(S30) Ultimus Week

[Oles]

Not sure what option to label this as, as it can fit under long writing option 5 or 6. 



Having been around the league for 4 years now, I’ve seen just about every piece of history that has happened. I’ve seen all but one Ultimus, I’ve seen dynasty after dynasty and teams that should have multiple titles win none because of sim logic. I was a member of one of the original expansion teams, and I’ve made a DSFL and ISFL team, I’ve run an entire league, and I’ve seen people come and go and made friends who I never would have otherwise. So, with all that being said, I think it’s a great time to explain what happened with my first Ultimus title, and how that team came about and worked through issues.

It’s Season 2, Adam2552 and Silver Fox have made the Liberty, and along with the Las Vegas Legion are participating in the first expansion draft. There were a few guys of interest in this draft, but ultimately not a lot of activity came about in the expansion draft, however, the rookie draft had quite a few guys who would go on to be great members of the team and create a great atmosphere for my introduction into sim leagues. @124715 @HalfEatenOnionBagel and @Perry87 were 3 of the other Philadelphia draftees who always had a big part of my initial love of the league, especially with the Toleso brand of alcohol we had in character. I remember the night of the draft, the locker room filling up with players and us all talking about how this team is going to win a title and quick, we had a great draft we felt and everyone was excited to turn this expansion team into a competitor, especially when regression was not yet a factor in the league because of only being season 2. We watched the Legion struggle with the draft as well, they had traded their picks for the most part and acquired high risk guys who had been slowing down with activity, wanting to make a title push immediately they sold what little farm they had, and it would really hurt them down the road.

Now, it’s easy to be hyped as a team, especially when you have a bunch of users finding their bearings in the league and feeding off the hype of each other, putting that hype and plan into action is what is crucial to the success of the team. We were in the middle of an Outlaws dynasty, one that would later be marred in controversy, but there was another looming threat on the horizon that would turn out to be just as deadly. The Otters were on their way to their own dynasty, usurping the Outlaws after their 3 seasons of success, and creating 3 seasons of their own success (fun fact, Otters Co-GM job had come up at some point in which I applied for it, which I believe was a reason why Adam pushed for me to take over as GM of the Liberty). We had a good offense and defense, and we had been a playoff contender but never really an Ultimus contender until season 6. We traded for big names like Josh Garden and made multiple key moves to sure up both sides of the team, but there was one major issue that was looming, the QB position. For those of you who don’t know, there was some controversy boiling over the QB spot, the Yeti at this time had a QB who was somewhat outspoken but not really earning well enough, and position swaps, especially for QB, have always been a contentious topic. When I made the decision to swap to QB, it became an even more contentious topic, as some thought it was a cheat code to get a good QB, and that no one would ever create a QB again and deal with the multiple seasons of being bad to start. This was a huge controversy because I swapped to QB, our QB swapped to CB (so we just flipped positions) and we went from borderline contender to true contender, our team was solidified and we had that real chance at winning it all.
Now, in season 6 it was Philly’s best shot at a title at that point, but we had heartbreak happen, anyone who was around at that time, and if you want to go see it in the index, you’ll see that Josh Garden drops a pass that would have been a game winning TD. This was a devastating blow to the team as we slowly lost people to inactivity, we only had a few guys left and it took a toll on me and others. Season 7 was our last real shot at a title, and that almost never happened because I originally planned on rebuilding before I was persuaded not to. It’s a good thing that never happened either, we had what was a magical playoffs for us, beating the top two teams in the league and we would win the Ultimus, giving the NSFC their first championship and ending the Otters quest for a 4peat.

Now, I don’t know if this should count as option 5 or option 6, but what I do know is that in this league I’ve seen the ups, I’ve seen the downs, I’ve seen people come and go, but one of my fondest memories is always right at the beginning with that first team I was on and that first player I had. I would never have made it 4 years into the league without those people around me, they gave me a passion for the league and gave me the knowledge of the league that I was clueless to when I was first drafted. Toleso and the Liberty shaped my future in the league and brought me immense joy, making clear what this league would become for me.

(976 words)

[SwankyPants31]

13. I’ve been on the anti expansion crusade around here starting around after the New York Silverback and Berlin Fire Salamander expansion. While I think that was a good expansion and was a net gain for the league, I never got on the hype train that started up briefly afterward for a set of another two expansion teams. Sure, another round of expansion would round the league out to a nice 16 team format, allowing us to split into not just the conferences we have now but into divisions which on paper would be really cool. The unfortunate reality though is that despite the attractiveness of a 16 team league format when compared to 14, we plain and simple don’t have the user base numbers to support that and haven’t recently shown the growth that it can be sustained. I actually wrote some media that was indirectly related to this subject earlier in the season. What I did was take a count of active players sorted by position, and compared them to how many players at each position the league would require to field a full roster. An important note here is that the list was of active players, not just max earning players. What I ended up finding is that in our current 14 team state, we have a deficit of active players. By my count, we ended up 31 players short of where we would be ideally if all 14 teams had a fully active roster, and that’s without including positions where you don’t necessarily need to be active to be effective such as offensive line and kicker. What that means is those 31 spots are being filled with inactive players, which are a temporary solution at best. Now, if we were to do what people were previously clamoring for and expand an additional two teams without seeing a huge influx of users, we see the “vacant” position count more than double to 67. That would be an average of 4-5 starting positions, excluding kicker and offensive line, being filled by inactive players PER TEAM. In my opinion, that level of inactivity on every team isn’t as good for the long term health of the league, as right now we are at a much more reasonable 2-3 inactive starters per team. All in all I’m not opposed to expansion, but before we can even begin thinking about expanding we need to figure out how to pump our recruitment numbers up to sustain that growth.

29. Oh boy, awards. By far my least favorite subject in the league. I even took it upon myself to step in as Tijuana’s awards representative after a last second drop out, and if you think my experience in there changed my opinion of the awards process you’d be dead wrong. The whole thing is a toxic mess that truly brings out the worst in people. In the awards committee alone there are so many bad faith arguments where users try to make ridiculous cases for themselves and their teammates. And if you want to fast forward to when the awards are actually announced, it doesn’t get much better, with people whining not only about winning, but by how much they won and whether they were or weren’t unanimous, leading to witch hunts. I’ve actually been planning to write up some media on this topic soon, but I think there’s a valid argument to be made to just move to the sim generated awards. At the very least that would lead to the toxicity and vitriol that comes with awards season being directed to the sim rather than to other users. Sure that would lead to the loss of a good chunk of awards, most notably all of the positional awards and GMotY, but it would also result in us gaining the often demanded playoff MVP award.

30. It might be a bit of an unpopular opinion around here, but I thought the ISFL players union was a poor, doomed idea to start. I never saw the reasoning behind it if I’m being completely honest. The idea was to give players a voice when it came to proposing and voting for rules, but to me it seemed to ignore a very obvious detail. A union shouldn’t be necessary for that. Every single player in the league plays for a team with a GM that has a voice when it comes to making and voting on those rules. It’s the GMs’ job to represent their players in these discussions, and frankly if players don’t feel like they are being listened to that falls as a failure on the GM for not fighting for their guys. I’m not sure of the intention behind founding the Union, but from what I saw of it there was also a large meme following. The issue with that is that you have certain members of the Union that are trying to take it seriously, while others are only there as a joke, resulting in mixed messages, confusion, and a seriously hampered ability to be taken seriously by the league at large.

[Bigred1580]

15. Going to Disneyland! Who was the Ultimus Game MVP? Give us a rundown of their celebratory trip to Disneyland. (Can be completed after the Ultimus game)



18. Written option - which teammate of yours is the ultimate team player and why? How does this person exhibit selflessness and put the team first? Are they a great locker room presence who encourages others? Do they play an important but unappreciated role on the team which doesn't receive much recognition for awards?  Graphic Option: Create a graphic of your player with your teammate who exhibits a team-friendly attitude.



20. Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, or highlights. Written or graphic option available.



23. Create a billboard, magazine cover, unique trading card, or video game cover depicting a one of the league's stars.

[RussDrivesTheBus]

Tier 1 - Prompt 1

I’ve told this story a few times since it happened, but I was hesitant to mention it before the game had been played. The Ultimini this year meant a lot more to me in the greater context of my sim league journey than casual observers would ever know. So, let me provide some context.

I was drafted by Minnesota over 18 months ago. The GMs at the times were @CLG Rampage and @Dewalt27. They had just taken over after the team saw back to back Ultimini victories in S19 and S20. They had to take on the daunting task of scouting and drafting the ginormous S22 class. I was lucky enough to end up under their wings and was absolutely thrilled! I was drafted by the back2back champs! I’m gunna come in and help continue their winning ways! My balanced linebacker build would surely blend all the best attributes and I’d slot into their roster somewhere. But the season started 3-2 followed by a 5-game slide that put us out of contention. Throughout the early part of the season, I reached out a few times to team leadership about ways I could help? What was I doing wrong? Eventually, Dewalt came to me and asked if I’d be interested in joining the War Room. That day set me on the path to the present day. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Minnesota finished the season 6-8 and missed the playoffs. I took it a bit personally, mostly because I didn’t understand the roster turnover that happens in the DSFL yet. I was determined to come back and help get the ducks back on track in the next season, but San Jose had other plans. In the following season, I helped Minnesota scout and the GMs taught me more and more about the league. That next season, the Ducks returned to the playoffs, but were snuffed out in the Conference Championship. The next few seasons were a bit a blur as I fell into a sort of malaise as far as the DSFL was concerned. I had applied for the GM position a couple of times but was passed up (for better candidates). The War Room had filled up with more great minds and scouts and I started to get lost in the shuffle. I certainly wasn’t participating as much as I used to. If I had continued down that path, I know for a fact I wouldn’t be in the place I am today. Enter one very unlikely savior; @TheCC.

One fateful day, CC DMed me and gave me a dose of his world-famous straight shooting. He said he had noticed that I had fallen off, but he knew I had the juice to do more. There were more words shared, all with the same sentiment. That conversation deserves all the credit for getting me back in gear, and ultimately proving to him that I had what it takes to be his Co-GM. We worked together only for a season, but he gave me the tolls I needed to be confident enough with my new partner in crime, @Crodyman. Together, we pruned some things and built upon a strong War Room. Scouted some incredible users, and began building what would eventually become a championship roster, with the best Locker Room in the league. I even got to draft both of the GMs that drafted me! The night of the S29 Ultimini, the team was in a VC to watch the stream together. It was easily the most hype I had ever been in my time as a player or GM (and I had won 2 rings with SJS by this point). We dominated the game and came away with a ring. And THAT is when the thought popped into my head.

I had considered passing on the GM torch after the following season and possibly pursuing a HO role. There was also a small chance an ISFL GM job was going to open up and I would have applied for that. In either case, I knew the following season would be my last as GM of the Grey Ducks. So when we won the S29 Ultimini, a faint thought crossed my mind about what would be the perfect, storybook ending to my time. What if I left the ducks exactly how I had joined them; as quack-to-quack champions. We got incredibly lucky with the lack of callups and had some sleeper agents activate on defense that helped us manage there. All of the pieces fell into place, and Crody’s brilliant sim mind put them where they needed to be to dominate. And dominate we did. 13-1 is the best season Minnesota has ever seen. And we rode that high into the playoffs. I had accepted the San Jose GM position, so I was officially stepping down at the conclusion of the season. This would be my last chance for the fairytale ending. It was within my grasp. We won the Conference Championship and thought for sure we would end up playing Dallas in the big game. But Tijuana pulled off the upset and set the stage for an Ultimini rematch. In a much tighter affair, the Ducks managed to hold the Luchas off and bring my story to the most satisfying conclusion imaginable.

I think about this often and how incredibly perfect it all is. Now, I’ve got my sights set on trying to bring some of that magic to San Jose and create a new chapter in the story.

[bowl0]

25.

So I'm going to expand on this a little bit since I've bounced around position wise a little bit as I've been getting used to the league. I started as a RB because I had no idea what I wanted to do, then I swapped to CB after my DSFL draft. Now OCO has had me swap to safety. So I'm going to count all three since I have a much better feeling about the league now. The positions I would probably trend towards would be Linebacker or Offensive Line. For linebackers they are a major part of the defense having their hands in potentially every play of the game for the defense, a major facet of stopping the run as well as locking down TE's and receivers which come down over the middle and the occasional pass rush to give the quarterback something to really think about. For the offensive line aspect, since I've been around I have started to see how vital they are to making a team better but obviously it's not a glamor position like RB or WR with all the stats they can accumulate. By dominating the line of scrimmage it keeps the qb up and can open up great lanes to set the RB's up to succeed.

26.

This is probably a fairly popular thing that people want to change, but I'm doing it anyway. The policy about Marijuana use in the NFL needs to be changed, I don't pay much attention myself, but it's got to be pretty prominent in it's use around the league. It can significantly help with both pain and stress relief with people that use it and it is not performance enhancing. I get banning steroids and other PED's since they can make the player better then if they weren't using them, but I feel it's pretty stupid with Marijuana considering it doesn't affect performance. It has destroyed the careers of a number of prominent players and will probably strongly impact many to come in the future until this idiocy gets changed.  Considering US policymakers are starting to turn the corner on their views of Marijuana, I feel like it's only a matter of time before it becomes legal much more across the US eventually leading to decriminalization federally as well, but knowing how stubborn people are it's likely going to take far longer then it should to get this rule changed. I do obviously need to say addiction and substance abuse are serious issues where people need to get help.


30.

I'm gonna be honest here, I didn't even know the ISFL Players association was even a thing but I really like the concept of what it could be. Depending on how it is implemented, it could be great, giving more people feedback into rule changes and potentially even proposing others which would benefit the players. I don't know a ton about how rule changes get proposed and voted on(I'm guessing either GMs or HO proposes them, then all of them vote on the proposed rule). A way everyone could be represented better would be possibly having a rep for the team voted by the team, with a head nominated to be the face of the association, as in being the main contact point between them and HO. It could be a great way to get other players a way to peek behind the curtain to see how everything runs without overdoing the responsibility they have. I would also say have a limited term for people representing the players to keep new people constantly involved in the running of the league to help with the buy in, since there's a better chance of being able to help institute change that people want to see.


31.

I think the World Football Association(WFC) is an awesome idea for some fun to happen during the offseason which is traditionally a pretty dead time for events in the league. I like the division by regions and with the transfer system any team can compete to some extent at least. It's also some experience making the DC's for the games for most of the team heads, who all have little or no GM experience in the league as of right now. As Hasseo and I are seeing right now, even with how good the Southeast team is on paper, you still have to make a good gameplan or it's going to be a rough time during the games (Southeast has lost 3 straight as of this post). I think and really hope it will end up as a success as a nice thing to do in the offseason as well as chill with and meet some other users that you might not have interacted with before. I also like the idea that we are testing the possibility of another start time (7est) which may get implemented to the league normally at some point depending on how people feel about the change. As of right now I'm enjoying the WFC a ton and hope everyone else is as well.

[Pib]

Task #1

The Arizona Outlaws pretty much strolled their way to the Ultimus this season, losing just two regular season games as they made their way to the familiar hurdle of the playoffs — where they have arguably been one of the most unlucky teams around, in terms of losing games that they would ordinarily be considered the clear favourites. The slight hiccup against the San Jose Sabercats was somewhat concerning at the time but when you take a step back and think about it in context, it was never likely to be anything more than a speed bump. They played one of their better games in week 10 and we played one of our worst, so they took the deserved win. The other loss in the regular season was against the Austin Copperheads. The Copperheads are always a tricky game for Arizona to navigate and frequently push us to the absolute limit, so this one wasn’t really too much of a shock. Thomaslacher had been a disruptive force all season and that really didn’t change in this game, as he gave Cortez a torrid evening. Thankfully, we had Burfict put in a performance of a similar calibre, ensuring that things weren’t all one sided. The sum of their parts just turned out to be greater than ours on this occasion.

Outside of those two games, it really did feel like we were an unstoppable force at times, especially early on in the season when the offense was really playing lights out football. To my knowledge, we set a few records along the way and our offense was the best in ISFL history — in no small part thanks to the performance of our quarterback, Cortez. It certainly also didn’t hurt having 2 top 5 receivers and two running backs that are both capable of dismantling a team single handedly on their day.

While there were plenty of big names and familiar faces making plays to get us to where we needed to be, there were also some solid performances from new blood. Marcus Jones assumed my role from the previous season, filling in at whatever spot was required of him in the box. Given the somewhat limited snaps he played, his stats were solid and it’s good to know that we’re going to have a strong linebacker core moving forward, as Koniecpolski comes towards the end of his career. Young Bernie Sanders also had a pretty good rookie season at Guard and will only improve as the seasons pass, in one of the most thankless positions in the game.

After reaching the playoffs, the usual mix of conversations, nerves and memes were flying around. After getting burned so many times, it’s inevitable that people would be a little concerned in regards to the fate that the sim would decide for us. Knowing that we were to face either the Austin Copperheads or the New York Silverbacks really didn’t help the situation too much either. The Copperheads have, as previously mentioned, always been a bogey team for the Outlaws and the Silverbacks had unceremoniously dumped us out of the playoffs the previous season on their way to the Ultimus themselves. From a historical point of view, the omens really weren’t looking too great.

Thankfully, we put in one of the best performances of the season, as we completely shutout the Silverbacks. Nakamura and Memes split the workload as they had all season and both delivered excellent numbers — particularly Nakamura, who was a threat both through the air and on the ground, as he put up 178 yards of total offense. I also had perhaps the best game of my career, racking up 4 tackles, 1 TFL and 2 sacks — one of which was a strip sack and recovery. It’s still not quite as good as Lucid Dream’s strip sack, recovery and TD that I got to witness in London but it’s a step in the right direction. All in all, it was a great performance all around. A defense pitching a shutout and the offense putting up 442 yards is always going to leave you in good stead.

That lead us to the Ultimus, where we would face the Sarasota Sailfish, a team that had been champions as recently as S28. While there was plenty of reason to be optimistic — especially given our regular season win over them, with a fairly healthy scoreline of (I believe?) 41-17. I don’t want to be as cliche as to say “sim gonna sim” or any of that nonsense, as we knew this was always going to be a close game. Sarasota have a stacked roster and have consistently done well recently. We certainly didn’t play anywhere near as well as we had all season and really just struggled to get going — with our first touchdown finally being scored in the 4th quarter. Realistically, by that point, the game was already over. The Arizona curse continues.

Code:

824 words

[y2bobman]

10. So next season L'Gazzy Burfict will be at his peak level in the league, having already maxed out mid way though this season. It's been a long journey for the Shubutan native but one which he wouldn't have changed for anything. Now you could argue that success came too soon for L'Gazzy, maybe that's why he just shrugs off the recent disappointments with the Outlaws. In his first season for the London Royals, L'Gazzy Burfict came away with an Ultimini ring. In his second season he came away with both the awards for linebacker of the year and defensive player of the year, as well as being an Ultimini runner up. L'Gazzy Burfict had arrived... in the DSFL at least.

The following season (season 26)Burfict moved into the Outlaws roster where he was LB3 behind two solid stalwarts in Wilf and Koniecpolski. They finished fourth in the league and didn't make post season. And Burfict, well he went without a sack all year. 11 paa deflections though, that was his sprinting youth coming through strong. And he kept pushing through the off-season and came away with much better numbers in season 27, the highlight being his eight sacks and solitary safety. So he was getting the hang of things. But the thing about the ISFL... It's pretty simple to be average, to go with the flow. You gotta put in that extra effort to become an elite player and that is what L'Gazzy Burfict wanted. Not just for himself, but for his team, his team mates, his family, the fans.

Season 28 saw the Outlaws finish top of the ASFC for the first time during Burficts time there and he had a big part to play with 14 sacks and 88 tackles. Moving in the right direction. This was the year when the linebacking core was at its strongest, so Burfict was being given more opportunities to pick up those stats, he knew that.

Season 29 followed a similar pattern. The Arizona Outlaws finished top of their division and would be eliminated from the playoffs in the ASFC championship game. But Burfict was now the main man within the linebacking core, and opposing teams knew that. If they wanted to score on the Outlaws then going through Burfict was not the best option. And when they tried... Well that's why he led the league in forced fumbles!

So then, season 30. Do the Arizona Outlaws dominate the ASFC, check. Are they favourites to bring home the Ultimus, check. Do they get knocked out in the championship game, no check. So the Outlaws finally made the Ultimus game, with their strongest team on paper during Burficts time in Arizona. But enough about the team and the inevitable shafting in the final. Burfict had his most rounded season so far. 95 tackles, six tackles for loss, only the four fumbles (one recovered), 15 sacks, an interception, a safety and eight pass deflections. Will he be in contention for linebacker of the year? Probably. But his old London teammate and mentor Juan Domine gets the vote all day long, what a player.

But the story is far from over, this is only the first chapter in Burficts career. Well, maybe the first few. But still, let's see what the next few seasons bring.

550 words; 5 TPE

19. So I've always seen an opportunity for L'Gazzy Burfict to have a starring role in Always Sunny in Philadelphia. So maybe, Always Sunny in Arizona?

Dennis, played by Tayshawn Crunk. I couldn't see anyone better to play Dennis than Crunk, you know, because of the implications. 

Charlie, played by L'Gazzy Burfict. Burfict isn't the sharpest tool, but he is very determined and a lover of Burfict work.

Frank, played by Tatsu Nakamura. Nakamura is the only one with the funds available to keep the rest of the team in shape, so it's perfect. 

Mac, played by Deadly Memes. I look at his stats and think, is he a wide receiver, a running back... a tight end? I guess now we know he's a running back, and an elite one at that. 

Cricket, played by Jay Cue Jr. Because he likes to hang out in the locker room and feel part of the gang. It's a love hate relationship because... 

Dee, played by Jay Cue Sr. Dee ruined Crickets life, and Cue Sr. being such a legend of the game will make it tricky for Cue Jr. to make a name for himself.

So there you have it. Not sure it will run for 14 seasons but we should at least be able to squeeze a few out. Not suitable for work though, obviously.

222 words; 2.5 TPE

32. PBE PT 27-3; 2.5 TPE

[Thor]

Code:

10. Write a short biography or story about your player. This could include background about how they came to the ISFL and how they’ve done so far, a story about their role in an exciting game, or anything else related to their experience in the league. 5 TPE

Ken Oath had grown up, and spent his entire childhood and teenage years in Australia - never having left the borders of the country for any purpose and the first time he left was this season when the Bondi Beach Buccaneers decided to hold a training camp in Los Angeles as a way to help the team learn to cope with the demanding schedule of long flights that the DSFL schedule demands. 



Before the flight even departed Sydney International Airport, Ken was already showing his inexperience as he tried to take his trusty knife through airport security in his pocket. After a lengthy and... in depth search Ken was allowed to continue on his way, having his knife put into checked luggage. Fortunately Ken had a fairly uneventful flight - but upon arriving in Los Angeles he realised that his accent was stronger than he knew, and it was very difficult to converse with the customs officials and he was in for another long process on his way into the USA. Once he got through the arrivals lounge, the first thing that happened was Ken nearly stepped in front of traffic, he wasn't aware that traffic travelled on the opposite side of the road and looked the wrong way, fortunately a team mate was behind him and pulled him off the road by his collar saving him from certain death.

Having grown up near Sydney, Ken is comfortable in cities and in that sense Los Angeles was not too different. The beaches struck him as very different though, with wide expansive sandy beaches running right along the coast a stark difference to the sands of Australia. After a trip along Venice and Huntington beach, the driver took Ken up to Hollywood Boulevard where he saw most of the characters from all his favourite movies! 

Getting to the training field was a whole new experience for Ken, though he has seen and trained at the Buccaneers training field in Bondi, the grounds the practiced on in LA dwarfed anything he has ever seen before. The experience was phenomenal, and the scrimmage the team held helped prepare Ken for stepping up into the DSFL. The biggest challenge the team was preparing the team for, the travel, was of huge value to Ken as he was able to prepare for the experience of being immersed in the culture of another country, something that he would be continuing to experience and learn about throughout his first season in the DSFL

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16. This task is exclusive to recreate/non-recreate rookies of the S31 class and later. The season is over and the draft is coming up. What do you bring to a team, and why should a team choose to take a chance on you next season?
2.5 TPE

Ken Oath brings a wide array of benefits to the team that drafts him in the upcoming International Simulation Football League draft, the flexibility he holds as an offensive weapon is of huge benefit. Scouts have heard he would be willing to play QB/WR/RB at the next level and while none of those roles are in high demand, the willingness to adapt will be a big plus to many.


Oath also has a significant locker room presence that will be committed to his new team, enjoying participating in discussions about topics relating to both on and off the field. Though Ken doesn't have a lot of playing experience, his game knowledge is fantastic and he can spot good talent others may miss. 

Ken has told teams that he's happy to play for any team, though not all reached out to him to find this out. He also hasn't made any big demands in his discussions of contracts and isn't asked to be called up or left down, leaving it to be a participative conversation based on the teams needs. Ken knows that his place on a team may take a bit of time to open up, and is prepared to wait a bit to put the team ahead of himself.

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21. Now thats three seasons on the new sim. What are your thoughts? Do you think that it is better than DDSPF16?
2.5 TPE

The Sim change is one of those big things that shapes the future of the league, whether for good or bad the biggest thing is that it changes. There are things I like a lot about the change, it looks better and generally I would say advancing the engine periodically is a good idea. Some of the experiences with the sim and it's engine remain frustrating, but there is never a perfect solution. I think the biggest thing I would wish for is more responsive Devs for the game.

The reality is the league has a vast quantity of users that put a lot of time into their game, and in a lot of ways we as a collective are likely as experienced with how the game functions as anyone else. So far we have unfortunately seen that the feedback provided to Wolverine Studios is rarely listened to and many significant issues have persisted through the generations of the game. The dream would be a different, "perfect" engine purpose built with the league in mind, but that's just a pipe dream and all we can really do right now is keen an eye out for any possible future improvements. Hopefully some day in the future we will have a Dev team create a game that they're willing to support and consistently improve in the future based on feedback!

[Patey]

7. This task is exclusive to non-recreate rookies of the S31 class and later. In 400 words or more, how has your experience been in the league? Who have you met that has made your time here more fun, friendly, and exciting? Have you been satisfied with your player’s early start? What was it like being drafted for the first time? Do you have any comments or suggestions for the entire league that you think should be implemented?

My experience in this league has been phenomenal as a new player. The different type of personalities in the teams LR has been what has made it so fun. I'm not sure about other DSFL teams, but the team that I am on, they have been nothing but welcoming me with open arms since I was picked up off the waiver wire. Whether it has been consistently joking around about how bad we are, about different records players are achieving, there is no shortage of communicating consistently. If you need some help, there's people to ping for that, if you need a place to vent, there's a channel for that, if you want to talk to new people, a channel for that. When I joined this league just out of curiosity, I never thought I'd be speaking with random people I have never met before and also have a good time with it. It's hard to pick out one person that has made my time here but I'm really happy that negs picked me up off the waivers to add to this already amazing core of great people. 

When it comes to how my players season has gone, my emotions have been like the shape of a mountain. At the start of the year, I was obviously at the bottom of the totem pole since everybody had more TPE than I did so as the WR3 on the team, I was obviously not getting the work I wanted out of my player. During the middle of the season once I started to pick some steam up, my player started to get some good games in and even scoring some touchdowns, including one with one minute left to seal the game! But alas, at the end of the year, those stats ended up going down and my player started making more drops. Overall I have been satisfied with how my player has turned out, he's by far not the best player on the team but he's a contributor and that's all I can expect from a late pickup.

Not being drafted to the DSFL, this upcoming ISFL draft has me so curious everyday not knowing where I'm going to land. It doesn't help that all of the alum and older players lurking around are toying with us saying you might get drafted today or maybe another day. But once that day comes, no matter where I land, I know I'll always have a great place to look back too.

As a waiver pickup, the only thing that I can think of for a suggestion for the league is how to make it better for people like me during the first season in the DSFL, especially for brand new players to the league. Potentially making some form of extra tasks or timeframe specifically for the tasks they missed, that way they do not fall far behind the other in the draft class. Let's say for example you missed the pre season tasks and a couple PT's, give them a day for each task to complete no matter how far into the season and maybe they get half the TPE of the original task just to give them something to hold onto.

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16. This task is exclusive to recreate/non-recreate rookies of the S31 class and later. The season is over and the draft is coming up. What do you bring to a team, and why should a team choose to take a chance on you next season?

The one thing that I can bring to a team for my player is consistency. I will always do every task that is available to me, I will always make sure I complete my updates and I will always make sure I ask how to build my player since I am brand new to the sim. If people are looking to collab on something as well, I will always jump on to help where I can, I don't have to much free time on my hands but if it means helping out someone to do half the job, I'm your guy!

When it comes to the team aspect, I am somewhat active on a teams LR, I love to chat about random things and make tons of jokes no matter how bad they are. I am also in to sports heavily and video games so if people are interested in chatting or playing games, I'm usually down if I have the free time! I may not be a teams top earner but the consistency is where I stand, I 99.9% of the time will not dip out or disappear for a week then come back to complete random tasks. You will be able to see my growth and will not be wondering how my player will progress.

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25. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why?

I would have picked to become a running back, something about getting offensive stats is what drives me to watch every single game we play on the game streams. When I see my player making moves around the defense, it lets me know that the work behind the scene I do for my player is worth it at the end of the day for myself and the team. Another reason I would want to is because I am not the tallest/biggest person out in the real world and being in that position, you take a massive workload. You also get to run over people which kind of gives me the satisfaction I can't have since I would truly get squished if I were to actually play the sport. Being someone who plays sports and has the speed but not the stature, it's like a happy medium knowing I could become one in the game if needed. When I joined this league I knew that it would be very difficult to be the one player to play that position since I do not have the time dedicated to be the best. Finally, while watching the NFL, the RB position is my favorite to watch, something about them being so dominant with their physical capabilities and being able to move the way that they do is just incredible.

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[IceBear32]

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Team Branding – As some who really enjoys messing with logos and fields and recreating some of the branding for teams, I’m excited to give my thoughts on some of the league’s branding. I do have a bit of bias to HON and our great branding, so I’ll exclude them from the convo. Outside of that I believe NYS has a great logo and branding that ties in well with their city. I love the theater type logo and the King-Kong level silverbacks. I think the have unique colors as well to be considered for this top spot. Some honorable mentioned for me would be Austin – Arizona – Berlin. And I do also want to know that I think the Baltimore rebrand last year was much needed and they did a great job with it.

Some teams I believe could use some work on their branding comes down to two teams for me. San Jose Sabercats and New Orleans Second Line. Maybe New Orleans is my fault in having no idea what a second line is but that’s how they made my list. For San Jose it must be the colors for me. The yellow and gold just seem very dark in a very bright world of sports. I do think brightening things up for San jose could go a long way in my books.

31. 

I love the addition of the World Federation Cup and the association established with it! This may be partly bias again with me being elected head of Europe. I think for myself this has been a super valuable experience and we are barley have way through. I think for both myself and other users around the league, this is a great opportunity to meet some people that you don’t normally associate with. Once drafted to your ISFL team you could end up in a little bubble depending on your level of activity. This just gives a low effort way of meeting new people and making new connections. With the value on the community, I think this is an import aspect of the game. In addition, the WFC heads position were created in mind to help us younger users get involved with and lean some of the ropes for becoming GMs. I can say from firsthand experience, that my limited time in the WFC gave me the confidence to apply for positions I may not have before. I think myself and my co GM are great examples of WFC being a steppingstone to the DSFL / ISFL GMing world. I thank those who gave us the opportunity to help with the WFC and look forward to helping some of the new users take over in future seasons.