18) Write about another sim league you are in and which parts of it you enjoy. If you are only in the ISFL, write about your ideas for a sim league with another sport.
I'm in both PBE and SHL, but because our hockey season just ended, I'll focus on SHL. Like the other two sims, it has a similar junior (minors) league where you play before being called up to your major league franchise. One of the main differences about SHL that I really like is the international competition aspect. There are World Championships for juniors and the major-league players which adds a whole other dimension to the gameplay. I'm really excited to see how that works - you might have player rivalries on different teams in SHL, but you might be teaming up with them to try and bring home a gold medal. I recently transferred from the United States to Sweden, so hopefully the Swedes take the next step and bring home some hardware. I'd love to see something like that with ISFL, but I just don't think football is conducive to that type of competition. Maybe a "Pro Bowl" type game in the future? Having the different competitions certainly helps cut down on the offseason boredom and is another area for your player to show off their skills. I'd love to see some offseason stuff here, but I also know that the mods do a ton of work and this place does not run itself. So far in SHL, I've definitely enjoyed my time and I'm looking forward to continuing to build my player there. Go Timber, go Sweden!
(238 words)
21) What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why?
I've gotta go with the Norfolk Seawolves for best branding in the league. They just did a full logo change and it could not have been a bigger home run. In a lot of sports leagues, you have animal mascots or human mascots, but rarely do you get something entirely different - that's what you get with the Seawolves. Not only that, but in the other iterations of "Seawolves" in the sports world, many take that to mean some sort of pirate or buccaneer type character. For Norfolk, they focused on submarines giving them the clear vote for creativity and full marks for mascot/location combo. Some locations and mascots work, but few do it as well as Norfolk. Naval Station Norfolk is home to the U.S. Navy's Fleet Force Command and is one of the submariniest cities in the country. On top of all that, the colors are a great fit. Blue, black, and silver are the perfect match for the subs themselves, the water, and everything in between. If I had to pick a franchise that needs a refresh, I think I'd say the Baltimore Hawks. It's not a bad matchup, but it just seems "meh". Hawks are always a popular mascot in leagues and I think they could tailor something better to both Baltimore and something that would fit in with the league more. How about the Baltimore Calicos? It's Maryland's state cat and would give them a unique factor that's almost unmatched.
(245 words)
26) Does your player have any New Years’ resolutions? If so, do you think they’ll stick with them? Why or why not?
My main New Years resolution? Get back to the playoffs. I'm not nearly as focused on individual accolades and stats as I am on our team getting wins. We were so close to a trip to the Ultimus this season that it has started a fire in all Silverbacks to do everything we can to give it another run. A huge part of our success was our balanced play on both offense and defense this year and I definitely think that's something we can repeat heading into next season. We don't lose too many TPE to regression and have an incredibly young defense that should help lead the way. I definitely don't see myself straying too far from this goal just based on how successful we were this season. With a good group of top earners and the best front office in the league, I don't think it's unreasonable at all to set the postseason as a main goal and then branch of from there as the season unfolds. Winning Defensive Player of the Year or Safety of the Year would be great, but making the Ultimus was my goal as soon as I joined the site as a rookie DSFLer and I will not rest until that goal is achieved. The fact that we were a breath away in just our second season speaks volumes about our team, our staff, and the culture of winning that we've already developed here in the Big Apple. No sleep til playoffs!
(249 words)
28) The league is moving on to a new sim. What do you think about it? Are you excited to leave the old one behind? Maybe not so excited about it? Which parts of it do you think will be great, or not so great?
I am incredibly excited to move on to a new sim, but there's also a lot of nervousness and stress that comes with the new simulation. First off, I think the previous sim was deficient in some pretty big ways and from what I've seen so far, the new sim is much cleaner, much sleeker, and seems to operate at a high level. It's exciting to go into something totally new because nobody really knows what to expect. Contenders may become mediocre and we could see a previously awful team take a huge step forward. For that fact alone, it's going to be fun to see how this impacts the league as a whole. As a safety, I really like the new archetype options and I think they fit the role of a safety much more than the previous sim. I think this will give me more customization over what type of defensive back I truly want to be, which will make it that much more enjoyable as a player. For a team as a whole, I also think this allows some strategic decisions for setting up offense and defense that were previously unseen. I think I'd be a lot more stressed about the new sim if I was a GM or in an ISFL war room - gotta be some tough decisions and a whole lot of nerves as we head into the great unknown of the coming season.
(239 words)
I'm in both PBE and SHL, but because our hockey season just ended, I'll focus on SHL. Like the other two sims, it has a similar junior (minors) league where you play before being called up to your major league franchise. One of the main differences about SHL that I really like is the international competition aspect. There are World Championships for juniors and the major-league players which adds a whole other dimension to the gameplay. I'm really excited to see how that works - you might have player rivalries on different teams in SHL, but you might be teaming up with them to try and bring home a gold medal. I recently transferred from the United States to Sweden, so hopefully the Swedes take the next step and bring home some hardware. I'd love to see something like that with ISFL, but I just don't think football is conducive to that type of competition. Maybe a "Pro Bowl" type game in the future? Having the different competitions certainly helps cut down on the offseason boredom and is another area for your player to show off their skills. I'd love to see some offseason stuff here, but I also know that the mods do a ton of work and this place does not run itself. So far in SHL, I've definitely enjoyed my time and I'm looking forward to continuing to build my player there. Go Timber, go Sweden!
(238 words)
21) What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why?
I've gotta go with the Norfolk Seawolves for best branding in the league. They just did a full logo change and it could not have been a bigger home run. In a lot of sports leagues, you have animal mascots or human mascots, but rarely do you get something entirely different - that's what you get with the Seawolves. Not only that, but in the other iterations of "Seawolves" in the sports world, many take that to mean some sort of pirate or buccaneer type character. For Norfolk, they focused on submarines giving them the clear vote for creativity and full marks for mascot/location combo. Some locations and mascots work, but few do it as well as Norfolk. Naval Station Norfolk is home to the U.S. Navy's Fleet Force Command and is one of the submariniest cities in the country. On top of all that, the colors are a great fit. Blue, black, and silver are the perfect match for the subs themselves, the water, and everything in between. If I had to pick a franchise that needs a refresh, I think I'd say the Baltimore Hawks. It's not a bad matchup, but it just seems "meh". Hawks are always a popular mascot in leagues and I think they could tailor something better to both Baltimore and something that would fit in with the league more. How about the Baltimore Calicos? It's Maryland's state cat and would give them a unique factor that's almost unmatched.
(245 words)
26) Does your player have any New Years’ resolutions? If so, do you think they’ll stick with them? Why or why not?
My main New Years resolution? Get back to the playoffs. I'm not nearly as focused on individual accolades and stats as I am on our team getting wins. We were so close to a trip to the Ultimus this season that it has started a fire in all Silverbacks to do everything we can to give it another run. A huge part of our success was our balanced play on both offense and defense this year and I definitely think that's something we can repeat heading into next season. We don't lose too many TPE to regression and have an incredibly young defense that should help lead the way. I definitely don't see myself straying too far from this goal just based on how successful we were this season. With a good group of top earners and the best front office in the league, I don't think it's unreasonable at all to set the postseason as a main goal and then branch of from there as the season unfolds. Winning Defensive Player of the Year or Safety of the Year would be great, but making the Ultimus was my goal as soon as I joined the site as a rookie DSFLer and I will not rest until that goal is achieved. The fact that we were a breath away in just our second season speaks volumes about our team, our staff, and the culture of winning that we've already developed here in the Big Apple. No sleep til playoffs!
(249 words)
28) The league is moving on to a new sim. What do you think about it? Are you excited to leave the old one behind? Maybe not so excited about it? Which parts of it do you think will be great, or not so great?
I am incredibly excited to move on to a new sim, but there's also a lot of nervousness and stress that comes with the new simulation. First off, I think the previous sim was deficient in some pretty big ways and from what I've seen so far, the new sim is much cleaner, much sleeker, and seems to operate at a high level. It's exciting to go into something totally new because nobody really knows what to expect. Contenders may become mediocre and we could see a previously awful team take a huge step forward. For that fact alone, it's going to be fun to see how this impacts the league as a whole. As a safety, I really like the new archetype options and I think they fit the role of a safety much more than the previous sim. I think this will give me more customization over what type of defensive back I truly want to be, which will make it that much more enjoyable as a player. For a team as a whole, I also think this allows some strategic decisions for setting up offense and defense that were previously unseen. I think I'd be a lot more stressed about the new sim if I was a GM or in an ISFL war room - gotta be some tough decisions and a whole lot of nerves as we head into the great unknown of the coming season.
(239 words)
