01-29-2018, 03:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2018, 08:57 PM by 37thchamber.)
Robbed: Write about why a team that failed to make the playoffs should have over somebody else. Can be completed at any point
It's hard to really say a team was robbed of a playoff appearance this season, even though there was a need for tiebreakers in both conferences to decide the travelling teams for the conference championships. I see a lot of people are making the argument that the Liberty were robbed because they had a better point differential than the Hawks (literally one point, by the way) but this is a selective argument and fundamentally flawed. Why should one team make it over another by virtue of a garbage time field goal? Let's compare the two teams' records against other playoff teams this season. The Hawks lost three of their six games against the other playoff teams (Yellowknife, Arizona and Orange County), while the Liberty lost four of theirs. "So doesn't that mean the Hawks fared better against stronger opposition and deserved their spot?" I hear you ask. Well...yes and no. It also means the Hawks lost more games to teams not in the playoffs. Significantly, the Hawks were swept by the Sabercats. Why is this significant? Because it suggests that the Sabercats should have made the playoffs over the Outlaws.
Wait what?
If we take the stance that the teams a conference sends to the playoffs -- to compete for their conference championship -- should be the ones with the best chance of winning the Ultimus, then surely the Sabercats should have made it over the Outlaws, as they would have had more chance of winning against either the Hawks or Wraiths? Of course, the problem is that, by using that very same logic, the Liberty could be argued to have been a better option than the Hawks in the NSFC... which leads us back to saying the Outlaws should be in the playoffs after all.
Perhaps the best solution in this particular case would have been to have two play-in games: Hawks v Liberty, and Outlaws v Sabercats. Winners proceed to the conference championships. Then nobody would have been "robbed", right?
(330 words)
New Talent: Write about which S5 trade will or did have the biggest impact in the playoffs.
This is a no-brainer. There is no doubt in my mind that the biggest impact trade this past season was the arrival of Alexandre LeClair in Baltimore. I know what you're thinking... A talented receiver joining an already strong receiving corps is my pick for big impact trade? Well, yeah.
LeClair's arrival completely supplanted the mercurial Stormblessed, made space for John Wachter, filled the gaps left by departing players, and helped elevate Avon Blocksdale's game. So much so, in fact, that Blocksdale was in the MVP conversation for much of the season. Given that the NSFL is overwhelmingly a pass-first league, it stands to reason that Baltimore's return to the playoffs came after a noticeable upgrade to their selection of offensive weapons. LeClair slotted into the Hawks offense as primary receiver, and racked up career best totals in yardage, receptions and touchdowns. Finishing fourth in the league in receiving yards, with eleven touchdowns and an average yards per catch of almost nineteen, the former Las Vegas wideout definitely showed his worth. After some disappointing years in Las Vegas -- where LeClair was very clear about his unhappiness -- it looks like we're going to see the best of what he has to offer in Baltimore.
(203 words)
Sit-down with a star: Interview a player from a team that is not your own that is in the playoffs. You must ask them four questions and at least three must relate to the league in some way. YOU MUST POST THE QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS FOR CREDIT. (Can be completed at any point)
I sat down with Marc Spector to talk about the league in general, and how he sees things.
Marc, back to back championships, how does it feel? Especially given the revelations about the questionable nature of the Outlaws' previous wins.
Great. It feels absolutely great. Last season was huge because it was our first and the first time anyone had toppled the Outlaws. This year's was great because it was more because of our defense than our offense. Not to take anything away from Boss, Westy, Phelps or Yates. But our front 7 was huge. Also knowing we did it the right way only makes it feel that much better. However, the Outlaw were still a top tier team this season without the scandal players. Looking back, they still would likely have won at least of 2 of those 3 championships anyhow.
Looking forward to next season, and beyond, which teams do you think pose the greatest threat to your status as champions?
This is a tough question because there's so many. Obviously we got the Outlaws gunning for use every year. The Sabercats have been trending upwards for the last 2 seasons, it's only a matter of time before they're going toe to toe with us. If we get past them, the Wraiths have been there 2 straight years going hard. Your Hawks are never out of it and Philly has the ability to be just as potent as anyone else. That's why I love this league. Any given year a team can show up and be the one to beat.
Okay, now looking at the teams who aren't realistically in a position to challenge for titles right now, what do they need to do to get themselves in that conversation?
Las Vegas and Colorado? They need to build for the future. Plan for when regression hits those S1 and S2 players. get themselves set up, and keep a positive atmosphere in the locker room. I liked what Las Vegas had going until they had the meltdown. I think they've got the right GMs in place there to make a turn around. It'll take a few seasons though. Look at San Jose. Use their rebuild as a template. Or Philadelphia. It can be done. I don't pay close attention to Colorado since I am not in their division to know how they're doing.
The NSFL is definitely a passing league, which puts a lot of pressure on defensive backs in general. Do you think there could be any changes made to maybe even things up a bit, so there isn't such a strong bias toward the passing game?
I like the way it is, personally. I know the numbers this season for CBs across the board are down from past years. But I think that's fine. This is a game for all types, and as a CB, I'm okay with not getting 10+ interceptions a season. I know the Otters are a defensive team, but Boss and company put butts in the seats. When Westy, Phelps or Yates breaks a big pass play, I go nuts. I say keep the offense slinging. It means we CBs have to up our game.
You're not wrong! It's a good way to look at it, really. We need to step up.
You tweeted recently about your own struggles with mental health issues, how do you feel about the league supporting initiatives to increase awareness of mental illness? Do you think it will help others like you, going forward?
Yes, I have depression and it's a topic that a lot of people don't like to talk about it. I feel it needs to be talked about. Every other health issue is easier to diagnose. Got a cough, see if it's asthma or bronchitis. Knee hurts? Do an X-ray and figure it out. Feel like wanting to live in a hole forever and never talk to anyone? Well... who knows. Could be depression, could be bi-polar disorder, could be anxiety, could be anti-social disorder... there's no real metric to diagnose and treat mental issues. Drugs are often a band-aid and have to be tinkered and tampered with over periods of time to get the right cocktail for that patient. One person with Bi_polar might do well on one medicine while another might react completely opposite. We see people on the streets who talk to themselves, or are anti-social and we don't know how to help them. They often don't know how to help themselves. It's a taxing issue and I think the more we confront it, and make sure those who suffer with them know not to be ashamed of it, the better our society will be.
Fantastic answer, it's a really important topic, I agree. Let's finish off on a lighter note, though. If you were in charge of making your team's first pick on draft day, who would you select? Why?
If it were up to me? Well, it obviously depends on who is on the board at the time of our pick. If I had the first pick overall? Bagwell, Mills and Joshua are all impressive players with bright futures. At 8, there's a whole host of players I like and I doubt any of those 3 will be sitting there. But I'm not the guy in charge of pulling the trigger. I trust Molarpistols to pick the right man for our team come draft day. I'll be the first to welcome him into the locker room, and show him around. I am not picky, as long as they're active and can make our team better, I want them with us. Thanks for sitting down with me. It's been a pleasure.
I also gave an interview here for my fourth task
It's hard to really say a team was robbed of a playoff appearance this season, even though there was a need for tiebreakers in both conferences to decide the travelling teams for the conference championships. I see a lot of people are making the argument that the Liberty were robbed because they had a better point differential than the Hawks (literally one point, by the way) but this is a selective argument and fundamentally flawed. Why should one team make it over another by virtue of a garbage time field goal? Let's compare the two teams' records against other playoff teams this season. The Hawks lost three of their six games against the other playoff teams (Yellowknife, Arizona and Orange County), while the Liberty lost four of theirs. "So doesn't that mean the Hawks fared better against stronger opposition and deserved their spot?" I hear you ask. Well...yes and no. It also means the Hawks lost more games to teams not in the playoffs. Significantly, the Hawks were swept by the Sabercats. Why is this significant? Because it suggests that the Sabercats should have made the playoffs over the Outlaws.
Wait what?
If we take the stance that the teams a conference sends to the playoffs -- to compete for their conference championship -- should be the ones with the best chance of winning the Ultimus, then surely the Sabercats should have made it over the Outlaws, as they would have had more chance of winning against either the Hawks or Wraiths? Of course, the problem is that, by using that very same logic, the Liberty could be argued to have been a better option than the Hawks in the NSFC... which leads us back to saying the Outlaws should be in the playoffs after all.
Perhaps the best solution in this particular case would have been to have two play-in games: Hawks v Liberty, and Outlaws v Sabercats. Winners proceed to the conference championships. Then nobody would have been "robbed", right?
(330 words)
New Talent: Write about which S5 trade will or did have the biggest impact in the playoffs.
This is a no-brainer. There is no doubt in my mind that the biggest impact trade this past season was the arrival of Alexandre LeClair in Baltimore. I know what you're thinking... A talented receiver joining an already strong receiving corps is my pick for big impact trade? Well, yeah.
LeClair's arrival completely supplanted the mercurial Stormblessed, made space for John Wachter, filled the gaps left by departing players, and helped elevate Avon Blocksdale's game. So much so, in fact, that Blocksdale was in the MVP conversation for much of the season. Given that the NSFL is overwhelmingly a pass-first league, it stands to reason that Baltimore's return to the playoffs came after a noticeable upgrade to their selection of offensive weapons. LeClair slotted into the Hawks offense as primary receiver, and racked up career best totals in yardage, receptions and touchdowns. Finishing fourth in the league in receiving yards, with eleven touchdowns and an average yards per catch of almost nineteen, the former Las Vegas wideout definitely showed his worth. After some disappointing years in Las Vegas -- where LeClair was very clear about his unhappiness -- it looks like we're going to see the best of what he has to offer in Baltimore.
(203 words)
Sit-down with a star: Interview a player from a team that is not your own that is in the playoffs. You must ask them four questions and at least three must relate to the league in some way. YOU MUST POST THE QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWERS FOR CREDIT. (Can be completed at any point)
I sat down with Marc Spector to talk about the league in general, and how he sees things.
Marc, back to back championships, how does it feel? Especially given the revelations about the questionable nature of the Outlaws' previous wins.
Great. It feels absolutely great. Last season was huge because it was our first and the first time anyone had toppled the Outlaws. This year's was great because it was more because of our defense than our offense. Not to take anything away from Boss, Westy, Phelps or Yates. But our front 7 was huge. Also knowing we did it the right way only makes it feel that much better. However, the Outlaw were still a top tier team this season without the scandal players. Looking back, they still would likely have won at least of 2 of those 3 championships anyhow.
Looking forward to next season, and beyond, which teams do you think pose the greatest threat to your status as champions?
This is a tough question because there's so many. Obviously we got the Outlaws gunning for use every year. The Sabercats have been trending upwards for the last 2 seasons, it's only a matter of time before they're going toe to toe with us. If we get past them, the Wraiths have been there 2 straight years going hard. Your Hawks are never out of it and Philly has the ability to be just as potent as anyone else. That's why I love this league. Any given year a team can show up and be the one to beat.
Okay, now looking at the teams who aren't realistically in a position to challenge for titles right now, what do they need to do to get themselves in that conversation?
Las Vegas and Colorado? They need to build for the future. Plan for when regression hits those S1 and S2 players. get themselves set up, and keep a positive atmosphere in the locker room. I liked what Las Vegas had going until they had the meltdown. I think they've got the right GMs in place there to make a turn around. It'll take a few seasons though. Look at San Jose. Use their rebuild as a template. Or Philadelphia. It can be done. I don't pay close attention to Colorado since I am not in their division to know how they're doing.
The NSFL is definitely a passing league, which puts a lot of pressure on defensive backs in general. Do you think there could be any changes made to maybe even things up a bit, so there isn't such a strong bias toward the passing game?
I like the way it is, personally. I know the numbers this season for CBs across the board are down from past years. But I think that's fine. This is a game for all types, and as a CB, I'm okay with not getting 10+ interceptions a season. I know the Otters are a defensive team, but Boss and company put butts in the seats. When Westy, Phelps or Yates breaks a big pass play, I go nuts. I say keep the offense slinging. It means we CBs have to up our game.
You're not wrong! It's a good way to look at it, really. We need to step up.
You tweeted recently about your own struggles with mental health issues, how do you feel about the league supporting initiatives to increase awareness of mental illness? Do you think it will help others like you, going forward?
Yes, I have depression and it's a topic that a lot of people don't like to talk about it. I feel it needs to be talked about. Every other health issue is easier to diagnose. Got a cough, see if it's asthma or bronchitis. Knee hurts? Do an X-ray and figure it out. Feel like wanting to live in a hole forever and never talk to anyone? Well... who knows. Could be depression, could be bi-polar disorder, could be anxiety, could be anti-social disorder... there's no real metric to diagnose and treat mental issues. Drugs are often a band-aid and have to be tinkered and tampered with over periods of time to get the right cocktail for that patient. One person with Bi_polar might do well on one medicine while another might react completely opposite. We see people on the streets who talk to themselves, or are anti-social and we don't know how to help them. They often don't know how to help themselves. It's a taxing issue and I think the more we confront it, and make sure those who suffer with them know not to be ashamed of it, the better our society will be.
Fantastic answer, it's a really important topic, I agree. Let's finish off on a lighter note, though. If you were in charge of making your team's first pick on draft day, who would you select? Why?
If it were up to me? Well, it obviously depends on who is on the board at the time of our pick. If I had the first pick overall? Bagwell, Mills and Joshua are all impressive players with bright futures. At 8, there's a whole host of players I like and I doubt any of those 3 will be sitting there. But I'm not the guy in charge of pulling the trigger. I trust Molarpistols to pick the right man for our team come draft day. I'll be the first to welcome him into the locker room, and show him around. I am not picky, as long as they're active and can make our team better, I want them with us. Thanks for sitting down with me. It's been a pleasure.
I also gave an interview here for my fourth task
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