2) Playoffs MVP: Johnny Slothface (NOLA VS OCO)
Johnny Slothface the second coming of Scott Sterling with his dominating defensive demonstration in this game. Especially as according to reports we have received he passed away more than a fortnight ago in an abominable accident with the New Orleans Second Line Mascot. Coming back from the dead just to help bring his team to the Ultimus is the ultimate definition of a Most Valuable Player in my not at all humble opinion.
Slothface was admittedly quiet as expected of a corpse in the first quarter, but truly kicked it into gear in the second quarter. He broke up a pass attempt from Armstrong to Blaze with just about seven minutes left in the second quarter that led to the Otters having to punt by completing a three and out. That was just the start of his dominance though as the very next offensive play by the Otters was a pass attempt from Armstrong to Sarvepally that was broken up by Slothface who came in like an archangel. It was such a decisive series of events that the ball just fell incomplete the next two plays which makes me quite confident in saying that Johnny Slothface caused two three and outs in the second quarter practically single handed.
No one can do it alone though and so even though Slothface had another pass breakup in the opening drive of the third the Otters were finally able to find the end zone. The Otters' second drive though was held to a long run of just three yards thanks to a timely tackle by Slothface. That tackle forced the Otters to settle for a long field goal that was no good. Thanks to another textbook tackle from Slothface the Otters were held to just seven rushing yards to Slothface's side of the field in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter though is where Slothface showed his intensity even from beyond the grave. Five tackles that held the Otters to just 17 yards rushing to his side over the entirety of the fourth quarter. Combined with a sack on third down that made the Otters converting a touchdown almost impossible and won NOLA the game. Well it would have if not for the referees calling a phantom facemask penalty on Tu'inukuafe that gave the Otters a first and goal situation. Still Slothface did everything you could ask for of a player in putting his team in position to win, and I believe it was fear of his undead fury that led to the steep drop off in performance for the Otters' offense in overtime that allowed New Orleans to emerge victorious.
6) Next Year: Norfolk Seawolves
I will admit first and foremost that I fully expect my client to be called up to the National Simulation Football League immediately after signing, and that by extension he will not be playing for this team next year. That said I wholeheartedly believe that Norfolk can win it all as long as their leadership remains the same or even just similar. The reason being was that they kept me confident that the team could make a push to win it all from the first week up until we were eliminated by Myrtle Beach. They made me confident that we could win any given match up and I expect that confidence to carry them through to the Ultimini.
Juni was one of the first people associated with Norfolk that I met in the league and is as lovely a person as any I have met in this league. They do not work on the strategy side as much from my understanding, however they were a consistently pleasant and positive presence in the locker room even when times were tough. There were at least two stretches of losses that were hard on morale for the team, but Juni never seemed to waver. Always a top tier teammate and willing to own up to mistakes when things went wrong.
Scorp is one of the best leaders I have ever worked for in my long life. Always giving credit to wins to the players and always taking the blame for the losses. Even if none of the players would blame him for it as in several of the instances where they admitted it was just loose play that led to one too many penalties. The big boss would never hear it and always praised the players for the efforts they put in on the field. Their strategies were what set the team up to set the record for most wins in a season in franchise history.
This is a playoff team that could get some stellar send downs next season, but honestly even if most of the talent moves on I still have faith they can make it. If either of the general managers stick around for the next season I will say that I am superbly confident that the team can make a run. Whether they do or not I thank them for giving me that kind of confidence in this team that I have grown to love so much over the course of the season.
12) Pay It Forward: PigSnout
I admit I do not believe that I have had a single interaction with PigSnout in my almost two months in the league. Do not think I have ever seen a single word said by them in that time either if I am honest, although to be fair that also means I have never seen an unkind word from them as well. You may wonder then why it is that I look up to them and to fill out two hundred words about that I am going to explain with as much absurd data as I can into why I have them as one of my goals in this league. Forgive me for the oddity of the following explanation.
I became a grader on March 6th and have since graded 271 pieces of media, and after a couple of conversations it made me wonder what the record number was for most pieces graded to see where I stood next to my fellow grader. The best I could do was the number of appearances on the media log though. Which because of split payments there are times where a grader will appear more times than the number of actual media they have graded and so numbers are skewed a bit by that. However since work must be done to split the payment I do consider that worthwhile.
According to the data I collected there have been 19 graders since the current media log was made. Four of them did not make it to twenty pieces of media graded. Eight did not hit the triple digit mark, although two of the graders in that class have only just started and have not had the opportunities because of my overzealous nature. Only six have graded over two hundred pieces of media. Of those six just three have broken the three hundred mark.
BaconBrother appears as grader 308 times on the media log, Bovovovo appears as a grader 398 times on the media log, and PigSnout has appeared more than either of them. All the respect in the world to the three of them as I know it has been a lot of work just getting close to those numbers. What makes me put PigSnout at the top of this though is because they appear as a grader on the media log a whopping 1189 times! That is more than the next three graders combined!
That alone would be enough for me to comfortably say that I look up to them, however I want to call back to that first paragraph where I said I had not seen a single word said by them. The idea of just showing up and being the best at something without ever really saying anything is immensely impressive to me. In fact I looked into how PigSnout has done this and just discovered that they are also an updater! One of the unsung heroes of the league! So I do not know what kind of superhuman PigSnout is if I am honest, however I do know that they seem like the kind of superhuman that I aspire to be in life.
19) Team Culture: Norfolk Seawolves
Well I praised Scorp and Juni for giving me confidence that the team was in every game above, but I will say that their overall mentality as general managers did wonders to cultivate a locker room where I feel warmly welcomed. Even when I just joined in as a prospect a full week and a half before it was announced that I would be a part of the team I felt more comfortable there then I did in any of the other rooms I had been in since joining the NSFL. Admittedly a large part of that was also the wonderful alumni of Norfolk who have also been kind. Even the one who I accidentally misidentified on meeting and who I got off on the wrong foot with has grown to be a pleasant presence in my opinion.
Actually I just spent about fifteen minutes going back and reading the chat logs from when I was a prospect to get some concrete data there. Genuinely Juni was a wonderful host overall, but especially kind to me given our similarities. Then when alumni started talking more in the locker room it quickly became my favorite place to chat of all the discords. I just appreciate all the help that they have provided me and all of the lovely conversations that we have had so much.
Explaining the why behind it though is a more difficult thing for me if I am honest. I have written hundreds of thousands of words in my life, but the words to describe the positivity of that place elude me in even my best moments. When things are good the ecstasy of the room is electrifying and the energy is palpable. However even when things are bad the room is in good spirits and everyone shows up for one another. The kind of place that will help pick you up when you are down, or lift you higher when you are already up. They have also been kind enough to put up with all of my eccentricities and even they even appear enjoy my sloth reactions.
What really makes the locker room for me at the end of the day is it is a united community, but a warmly welcoming community. There are times where one person or another will be overly favored, however I have seen everyone who has been in the locker room get a positive reception. The team works as a whole and everyone has been willing to help out to the best of their abilities. Even us rookies have done our best to answer questions or connect teammates with the people who can answer the question. That earnest support of one another is something I would not trade for anything. Will be sad when Magnus eventually gets called up, but we will both be proud Seawolves even after the end.
Johnny Slothface the second coming of Scott Sterling with his dominating defensive demonstration in this game. Especially as according to reports we have received he passed away more than a fortnight ago in an abominable accident with the New Orleans Second Line Mascot. Coming back from the dead just to help bring his team to the Ultimus is the ultimate definition of a Most Valuable Player in my not at all humble opinion.
Slothface was admittedly quiet as expected of a corpse in the first quarter, but truly kicked it into gear in the second quarter. He broke up a pass attempt from Armstrong to Blaze with just about seven minutes left in the second quarter that led to the Otters having to punt by completing a three and out. That was just the start of his dominance though as the very next offensive play by the Otters was a pass attempt from Armstrong to Sarvepally that was broken up by Slothface who came in like an archangel. It was such a decisive series of events that the ball just fell incomplete the next two plays which makes me quite confident in saying that Johnny Slothface caused two three and outs in the second quarter practically single handed.
No one can do it alone though and so even though Slothface had another pass breakup in the opening drive of the third the Otters were finally able to find the end zone. The Otters' second drive though was held to a long run of just three yards thanks to a timely tackle by Slothface. That tackle forced the Otters to settle for a long field goal that was no good. Thanks to another textbook tackle from Slothface the Otters were held to just seven rushing yards to Slothface's side of the field in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter though is where Slothface showed his intensity even from beyond the grave. Five tackles that held the Otters to just 17 yards rushing to his side over the entirety of the fourth quarter. Combined with a sack on third down that made the Otters converting a touchdown almost impossible and won NOLA the game. Well it would have if not for the referees calling a phantom facemask penalty on Tu'inukuafe that gave the Otters a first and goal situation. Still Slothface did everything you could ask for of a player in putting his team in position to win, and I believe it was fear of his undead fury that led to the steep drop off in performance for the Otters' offense in overtime that allowed New Orleans to emerge victorious.
6) Next Year: Norfolk Seawolves
I will admit first and foremost that I fully expect my client to be called up to the National Simulation Football League immediately after signing, and that by extension he will not be playing for this team next year. That said I wholeheartedly believe that Norfolk can win it all as long as their leadership remains the same or even just similar. The reason being was that they kept me confident that the team could make a push to win it all from the first week up until we were eliminated by Myrtle Beach. They made me confident that we could win any given match up and I expect that confidence to carry them through to the Ultimini.
Juni was one of the first people associated with Norfolk that I met in the league and is as lovely a person as any I have met in this league. They do not work on the strategy side as much from my understanding, however they were a consistently pleasant and positive presence in the locker room even when times were tough. There were at least two stretches of losses that were hard on morale for the team, but Juni never seemed to waver. Always a top tier teammate and willing to own up to mistakes when things went wrong.
Scorp is one of the best leaders I have ever worked for in my long life. Always giving credit to wins to the players and always taking the blame for the losses. Even if none of the players would blame him for it as in several of the instances where they admitted it was just loose play that led to one too many penalties. The big boss would never hear it and always praised the players for the efforts they put in on the field. Their strategies were what set the team up to set the record for most wins in a season in franchise history.
This is a playoff team that could get some stellar send downs next season, but honestly even if most of the talent moves on I still have faith they can make it. If either of the general managers stick around for the next season I will say that I am superbly confident that the team can make a run. Whether they do or not I thank them for giving me that kind of confidence in this team that I have grown to love so much over the course of the season.
12) Pay It Forward: PigSnout
I admit I do not believe that I have had a single interaction with PigSnout in my almost two months in the league. Do not think I have ever seen a single word said by them in that time either if I am honest, although to be fair that also means I have never seen an unkind word from them as well. You may wonder then why it is that I look up to them and to fill out two hundred words about that I am going to explain with as much absurd data as I can into why I have them as one of my goals in this league. Forgive me for the oddity of the following explanation.
I became a grader on March 6th and have since graded 271 pieces of media, and after a couple of conversations it made me wonder what the record number was for most pieces graded to see where I stood next to my fellow grader. The best I could do was the number of appearances on the media log though. Which because of split payments there are times where a grader will appear more times than the number of actual media they have graded and so numbers are skewed a bit by that. However since work must be done to split the payment I do consider that worthwhile.
According to the data I collected there have been 19 graders since the current media log was made. Four of them did not make it to twenty pieces of media graded. Eight did not hit the triple digit mark, although two of the graders in that class have only just started and have not had the opportunities because of my overzealous nature. Only six have graded over two hundred pieces of media. Of those six just three have broken the three hundred mark.
BaconBrother appears as grader 308 times on the media log, Bovovovo appears as a grader 398 times on the media log, and PigSnout has appeared more than either of them. All the respect in the world to the three of them as I know it has been a lot of work just getting close to those numbers. What makes me put PigSnout at the top of this though is because they appear as a grader on the media log a whopping 1189 times! That is more than the next three graders combined!
That alone would be enough for me to comfortably say that I look up to them, however I want to call back to that first paragraph where I said I had not seen a single word said by them. The idea of just showing up and being the best at something without ever really saying anything is immensely impressive to me. In fact I looked into how PigSnout has done this and just discovered that they are also an updater! One of the unsung heroes of the league! So I do not know what kind of superhuman PigSnout is if I am honest, however I do know that they seem like the kind of superhuman that I aspire to be in life.
19) Team Culture: Norfolk Seawolves
Well I praised Scorp and Juni for giving me confidence that the team was in every game above, but I will say that their overall mentality as general managers did wonders to cultivate a locker room where I feel warmly welcomed. Even when I just joined in as a prospect a full week and a half before it was announced that I would be a part of the team I felt more comfortable there then I did in any of the other rooms I had been in since joining the NSFL. Admittedly a large part of that was also the wonderful alumni of Norfolk who have also been kind. Even the one who I accidentally misidentified on meeting and who I got off on the wrong foot with has grown to be a pleasant presence in my opinion.
Actually I just spent about fifteen minutes going back and reading the chat logs from when I was a prospect to get some concrete data there. Genuinely Juni was a wonderful host overall, but especially kind to me given our similarities. Then when alumni started talking more in the locker room it quickly became my favorite place to chat of all the discords. I just appreciate all the help that they have provided me and all of the lovely conversations that we have had so much.
Explaining the why behind it though is a more difficult thing for me if I am honest. I have written hundreds of thousands of words in my life, but the words to describe the positivity of that place elude me in even my best moments. When things are good the ecstasy of the room is electrifying and the energy is palpable. However even when things are bad the room is in good spirits and everyone shows up for one another. The kind of place that will help pick you up when you are down, or lift you higher when you are already up. They have also been kind enough to put up with all of my eccentricities and even they even appear enjoy my sloth reactions.
What really makes the locker room for me at the end of the day is it is a united community, but a warmly welcoming community. There are times where one person or another will be overly favored, however I have seen everyone who has been in the locker room get a positive reception. The team works as a whole and everyone has been willing to help out to the best of their abilities. Even us rookies have done our best to answer questions or connect teammates with the people who can answer the question. That earnest support of one another is something I would not trade for anything. Will be sad when Magnus eventually gets called up, but we will both be proud Seawolves even after the end.
