(S30) Ultimus Week

[shrub02]

15. The MVP of the season 30 Ultimus is none other than yours truly: BENDER RODRIGUEZ. How you might ask, he didn't even play. While you may be technically correct, he was on the field. You see, fans around the league have been complaining about the how terrible the refs have been. So to avoid any controversies, our great and esteemed commissioner hired a robot to ref the game. That robot: Bender. Not those past fake Benders from season's past. The real Bender, from Universe A . He has a glorious gold finish. Anyways He refed an excellent game. Possibly the best ever. For example, SAR's neutral zone infraction in the first quarter. Lanier was only .001 inches into the neutral zone. You think some human with his dumb organic eyes would be able to see that? The answer is no. That holding call on Krashwagen that put ARI just out of field goal range, 1.83 micrometers of cloth was held. No way a human ref would be able t make that call. Besides, if ARI made that field goal they would have been able to cover the spread. Bender would not let that happen. You could say the game was fixed but what are you going to do about it? Bite his glorious golden ass??

PS Disneyland was fun. Did stuff


19. With the failure of Bender's previous show, titled Bad Boys or something I forget, he hired a new agent and got a new show. It's called 'Hit Sitck.'  Bender will star in a new TV series in which he will travel around the universe with his slacker friend, delivering packages to superstar athletes. Crazy antics will ensue. Mainly because it will be a Punkd type show. Instead of receiving whatever they ordered from amazon, these athletes will receive a hit stick from Bender. Oh Tatsu you thought you were getting new Beats by Dre©?? Nah how about a bat to the knee. So much for those records you're going for! hehehehe. Zach Mouse thought he was getting some new batting gloves to help with his MVP season? How about a punch to the gut?? hehehehe. No athlete would be safe. Not even those in the past. You see the professor has a time machine. Bender would kick him in the shin and steal it to use for the show. Now we can go back in time to ancient Greece. The first marathon runner would attempt to deliver his news of the victory and pow, right in the kisser. These guys will never see it coming and the pain will never get old.

25. When I first created my player he was a tight end. I did that because I truly believe that the offensive side of the ball is the best side. Even though my player plays defense now. I am in no way unhappy about my decision to switch. Luckily my team needed me at the most fun position to play on defense: Linebacker. But if I went back in time and I had to switch again and linebacker did not exist, I would probably choose running back. It is, in my opinion, the best position on the field. Yes, quarterback is cool and all but running back is where al the flash is. They (I mean we) got all the girls in high school. They were just so cool. And nothing beats juking 5 players to score a TD or trucking someone to push for the score. As far as the sim goes, they generally get the ball the most other than quarterbacks. I just think it would be cool to carry the whole team on your back on the way to victory. I didn't create as a running back because it seemed like the position was saturated. While I am enjoying my time as a linebacker, I will most definitely be recreating as a running back eventually.

32. PBE Affiliate

[FootballIsCool]

24. If you could create a team using any active players in the league, what would that team look like? Would you build a group of all-stars to contend in the next Ultimus, or a team full of jokesters for the fun of it? Describe the roster and why you chose the players you did.

If I could create a team using any active players in the league I would start with defense as that seems to be an extremely important point to build from. I would lead off with an all-star for a few seasons S-Cuco Clemente he has been a hawk the past few seasons regularly leading the league in interceptions it has been wild. I would also select Brendan Lanier because the two of them have amazing chemistry. You need a player to play a bit more conservatively to then allow for the safety on the other side of the field to make aggressive and risky plays and Lanier clearly is skilled at that. At Cornerback I would have Harrison Andrews another player that feasts in the air and Peter Patterson this is a dynamic duo that has proven that it is as shutdown as you can get. After having such a monster secondary established moving onto picking out the guys in front of them. The Linebackers I would assemble always get after it. I select Heinrich Kackpoo, Michael Witheblock and Ernest Lover as core to build around. They find themselves getting more physical with opposing team's quarterbacks more often than many hot and heavy relationships. Now to pick up some mad dogs on the front, I think the clear pick are Demon Jaxson, Mike Karpaasi, Fawn Dillmiballs and Legendary Son Goku they might not be the ones always getting the sacks but you bet they will be occupying two to three offensive linemen creating clear lanes for the linebackers mentioned above. 

I would then pick the sarasota players for offense. 

[269 words] +2.5 TPE

28. Choose one existing award. Tell us why you think a certain player should win that award this season. Stats, or anything else possible should be used to support your case.

This may be a controversial take, but I welcome controversy. Running back of the year is a highly coveted award, with running back being one of the three major positions that acquire stats in the offense category you have some real try-hards at this position. I believe the top three nominees this season include the running back from Arizona:deadly memes who had a decent season with 192 rushing attempts for 1010 rushing yards that was a 5.26 average, 12 touchdowns, 56 receptions for 618 yards and two tds, had 37 pancakes and three sacks allowed.  Jamar Lackson from San Jose who had 224 rushing attempts for 1189 yards, yielding a 5.31 yard average per carry, he also had 62 receptions for 624 yards 5 touchdowns, 41 pancakes and 5 sacks allowed. Cobra Kai from Honolulu who had 1039 yards on 245 rushing attempts, for a 4.24 yard average and 12 touchdowns, 79 receptions for 839 yards, 5 reception touchdowns 27 pancakes and 1 sack allowed.
Zoe Watts from Austin who had 1404 rushing yards on 293 attempts with a 4.79 average 13 touchdowns and 356 yards through the air on 36 receptions with one receiving touchdown, 21 pancakes and 1 sack allowed. 

I think there are only two options for running back of the year, If you believing in volume of work I think Zoe watts is the best candidate for Running back for the year, volume of work is extremely impressive as one of two players in the league with 1400 rushing yards and one of the highest average rushing yards per carry Zoe Watts is the clear deserver of this award. If you were to go an alternative route valuing touchdowns and rushing yards per carry I don't think you choose anyone who was nominated for the award and instead choose someone who was under utilized on a new york team. That person being Captain Rodgers. Captain rodgers quietly had a monster year and made the most of every touch he got, it was just unfortunate the coach didn't look his way too often. Captain rodgers touched the ball a league low of 161 times for a starting running back for 826 yards for 5.1 rushing yards per attempts and had a league leading 17 touch downs. It is ludicrous that a running back of that skill and production not be leaned on more and there is a strong possibility that this was his MVP year had the play calling been a little different. 

[422 words] +2.5 TPE

29. Awards have been a subject of controversy for a while in the league. Tell us your ideas on how awards process can be fixed.

Awards will always be a point of controversy in the international simulation football league as long as you have subjective awards. I think these subjective awards should remain but I believe you can add in some more objective awards to lessen the sting. For example for offensive linemen there are two awards that I would like to add. One award that  you can have is called the master chef award. This award would go to the offensive linemen with the highest pancake ratio for the number of offensive snaps that they have across the entire season. Bam Objective Award that one could not argue. The second award that I would like to be added to the International simulation football league that is a fixed objective award is one that I have a lot of different potential names that I would like. One version would be called King of International House Of Pancakes but for legal reasons and flow I would prefer the title be called King of the Griddle. This would be the offensive linemen or player that has the most pancakes in the regular season regardless of sacks allowed or penalties. As the current metrics favor offensive linemen that have 0 sacks allowed and it would be nice to have an award to work towards if you were to allow a sack in the first game or two of the season. 

[232 words] +2.5 TPE

32. SHL Affiliate   +2.5 TPE
 Different Forum Username: Hockeyiscool

Total: 10/10

[yonggarius]

10)
Contrary to the place he now holds in this league, William Lim started out his career without much fanfare. Originally a baseball player who went undrafted in South Korean league's pro entry draft because of his unremarkable batting skills, Lim only started out as a football player midway through his sophomore season in college.

And because of those reasons Lim was not a very highly sought after prospeft when he entered the DSFL draft after college, despite him showing a lot of promise transitioning his skillsets as a shortstop into that of a proper wide receiver. In a big draft class like S22 he was largely under the radar through most of the draft process, rrsulting in him being selected to the Dallas Birddogs 46th overall in the 6th round, making him the 5th wide receiver drafted in the class.

Although he wasn't able to generate a lot of volume stats in then- very run heavy DSFL, Lim's performance with the Birddogs resulted in him being cemented as one of the best receivers in the class. Despite that, Lim had to wait for a couple of rounds until his name was called in what ended up to be the most star- studded draft class in ISFL history. And when the Colorado Yeti finally selected him with the 32nd overall pick late into third round, only a few people thought Lim would enjoy a successful career in the big leagues.

After that moment, William Lim turned the odds into his favor through luck and effort. Called up as a true rookie to compete for the team's WR3 spot with trade acquisition Jake Draopson, Lim enjoyed the honor of ultimus win in his first pro season. The very next season, however, Lim was thrust into the role of WR1 after Red Arrow's retirement and Jake Bishop's age catching up. Despite all the concerns levied against him, Lim put up a very productive season in his first one as a WE1, earning the breakout player of the year award. And simce then, he never looked back and held the WR1 job for 8 seasons until now, putting up 3 WROTY seasons and 7 straight pro bowl appearances.

And now with his age catching up and stepping down from WR1 of the team after a long reign, Lim still got some unfinished business to deal with. Now the Yeti franchise leader in receiving yards and TDs, he has only about 1,750 yards to go until he is crowned as all time receiving yards leader. And that's going to be the goal he's going to grind for in his few remaining seasons in the twilight of his career. (443)

13) My opinion is very clear when it comes to the matter of expansion; it should not be happening under the status quo.

I'll start this off with the overview of the state this league is in, recruiting and retention wise. After enjoying a quick succession of big classes (S21, S22, S23 amd S25) immediately before and during the early COVID lockdown era, the recruitment numbers took a nosedive by the time S28 recruitment time rolled around, as social distancing regulations across the globe eased somewhat after a long period of lockdown in many countries. Ever since then, the receuitment numbers has been lingering at measly 50~70 prospects per class. This unfortunate trend has not spared the 2 reddit classes in the time period, with one class earlier this year resulting in total failure because of US capitol riot, and this recent one not looking very good either.

And on top of that, the retention percentage doesn't look much different from the figures from the lockdown era, with about 30% of users from classes go inactive on average. So as a result, the ISFL is looking at draft classes coming in about 45~50 people strong.

That situation, in itself, is more than enough reason to put off expansion for the forseeable future. 45~50 prospects per class is nowhere near the number to sustain 16 teams, especially considering that the percentage of max earners among those numbers is usually less than half.

On top of that, expansion under this situation would drive DSFL into its demise, therefore eliminating the place where new users can be assimilated into ISFL system in a friendly and competitive environment. DSFL is already at a brink of contraction due to the long line of small classes. And when expansion and its fallout scoops out the last remaining senddowns from alreafy struggling teams, there won't be a lot left in that league, contraction or not.

I understand that a quite a few people still wants expansion. Some wants expansion GM opportunity, and some wants new opportunities for their players that will follow expansion. However, as much as expansion would provide those new experiences and joys for the short time immediately following expansion, it can only result in total collapse of the league after a few seasons, first DSFL followed by the ISFL itself. So as much as I'd like to enjoy the improved dynamics that will follow a 16 team league, my strong opinion is that it shall be done only after a stable increase in recruiting numbers, i.e. at least two straight 100+ people class followed by similarly strong classes. (431)

[Menace0528]

6. Write 800 words or more on something about anything in the league that interests you. It could be related to statistics, a league issue that 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 participation on a Werewolf server or something.

Something that I wanna look at for this question is the performance of individual players and how that performance relates to the record or performance of the team as a whole. Football is a team sport of course, so it’s not expected that one player could make a 0-16 team go 16-0, but it’s absolutely possible for teams with one great player, especially at a position like QB, to drastically improve a record. On the other hand however, a bad player can absolutely drag down the performance of a team, and that’s what we’ll look at first. Our first look will be at the only rookie QB in the league, Gimmy Jarropolo. This one is a bit of a tough nut to crack, as Baltimore is a run first team, meaning Gimmy’s performance isn’t as huge in terms of effect on the team as it might if he were on a team like Honolulu. But anyways, taking a look at Gimmy, his performance was eh at best, with the lowest amount of yards (yes I know I know he had a low amount of attempts but like let me finish), one of the lowest yards per completion, The lowest number of passes further than 20 yards, the lowest number of passes further than 40 yards, and a longest pass of 46 yards (he was also the most sacked QB despite the least number of attempts, tho idk if that was him or the roster around him). Sure, he’s a game manager so it’s to be expected that a lot of his throws weren’t that long, but like a longest pass of 46 yards is really bad. But anyways, I disgress. In terms of team performance, Baltimore did very very badly. They did get 4 wins, which is an improvement from last season. But they also had the lowest number of points scored, though being a run first team, I guess it makes sense as to why they weren’t nearly as high scoring. That being said, that also makes their average amount of points allowed look much worse, as a game manager QB and a run first offense should absolutely mean less time for the other team, which means less points scored by them. The last point I’ll make about this is that this could potentially be seen as the fault for Gimmy for a different reason, one out of his control, and that’s his low TPE. Okay i guess all stats are kinda decided by TPE, but what i mean is that Baltimore definitely could have gone with a run first offense due to the fact that their QB is still a rookie, meaning that while maybe Gimmy didn’t hold the team back from a stats perspective (or well maybe he did, hard to tell to be honest), his TPE definitely could have. On the topic of Baltimore, we might as well move on to their running backs (I guess this is gonna be a baltimore themed submission). They’re a run first team, so I figure maybe it would be better to focus on their RBs, as there’s a possibility that maybe the running backs had more to do with the performance of baltimore than the QB. Baltimore had 427 attempts for 1635 yards, meaning they ran the ball the second most of any team. Funnily enough, the team with the most attempts is on the complete opposite side of the leaderboard, as AZ ran the ball 437 times. That’s not where the differences end between the two in terms of running the ball as well. AZ is tied for the most ypc at 4.8. Baltimore, on the other hand, has 3.8 yards per carry, which is the lowest YPC of any team (can i just comment on the fact that a run first team having the lowest YPC is really not a great sign). One last difference is that Arizona had the highest number of rushing touchdowns in the league at 27. Baltimore, on the other hands, was below average at 13, a number that would be fine for a team that was pass first, but for a run first offense? It’s definitely a bit concerning. Baltimore is also tied for the third shortest longest run at 57 yards (despite rushing the ball the second most of any team, which means way more opportunities for long runs). The last thing I wanted to look at was Baltimore’s losing streak at the end of the season, as they lost 8 straight games. What i wonder from this is if, at some point, teams realized that Baltimore’s game plan was the same every time (short passes and a lot of running), and because of that just blitzed as much as they could because they knew they wouldn’t be beat deep, and made their defense run oriented. This is all speculation of course, but this is my personal analysis of baltimore and the reasons behind their win/loss record and all around performance.

[legion of slugs]

14. 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 some context, Will Stern had a breakout season two seasons ago in season 29. With over 60 tackles as a defensive end and edge player, he had one of the best defensive end seasons this season, and made a big contribution to the Kansas City Coyotes. The jump he made from arriving late to Kansas City last season (s28) to this season was really surprising. He made huge plays mostly in the first halves of games before tiring out in the second halves. There was a solid 7 week stretch in the middle of the season where he was averaging 7 tackles and a sack per game.

Unfortunately though, this season was not quite as impressive. Will Stern rounded the season decently. He only got 1-3 tackles in most of his games, but got more big plays like force fumbles and fumble recoveries this season. The disappointing season may have hurt his chances for end of season awards also for the DSFL. At this point in the season he was working on his endurance and stamina in order to make more of an impact in the second halves of games since he was primarily a first half player, but it didn’t seem to help him much at all. If he could have changed what he did, he should have just worked on speed and strength to try and get as much out of him in the first half as possible.

Will Stern’s expectations for next season are to make more of an impact in the 2nd half which hopefully can lead to a bigger statline also in terms of TFLs and fumbles. The sacks and tackles numbers were already top tier, but getting the other two categories up would make Stern a complete player. His expectations in terms of getting called up to the ISFL are pretty relaxed, he’d be happy spending another full season with the Kansas City Coyotes if that’s in the plans. After seeing his growth from his rookie DSFL season to his third season in the DSFL, he improved a heavy amount, so it would very much benefit him if he did stay down another season. Ultimately though, the expectations for the team he’s playing on (currently Coyotes) is to make another playoff run and this time make the Ultimini, and advance from the semis. Will Stern is a team first player, and team successes are what he strives to contribute to first. Nothing would be more important than bringing an Ultimini to the KC Coyotes.

Word Count: 421

[Trashae]

14. 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?

Portland had an up and down season in S30 going 8-5-1, good for 2nd in the North and the 4th best record overall in the DSFL. Unfortunately Portland did the opposite of what most teams like to do and started hot only losing once in their first 8 games before ultimately dropping 4 of their last 6 including a 2 game losing streak heading into the playoffs and losing to the Grey Ducks in the first round. In fact, that game is also a good microcosm of their season because entering halftime Portland held a 10-7 lead, but after allowing 10+ points in each of the remaining quarters they lost 30-16.

Taking a look at Teddy Murphy's last season of eligibility at linebacker for the Pythons we have a mixed bag of results. He largely stayed the course and wasn't able to show signs of growth despite another year in Portland's favorable system, but Murphy was still able to sack the quarterback 6 times and defend 5 passes, both 1 off his career highs set in S29.

Let's dive into Murphy's season game-by-game to see if he had that same level of consistency his seasonal stats displayed.

In Portland's first game, a 27-6 domination of the Royals, Murphy was virtually nonexistent with only a single tackle the entire game. Truly an impressive feat from a 3rd year starter.

Seemingly frustrated by the previous week's performance Murphy exploded in game 2 against the Coyotes putting together 9 tackles and the team's lone sack on the day in the tying effort.

Week 3 saw Murphy regress to the mean with another 3 tackles and a second sack on the season in Portland's first loss. A 24-20 decision against the Grey Ducks.

Reflecting on the season week 4 is where Portland really got into a groove with a 41-21 win over the Buccaneers, the first of five in a row. And to mark the start of the win streak Murphy put together 5 tackles, good for his season average.

In week 5 Murphy had another middle of the pack outing finishing with 4 tackles on the day.

Week 6 was probably Murphy's best game if you ask him. He matched his season high with 9 tackles and also blocked a punt against the Birddogs.

Week 7 saw another strong performance from Murphy that helped vault the team to victory over the Luchadores. By the time things were settled Murphy's stat line was 5 tackles and another sack.

If week 6 was Murphy's favorite game the team certainly loved his week 8 performance. In the Pythons' 5th straight win Murphy added 7 tackles, 3 for a loss, and forced a fumble to boot.

Week 9 is where things started to fall apart in Portland. For only their second loss of the season they fell to the Coyotes 22-17. Murphy was up and down this game with 6 tackles, 1 for a loss, a sack, and 2 passes defensed. However, he also committed 2 penalties for 10 yard keeping Coyotes' drives alive.

In week 10 Portland lost again and really needed more from Murphy. His 4 tackles were his 3rd lowest of the season.

Week 11 was one of the more exciting games of the season. Portland was able to eek out a narrow 38-36 victory over the Buccaneers and while Murphy wasn't a star in the game he helped the team out with some crucial tackles and finished with 6 on the day.

As exciting as week 11 was week 12 saw Portland absolutely dominate the Seawolves 38-0. In a testament to the talent around him Murphy only had 2 tackles on the day. Second fewest on the team.

In week 13 Murphy regained some individual momentum and had 7 tackles along with a sack in Portland's narrow defeat 29-28.

Finally to close out Murphy's final season in the DSFL he mirrored his week 13 statline perfectly with another 7 tackles and a final sack to end the regular season against the Luchadores.

30. The ISFL Players Association was established a few seasons back, and while it is not as prominent now, it was a very interesting idea. What are your thoughts on a player union to help vote on rule proposals?

I am always in favor of a players' association to provide a voice for players to provide input on rules and make demands for concessions.  Even beyond that out in the real world the idea of unionization in any workplace is a great way for workers to band together and provide input/ improve conditions overall.  I unfortunately am not intimately familiar with how this has played out in the ISFL, but the idea of getting an association off the ground in a sim league is really cool and in my opinion adds another level of realism to the league as a whole.  So from that sense I am one hundred percent all for it.  But word counts are a thing so I'm gonna pause here and go look at how the ISFL PA has gone before finishing this prompt.  Ok so now that I looking into if and found a post from Destroyer about establishing one and I agree with the overall sentiment in the thread around the ISFL proposed implementation.  CEO wasn't a great choice there, but everything else about their suggestion I can get behind and it seems like there was a ton of thought behind the suggestion and it came from a good place to add another layer to the league.  Overall my thoughts are 10/10 I like it.


32. Affliate PT from either SHL/PBE. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this UW. And you may only use a max of 1.

SHL Affiliate

[Kyamprac]

2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?

Figured with everyone hitting regression for the first time this season, it might be interesting to take a really quick look back at the first round of the season 24 class and where they are now. This class has had a lot of big impacts on the league so far, both from a player and a user perspective.
 
Not taking a super deep dive on this for a PT in terms of awards and all that jazz, but it is interesting to note that not a single prospect drafted by the Baltimore Hawks in S24 stayed with the team for the long-haul, and at least 9 of the users in this class (most of which were first-gens) became a GM in either the DSFL or the ISFL.. or both. I believe users in this class have also shattered the record for most career TPE earned in the league to date.

1.1 Juan Domine (Maglubiyet)
LB | Drafted by: Butchers | Current TPE: 1527

While he sits fifth overall in the class for TPE, Mag has gone above and beyond to contribute both to his team and the community at large. The former London Royals GM has more than lived up to the expectations of a player selected first overall, and proved first generation players are absolutely worth the gamble.

1.2 Joshua Campbell (Buttersquach101)
WR | Drafted by: Sabercats | Current TPE: 1098

In retrospect this player could have been selected later in the draft based on TPE alone. Campbell moved around a little bit since the draft, finding himself in Baltimore at one point down the road during Butters' duration as GM. But, at the end of it all Campbell still found his way back to his original home in San Jose.

1.3 Asher Montain (Attopax)
DL | Drafted by: Hahalua | Current TPE: 1357

While not the top earner in the class, Montain has remained committed to the team and stuck it out, even when things looked grey and others decided to jump ship. Attopax even stepped up and took up GM at a time when few seemed interested in taking the reigns, making him more than worth the first round pick (but don't tell him I said that).

1.4 Harrison Andrew (abh89)
DL | Drafted by: Sailfish | Current TPE: 1529

Formerly Co-GM of the London Royals with Mag, abh has also made a big splash in his time in the ISFL. His player was easily worth the first round pick, particularly as he stuck around and has continued to provide value to Sarasota both as a player and a user since S24. Besides that, abh is just a stand-up guy and one of the most positive members of the community I know.

1.5 Maverick Bowie (Tonzy)
S | Drafted by: Hawks | Current TPE: 1346

Bowie (now a CB) was among the first group of Hawks who got out of dodge not long after being drafted due to the less than desirable conditions. While not as invested in the league these days, the former Tijuana GM contributed immensely to the community, dumping hours into sim team and real life dollars into helping people transition to the new sim.

1.6 Gunner Thorbjornsson / Deadly Memes (Z-Whiz)
WR | Drafted by: Outlaws | Current TPE: 1501

Arizona got a ton value here, as Z-Whiz turned out to not only be a great user and their future GM, but also an incredible team-first player who stuck around even when he wasn't being used to his full potential over a large chunk of his career as a RB in the shadow of Nakamura. The 6th highest earner in this class, he's sure to make an impact even in regression.

1.7 Quentin Button (pppaul317)
S | Drafed by: Second Line | Current TPE: 414

This pick ended up being a total bust for NOLA, as Button ended up earning worse than players going well into the third round of this draft. Further to that, he seems to be a pretty quiet low-impact user in the community. While that's better than drama to be sure, in hindsight NOLA had so many better options here (see honourable mentions). But hindsight is 20/20.

1.8 Zoe Watts (Kyamprac)
RB | Drafted by: Copperheads | Current TPE: 1537

Third overall in the class for TPE, Watts has stuck it out with Austin since draft day. I was PPT Head (I guess not a good one) and Dallas GM, and dumped a stupid amount of time into Dotts cards. Apparently a scurge on the community, this was probably a reach.

1.9 Melvin Murder-Moose (SchwarzNarr)
K | Drafted by: Yeti| Current TPE: 1480

A lot of people scoffed at a kicker being taken this early, but Schwarz has more than proved her worth.. and not just because she switched positions. A super active and contributing member of the community and another one of the first-gens from this class to become a GM, this moose provided incredible long-term value for the Yeti at pick 9.

1.10 Joseph Joestar (Lime)
QB | Drafted by: Otters | Current TPE: 1082

Lime is a good dude and I'm glad he got to go to a team he enjoys, but he probably shouldn't have been the first QB off the board as he didn't provide as much player value here as guys like Trautner and Pigsnout who were still available and earning out the wazoo. But, he position swapped and provides OCO with a committed mid-earning LB, and he contributes (or at least did contribute) a lot of time to Dotts.

1.11 Dorothy Zbornak (Slothman07)
DL | Drafted by: Liberty | Current TPE: 942

Now a cornerback for NOLA, sloth was high on a lot of draft boards going into S24. However, he didn't really live up to first round expectations when compared to a lot of others that went in this draft. That said, his render has sparked a lot of amazing conversations and he's still active and earning, which is all a team can really hope for.

1.12 Brach Thomaslacher (RDBSouthpaw)
LB | Drafted by: Wraiths | Current TPE: 1379

We always joked that Yellowknife and Baltimore confused which twins they were supposed to take - Tonzy wanted to go to YKW, while South wanted to go to BAL. Despite drafting an amazing earner and user in the community, the Wraiths didn't really have a place on the roster for South going into the future. The former rookie-whisperer Pythons GM ended up going to Austin, where he had an immensely positive impact on the team's development.

Honourable Mentions

All of these users turned out to have a great impact on the league, whether it be just from earning consistently (in the case of Trautner and PigSnout to the point of breaking records) and contributing to their teams, or playing an active role in making the community a better place.
Think a few of these people were horribly underrated going into the draft both for their plaer and user value, and it's nice to see those who were selected late in the third continue to have an impact 7 seasons after their draft.

2.2 Joel Drake (Rusfan)
S | Drafted by: Yeti | Current TPE: 1286

2.4 Captain Rogers (TeyonSchavari)
RB | Drafted by: Hawks | Current TPE: 1155

2.6 Adem Schell (Cincyfan96)
LB | Drafted by: Outlaws| Current TPE: 1475

2.7 Azarius Ranger (MobiausGrander)
DL | Drafted by: Second Line| Current TPE: 1001

2.8 Taro Raimon (xTri)
WR | Drafted by: Outlaws | Current TPE: 1494

2.9 Mattathias Caliban (PigSnout)
QB | Drafted by: Yeti| Current TPE: 1566

2.12 Sam Howitzer (Trautner)
QB | Drafted by: Wraiths | Current TPE: 1582

3.1 Charlemagne Cortez (MrStennett)
QB | Drafted by: Outlaws | Current TPE: 1389

3.2 Rickie Vaughne (supertardis101)
CB | Drafted by: Sabercats | Current TPE: 1017

3.4 Mike Boss Jr (JBLAZE_THE_BOSS)
QB | Drafted by: Sailfish | Current TPE: 1413

3.7 Lebong Simwell (Birdman)
DL | Drafted by: Second Line | Current TPE: 1152


(1290 words)

[solas]

16. I think I can bring some good qualities to whatever teams draft me in both the DSFL and ISFL. First, I have a lot of experience with sim leagues. I don’t like to bring this up because I don’t want to necessarily downplay people who are newer to sim leagues in general because they will probably be a bit more active than I am so it would be disingenuous to sell myself as being a better option than anyone else because of that. For the time being I don’t necessarily plan to be, like, the #1 overall pick or anything, butI think I can offer a good level of stability and reliability based on my history. Plus I’m not going to need that much help with updating or doing PTs outside of maybe the stuff that’s more unique to this league.

Second, I make graphics, so I think that gives me a bonus as far as earning money for training. I took a look at the grading scale for graphics here and to me it seems like you can make a lot of money from graphics which is really good for me because I enjoy making sigs in sim leagues. So as long as I stay active, I don’t think I’ll ever be running out of money in the bank (fingers crossed).

25. Given the positions available, I probably would have created a defensive tackle. While I would’ve enjoyed going with a skill position on offense, because those tend to be more fun, I think there’s too much of a logjam at QB/RB/WR for me to jump in there and get playing time right away. My experience with sim leagues, specifically football leagues in the past, tells me that jumping to a flashy position right away when you’re not 100% sure that you’re going to consistently be a max earner is usually a bad idea. Plus it really limits your options in the draft. And I can probably get rid of the remaining offensive positions, too, since offensive line isn’t too interesting to me right now and from what I can tell tight end seems to have the same problem as QB/RB/WR.

So that pretty much limits me to defensive positions. I’ve already created a safety, so that eliminates that. I’ve done a little bit of research on the forum and it seems like defensive ends aren’t quite as valuable or interesting in the new sim. I was thinking of creating a DE when I joined, but given that information I don’t think it’d be my second choice any more. I’m also going to eliminate cornerback, because that’s not all that different from safety and doesn’t make for a fun answer. So now that leaves us with linebacker and defensive tackle. Linebacker would be fun, since that offers a lot of variety and it’d be fun to make an edge rusher. But instead I’m going to say DT, since that seems to be a position with more need and it’d be fun to get some more playing time (and maybe a nice amount of TFL).


27. Branding is something that I care about a lot, possibly too much, so I’m happy to provide my two cents here. First, let’s start with the positive. It’s a close call, but I’m going to say my favorite is the Austin Copperheads. Although to be honest, I would say Austin and Sarasota are neck and neck as far as branding goes. Neither are necessarily perfect in my eyes, but both are well-made. Sarasota gets a slight dock because I’m not a fan of Sarasota being the choice of location compared to the other teams in the league, but that’s not a big difference maker. I like the colors for both teams a lot (the blue/green combination for the Sailfish works really well), but the combination of teal and copper is an inspired choice that works really well for football. The copperhead snake itself is also very well-done.

In the name of positivity, I’ll try to keep it more brief on the negatives but there are some identities that I just don’t like. The Portland Pythons branding isn’t necessarily bad, but when taking a look at all the logos I can’t help but feel that their current identity is a downgrade from the older one. The Berlin Fire Salamanders logo is clearly made by someone with artistic talent (as is the Pythons logo), but the name and logo just doesn’t work for me. I also feel like the logo for the Chicago Butchers is just too busy and doesn’t work as a football logo - but at the same time I do think the name and colors work very well.

32. PBE PT

[Zephyrus1128]

1. This week will see the S30 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?

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I'm writing this long after the Ultimini and Ultimus are complete (Congratulations, Minnesota and Sarasota!) but I still feel like the first couple questions are interesting.

I'm going to look at the DSFL first, since that's my league. Looking at the North, there was a clear favorite to win the Ultimini, that being the defending champion Minnesota Grey Ducks. They posted a phenomenal 13-1 record, the lone loss being a week 7 road loss at the hands of the Norfolk Seawolves. As everyone knows, even the greatest teams have their bad weeks, but Minnesota did not let the upstart Seawolves derail their season. They won all seven games in the final half of the season, including a 48-24 revenge win over Norfolk in Week 14. With almost five games on the rest of their division, it was almost a given that they would advance to the Ultimini, and indeed they did.

The Portland Pythons took the second spot in the North, but contrary to Minnesota, Portland stumbled into the postseason. Around the midway point Portland was only a half-game behind Minnesota for the division lead, and as I said in my midseason review of the best players, it was off of the backs of their runningbacks, Noah Johns and Jax Baker. While their running production didn't go down, it's clear that something was clogging Portland's gears, finishing the second half of the season at 3-4. Notably, these wins were against the only teams in the league with a losing record (Norfolk, Bondi Beach, and London). Portland's inability to defeat the top half of the league boded disaster for them in the North Championship, and those fears bore fruit as they lost 30-16 against the Grey Ducks in the conference championship.

Before we look at the South, Kansas City needs to be mentioned first. Going into week 14, they needed a Portland loss and a win in order to make the conference championship for the 2nd season in a row. While Tijuana came through, defeating the Pythons 27-10, Kansas City collapsed, allowing Bondi to drive down the field and kick a field goal to tie the game with under 20 seconds to go, and ended up losing in overtime.

In the South, there wasn't a team as dominant as Minnesota was, but a wide array of talent. The Dallas Birddogs captured the regular season title in Week 14 with a 54-21 dismantling of the London Royals, and on the back of a very varied offensive attack cruised to their 2nd straight conference championship. Despite early struggles, losing 4 of their first 6 games, Dallas finished the season 8-1 and bounced back in a tremendous way to prove that they were a championship contender.

The other representative from the South was the defending conference champions, the Tijuana Luchadores. They secured a playoff spot (and their 4th straight CCG appearance) and looked to beat Dallas for the second year in a row and return to the Ultimini. A solid backfield of ReallyInvisible, Burner, and Whip proved to be dangerous as Tijuana hunted for an Ultimini. The road to a championship went through Minnesota, however, and despite Tijuana knocking off Dallas and setting up a rematch of the 2044 Ultimini, they were unable to defeat Minnesota in the Ultimini.

Looking at the ISFL playoffs, Arizona once again cruised into the playoffs, with New York and Austin claiming the WC spots in the ASFC. Much to my dismay (my predictions are hot garbage as per usual), New York wiped the floor with Austin in the wildcard game before getting shut out by the Outlaws in the championship game. In the NSFC, which was a much tighter race, Berlin upset the Wraiths after losing three straight to finish the season before top seed Sarasota ended their run with a 30-24 victory in the NSFC Championship. Arizona was heavily favored going into the Ultimus but lost to a relentless passing attack from Mike Boss Jr. (20/30, 254 yds, 3/0 TD/INT). A late garbage-time touchdown was their only visit to the end zone in a 27-10 loss. Sarasota proved the best team in the league with their Ultimus win in dominant fashion and look to obtain more pieces in the draft to repeat next season.

The Ultimini was not particularly surprising. Minnesota was a force to be reckoned with all year and aside from one fluke game, nobody was able to defeat their dominant offense powered by Kazimir Oles Jr. and John Huntsman. Tijuana put up a much better fight this year in the Ultimini but was ultimately unable to win in the end.

As for the ISFL playoffs, New York definitely seemed lost in the conference championship. They were dominant against Austin but were curbstomped by Arizona, proving unable to repeat as champions. Berlin was able to overcome a 3-game losing streak to beat Yellowknife, but was unable to beat a streaking Sailfish squad. Sarasota played above their level and hope to improve on a dangerous team next year and have a shot at repeating.

(Word Count: 841)

[Painted]

This week will see the S30 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?

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You know, they say it is hard to repeat championships. And to be honest, they are right. Very few NFL teams can even make it back to the super bowl, let alone win it twice. As a matter of fact, it is done so rarely, it has its own Wikipedia trivia page. Well the exact same can be said for the ISFL and DSFL So to see the Grey Ducks even come close to contending after winning the Ultimini in Season 29 was impressive in its own right. The fact that they won a repeat championship- well, that’s just crazy!! And here is how it went down:

Coming off the S29 Ultimini win, it was looking like that was the peak, that now we would regress as many of the high earners would get the call up. So in the war room, we began preparing for that. We began scouting, thinking that we would need to replace our starting quarter back, running back, and wide outs. Not only were they key contributors, they were also MVP and OPoY as well for Fronk and Oles. To say we were shocked when we heard from their ISFL GMs that they were returning is an understatement! That key fact alone changed our draft strategy. No more did we need to focus on offense, we were keeping pretty much everyone.

Then it clicked, well if we were only losing a few starters on defense, and we just drafted many of their replacements, maybe we could be even better next season?! Well the draft came and went, we drafted the defensive replacements as well as some nice offensive contributors for the future. Then came preseason! We went 4-0. Right then we knew we stood a chance at a repeat.

Curbstomping our competition in the preseason, the runningback Huntsman was doing his thing, Fronk-ing up and down the field, racking up yards and tuddies! Kazamir Jr. was also chucking it like last season never ended to both Sharpei and Malone! All that needed to go our way was a good game plan. That’s where Coach Crody made his patented Rosarita strat. It won last season, so we rolled with a version of it all season in season 30. Let me sum the strat up for you: FEED FRONK, PASS TO MALONE AND SHARPEI, DON’T TURNOVER, SCORE… A LOT.

So yeah, it worked! Then the defense, lights out. That’s just Minnesota football baybee. Players like Dukemarriot and Hotsalads were playing at an All-Pro level and over the course of the season, defensive touchdowns were scored by many of the duckies. The newest first round rookie Czaryous was a beast too at defensive end!

Now to sum up the course of the season, I only need to talk about one game, and that was against Norfolk. Why that game? Because that was the Grey Ducks only loss! Before the game, the Minn twitter got into a twitter roast with the Norfolk twitter users, and it was a riot. They got fired up having gone 0-6 to that point and Minn was 6-0. So that extra fuel on the flames led to an enormous upset with Norfolk coming out on top 48-34. That game was a reminder, that despite how stacked we were, we were not infallible. So we made adjustments to the game plan, and never looked back! Minn finished the season 13-1, the only loss was to Norfolk and we went into the playoffs licking our lips for a title.

The question of course, was who were we playing? Naturally, the answer was our toughest opponent, the Portland Pythons. For whatever reason, the pythons have had our numbers when it came to game planning against them. They ALWAYS played us very tight and it felt miraculous when we would come our victorious. So, to many in Minn, this felt like the real title game! After a long hard night of scheming, Coach Crody whipped up another amazing new strat. It involved changing around some of the starters on defense so they lined up in different spots, but it sure did have an impact. We were able to hold off the sneks to just 16 points as our offense rallied a solid 30. One of our sneaky big contributors was K/P Levy Tate who went a perfect 3/3 on field goals and had a massive 64 yard punt with 2 inside the 20.

Finally, all things came to a climax against the Luchadores in the Ultimini. It was a straight up revenge game for them since this was the exact same match up as last season. And boy did they barely squeak in! It came down to a missed buzzer beater field goal by Dallas which shocked the entire DSFL. Nonetheless, they made it in and wanted a THIRD go around for the title. But the Ducks were not to be denied! It was an extremely hard fought game, but with a final score of 33-30, Minnesota hoisted their #quack2quack championship!! Even despite 10 sacks, Oles Jr played lights out with 3 TDs and a passer rating of 112.4. But once again, the defense and Tate played the biggest role, getting a well timed safety and notching 3 punts within the 10 yard line, respectively.

No matter who to credit, the Grey Ducks played their minds out. And now we’re partying like there’s no tomorrow. Unfortunately for me, I inherited the team as GM, but that’s fine because now I can rebuild the ship, that we thought was sinking last season! I’m very hopeful that this next draft class will be amazing!

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