7. Does it count if I've been drafted to a team but have not been called up? Because I REALLY want to talk about the Arizona Outlaws. Looking back on their season, it's almost impressive how poorly they performed in the first half to still make the playoffs. Losing two games by 8 points to NOLA and the Sabercats wasn't exactly ideal, but it was away, and the sim massively favors home field. Cracks really started to show, however, in the 3rd game, where they WON. But they were at HOME, facing the Silverbacks, and were down until pretty late in the 4th. The 4th game, at home playing the Orange County Otters, should have been the game that broke the Outlaws. They held OCO to 10 first downs, and almost doubled them in yards gained. They scored 30 points. The problem? Cue is the greatest worst quarterback of all time. He basically handed OCO the victory with 3 INTs, all of which led to touchdowns almost immediately, and got sacked for a safety to boot. He also almost certainly handed Prince Vegeta Defensive Performance of the year. Now, with a 1-3 record, the Outlaws were massively behind the 8 ball. But then, they started winning. Beating a resurgent Hahalua at their stadium turned out to be very important in the long run, and a dominant home win against a good Butchers side and a...less dominant win against a poor Copperheads side led to some great opportunities...and then they went 1-3 over their next 4 games, including a home loss to the surging Sailfish and giving the Silverbacks their first win of the season. At 5-6 with 5 games left to play, their only saving grace was that 3 of their games were at home. Unfortunately, they also had to go to Orange County.
And yet they won. They beat OCO away, after giving away a victory at home. They beat the Sabercats at home, to give them a shot at home field advantage in the wild card if they made it, and then beat Honolulu at home to cement their spot in the playoffs (after OCO couldn't beat them at home) and Cue's first playoff game ever. Finishing 4-1 (with a win against NOLA and a loss against Austin being the other two games) would be enough to vault them up over even the Sabercats as they went down in the last game of the season to the Silverbacks, and the Hahalua's away-heavy end of the season sunk them as they lost 3 of their last 4. Arizona now has a place in the postseason for the first time in a while, with a home game against last year's surprise champions for the right to head to Orange County again. And Arizona has proven they can walk in and beat Orange County.
(472 words)
15. And here's my last season where I'm eligible for the newbie task. I've had ups and downs, with a terrible performance simwise my first year, which I partly want to blame on bad advice from my GM but can't really do when I don't have any idea what I'm doing myself. I probably won't win the Ultimini, which is a shame because I'm pretty sure in a nonexpansion season Portland's amazing S25 draft class would have had us in a great place to win the title this season. I'm not going to win any awards either, this season or last, although I should be on the ballot for Returner and might get on the ballot for RB, unless I go off big with the returns tonight. If I get a touchdown on a return, I think I should be the favorite assuming Callous doesn't also get a touchdown. Or if we somehow make the playoffs and I do amazingly in them, which is a very big long shot unless London feels like going easy on us. I feel like I've made some good acquaintances, and a few friendly rivalries with people like Plat and Felix, as well as one slightly less friendly rivalry with Payton, which I will continue to use as article fodder whenever my bank account starts to dip a tiny bit lower. I hope that when I am probably called up to the ISFL next season, I can start on a good foot and make a name for myself. That being said, it hasn't always been fun and games. My first season had a ton of bad performances which put a damper on my excitement, and draft day was a mix of aggravating and saddening as I saw round after round go by without getting called up; I thought I could improve on my 3rd round draft spot in my ISFL draft, and I wasn't exactly happy to instead fall down to the fifth round. That being said, I've enjoyed the light smack talk I've dished out while watching games and I've also enjoyed all the friends in Portland's locker room. I'll miss Southpaw once I've been called up, and I've been missing Arkz this season. Thankfully Zeagle is going with me to AZ, at least. All in all, it's been a mixed bag, and I hope it will improve as I get better as a player, and if my team's sim luck can improve from ABSO-FRIGGIN-LUTELY ABYSMAL to at least average.
(415 words)
And yet they won. They beat OCO away, after giving away a victory at home. They beat the Sabercats at home, to give them a shot at home field advantage in the wild card if they made it, and then beat Honolulu at home to cement their spot in the playoffs (after OCO couldn't beat them at home) and Cue's first playoff game ever. Finishing 4-1 (with a win against NOLA and a loss against Austin being the other two games) would be enough to vault them up over even the Sabercats as they went down in the last game of the season to the Silverbacks, and the Hahalua's away-heavy end of the season sunk them as they lost 3 of their last 4. Arizona now has a place in the postseason for the first time in a while, with a home game against last year's surprise champions for the right to head to Orange County again. And Arizona has proven they can walk in and beat Orange County.
(472 words)
15. And here's my last season where I'm eligible for the newbie task. I've had ups and downs, with a terrible performance simwise my first year, which I partly want to blame on bad advice from my GM but can't really do when I don't have any idea what I'm doing myself. I probably won't win the Ultimini, which is a shame because I'm pretty sure in a nonexpansion season Portland's amazing S25 draft class would have had us in a great place to win the title this season. I'm not going to win any awards either, this season or last, although I should be on the ballot for Returner and might get on the ballot for RB, unless I go off big with the returns tonight. If I get a touchdown on a return, I think I should be the favorite assuming Callous doesn't also get a touchdown. Or if we somehow make the playoffs and I do amazingly in them, which is a very big long shot unless London feels like going easy on us. I feel like I've made some good acquaintances, and a few friendly rivalries with people like Plat and Felix, as well as one slightly less friendly rivalry with Payton, which I will continue to use as article fodder whenever my bank account starts to dip a tiny bit lower. I hope that when I am probably called up to the ISFL next season, I can start on a good foot and make a name for myself. That being said, it hasn't always been fun and games. My first season had a ton of bad performances which put a damper on my excitement, and draft day was a mix of aggravating and saddening as I saw round after round go by without getting called up; I thought I could improve on my 3rd round draft spot in my ISFL draft, and I wasn't exactly happy to instead fall down to the fifth round. That being said, I've enjoyed the light smack talk I've dished out while watching games and I've also enjoyed all the friends in Portland's locker room. I'll miss Southpaw once I've been called up, and I've been missing Arkz this season. Thankfully Zeagle is going with me to AZ, at least. All in all, it's been a mixed bag, and I hope it will improve as I get better as a player, and if my team's sim luck can improve from ABSO-FRIGGIN-LUTELY ABYSMAL to at least average.
(415 words)
