(S23) - Ultimus Week

[Thor]

7) Awards season is a big part of the offseason festivities. Take the stand, in 400 words or more, for one or more players that are not your own, and argue why they should receive awards glory. They can be your teammates or anyone in the league. How did their stats and on the field contribution contribute to their case this year?

While there are many awards in major contention coming into the end of any season, there is at least one that is almost a sure thing in my eyes, and I believe he deserves one more that will probably go to someone else as well. That player is Bruce Buckley, and the two awards that I believe he should receive are Offensive Lineman of the Year, and Offensive Performance of the Year.

Buckley should be nominated for his season performance, which puts him second of all offensive lineman in pancakes, trailing behind Forty-Two by only 3 pancakes - while also not having allowed a single sack over the entire (newly extended) 16 game season. Rubbe was the closest lineman in the pancake count to Buckley that also didn't allow a sack, but he had 9 less pancakes on his shortstack. While nothing is guaranteed in this league, Buckley has put in the work and deserves the recognition for this award for S23.

On the other hand as I mentioned earlier in the piece, the award for Offensive Performance of the Year is much more contentious and there are many other players who could be in the discussion for receiving recognition on this one, while other statlines may show several different stats, touchdowns or yards, interceptions or sacks - if Buckley is to be nominated, his statline would simply show two things:

13 Pancakes
0 Sacks

A feat of such dramatic proportions is not only uncomparable to any other offensive lineman's single game performance this season, it shouldn't even be brought up against other positions performances. Oh, wow - your QB threw a ball a few hundred yards, or your linebacker hit a defenseless quarterback a few times in a game, that's just great and congratulations to them. Did they throw 13 grown ass humans (who went on to win the ultimus) in their physical prime to the ground? In that game the Outlaws found themself with a 46 - 13 win over Yellowknife, off the back of 107 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. Jay Cue had a clean jersey at the end of the game not being sacked a single time by a ferocious Wraiths defense and threw for 296 yards and a touchdown.

If that kind of a contribution to a win over an otherwise dominant team can't be considered in the mix for this award, how can we call ourselves advocates of fair rubs?

Bruce Buckley for Offensive Lineman of the Year, and Offensive Performance of the Year.

13) Create an argument for your own player, or for someone else on your team, as to why they should be nominated for awards. Lay out their stats or compare them to other contenders. Make a convincing case.

I believe that Heath Evans should be nominated for an award this season and it's a simple belief, because while he doesn't have a chance of actually walking away with the award over the likes of McCormick - the ballot has to have names on it, so why not Heath's?

This season Evans was on the receiving end of many lasers off the arm of Jay Cue and he managed to bring in an astounding 70 catches, placing him first amongst all Tight Ends eligible for the award. Unfortunately, this is the only category he leads in a yardage total of 538 (3rd for TE's) gives him a dismal average of 7.7 (9th for TE's). There is no relief to be found in the touchdown category as Evans brought in only one over the season.(T-7th for TE's)

It is important to also mention that the statistic often disregarded by award reps and voters alike is the offensive line statistics of a Tight End - as pass catching is only half of their function. This is a category where Evans performs decently, but did not meet expectations set by the S22 season as he racked up 31 pancakes (T-3rd for TE's) and very impressively did not allow a sack.

However the thing to remember is this, he is a contender, he deserves to receive a nomination for the second season in a row.

22) Imagine that the league’s Pro Bowl included a skills competition similar to the NFL. What sorts of  games could you see being implemented? Which players do you think would perform the best in ultimate frisbee, dodgeball, or other games? Which conference would come out on top?

This is tricky and pretty hard to consider in the bigger picture - many of the players in the league have unfair advantages or disadvantages, like having lazer eyes, or being a literal panda/hexagon. I don't think it would really be fair to the competition to hold some competitions, though I'd be very interested to see a panda playing golf.

That said, if we were to put that in I've always though having a players e-sport tournament would be a cool twist on a typical pro sports skills competition. You could have some of the players very out of their element, but there's potential to see some real talent in there too given how much time some athletes dedicate to video games. It could be run on a few different games (ie. a racing/sports sim, fps, and a moba) to make sure most competitive gaming genres are covered.

This would also help the ISFL to tap into the younger market as the competition could easily partner with a streaming service like Twitch to allow viewers to watch the games from any player's perspective. It would also be great to see charity fundraising within this as well to maximise on good deeds. I would say without a doubt there's no chance I'd walk away with the win on one of those competitions.