6) Write 800 words or more on something about anything in the league that interests you. It could be related to statistics, a league issue that you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s participation on a Werewolf server or something.
Welcome back to another Ultimus week where TC likes to tell the story of a long forgotten event in ISFL history. The last few times I've done this I've discussed such fun events as Fast Boija's 2570 yard season, The Solar Bears Bot team winning the Ultimini in S5, I've discussed the history of Legion Retires Many, I've covered the famous Garden Drop of the S6 Ultimus and the following S7 Ultimus win the the Liberty, and I've discussed how the introduction of OL bots changed the face of the league in S4 and what it did for parity. So this time what is it that I will be covering for our lovely dive into old school ISFL history? Well that's a great question, and I think today we're going to discuss the S1 Otters QB controversy. You know I really hope I haven't done this one before. It kinda sounds familiar but after recapping all my prior Ultimus Week tasks I really don't think I did this one yet, if I did I'm really sorry but it's a particularly juicy bit of history.
We begin with the S1 draft, during this time we had 6 teams in the ISFL and the Otters came in with the first overall pick, not a team that would get many first overall picks ever again funnily enough. So the Otters started with two players on the roster, Anthony Petrakis, a QB, and fuck what was the other guy's name? I forgot but I think he was an RB. It was Official DT as a user. With these two players the GMs were hoping to go into the draft having a strong offense already and just drafting defense but then another plan emerged. So many people had created QBs with very few openings early on that the commissioner stated that anyone in S1 who wanted to change from QB to anything else could do soo for free and without any restrictions on moving TPE, how nice of him. It was from this that the strategy emerged.
Famously using the number 1 pick on Shaka's player JJ Reigns who would go inactive after a season or two, he is widely considered to be a bust. However Shaka's time in the war room did help shape OCO's future more than many realize. He was calling a lot of the shots in that S1 draft shortly after he was officially picked (he knew where he was going well before the draft). The strategy came out that OCO was going to draft a bunch of QBs of users they knew and have them position switch to something else after the draft. This would allow OCO to get a lot of talent in later rounds by filling up with good users at a position of very low need and converting it to a high need position. It kinda worked but kinda didn't. Grapehead, the GM, his QB he moved to defense, cornerback. Then we drafted like 6 QBs.
Some of the QBs instantly moved to stuff like offensive line or defensive tackle or whatever. Most of these guys didn't stick around very long anyway but we got a few decent inactives out of it and those early days were heavily reliant on inactives. But we had three QBs that didn't switch, and one role for all of them. The three were Mike Boss, Ethan Hunt, and Mike Bercovici. One of these names you already know, Mike Boss went on to become the future Otters QB and a HOFer and one of the greatest QBs in the history of the league. But you might not know these other two very well.
Ethan Hunt was famous for doing very well in the prospect bowls before the draft. He was a mobile QB and did great with the four passes he threw in the prospect game. Yes, four passes, we all can see the problem here. Mike Bercovici was a very direct character who was happy to give you a piece of his mind and let you know exactly what he wanted and what he thought. Both of these guys wanted to be our QB and wouldn't come off it. However in the war room we were all backing Mike Boss for the future of the position. We trusted the user and we liked his Pocket Passer build more than the mobile or gunslinger of the other two. So in the first few games of the season Mike Boss got the start.
And he was absolute trash. In our first game in the ISFL Mike Boss threw something like 5 interceptions, it was absolutely brutal. And we had put in strategies trying to be a more run heavy team but the playcalling features did not really have that much control back then. The otters got killed. People were already calling for Boss' head. Then the next game he does terrible again. Then the next game he is terrible again. I want to say by week 3 or 4 he had thrown 9 interceptions and the Otters were not looking good. So what happens? Grapehead benches Boss and puts in Bercovici. In a normal NFL team this might be the strategy, but this is sim football and it doesn't really make sense, we know who is good and who is bad and Bercovici isn't really better. Boss is fucking pissed.
Boss decides he's done and will not update his player or player for Grapehead or the Otters after that. Grapehead gets dragged through the mud in league forums and discord. Bercovici doesn't make it much better. Not trying to deal with all the nonsense Grapehead says screw it and quits the GM job, Shaka takes over. We discuss things and confirm that we really think Boss is the guy and we put him back in the starting role after he missed 2 or 3 games, he was the one we wanted and nnot Bercovici. We arrange a 3 way trade to send Ethan Hunt to the Sabercats and get a DT in return, Hunt becomes the starting QB. Expansion is announced and Bercovici is all but guaranteed to leave the Otters in FA to go to one of the expansion teams in FA, the Legion. Boss comes back and leads the Otters to the ASFC championship where we ultimately lose to the Outlaws.
Fast forward a few seasons and Boss is still leading the Otters to victories in the league. Bercovici is the most sacked QB in the ISFL behind a tissue paper OL and proceeds to go IA and leave the Legion right before the Legion Retires Many Scandal. Ethan Hunt goes IA mostly and is supplanted at QB by another player Joliet Christ. Hunt position changes to WR and name changes to Gosh Jarden and gets traded to YKW. The Otters had backed the right QB, it took us some bumps along the way but we picked the winner and he led us to many victories. Thank you Mike Boss.
Welcome back to another Ultimus week where TC likes to tell the story of a long forgotten event in ISFL history. The last few times I've done this I've discussed such fun events as Fast Boija's 2570 yard season, The Solar Bears Bot team winning the Ultimini in S5, I've discussed the history of Legion Retires Many, I've covered the famous Garden Drop of the S6 Ultimus and the following S7 Ultimus win the the Liberty, and I've discussed how the introduction of OL bots changed the face of the league in S4 and what it did for parity. So this time what is it that I will be covering for our lovely dive into old school ISFL history? Well that's a great question, and I think today we're going to discuss the S1 Otters QB controversy. You know I really hope I haven't done this one before. It kinda sounds familiar but after recapping all my prior Ultimus Week tasks I really don't think I did this one yet, if I did I'm really sorry but it's a particularly juicy bit of history.
We begin with the S1 draft, during this time we had 6 teams in the ISFL and the Otters came in with the first overall pick, not a team that would get many first overall picks ever again funnily enough. So the Otters started with two players on the roster, Anthony Petrakis, a QB, and fuck what was the other guy's name? I forgot but I think he was an RB. It was Official DT as a user. With these two players the GMs were hoping to go into the draft having a strong offense already and just drafting defense but then another plan emerged. So many people had created QBs with very few openings early on that the commissioner stated that anyone in S1 who wanted to change from QB to anything else could do soo for free and without any restrictions on moving TPE, how nice of him. It was from this that the strategy emerged.
Famously using the number 1 pick on Shaka's player JJ Reigns who would go inactive after a season or two, he is widely considered to be a bust. However Shaka's time in the war room did help shape OCO's future more than many realize. He was calling a lot of the shots in that S1 draft shortly after he was officially picked (he knew where he was going well before the draft). The strategy came out that OCO was going to draft a bunch of QBs of users they knew and have them position switch to something else after the draft. This would allow OCO to get a lot of talent in later rounds by filling up with good users at a position of very low need and converting it to a high need position. It kinda worked but kinda didn't. Grapehead, the GM, his QB he moved to defense, cornerback. Then we drafted like 6 QBs.
Some of the QBs instantly moved to stuff like offensive line or defensive tackle or whatever. Most of these guys didn't stick around very long anyway but we got a few decent inactives out of it and those early days were heavily reliant on inactives. But we had three QBs that didn't switch, and one role for all of them. The three were Mike Boss, Ethan Hunt, and Mike Bercovici. One of these names you already know, Mike Boss went on to become the future Otters QB and a HOFer and one of the greatest QBs in the history of the league. But you might not know these other two very well.
Ethan Hunt was famous for doing very well in the prospect bowls before the draft. He was a mobile QB and did great with the four passes he threw in the prospect game. Yes, four passes, we all can see the problem here. Mike Bercovici was a very direct character who was happy to give you a piece of his mind and let you know exactly what he wanted and what he thought. Both of these guys wanted to be our QB and wouldn't come off it. However in the war room we were all backing Mike Boss for the future of the position. We trusted the user and we liked his Pocket Passer build more than the mobile or gunslinger of the other two. So in the first few games of the season Mike Boss got the start.
And he was absolute trash. In our first game in the ISFL Mike Boss threw something like 5 interceptions, it was absolutely brutal. And we had put in strategies trying to be a more run heavy team but the playcalling features did not really have that much control back then. The otters got killed. People were already calling for Boss' head. Then the next game he does terrible again. Then the next game he is terrible again. I want to say by week 3 or 4 he had thrown 9 interceptions and the Otters were not looking good. So what happens? Grapehead benches Boss and puts in Bercovici. In a normal NFL team this might be the strategy, but this is sim football and it doesn't really make sense, we know who is good and who is bad and Bercovici isn't really better. Boss is fucking pissed.
Boss decides he's done and will not update his player or player for Grapehead or the Otters after that. Grapehead gets dragged through the mud in league forums and discord. Bercovici doesn't make it much better. Not trying to deal with all the nonsense Grapehead says screw it and quits the GM job, Shaka takes over. We discuss things and confirm that we really think Boss is the guy and we put him back in the starting role after he missed 2 or 3 games, he was the one we wanted and nnot Bercovici. We arrange a 3 way trade to send Ethan Hunt to the Sabercats and get a DT in return, Hunt becomes the starting QB. Expansion is announced and Bercovici is all but guaranteed to leave the Otters in FA to go to one of the expansion teams in FA, the Legion. Boss comes back and leads the Otters to the ASFC championship where we ultimately lose to the Outlaws.
Fast forward a few seasons and Boss is still leading the Otters to victories in the league. Bercovici is the most sacked QB in the ISFL behind a tissue paper OL and proceeds to go IA and leave the Legion right before the Legion Retires Many Scandal. Ethan Hunt goes IA mostly and is supplanted at QB by another player Joliet Christ. Hunt position changes to WR and name changes to Gosh Jarden and gets traded to YKW. The Otters had backed the right QB, it took us some bumps along the way but we picked the winner and he led us to many victories. Thank you Mike Boss.
![[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
