6. Next Year
Thank god almighty I didn’t finally have to write about this category for once!
9. Dynasty
I wrote last season that New Orleans was starting off a dynasty and I feel like we have done just that. Making a conference championship for the third season in a row was a great way to help cement that. Unlike the past two seasons where that was as far as we made it, this season we were able to win it all. A weight feels lifted off our shoulders. While it is possible that this could cause us to let us slip up in the future, we have a lot of hard-working people on the team who won’t let that happen. There are a couple of obvious things that will need to be covered to help keep the team competitive for next season. Losing Slothface, Ironside and Faux to retirement will hurt our defense big time. We do have Ugarth and Dorfus Jr. coming up at some point to help cover that need though. Replacing Ironside and Faux will be more difficult. We don’t have any DTs ready to get called up, so addressing that need will probably have to come from in the next couple of drafts. The other main loss of players steams from the expansion draft. Those players will also need to be covered via the draft. At least most teams were also affected by expansion, so that should hopefully be negligible. The strengths of this steam are still in our core. We have the best running game in the league, the best offensive line, a top tight end and some elite secondary still.
11. Rivalry
This one is a bit of a split decision. I think over a long period of time, the Second Line would consider the Orange County Otters to be our rival. I’m sure a lot of teams feel that way, though. Highly successful teams wind up with a target on their backs. Everyone wants to get a piece of them and end their reign of success. I personally would consider the Austin Copperheads to be a more exciting and recent rivalry, though. For me personally, two of my closer DSFL teammates wound up there so there is always added incentive to show up in those games. As a whole team, they were able to get the better of us in the regular to take the conference and then also beat us in the conference championship. They then went on to win the Ultimus. This past season, we were able to strike back. We beat them in the season opener and then later game in the season. We then had a big rematch in the playoffs, this time in the wild card game. It was a rather tight game with each offense putting up a ton of yards, but the defenses able to slow them down in the red zone.
18. Award Season
When looking at the top performance index, the sim highly favors defensive performances that have a safety. It is a pretty rare occasion and something that not a lot of players will achieve in a season or even career. While Quinn Hughes had a monster week 1 performance, I think the defensive performance of the year belongs to Valdyr’s week 7 performance. He was able to pull off something significantly rarer. Valdyr had a 2 interception, 2 touchdown game from the safety position. He single-handedly helped us win on the road against the team that ended up winning the Ultimini. For reference, only three DSFL players have ever had 2 pick-sixes in one game. The most recent one happened in season 14, so it has not been done for 7 seasons. It has also only ever happened two times in the NSFL, with the last one in season 12. That makes Valdyr only the 6th player ever to do such a feat. If that isn’t a performance of the year, I’m not sure what is. To put this into perspective compared to getting a safety, there were at least 5 of those this season alone. It’s rare, but significantly less rare than a 2 pick-six game.
20. Nostalgia
I hate splitting half my answers by giving two, but I have two distinct memories that hands down been the most important moments in this league for me. The slightly more obvious one just happened last week and that was winning the Ultimus with New Orleans. Wining the Ultimus is much more than just a feeling of accomplishment in that moment. It encapsulates everything you have done to get there. For me, it started when I was getting scouted for the NSFL draft. There were a couple teams that stood out to me, but NOLA was where I wanted to go most. Hearing my name called at 8OA was the true beginning. I made it onto the team I wanted most and there are fewer highs than that. I spent the next season down in the DSFL improving myself and making sure I would be able to contribute to the best of my ability for my team the next season. NOLA lost in the conference championship that year. Fast forward a year later and I get the call up. We make the playoffs but lose once again in the conference championship. Fast forward one more year and there is an almost all-or-nothing feel. We knew we would be losing quite a few teammates who were either retiring or what seemed like an inevitable expansion draft. To go through most of the season undefeated and have things unravel the last 4 weeks was a gut-punching wake up call. We make the playoffs and win the wild card round, but we are at the dreaded conference championship. I think most outside of NOLA expected the Otters to hand us our third consecutive ASFC championship loss. Instead, we finally overcame what had been a huge roadblock. Just playing in a championship is an honor, but still there was a feeling of hope that this would be our year. Sure enough, that feeling proved correct. We brought home the Ultimus and were able to call ourselves champions. Even though our team will look quite different next season, I will never forget everyone on that season 21 team.
My other favorite memory in the league came towards the end of my second season. On Christmas eve, I got invited into the NOLA war room. I made the war room for a team I hadn’t even played a down with. I’m sure it has happened before, but I felt extremely honored to be given such an opportunity. Then just a short while later on the same day, I was named a team captain for Tijuana. This was also a huge honor for me as I had really embraced trying to be a leader for the team in our playoff push. Being a captain in Tijuana ultimately led me to where I am today as a coGM. These two memories have meant the most to me in my time here and can’t wait to have other positive memories like this.
Thank god almighty I didn’t finally have to write about this category for once!
9. Dynasty
I wrote last season that New Orleans was starting off a dynasty and I feel like we have done just that. Making a conference championship for the third season in a row was a great way to help cement that. Unlike the past two seasons where that was as far as we made it, this season we were able to win it all. A weight feels lifted off our shoulders. While it is possible that this could cause us to let us slip up in the future, we have a lot of hard-working people on the team who won’t let that happen. There are a couple of obvious things that will need to be covered to help keep the team competitive for next season. Losing Slothface, Ironside and Faux to retirement will hurt our defense big time. We do have Ugarth and Dorfus Jr. coming up at some point to help cover that need though. Replacing Ironside and Faux will be more difficult. We don’t have any DTs ready to get called up, so addressing that need will probably have to come from in the next couple of drafts. The other main loss of players steams from the expansion draft. Those players will also need to be covered via the draft. At least most teams were also affected by expansion, so that should hopefully be negligible. The strengths of this steam are still in our core. We have the best running game in the league, the best offensive line, a top tight end and some elite secondary still.
11. Rivalry
This one is a bit of a split decision. I think over a long period of time, the Second Line would consider the Orange County Otters to be our rival. I’m sure a lot of teams feel that way, though. Highly successful teams wind up with a target on their backs. Everyone wants to get a piece of them and end their reign of success. I personally would consider the Austin Copperheads to be a more exciting and recent rivalry, though. For me personally, two of my closer DSFL teammates wound up there so there is always added incentive to show up in those games. As a whole team, they were able to get the better of us in the regular to take the conference and then also beat us in the conference championship. They then went on to win the Ultimus. This past season, we were able to strike back. We beat them in the season opener and then later game in the season. We then had a big rematch in the playoffs, this time in the wild card game. It was a rather tight game with each offense putting up a ton of yards, but the defenses able to slow them down in the red zone.
18. Award Season
When looking at the top performance index, the sim highly favors defensive performances that have a safety. It is a pretty rare occasion and something that not a lot of players will achieve in a season or even career. While Quinn Hughes had a monster week 1 performance, I think the defensive performance of the year belongs to Valdyr’s week 7 performance. He was able to pull off something significantly rarer. Valdyr had a 2 interception, 2 touchdown game from the safety position. He single-handedly helped us win on the road against the team that ended up winning the Ultimini. For reference, only three DSFL players have ever had 2 pick-sixes in one game. The most recent one happened in season 14, so it has not been done for 7 seasons. It has also only ever happened two times in the NSFL, with the last one in season 12. That makes Valdyr only the 6th player ever to do such a feat. If that isn’t a performance of the year, I’m not sure what is. To put this into perspective compared to getting a safety, there were at least 5 of those this season alone. It’s rare, but significantly less rare than a 2 pick-six game.
20. Nostalgia
I hate splitting half my answers by giving two, but I have two distinct memories that hands down been the most important moments in this league for me. The slightly more obvious one just happened last week and that was winning the Ultimus with New Orleans. Wining the Ultimus is much more than just a feeling of accomplishment in that moment. It encapsulates everything you have done to get there. For me, it started when I was getting scouted for the NSFL draft. There were a couple teams that stood out to me, but NOLA was where I wanted to go most. Hearing my name called at 8OA was the true beginning. I made it onto the team I wanted most and there are fewer highs than that. I spent the next season down in the DSFL improving myself and making sure I would be able to contribute to the best of my ability for my team the next season. NOLA lost in the conference championship that year. Fast forward a year later and I get the call up. We make the playoffs but lose once again in the conference championship. Fast forward one more year and there is an almost all-or-nothing feel. We knew we would be losing quite a few teammates who were either retiring or what seemed like an inevitable expansion draft. To go through most of the season undefeated and have things unravel the last 4 weeks was a gut-punching wake up call. We make the playoffs and win the wild card round, but we are at the dreaded conference championship. I think most outside of NOLA expected the Otters to hand us our third consecutive ASFC championship loss. Instead, we finally overcame what had been a huge roadblock. Just playing in a championship is an honor, but still there was a feeling of hope that this would be our year. Sure enough, that feeling proved correct. We brought home the Ultimus and were able to call ourselves champions. Even though our team will look quite different next season, I will never forget everyone on that season 21 team.
My other favorite memory in the league came towards the end of my second season. On Christmas eve, I got invited into the NOLA war room. I made the war room for a team I hadn’t even played a down with. I’m sure it has happened before, but I felt extremely honored to be given such an opportunity. Then just a short while later on the same day, I was named a team captain for Tijuana. This was also a huge honor for me as I had really embraced trying to be a leader for the team in our playoff push. Being a captain in Tijuana ultimately led me to where I am today as a coGM. These two memories have meant the most to me in my time here and can’t wait to have other positive memories like this.
![[Image: rqph9tT.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/rqph9tT.jpg)
![[Image: 6HEXEeb.png]](https://i.imgur.com/6HEXEeb.png)
