3) Revenge
Generally, I would say it's not a good thing to keep grudges or want revenge against a certain group of people, but this is a simulation football league, not real life. I wouldn't necessarily say there's one specific team I'd want "revenge" against, but more the league as a whole. There seemed to be a general understanding around the league this season that the Otters were evil and needed to be stopped. Well, after three consecutive Ultimus championships, you guys finally did it. Congratulations. But, did you really think we were gone for good? We had A LOT of bad luck this season with the sim, and although you never know what the sim is going to do, we plan on coming back with an even stronger roster next season. We may have lost, but we also have the #1OA pick in the upcoming draft and several other picks to work with. Our management decided it was best to make some trades specifically for this moment. You thought you took us down, but the trust is, we were planning for this moment. We're not done yet. The Otters have had 20 consecutive playoff appearances. Yes, we've never missed the playoffs, and we don't plan to anytime soon either.
5) Armchair GM
Well, this is a rather interesting topic to write about. If I'm being honest, I feel like our GM's have already made several big moves in order to prepare for next season. They were planning for next season before the current season was over. You can have whatever opinion you want about the trades we made, but I personally feel like they were good for our future. We traded away a key player or two, but we got a lot in return, and we have plans in place for what we're going to do. So, in regards to trades and the draft, I feel like we're in a pretty good place already for next season. The one place I think we could really make some big moves in is free agency. Last off-season, we didn't do much, if anything, in free agency, because we just didn't have the cap space to work with. This time though, due to the trades we made and contract details, we actually have some room to work with. If we make a big free agency move, the Otters could come out next season just as strong, if not stronger than before. That's all you can really hope for your GM's to do for your team. Not look past the present, while also preparing for the future.
6) Expansion
This is a fantastic question! If I found myself in charge of an expansion team, you know what I would do? I would trade away literally everything I could and try to get the team disbanded and removed from the league as soon as possible. The entire idea of a league expansion and an expansion draft is freaking ridiculous. I honestly can't even believe it's being considered again so soon after the last one. I do believe the last expansion was necessary. There just wasn't enough teams in the league for the influx of players. But, anyone actually considering voting for an expansion, have you looked at the Butchers and Copperheads recently? How many seasons has it been since they were created? The Butchers are still the laughing stock of the league, and the Copperheads finally got lucky enough in the sim to make the playoffs. This is nothing against the GM's of those two teams. I have respect for them for taking a position where they were set up for failure from the start. But, this league, as a simulation league, isn't designed for expansion, especially in such a short time after the last one. I honestly urge all of HO to reconsider this, if you're actually thinking about voting for this. If you vote for another expansion, there will literally be users who have had their player go through two expansion drafts. That's actually stupid, and I hope you all realize this. This league is a community. Our teams are a community. For the most part, we love our teammates. Why would you intentionally force us out of our LR's just for the simple idea of having shiny new expansion teams that will be nothing but a joke to the league for seasons to come?
10) Reform
Hahaha. Seriously, thank you whoever is making up these writing prompts. First, I think the concept of HO is fine, but, as a whole, it needs some changes. It works fine when it works, but when it doesn't, it's absolutely awful. The people in power should not put the league in such a state of hostility every single time they make a decision. I believe should work more on a representative level. A great example of this is how the Bex punishment vote was handled. It could've been handled much better, and the end result could've been better, but that was also heavily influenced by the timing of the vote with the r/NFL post. The vote took into account the actual opinion of the league for once. That is awesome. I don't agree with the outcome, but that's just how it works. I think HO should work like that much more often, if not all the time. I also think the position of Commissioner should be abolished as whole, with the duties being distributed among all of HO. Giving someone such a title, when they are actually of no higher authority than any other HO member is completely pointless, and it only leads to unnecessary controversy. I think the current Commissioner should become a regular HO member just like all the others, and rules should actually be put in place in regards to punishment for HO members and abuse of powers. I mean, actual written rules in the rule book, not just an understanding of the "Don't be a dick" rule.
Generally, I would say it's not a good thing to keep grudges or want revenge against a certain group of people, but this is a simulation football league, not real life. I wouldn't necessarily say there's one specific team I'd want "revenge" against, but more the league as a whole. There seemed to be a general understanding around the league this season that the Otters were evil and needed to be stopped. Well, after three consecutive Ultimus championships, you guys finally did it. Congratulations. But, did you really think we were gone for good? We had A LOT of bad luck this season with the sim, and although you never know what the sim is going to do, we plan on coming back with an even stronger roster next season. We may have lost, but we also have the #1OA pick in the upcoming draft and several other picks to work with. Our management decided it was best to make some trades specifically for this moment. You thought you took us down, but the trust is, we were planning for this moment. We're not done yet. The Otters have had 20 consecutive playoff appearances. Yes, we've never missed the playoffs, and we don't plan to anytime soon either.
5) Armchair GM
Well, this is a rather interesting topic to write about. If I'm being honest, I feel like our GM's have already made several big moves in order to prepare for next season. They were planning for next season before the current season was over. You can have whatever opinion you want about the trades we made, but I personally feel like they were good for our future. We traded away a key player or two, but we got a lot in return, and we have plans in place for what we're going to do. So, in regards to trades and the draft, I feel like we're in a pretty good place already for next season. The one place I think we could really make some big moves in is free agency. Last off-season, we didn't do much, if anything, in free agency, because we just didn't have the cap space to work with. This time though, due to the trades we made and contract details, we actually have some room to work with. If we make a big free agency move, the Otters could come out next season just as strong, if not stronger than before. That's all you can really hope for your GM's to do for your team. Not look past the present, while also preparing for the future.
6) Expansion
This is a fantastic question! If I found myself in charge of an expansion team, you know what I would do? I would trade away literally everything I could and try to get the team disbanded and removed from the league as soon as possible. The entire idea of a league expansion and an expansion draft is freaking ridiculous. I honestly can't even believe it's being considered again so soon after the last one. I do believe the last expansion was necessary. There just wasn't enough teams in the league for the influx of players. But, anyone actually considering voting for an expansion, have you looked at the Butchers and Copperheads recently? How many seasons has it been since they were created? The Butchers are still the laughing stock of the league, and the Copperheads finally got lucky enough in the sim to make the playoffs. This is nothing against the GM's of those two teams. I have respect for them for taking a position where they were set up for failure from the start. But, this league, as a simulation league, isn't designed for expansion, especially in such a short time after the last one. I honestly urge all of HO to reconsider this, if you're actually thinking about voting for this. If you vote for another expansion, there will literally be users who have had their player go through two expansion drafts. That's actually stupid, and I hope you all realize this. This league is a community. Our teams are a community. For the most part, we love our teammates. Why would you intentionally force us out of our LR's just for the simple idea of having shiny new expansion teams that will be nothing but a joke to the league for seasons to come?
10) Reform
Hahaha. Seriously, thank you whoever is making up these writing prompts. First, I think the concept of HO is fine, but, as a whole, it needs some changes. It works fine when it works, but when it doesn't, it's absolutely awful. The people in power should not put the league in such a state of hostility every single time they make a decision. I believe should work more on a representative level. A great example of this is how the Bex punishment vote was handled. It could've been handled much better, and the end result could've been better, but that was also heavily influenced by the timing of the vote with the r/NFL post. The vote took into account the actual opinion of the league for once. That is awesome. I don't agree with the outcome, but that's just how it works. I think HO should work like that much more often, if not all the time. I also think the position of Commissioner should be abolished as whole, with the duties being distributed among all of HO. Giving someone such a title, when they are actually of no higher authority than any other HO member is completely pointless, and it only leads to unnecessary controversy. I think the current Commissioner should become a regular HO member just like all the others, and rules should actually be put in place in regards to punishment for HO members and abuse of powers. I mean, actual written rules in the rule book, not just an understanding of the "Don't be a dick" rule.
