4. “Sim gonna sim” is a popular expression in the league. Write about teams that have been graced by the sim gods and had amazing performances despite statistical odds, and/or about teams that were considered favorites but may have dealt with some bad sim luck that hampered their efforts. How much of an impact did it have on their season(s)?
All in all, the regular season of season 28 in the International Simulation Football League has been a bit of a crazy one, some teams have had great times and some teams seasons have been forgettable ones to say the least, and I’ll be going over both in this PT.
When looking at forgettable seasons your eyes would initially be drawn to the 2-14 Baltimore Hawks, and you would be forgiven if you thought that their season was an absolutely shit one and nobody wanted to hear about it, but this, surprisingly enough, is actually not the case. Last season the Hawks finished with a whopping 0 wins and during the off season went through their fair share of drama, bringing in two new general managers and having a fire sale of some of their best players, including their long time franchise quarterback Chika Fujiwara. Additionally, at the time of writing this, the Hawks are closer in TPE to the best DSFL team than they are to the next worst ISFL team. When you consider all these facts, it’s actually quite remarkable that Baltimore managed to string together 2 wins this season, and is actually a pretty positive sign of things to come for the struggling franchise.
One team who’s luck has most definitely not been in this season is the Chicago Butchers. Last season the Butchers finished a joint league best 12-4, missing out on the top seed only thanks to a couple of tiebreakers, and coming into Season 28 the team were still number 1 in the league in terms of total TPE. This made it all the more surprising when the team won just 6 games across the course of the season, finishing fifth in their division, four games out from a playoff spot. This shocked me as I had the Butchers tipped as one of the teams to go furthest this season, evidently I was wrong. All in all it was a year of meagre luck for the Butchers, who lost to the Liberty in Week 3 thanks to a walk off kick return touchdown, in Week 5 to the Wraiths thanks to a 48 yard field goal with less than a minute on the clock, in Week 6 to an game winning field goal in overtime versus the Outlaws, in Week 9 to the Sabercats from a field goal with less than 15 seconds on the clock and in Week 11 to the Sailfish from a field goal with time expiring. That makes it 5 near last second losses for the Butchers and I think it’s no stretch to say their luck was the shittiest this season, and that they’re a team who could’ve and should’ve done better. Of course the most unlucky result for them would have to be their calamitous Week 14 loss to the Hawks who hadn’t won in their last 25ish games.
Speaking of luck, one team who were relatively unlucky last season were the Austin Copperheads, finishing with a record of just 3-13, this would give them a final record which was second worst in the league, ahead of only the Baltimore Hawks, who have already been addressed. However, this season came with a complete turn in fortune for the Austin Copperheads, as their bad luck did a complete 180 and brought good luck with it. The Copperhead won 6 of their first 7 games of the season, sneaking in some very narrow victories, including ones such as a 3 point win in Baltimore in the first week of the season, and a 7 point victory over the Outlaws in the seventh. This great luck meant that a postseason spot was all but gift wrapped for the Copperheads as they say pretty with an 8-2 record atop their division. However, Austins luck did take a turn for the worse down the stretche as they made their best effort to throw away the playoff berth, finishing the season 1-5 and only ahead of the Hahalua in the standings on a tiebreaker. Their luck would come up good for them once again when playoffs came though, as they won their first 2 playoff games by a margin of just 6 points to send themselves to the Ultimus game. Unfortunately, this was to be where their luck would run out as the Copperheads lost in the big game to a team who are uber lucky themselves, the Yellowknife Wraiths (but I’ll get on to them if I need more words).
So in conclusion, I think it’s fair to say luck has had a big part to play in this season of the International Simulation Football League (as it does in all seasons of all sim leagues, obviously, but this one especially). Some teams, such as the Chicago Butchers have been on the fucked end of that luck while some teams, such as the Baltimore Hawks or Austin Copperheads, have had somewhat blessed luck.
All in all, the regular season of season 28 in the International Simulation Football League has been a bit of a crazy one, some teams have had great times and some teams seasons have been forgettable ones to say the least, and I’ll be going over both in this PT.
When looking at forgettable seasons your eyes would initially be drawn to the 2-14 Baltimore Hawks, and you would be forgiven if you thought that their season was an absolutely shit one and nobody wanted to hear about it, but this, surprisingly enough, is actually not the case. Last season the Hawks finished with a whopping 0 wins and during the off season went through their fair share of drama, bringing in two new general managers and having a fire sale of some of their best players, including their long time franchise quarterback Chika Fujiwara. Additionally, at the time of writing this, the Hawks are closer in TPE to the best DSFL team than they are to the next worst ISFL team. When you consider all these facts, it’s actually quite remarkable that Baltimore managed to string together 2 wins this season, and is actually a pretty positive sign of things to come for the struggling franchise.
One team who’s luck has most definitely not been in this season is the Chicago Butchers. Last season the Butchers finished a joint league best 12-4, missing out on the top seed only thanks to a couple of tiebreakers, and coming into Season 28 the team were still number 1 in the league in terms of total TPE. This made it all the more surprising when the team won just 6 games across the course of the season, finishing fifth in their division, four games out from a playoff spot. This shocked me as I had the Butchers tipped as one of the teams to go furthest this season, evidently I was wrong. All in all it was a year of meagre luck for the Butchers, who lost to the Liberty in Week 3 thanks to a walk off kick return touchdown, in Week 5 to the Wraiths thanks to a 48 yard field goal with less than a minute on the clock, in Week 6 to an game winning field goal in overtime versus the Outlaws, in Week 9 to the Sabercats from a field goal with less than 15 seconds on the clock and in Week 11 to the Sailfish from a field goal with time expiring. That makes it 5 near last second losses for the Butchers and I think it’s no stretch to say their luck was the shittiest this season, and that they’re a team who could’ve and should’ve done better. Of course the most unlucky result for them would have to be their calamitous Week 14 loss to the Hawks who hadn’t won in their last 25ish games.
Speaking of luck, one team who were relatively unlucky last season were the Austin Copperheads, finishing with a record of just 3-13, this would give them a final record which was second worst in the league, ahead of only the Baltimore Hawks, who have already been addressed. However, this season came with a complete turn in fortune for the Austin Copperheads, as their bad luck did a complete 180 and brought good luck with it. The Copperhead won 6 of their first 7 games of the season, sneaking in some very narrow victories, including ones such as a 3 point win in Baltimore in the first week of the season, and a 7 point victory over the Outlaws in the seventh. This great luck meant that a postseason spot was all but gift wrapped for the Copperheads as they say pretty with an 8-2 record atop their division. However, Austins luck did take a turn for the worse down the stretche as they made their best effort to throw away the playoff berth, finishing the season 1-5 and only ahead of the Hahalua in the standings on a tiebreaker. Their luck would come up good for them once again when playoffs came though, as they won their first 2 playoff games by a margin of just 6 points to send themselves to the Ultimus game. Unfortunately, this was to be where their luck would run out as the Copperheads lost in the big game to a team who are uber lucky themselves, the Yellowknife Wraiths (but I’ll get on to them if I need more words).
So in conclusion, I think it’s fair to say luck has had a big part to play in this season of the International Simulation Football League (as it does in all seasons of all sim leagues, obviously, but this one especially). Some teams, such as the Chicago Butchers have been on the fucked end of that luck while some teams, such as the Baltimore Hawks or Austin Copperheads, have had somewhat blessed luck.
[img=0x0]https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/t52dU9eBJgwsyw3nTevSVxQLhH2o2kjrFAMEacLX6tY/https/i.imgur.com/zpHk3Xu.mp4[/img]
S27 Ultimus DPOTG
S27 Ultimus DPOTG
