that Blaylock should receive the ISFL DPOY is that practically every time he took the field, he had a high chance of directly causing a turnover or helping to create one by helping our DLine and LBs cause one through his coverage abilities; in essence, Blaylock’s presence elevated our whole defense, leading for me to also go as far as to call him our whole team’s MVP for this season! Thus, I believe that Hillard should be awarded the ISFL DPOY!

For the other award, arguably the most distinguished award a player can win, the MVP, I believe that Banks II, QB of the Sarasota sailfish deserves this award. For starters, looking at his stats for Season 25 in the ISFL, Banks' stats may not be eye-popping for some, yet when you look deeper into them, there is another story to be told. For instance, out of all the starting QBs in the DSFL, Banks II had the one highest QB completion percentage at 64.2% and the highest QB rating with a 86.2 rating, both indicators of a stable, highly efficient QB. The most important stat, however, is the TD to Int ratio. In this regard, Banks II is clearly the best at this stat. He had 14 TDs compared to 8 Ints, giving him a ratio of 1.75. The aforementioned stats are reflective of why Banks II clearly deserves the MVP as he was able to lead the Sarasota Sailfish to a playoff birth within season 25 of the ISFL and helped to become a playoff team when no one expected them to be one.


Tier 2 # 9: In this league, as there is an abundance of talent with only a few teams to claim such talent, it stands that in a given year, a few of those teams can be championship contenders while the rest of the teams may struggle or even fail to reach the playoffs. As a member of the New Orleans Second Line, we had some hopes to make the playoffs; unfortunately, we were unable to make the playoffs as we just missed out on them by a full game. With this in mind, we head into Season 26 with a few questions and needs to address.
The two major questions at this offseason draft are: how to improve the offense to not be stagnant moving the ball and to replace a few key playmakers on defense that led a solid, turnover producing unit! On the offensive side of the ball, we have starting QB, a great RB, and very good wide receivers. However, we struggled to move the ball at times during the season. The main reason is that we only have one actual player OL while the rest of the OL are just bots. This would lead to many situations in games where we would have incompletions and stalled drives as our OL would not allow our QB time to throw or let our RB get easily tackled on run plays. I believe that we should draft human OL so as to immediately help our offense produce and to help take pressure of our defense as it was left too many times to dry last season, leading us to blow a few key games down the stretch. On the other side of the ball, we need to replenish the defense as great playmakers like Toblerone, Light, and myself are going to be getting older as time goes on in the ISFL, leaving behind questions of sustainability. I believe to counter this we must draft at least a couple players for the DL, LB corps, and DB corps to keep the defense from running out of playmakers and to help keep building this team towards playoff contention. In addition,  With regards for the future and next couple of seasons, I think we may have to keep replenishing the defense and hopefully keep the current core together in conjunction with all of us boosting our TPE levels to make us a truly dangerous and elite team that we know we can be.

[White Cornerback]

1) The league has a rich and fascinating history, and our perspectives on it differ from person to person. In 800 words or more, describe any significant non-playoffs moment in ISFL or DSFL history, whether you were around for it or not. Describe the context, the significant members, and the events. What exactly made this event so famous (or infamous) and why does it deserve to be remembered?

Aight so way back when, the creator of the league Ballerstorm had been in contact with Shaka, a member he had known from past sim leagues. Some way or another, Ballerstorm was told that Shaka was making a SBA styled football league. Ballerstorm came up with the idea to make a football league based off the SHL moneyleague style with the vast majority of the mmebers coming from the SHL, like a sister league. He knew roughly the timeframe for the EFL to launch and decided to launch his relatively early into the process of its creation, beating the EFL to the punch.

The league opened in May and the draft occured just before the end of may. Then everything else pretty much happened from June after , right to this very point today. But what people dont know is that the EFL started off in alot stronger position than the NSFL now ISFL did. The NSFL's conception was very rushed so alot of stuff was thrown together, with really only the sim stuff being tested and even "tested" was a stretch to say.

I remember watching the S1 EFL Draft. It was absolutely fantastic and I'd say it's even just as good if not better then even our S25/S26 Draft. Thats how incredible well edited it was. Using real life NFL Draft styled graphics with actual college tape of players render/comparisons from those specific colleges. They edited beforehand of course so it wasn't streamed live, it was premiered but it didn't matter. It was incredible whereas we did ours live using like notepad or some shit, and the actual draft thread which was so 2004 in 2017. We even had play by plays there.

It's interesting to actually see where we split from there. The NSFL went from Play by plays and poorly done forum drafts in 2017 to incredible pre drafts with insane levels of graphics along with streaming our games online. The EFL went from play by play threads and an incredible pre recorded draft with incredible editing to... play by play threads and forum drafts. It's mind boggling how the EFL went backwards in so many different aspects but went ahead in others. They have their online portal which holds all their data and automates so many aspects of the league but they get like 9 people in an entire draft class, it's been dying for awhile but it's interesting how its turned out.

For so long the EFL spent their time backhanding the ISFL/NSFL at the time about every little thing they did wrong or even right if it suited the EFL agenda. They started very early on from all the shite Shaka spoke about human DL being overpowered, along with OL being unplayable the could break the league, and yet every single sim tweak the EFL has made as been discovered by a NSFL team, user or player and they've done it after. Its funny how that ones worked out.

Even looking at the likes of our recruiting, weve' had several examples of the EFL sending members in to brigade our recruitment threads and I mean for good reason, holy fuck are they starved of members. The irony in that they're the ones who shafted themselves in recruiting by constantly missing the windows and even as we run into 2021 we have more people in a single round of our draft than the EFL gets in an entire draft. Believe me the irony in all of this is not lost on me.

The league that began so rushed, everything really haphazardly thrown together will outlive the league that actually planned well, set up everything, bought its own branding, sorted out the "sim" hosting whatever! The did it all, complete with the big brother little brother dynamic and the self engineering of this weird petty feud with us, which ironically left the ISFL with a huge chip on its shoulder and I to this day believe thats actually what made us improve so much and fly past them in nearly every single aspect. I mean we're likely going to fly by them in our sim transition switch too despite them being testing it for nearly a real life year now. I remember all the backhanded compliments and bitch boys that existed like Kendrick who actually ended up defecting here longterm after he got banned on the EFL lmfao.

I just found it funny that the league thats held up entirely by the SBA's assistance hasnt had the cop on to drop itself and either ask for a merge or just fuck off for good. It's the AAF of the international sim league world and it's just interesting how we went from the 1 yard line to the endzone on a 99 yard drive while the EFL went from the 1 yard line to the 50 yard line and then took a safety scrambling backwards trying to avoid every single thing the NSFL did that they perceived as "Wrong" before running out the back of their own endzone Dan Orlovsky style.