2) This week will see the S25 Ultimus and Ultimini races begin in earnest. In 800 words or more, recount any of the previous playoff cycles of either league. How did each team arrive at the playoffs? Were there any dark horse or Cinderella teams that went unexpectedly far, or any presumptive favorites that fell flat? How did the title game play out, and which players made their mark on the field? Tell the story of those playoffs as completely as you can. Do not simply recount your own experience in those playoffs or that of a singular team.
Listen I just first want to say how awesome it is that I can get longform Ultimus questions that are about league history. As one of the oldest members here who was heavily involved in the early seasons I have a ton of stories I love to share about the old days, and I've got a really great one here. Let me tell you about the most infamous play in Ultimus history, I'm talking about "The Garden Drop". But before I tell you about that play I have to tell you about that season. Picture it, Sicily....wait, nevermind.
Season 6! Yes it was season 6. The Orange County Otters had just won their second Ultimus. Arizona had been exposed for their multi scandal very recently. The New Orleans Secondline was in its infancy following the Mass Retirement of the Las Vegas Legion. San Jose was pretty good. Philadelphia was the season 2 expansion team that was taking the league by storm. Having made some great draft choices in recent rounds and done some clever position switching to get their star CB to move to QB (@to12413) the Liberty had a squad. They had traded for star inactive wide receiver Josh Garden. Great young players like Eli Kamaka were on their team along with some inactives that had low cap hits but very efficient builds like Perry Tucker. Oles threw for 5k yards that season, Boss threw for 5500 yards but lol Boss. Garden was third in receiving yards with over 1500 and 10 TDs. Philly's other legend Paul Dimirio was second as a tight end with 1597, what a beast. Philly ended up going 9-5, SJS and OCO were both 11-3. The Other playoff team Yellowknife went 7-7.
Get to the playoffs and the Liberty beat the Wraiths 31 - 21. This wasn't a huge surprise the Wraiths were good but still had some building to do. Meanwhile the Liberty were firing on all cylinders. The legend himself Josh Garden went for 113 yards. Oles and Akselsen didn't do fantastic for either one but in this Era of Nickel 75 defense the defenses were always pretty stifling so they did the best they could given the circumstances. Otters beat SJS in a very tight game 32-29. Boss had a rough game only going 20/50 and with a Passer Rating of 70. Yates did his typical Alvin Kamara thing and went for like 160 yards receiving on 6 catches cause the dude was a maniac that season. My own player Winchester got a sack and 3 PDs.
Then we get to the Ultimus. The game is close. OCO takes the early lead but Philly holds their own. It's a pretty low scoring event and by the end of the 1st half it's 13-10 OCO and there had been 3 FGs already. The third quarter saw no scoring at all, both teams had great defense, but Philly was in trouble because Boss was playing some good football and Yates and Westfield were on fire going for 15+ yards every target. Fourth Quarter the Otters get a TD to go up 20-10. Josh Garden runs back a kick 102 yards shortly after, Liberty down 3. with 7 minutes left in the game the Otters drive but stall and kick a FG, Liberty down 6. A couple more failed drives and punts by both teams and then Liberty gets the ball with 5 minutes left. They proceed to dink and dunk down the field. Then it happens. Fourth and Goal on the 1 yard line, 1:27 left in the game. This is for the win. Oles drops back, sees his man, unleashes a pass to Josh Garden in the endzone and.....Pass by Oles, T. to Garden, J. was dropped! Incomplete. Turnover on downs.
Josh Garden dropped the game winning touchdown pass in the endzone. OCO wins. Now I told you this story to tell you another story. I simmed that Ultimus game. The game I simmed was different. In fact it was a blowout win by OCO over Liberty. However at the time I didn't know how to access the Ultimus game if you had accidentally saved and closed. It wasn't a huge secret but I didn't know at the time. Instead I needed to go in and enter in people for the awards and then it would let me see the playoff results screen again so I could pull up the game and record or stream it. But I didn't know this so I had to sim again (I thought). This famous game, was technically a re-sim, although only me and @iamslm22 had ever seen the first one. If I had known what I was doing at the time one of the craziest and most exciting (and most heart breaking for some) Ultimus games in the history of the league would have been a boring frustrating blowout. But instead we got the drop heard round the world. You're welcome ISFL, you're welcome.
Listen I just first want to say how awesome it is that I can get longform Ultimus questions that are about league history. As one of the oldest members here who was heavily involved in the early seasons I have a ton of stories I love to share about the old days, and I've got a really great one here. Let me tell you about the most infamous play in Ultimus history, I'm talking about "The Garden Drop". But before I tell you about that play I have to tell you about that season. Picture it, Sicily....wait, nevermind.
Season 6! Yes it was season 6. The Orange County Otters had just won their second Ultimus. Arizona had been exposed for their multi scandal very recently. The New Orleans Secondline was in its infancy following the Mass Retirement of the Las Vegas Legion. San Jose was pretty good. Philadelphia was the season 2 expansion team that was taking the league by storm. Having made some great draft choices in recent rounds and done some clever position switching to get their star CB to move to QB (@to12413) the Liberty had a squad. They had traded for star inactive wide receiver Josh Garden. Great young players like Eli Kamaka were on their team along with some inactives that had low cap hits but very efficient builds like Perry Tucker. Oles threw for 5k yards that season, Boss threw for 5500 yards but lol Boss. Garden was third in receiving yards with over 1500 and 10 TDs. Philly's other legend Paul Dimirio was second as a tight end with 1597, what a beast. Philly ended up going 9-5, SJS and OCO were both 11-3. The Other playoff team Yellowknife went 7-7.
Get to the playoffs and the Liberty beat the Wraiths 31 - 21. This wasn't a huge surprise the Wraiths were good but still had some building to do. Meanwhile the Liberty were firing on all cylinders. The legend himself Josh Garden went for 113 yards. Oles and Akselsen didn't do fantastic for either one but in this Era of Nickel 75 defense the defenses were always pretty stifling so they did the best they could given the circumstances. Otters beat SJS in a very tight game 32-29. Boss had a rough game only going 20/50 and with a Passer Rating of 70. Yates did his typical Alvin Kamara thing and went for like 160 yards receiving on 6 catches cause the dude was a maniac that season. My own player Winchester got a sack and 3 PDs.
Then we get to the Ultimus. The game is close. OCO takes the early lead but Philly holds their own. It's a pretty low scoring event and by the end of the 1st half it's 13-10 OCO and there had been 3 FGs already. The third quarter saw no scoring at all, both teams had great defense, but Philly was in trouble because Boss was playing some good football and Yates and Westfield were on fire going for 15+ yards every target. Fourth Quarter the Otters get a TD to go up 20-10. Josh Garden runs back a kick 102 yards shortly after, Liberty down 3. with 7 minutes left in the game the Otters drive but stall and kick a FG, Liberty down 6. A couple more failed drives and punts by both teams and then Liberty gets the ball with 5 minutes left. They proceed to dink and dunk down the field. Then it happens. Fourth and Goal on the 1 yard line, 1:27 left in the game. This is for the win. Oles drops back, sees his man, unleashes a pass to Josh Garden in the endzone and.....Pass by Oles, T. to Garden, J. was dropped! Incomplete. Turnover on downs.
Josh Garden dropped the game winning touchdown pass in the endzone. OCO wins. Now I told you this story to tell you another story. I simmed that Ultimus game. The game I simmed was different. In fact it was a blowout win by OCO over Liberty. However at the time I didn't know how to access the Ultimus game if you had accidentally saved and closed. It wasn't a huge secret but I didn't know at the time. Instead I needed to go in and enter in people for the awards and then it would let me see the playoff results screen again so I could pull up the game and record or stream it. But I didn't know this so I had to sim again (I thought). This famous game, was technically a re-sim, although only me and @iamslm22 had ever seen the first one. If I had known what I was doing at the time one of the craziest and most exciting (and most heart breaking for some) Ultimus games in the history of the league would have been a boring frustrating blowout. But instead we got the drop heard round the world. You're welcome ISFL, you're welcome.
![[Image: XSfVUgo.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XSfVUgo.png)
Hank Winchester (S25 - Current) - Scrub
Angus Winchester (S1-S12) - 4x Ultimus Champ - #2 Career Sacks - Hall of Fame
Cooter Bigsby (S14-S23) - S23 Ultimus Champ - #4 Career Yards - #4 Career TDs - 2x MVP - Hall of Fame
