What if’s are always interesting because we cannot with any certainty say definitively what would have happened differently. On account of all of this being speculation, they are always fun to read. Mine requires us to travel back in time a few seasons to S23. Warren Stephens is still my player and is a linebacker for the Philadelphia Liberty. My S22 season was spectacular. We still played 13 games in those days. Stephens finished second in the league in tackles, one behind Honda Edmond who took the league record for most tackles in a season. Stephens moved himself into first in team history. I was looking forward to S23. We thought the team was in a good place and Stephens was poised to challenge for the tackle lead again in a 16 game season. The opportunities were very exciting. Yet as the season kicked off, things looked less than promising. We started the season off with two quick losses to the Yeti and the Butchers, losing both by 2 points with the same scores of 19-17. We ended up fighting back to 9-7 on the season, finding ourselves in the third playoff spot, but Stephens was not having anywhere near the season I expected. At the time, I wondered if it was due to bouncing back and forth between SLB and MLB, but even that didn’t seem to explain the sudden drop off in stats. I finished with almost 20 fewer tackles, though I did manage a few more sacks and PDs. For that and a few other smaller reasons, I ended up requesting a trade during the season and ultimately left in free agency to pursue a win-now opportunity with the Yeti (where we lost two Ultimus games despite being heavy favorites against SJS). So for the what if…What if I had noticed that my player was underperforming due to a sim team error that reduced his weight? I have to imagine that noticing this sooner would have helped my stats out tremendously and there are a couple ways I think things could have easily gone differently. The first is that I could have stayed with the Liberty. I have to believe that had I remained with the team, our competitive window may have stayed open longer and I may have even found myself GMing the team in the not-too-distant future. Given that I have been trying to land a GM job over the last few seasons, that option appeals to me. Obviously I can’t guarantee it would have happened, but it’s something I think about frequently. The other thing that comes to mind is how different my career could have been had Stephens had a longer career with the Yeti at his full potential. I would have taken over for Mo Berry nearing the height of my TPE and it could have had implications on our success in those Ultimus games. Additionally, it would have shaken up the structure of the team right now. Murder Moose likely would not have swapped to LB, as Melvin did so in order to fill the gap that I opened up. That move could have had serious implications for where some of our other players slotted in and may have resulted in an ultimus win, as the team had to scramble to replace Warren when I announced my premature retirement in response to discovering the error. Ultimately, those experiences still leave a slightly bitter taste in my mouth, as that was the end of my first player career. I think about how things could have gone differently sometimes, although ultimately I am happy to have found a home in the Yeti locker room over the last few seasons. I truly enjoy being there and for that reason would not say I regret my career choices. But it certainly makes for an interesting ‘what if’ and is most likely my longest point task to date by far.

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