12)
New York Silverbacks. Berlin Fire Salamanders. Two creative names, one creative location. This might have been my first season in the league, but one of my biggest takeaways is how controversial the expansion process was. First off, I am not entirely convinced that any expansion was necessary. While there is a bit of a logjam at some of the positions with one spot per team, like QB or K/P, I do not believe that there is a player base big enough to fully support two more teams. Most ISFL teams have 15-20 Active players on them, so there still were plenty of “open” positional spaces on each team. If anything, there should be a DSFL expansion or stricter inactive player rules, to give rookies a bigger chance at playing time and to try and capture their interest with the league.
I just want to put it out there: I have some problems with the concept of holding a logo contest in the league to determine an expansion team’s logo. This undermines the effort that every other expansion bid took to create, many of which had users commission a logo for their hypothetical team, using their own IRL money. Allowing this once leads to a slippery slope where this idea could become commonplace in future expansion bids, decreasing the overall quality of the bids.
As for the impact of the new teams on the ISFL landscape, there will have to be many changes. 14 total teams mean that the ISFL schedule is going to continue to get longer than the DSFL schedule, further increasing the “nothing” time that DSFL players have while the ISFL season is happening and the DSFL season is not. For a league that is trying to grow it’s player base, potentially having an even longer DSFL offseason could cause more players to go inactive in the time period, whereas if the DSFL had started sooner, they would’ve gotten drawn into the happenings around the league.
For playoffs, I could see the expansion of the wildcard game, having the top five teams in each conference make the playoffs, with 4 vs 5 a play-in game, and then 1 vs 4/5 and 2 vs 3 as the “first” round of playoff games. There could also be a 4-team tournament with the teams that didn’t make the playoffs for the #1 overall pick, but that could further punish the worst teams.
Overall, I am not sold on the timing and location of the expansion teams, but if the league continues to grow, they could be a positive impact on the league for many seasons to come.
436 Words
13)
My experience in the league has been awesome! I joined last season just looking to kill some time and maybe meet some people to talk sports with, but my expectations have been blown out of the water in every way. The people who have had the most impact on my time here are RDBSouthPaw, Arkz, and qWest. South scouted me for Kansas City and somehow had me hoping to be drafted there. That really shows how great of a scout he is. Alas I ended up a snek in Portland, but then South was traded to Portland! Portland seems way cooler than Kansas City, so it’s a win-win for both of us. South was the person who explained the league to me and motivated me to be a max earner; without him, I probably would’ve gone inactive before the draft. Now he’s going to be the GM of Portland, and as a war room member, I am excited to be working with him in the future.
qWest has had the next biggest impact on my time in the league, as he is the GM who drafted me. I had barely been scouted by Portland, so I was not expecting to get drafted there at all. After I fell in the draft, all the way to the fifth round, 41st overall, he took a flyer on me and I will forever be grateful for that, because I love being in Portland. Later on, he posted a slightly ominously worded message in our locker room about the trade deadline coming up and seeing if anyone wanted to join the war room. I interpreted this message as saying he was looking to trade people, so I immediately sent him a PM and joined the war room so I would not be traded. I was then introduced to the torture that is sim testing, which is simultaneously my favorite and least favorite part of the league. Without qWest and my misunderstanding of his post, I would have just been another high earned that rarely posted in the locker room.
My final positive influence is Arkz, another war room member in Portland. I thought he was a recreate for a while because he knew the league so well. I consider myself to be in the upper echelon of max earners, and he has 10+ more TPE than me. I owe him a great deal of TPE because I often talk predictions with him, and he’s almost always right.
There are plenty other great individuals who have made the league fun, but these guys are the first three that popped into my mind, and I am extremely thankful that I ended up getting to know them.
450 Words
New York Silverbacks. Berlin Fire Salamanders. Two creative names, one creative location. This might have been my first season in the league, but one of my biggest takeaways is how controversial the expansion process was. First off, I am not entirely convinced that any expansion was necessary. While there is a bit of a logjam at some of the positions with one spot per team, like QB or K/P, I do not believe that there is a player base big enough to fully support two more teams. Most ISFL teams have 15-20 Active players on them, so there still were plenty of “open” positional spaces on each team. If anything, there should be a DSFL expansion or stricter inactive player rules, to give rookies a bigger chance at playing time and to try and capture their interest with the league.
I just want to put it out there: I have some problems with the concept of holding a logo contest in the league to determine an expansion team’s logo. This undermines the effort that every other expansion bid took to create, many of which had users commission a logo for their hypothetical team, using their own IRL money. Allowing this once leads to a slippery slope where this idea could become commonplace in future expansion bids, decreasing the overall quality of the bids.
As for the impact of the new teams on the ISFL landscape, there will have to be many changes. 14 total teams mean that the ISFL schedule is going to continue to get longer than the DSFL schedule, further increasing the “nothing” time that DSFL players have while the ISFL season is happening and the DSFL season is not. For a league that is trying to grow it’s player base, potentially having an even longer DSFL offseason could cause more players to go inactive in the time period, whereas if the DSFL had started sooner, they would’ve gotten drawn into the happenings around the league.
For playoffs, I could see the expansion of the wildcard game, having the top five teams in each conference make the playoffs, with 4 vs 5 a play-in game, and then 1 vs 4/5 and 2 vs 3 as the “first” round of playoff games. There could also be a 4-team tournament with the teams that didn’t make the playoffs for the #1 overall pick, but that could further punish the worst teams.
Overall, I am not sold on the timing and location of the expansion teams, but if the league continues to grow, they could be a positive impact on the league for many seasons to come.
436 Words
13)
My experience in the league has been awesome! I joined last season just looking to kill some time and maybe meet some people to talk sports with, but my expectations have been blown out of the water in every way. The people who have had the most impact on my time here are RDBSouthPaw, Arkz, and qWest. South scouted me for Kansas City and somehow had me hoping to be drafted there. That really shows how great of a scout he is. Alas I ended up a snek in Portland, but then South was traded to Portland! Portland seems way cooler than Kansas City, so it’s a win-win for both of us. South was the person who explained the league to me and motivated me to be a max earner; without him, I probably would’ve gone inactive before the draft. Now he’s going to be the GM of Portland, and as a war room member, I am excited to be working with him in the future.
qWest has had the next biggest impact on my time in the league, as he is the GM who drafted me. I had barely been scouted by Portland, so I was not expecting to get drafted there at all. After I fell in the draft, all the way to the fifth round, 41st overall, he took a flyer on me and I will forever be grateful for that, because I love being in Portland. Later on, he posted a slightly ominously worded message in our locker room about the trade deadline coming up and seeing if anyone wanted to join the war room. I interpreted this message as saying he was looking to trade people, so I immediately sent him a PM and joined the war room so I would not be traded. I was then introduced to the torture that is sim testing, which is simultaneously my favorite and least favorite part of the league. Without qWest and my misunderstanding of his post, I would have just been another high earned that rarely posted in the locker room.
My final positive influence is Arkz, another war room member in Portland. I thought he was a recreate for a while because he knew the league so well. I consider myself to be in the upper echelon of max earners, and he has 10+ more TPE than me. I owe him a great deal of TPE because I often talk predictions with him, and he’s almost always right.
There are plenty other great individuals who have made the league fun, but these guys are the first three that popped into my mind, and I am extremely thankful that I ended up getting to know them.
450 Words
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