(S24) - Ultimus Week

[SDCore]

Code:

7) Awards season is a big part of the offseason festivities. Take the stand, in 400 words or more, for one or more players that are not your own, and argue why they should receive awards glory. They can be your teammates or anyone in the league. How did their stats and on the field contribution contribute to their case this year?

I have two players who I think deserve a word or two about getting awards. I'm going to start with the one I am the most passionate about, because he won't win, he didn't spoilers. I think that Mako Mendonca deserves to win Offensive Player of the Year. Quick note, he doesn't deserve to win Running Back of the Year, but he does 100% deserve Offensive Player of the Year. He had a good season as a rusher, able to get over 1000 yards and 8 touchdowns. His longest rush, wasn't super impressive this season, but were he lacks as a top 5 running back in terms of yards, he makes up for in total yards. Mendonca was able to excel in the passing game, this is why I think he deserves the consideration for the Offensive Player of the Year. Mendonca was able to attain another 762 yards as a running back in the receiving game. This is incredible and 200 yard more than the next running back in this category. Mako was able to be a threat all over the field and it's honestly incredible that he isn't getting credit for it. I think it hurts him that Austin was not very good, but I feel like that shouldn't over shadow what a silly good season he had.

Another player who deserves and award for his play is Dermott Lavelle Jr. Now, he is one of the best Corner Backs to ever play the position, but more on that in a bit, but he is also one of the best returners. This season he had a performance for the ages. In week 8 against the Yellowknife Wraiths Lavelle was the best player on the field and it wasn't even close. His day started with just a measly little 83 yard punt return for a touchdown. He then racked up 4 total tackles, 2 interceptions and a interception for a 96 yard touchdown. So all in all in this ONE game Dermo was able to take complete control and win the game for Austin. He was the biggest offensive threat from a defensive position. This is incredible and he should win Defensive Performance of the Year. If this doesn't win its a sin and tragedy. We should also talk about having a Special Teams Perfomance of the Year, because this in my opinion would also be it. Dermott Lavelle is one of the greatest to ever lace them up and to do it this late in his career is impressive.

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9) Pick any position, and determine who in your view is the greatest player to ever suit up at that position. Why do you view them as the GOAT? What achievements, records, accolades, or statistics do they hold? How do they stack up against the other legends in their position, and why does your chosen candidate come out on top?

One of the greatest players to ever lace up his cleats at the Corner Back Position would be none other than Dermott Lavelle. He was the first overall selection in the season 2 or 2017 National Simulation Football League draft. Where he was taken by the Yellowknife Wraiths. He would play his entire career and retire as a Wraith. While he was on Yellowknife they were a perennial contender, but fell short a bunch of times. This did not make Lavelles career any less impressive as he was still able to rack up gaudy numbers. Lavelle was able to win one title in Yellowknife and a ton of awards. He was one of the only Cornerbacks to win Defensive Player of the Year. Which he did in season 9 or 2024. He was also able to win defensive back of the year that year. Now is where things get stupid and impressive. Lavelle leads the record books in interceptions, pass deflections, defensive touchdowns, punt return yards, punt return touchdowns, kick return yards, kick return touchdowns, all for career numbers. He also holds the single season record for punt return touchdowns and the single game record for punt return yards and punt return touchdowns.

The closest next person to him would be Antione Delacour, who also had a stellar career. One of the others to win defensive player of the year from a defensive back. Also, with just one Ultimus cup. Where Dermott Lavelle separates himself is when you start looking at the career numbers. Dermott has a career of 57 interceptions to Delacours 35. Delacour has the 3rd most passes deflected at 176 to 249 for Lavelle.

These numbers make it really hard to argue for anyone besides Dermott Lavelle for the greatest of all time to play the cornerback position. I might go so far to say that he is the greatest defensive back ever. His numbers are just so far and away insane, that I'm not sure anyone else is ever going to touch them. It's crazy to think of this in context of the best defensive backs now. His son, Jr, only has 20 interceptions for a career, with half as many passes deflected. So if you compare them to one of the best in the game now, Seniors numbers are still so good.

It will be interesting to see if anyone can ever chip into any of these numbers or if the game has changed too much. Hopefully we can see a game breaking defensive back again.

[Baron1898]

Task 12 (405 Words)

I’m going to focus on one particular side effect of expansion - how the scheduling will work now that 14 teams are in the league. I believe that the league should take this opportunity to open up the fourth playoff spot in each conference. For the longest time, the ISFL sent only two teams to the playoffs from each conference. With only four teams in each conference, it made sense - you don’t want to devalue the playoffs by sending nearly everyone in. When the S15/S16 expansion was put into place, and the Austin Copperheads and Chicago Butchers bumped up the number of teams in each conference to five, the sim engine still only allowed either two or four teams to make the playoffs. But instead of keeping it at two, the league allowed three of five teams to make it, and the fourth seed would play a meaningless, guaranteed loss against the first seed to grant a virtual bye week. This stayed the same even as the Hahalua and Sailfish pushed the conference totals to six.

Now the Berlin Fire Salamanders (what a mouthful) and New York Silverbacks are on the scene, which results in seven teams placed in each conference. I’ve already discussed the scheduling issues this creates in a media post, and I’m still curious to see how that works out. But I’d like to argue that the expansion should change the playoff seeding as well. The fourth seed of each conference should be opened up.

Here’s a look at every playoff structure we’ve had so far:

• Season 1: Six teams, three per conference. Two teams in the playoffs for a 66.6% entrance rate.

• Seasons 2-15: Eight teams, four per conference. Two teams in the playoffs for a 50% entrance rate.

• Seasons 16-21: Ten teams, five per conference. Three teams in the playoffs for a 60% entrance rate.

• Seasons 22-24: Twelve teams, six per conference. Three teams in the playoffs for a 50% entrance rate.

What this shows us, other than the markedly increasing rate of league expansion, is that we’ve tried to hew the playoff entrance rate as close as possible to 50% but never under it. Allowing four teams into the playoffs in seven team conferences would result in a 57.1% entrance rate, which is not at all an unreasonable percentage of teams to send into the postseason. Also this would make it easier for Honolulu.

Task 14 (221 words)

For this task I’m going to shamelessly plug myself, Venus Powers, for contention in the ISFL Kicker of the Year award. Obviously awards results were announced yesterday, and so my victory is already guaranteed, but here’s the case why Powers should’ve been even more unanimous than she already was.

Her biggest selling point is accuracy. For only the fifth time in ISFL history, a kicker hit 100% of both their extra point attempts and field goal tries. Powers sank all 32 extra points and 29 field goals. In addition, 11 of those 29 field goals were from 40 yards or further, and three of them were from 50 yards or more. Her biggest competitor, Alfredo Crisco, went 38 for 38 on extra points and 35 for 36 on field goals. Despite his extra volume, I don’t think that this makes him a worthy alternative for KOTY. Kickers should not be knocked down for the opportunity or lack thereof given to them, and Austin’s offense ranked third in the league in passing yardage, rushing yardage, and points scored. Honolulu’s offense was much less proficient, even ranking last in the league in passing yardage by a good margin. It would be unfair to disqualify Powers for making the most of her situation, and she could not have possibly performed better than she did.

Task 25 (206 words)

There have been other, more influential changes to the status quo in league history, but perhaps none have been so personal or impactful to me as was the rebranding and relocation of the San Antonio Marshals. I was drafted to the Marshals fourth overall in the S14 DSFL Draft; the Fabulous Five established Marshal Law in our dominant regular season, and I gained incredible enthusiasm for the league as a whole. When Morgan Marshall retired rather early, I initially planned to make my way back to San Antonio. But team leadership decided that the team needed a change, and moved to the north to become the Minnesota Grey Ducks. This changed a number of things. It resulted in significant division realignment, moving the Grey Ducks away from their historic rivals in Tijuana. The GMs at the time were able to follow up this rebranding with playoff success, including back to back Ultimini championships only a season after the move. For a large percentage of the league, the Minnesota Grey Ducks are the status quo, and the San Antonio Marshals sound as foreign as the Chicago Blues or Las Vegas Legion. To me, the disappearance of the Marshals is the saddest change of the league so far.

[TubbyTim69]

16) The one non playoff game that really stood out to me this season was the week 10 Match-up between Austin and Philadelphia. Coming into this game the Liberty were an abysmal 0-9 while the copperheads were sitting at 4-5. Not only did I win some money on this game, the Liberty also gained their first victory of the season in a game that needed overtime. The game started with both teams offenses spinning there tires and not getting much going. The first drive of the Second for the Liberty resulted in a 7 yard TD grab by blocksdale. The following drive would see Varga haul in a 35 yard grab and run for anothwr big TD. At the end of the 2nd quarter rookie K Karmichael Hunt booted a 57 yard FG giving the Liberty a 17-0 lead going into the 2nd. Fast forward to 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Rookie LB Zelos sacks Easton Cole in the endzone for a Safety. This is huge because now the Liberty are up by 5 rather than 3. Forcing the Copperheads to score a TD to take the league. With this, it sets Hunt up for the game tying FG with 28 seconds left. This sack was the play of the game and the reason why the Liberty were able to get it into OT and win the game.

27) one of the most under appreciated positions in all of sports is the Offensive Line. Here I will be looking at who I believe is one of the most underated players in the league.... Simon Tremblay of the Philadelphia Liberty. The French Canadian was drafted in the 3rd round of the s21 draft by the Liberty. Tremblay was a waiver wire pick up the season prior of the DSFL and there wasn't much known about him. After being drafted the Liberty sent him down for the S22 season. While in the DSFL Simon quicklg became one of the top Offensice Lineman in the DSFL and a very bright upcoming prospect for the Liberty. After an abysmal performance by the Liberty OL in S22 seeing Brock being the most hit and Sacked QB in the league they turned to Simon in S23.  In S23 Simon took the league by storm with 76 pancakes while only allowing 1 sack all season. S24 saw his pancakes dip a bit to 63 but he didn't allow a single sack all season. Simon is not just LR active and High TPE... he is also one of the top premiere Tackles in the league and will be a multi OLotY candidate and winner.

[crow19]

6) The playoffs have finally arrived. Choose one playoff team that is not your own from either league and recount how they got here in 400 words or more. What challenges and hurdles did they face in the regular season? Did they cruise into home field advantage, have to fight off contenders for the wild card, or sneak in on obtuse indexing rules? Are they led by MVP players on offense, or is a stifling defense the engine to their success? Don’t be afraid to go deep.

The Royals reaching the Ultimini was a long time coming. Last season the Royals should have been in the Ultimini. Last season they were beaten thirteen to fourteen by the Kansas City Coyotes. The Coyotes would reach the Ultimini and lose six to twenty-six against the Seawolves. The Coyotes were on a four game losing streak when they barely beat the Royals in the playoffs. This seasons it was a different story. The Royals came into the playoffs with a stellar defense and an offense that was firing on all cylinders. With home field advantage the Royals played the Pythons in the NFC championship.  The Pythons were supposed to be a formidable opponent. The Pythons had beaten the Royals twice this season already. Twenty-three to ten in London, and seventeen to ten in Portland. With Howitzer leading the Pythons on offense they were sure to test the Royals defense. Luckily for the Royals, their defense is the best in the conference and one of the best in league, ranking second or third in all team defensive stats. With most of their core players returning for a second year before their ISFL careers, the Royals were set on brining the Ultimini to London. The team was not complete without an incredible rookie class that brought fresh talent on to both sides of the ball, including the offensive line. With one of the best offensive lines in the DSFL, some of the best linebackers including Burfict, Domine, and Light, the latter two LBoTY nominees, and an offense that was hungry for a championship, they brought their all to the NFC championship. They beat the Pythons twenty-two to three. In a much narrower victory, the Royals would beat the Seawolves twenty-four to seventeen in the Ultimini championship. The Ultimini saw the Seawolves get out to an early ten to zero lead in the first half. After the early lead, the Royals would become a force with Danny King on the ground. King would score all three touchdowns for the Royals. The teams had very comparable days, each with one or two turnovers and each around three hundred yards of offense.  The championship was a great finale to an incredible season. The season saw the Royals win eight games and lose six, finishing the regular season with a two game winning streak. Their points for versus points against was one of the best in the league, 290 to 232. An all around solid team brought the Royals to the Ultimini, putting the championship where it belongs in London.

424 Words

7) Awards season is a big part of the offseason festivities. Take the stand, in 400 words or more, for one or more players that are not your own, and argue why they should receive awards glory. They can be your teammates or anyone in the league. How did their stats and on the field contribution contribute to their case this year?

Last season Juan Domine and Busch Light were two of the best players in the DSFL on the defensive side of the ball. With nominations for linebacker of the year and defensive player of the year last season, Domine was arguably an MVP candidate, with a great user that is now GM of the London Royals. Since I cannot argue for Busch Light for all of the defensive awards, I will make the case for Juan Domine. Juan Domine is a star on and off the field with gm work, scouting, working with rookies, and strategizing for the team. On the field, Domine and Light have been stealing stats from each other for two seasons now on the defensive side of the ball for the London Royals. Domine should be in consideration for linebacker of the year, defensive player of the year, and most valuable player- yes, most valuable player. I must begin by saying that Juan Domine does not lead each statistic category, but he plays situational football. He makes plays when plays need to be made. It is not always about the statistics, sometimes its is about making it happen, when it needs to happen. This season had 93 tackles this season, and some would scoff at less than 100 tackles for a linebacker, but that was playing beside Busch Light who had a third in the league 116 tackles. To be able to accumulate almost 100 tackles alongside a 100 plus tackle linebacker is impressive. Domine spent most of his time in the opposing team’s backfield, with a league leading 12 sacks. He also had 6 tackles for loss. Along with these impressive playmaking stats, he had seven pass deflections. These show that he was a sideline to sideline type of player that always made it to the ball. Juan Domine is a hard worker that made up a pair of elite linebackers on the Ultimini championship winning London Royals. Winning the Ultimini should be considered when determining the award winners for the league. Domine was a team player that did whatever it took to win games. If Domine played alongside a lessor linebacker, his stats would be through the roof. We saw this in his first season when he lead the league in tackles. With Light taking a step forward they were able to split the work on defense. Domine played a major part in creating a defense that was first in the conference in all categories and second or third in the league. Domine should be in the discussion for LBoTY, DPoTY, and MVP. He was elite, he won an Ultimini, and he deserves it from his dominance playing alongside Busch Light.

447 Words

[JBLAZE_THE_BOSS]

8. The Tijuana Luchadores are the epitome of DSFL excellence, but they did not sit atop the mountain at the conclusion of this past season. The top isn’t far away for the Luchadores, but they do have some work to do if they want to be serious contenders and favorites heading into the season. The most important thing is the chance they could lose talent to the big leagues. This means they could possibly lose star WR Doug Howlett, as he has proven that he’s reached the personal pinnacle of the talent in this league, he’s phased out and if he isn’t on an ISFL team for training camp next season, it would be a shame. That means that in the Draft we need to target WR depth. I trust our defensive scheme enough that I think our coaches can get enough out of guys even if we end up having a lot of turnover on that side of the ball. Our defense was great at pressuring the opposing QB and creating turnover opportunities, we were on the higher end of the final league rankings for both sacks (41) and interceptions (12). It’ll be important to keep that up and make sure that teams cannot get out to big leads against us, while I nurse the offense down the field. It’ll be important for the QB to play better than average. A TD to INT ratio of 1:1 is not going to win any championships anytime soon. If I want to live up to the name my dad worked so hard to make, I need to get my things together and start making some moves for this upcoming season. I finally had an entire year under my belt of being the starter and knowing what to expect. I think the front office is going to surround me with good talent, consistent wide receivers and running backs who don’t stop pounding the ball. I take pride in making guys around me better, and I need to improve on that significantly if we want to take the jump to the next level. The front office and coaching staff have invested a lot in me personally, and I want to repay their investment by producing exceptional results on the football field. So far, I’ve fallen short of my expectations. However, I know what greatness looks like and I know how much work it will take. Nobody becomes great on their own, it takes a team to do it. I think we can put together a team that will have history look back on and declare it to be great. [435]

14. The Luchadores ultimately fell short of their Ultimini goal, but they will not all go home without hardware this season. There is a good amount of contenders for top WR this season, but there’s no doubt in my mind that my man Doug Howlett. Not since Doug Funnie has a man named Doug had such an impact on my life. He caught the most balls in the entire league with 76 for a total of 1,002 yards, also leading the league. As a quarterback it is my job to find the open receiver and it seemed like Howlett was always open. Sometimes he was open even when I didn’t think he was, I’d toss up a prayer and he would find a way to come down with it. The 7 touchdowns represented nearly half of my entire season total of 16. Our offense went through Doug and we were better off for it. As good as he was on the field, he’s a heck of a guy off the field. He will always take time to sign autographs for fans after practice, he meets with sick kids in Mexican hospitals, he is the real deal. It is only right that he gets rewarded with at least the Wide Receiver of the Year award. [213]

23. People are sick and tired of the same old All-Star style Pro Bowl game. Most of the time, the best players don’t even care if they’re voted in or not. Defense is usually an after-thought, and nobody is even risking serious injury, it’s diet football—an imitation of the real thing. We already know that these guys are some of the best athletes in the world, so we don’t need to see how they do in tasks that require physical exertion. I want to see how effectively these guys can get fucked up. Which player can roll the best blunts? Who can drink the most beers in the new “2 minute offense”?—if you catch my drift. How good are these guys at video games? Do they even have any War Zone wins? These things would bring it way more viewers than just a half-assed game in a hot, neutral climate. For some guys sure it’s a vacation and a celebration, but that gets old after you cash your first real check. Take it one step further, guys want to ball out? Let’s see who can win in an illegal street race. Who has the biggest balls, who’s gonna race for slips? This will separate the men from the boys and allow the Hall of Fame committee something else to strongly consider. [222]

[Shiznit19]

8)

The Austin Copperheads are a team that is well on their way to build towards being a powerhouse for years to come. Many see the team is being full of old players and veterans but it has been apparent that they are still a team that is in a good position to be a contender in the league. The past couple of seasons they have lost some key players due to both retirement and the expansion draft. However, they also have gained a lot of great younger athletes that not only offer plenty of upside, but also plenty of leadership to help build the team for years to come. In this league, it has proven that draft capital is not everything. The value of a sure handed solid player is immeasurable and the Copperheads have made a clear effort to go after signing those kind of players in the offseason. Whether it be through trades or free agency, they are willing to keep a more solid core of determined players around their lockerroom rather than risk it for the unknown rookies that there are in drafts. This effort greatly lessens their chances of having busts and also lessens the odds of great players leaving the team for greener pastures. This is because there clearly are not many pastures greener than that of Austin. So, going into this season, the team now will be featuring plenty of young star talent on offense. This is both with their wide recievers as well as the ground game now that Mendonca has retired. This will be coupled with the very experienced quarterback play of Easton Cole. It should couple to make sure that the offense does not lose a step moving forward. I also think that the receiving core can help keep the offense high powered enough for when the departure of Easton Cole eventually does happen. On the Defensive side of the ball, their line is full of valuable talent for many years to come. Probably making them have one of the most valuable lines in the entire league. There is some work that needs to be done in their secondary, with many of their weapons being gone and a very young talent pool in play. They also could use some help in bulking up their linebacking core. However, the GM of the team seems to have a handle on this and will likely address both issues via the free agency. Moving forward, the copperheads will ultimately continue to adapt and remain strong contenders for the next few years to come. They will be a fun team to watch and will constantly be in the mix within their conference.

23)

If our league had a pro bowl skills competition similar to the NFL, it would have to include many different types of games than theirs. The ISFL is full of a lot more skilled athletes that can further push themselves to lengths that the nfl couldn’t imagine. With that being said, I think one thing the ISFL could do is have a beauty pagent. There are all sorts of beautiful creatures and specimens in our league. With the recent competition involving fighting for the love of our commissioner, it makes sense to have a nice way to judge ones beauty. I would say leaving out a kissing competition would be a nice touch though. That is something that could easily get out of hand and the audience would not necessarily be fond of. I also think that having some sort of extreme mini golf could be a good idea. Something like that of Holey-Moley. Our version would allow a lot more violence and interreference when attempting putts. I think the skill set of our players focusing on a putt while having to fend off a tackler would make for pretty good television. Lastly, I think that we would have a chess competition. This would be nice to show off the leagues intellect. Afterall, not everyone can compete in the ISFL.

25)

I think the biggest change that I have seen since being in the ISFL is the previous expansion draft that took place. This would give birth to the Honolulu Hahalua as well as the Sarasota Sailfish. This change caused a huge impact on the growth and regression of current teams in the league. It also would immediately allow the chance for a competitive expansion team. What we have seen so far, especially from the Sarasota Sailfish, is that it is possible to build up an immediate contender. After only their second season, they are now going into their 3rd ever season being what many see as a highly competitive team with a chance at the Ultimus. This has been a huge impact as going into this season, we now have two more expansion teams adding to the mix. Either of these teams could either choose to build for a team to compete in the present or take a more long term approach and draft for a team to build for the future. This is obviously something that will make a huge impact on the league and is especially pertinent given how recently the previous expansion draft had occurred. Only time will tell to see how these next teams will impact the league but I am sure it will cause quite the ripple within the leagues history.

[PaytonM34]

800 word point task: Bronko Mills' award winning rookie season

Bronko Mills has had one of the biggest rookie years for a fullback the league has seen in a long long time, both on and off the field. A little background about Bronko Mills is that he is son of former Tijuana Luchadore and New Orleans Second Line linebacker Brian Mills who recently got indicted into the international simulation football league hall of fame, and has played fullback in his entire football career. Bronko wants to compete at a high level in the pros and is about to enter the draft and find out where he will spend his rookie year.


On the field, Bronko played hard behind starting running back Crowbar Theeks, averaging over 5 yards a carry and a handful of touchdowns. His focus all season long was to work on his blocking so that he can earn a fullback spot on an ISFL roster. Bronko does not expect to take many snaps at the starting running back position and hopes that he goes to a team that will utilize him as a traditional power fullback , so his focus when not carrying the ball was to put on the best tape possible for potential scouts. Bronko ended up getting awarded with the developmental simulation football league Offensive Rookie of the Year award for his play at fullback with Tijuana. Looking forward, he has his eyes set on a championship with Tijuana before he moves up to the pros. He is expected to take a larger load of carries next season as he gets more familiar with the luchadores system but still expects to be used as everything but a lead back. Receptions and route running should improve by mid season as he the quarterback situation in tijuana is uncertain as of this moment, however will be prioritizing his effectiveness in the passing game as both a pass blocker and receiver. Bronko has developed a knack for pass blocking in the backfield and earns him some extra time on the field. However his route running needs to improve, as he doesn't usually create much separation in man coverage. Finally, bronkos favorite part of football, comes the run blocking, which bronko thought was his greatest trait this season. Someone who can block at the fullback position out of I Formation opens up a multitude of options when it comes to play calling and overall philosophy of the game. Whether Crowbar Theeks has another season in him or not, expect Mills to excel as a run blocker in his sophomore season in Tijuana.


Off the field however, bronko had a much more eventful rookie season. He quickly became friends with fellow teammate Ben Alexander Arnold, the starting cornerback for the Tijuana Luchadores who came from the same rookie class. He also has become good friends with divisional rival qb Owen Halloway, who initially wanted to play for his favorite Developmental simulation football league team which is the Tijuana Luchadores. Off the field, there have been many adventures for these three, as well as their mentors Edmond Beaver-Dantes and Avon Blocks Dale Jr who have been guiding the DSFL rookies off the field this entire season. The friendship between the 5 players has been shown on many occasions. For example, one night after a Tijuana Luchadores loss, Bronko returned to his apartment where all of the boys would hang out. The game was a bloodbath in terms of injuries for both teams, and Bronko's friend and teammate Ben Alexander Arnold had suffered a major concussion . Upon opening the door, he told the group "I wish Ben was healthy so I had someone to talk to about next week's game". There have been times that the veterans have gotten the rookies out of trouble for their own good as well. However sometimes the rookies would be getting the veterans out of trouble as well. After winning the ultimus , Avon Blocks Dale Jr decided to throw some of his winnings on a couple NFL games , the clearly inferior league to the ISFL. However the veteran ended up going 0 for 4 on his bets and was about to plunger himself when an old friend Borkus Maximus came by and talked him out of it. Borkus is an old friend of Bronko Mills' father Brian Mills, as he was his father's General Manager when he played as a linebacker for New Orleans Second Line, and was even the one to draft him first overall in the season 6 isfl draft.

In Bronkos short career, there have been many memorable moments, however he looks to make history in the International Simulation Football League when he gets drafted to his future football teams and has his eyes set on the hall of fame just like his father had accomplished . There is a long road ahead, but with the season he's had, he looks to be a successful fullback in the next level.

813 words

[roastfuego]

I did a podcast for this task

https://anchor.fm/randy-vuxta/episodes/U...ask-ek4tua

[CDub2]

Well here we go. Another season, another long off season. But this off season is not as long as any others in Mike Hockhertz's career. Things are finally looking up for the Chicago Butchers. We made the playoffs for the first time  in a long time. Previously, the team was under some less than favourable management. Lots of poor drafting and trades. Steelsound took over with the task of reforming the team. And he tried. We had an aging QB and he went for it. No hate there. What happened next was the problem. All of a sudden, it was cool to slam Chicago and thus the social think tank of the ISFL bullied the Chicago GM out of his position and made him quit the league. So it's been a rough past, but that is when the team saw the light. Bayley and Muford turn up and create a different attitude here. The problem is that they have limited picks to say the last. A second rounder they have to use on Bayley's player, and then a 6th through 10th. And you know what, those guys put the grind in and hit every pick. And everyone knew it too. Everyone knew how good of a draft we had. And finally there was some hope to all the darkness from before.

We knew it was gonna be a bad season, but we were building. So when the next draft rolled around, we were even more motivated to keep hitting picks. And you know what, we did. We re vamped the offense. We added starters on defense. We stock the cupboards full of prospects. People recognized how good we were becoming so we were actually attracting free agents. Guys like Swag and Oles came over and joined us in the previous off seasons. Finally general chat on discord wasn't so negative on Chi town. So here we are in Chicago, after all the crap HO and the league put us through finally succeeding in the draft and creating a place people want to come to. We are feeling pretty darn good. And then, expansion creeps in. HO decides to expands and opens the expansion draft players and the most recently drafted players eligible? You guessed it, those two incredible drafts we just had. So another blow to the team that was just coming out of the darkness. And because we hit on every pick in two straight drafts, we had roughly a dozen rookies or second year players eligible to be drafted and yet only 6 protection slots or so. It is unfortunate, but it happens. All we could do was what our GMs did seasons before. Head down and grind. And it worked, we made the playoffs for this first time since Chicago was good post their own expansion draft. But it came with a grain of salt, we knew we were losing two starters just like that. And it's hard to imagine that any other team would get hit that hard. 

Look at the champions in the past few years of Colorado and OCO and SJS. They should be the ones getting hit the hardest. The champions should have the best players and the most to lose. Yet here we are, a building team that just happened to have 2 really strong drafts in a row being hit the hardest. The doesn't make much sense. So there COL and OCO and SJS go resuming their normal ways losing a player here and there and now, the youngest and brightest team in the league has to replace starters on the fly. I have no doubt that Muford and Bayley will do it again and make it work on the fly. The worst part is that Mike is on the downhill of his career. He doesn't have too many years left and now our prime has just been delayed by a few more years because HO couldn't delay expansion a year or two more. HO knows that Chicago was coming up, but to preserve the league's sanctity, HO needs to keep the up and comers down and make sure COL, OCO, and NOLA makes the playoffs every year to keep the people in charge happy. The league would fall apart if those three teams didn't make the playoffs so I'm not surprised at all that the expansion draft happened at this time where the teams on top have the least to lose. Very convenient if you ask me. It's almost discouraging to have another couple good drafts in a row again because we will just lose 2 starters during the next draft. It almost advantageous to only draft 3 good prospects per draft. But oh well, time to try again next year and possibly grab home field for the wildcard. Worst case scenario we build a couple more years and Mike finally sees success by the last year before he retires. 820

[SwankyPants31]

1. Mt. Rushmore

Creating a Mount Rushmore for the Tijuana Luchadores would probably be a difficult task. Not because there aren’t people worthy of having that honor, but because there are so many storied users that it would be difficult to pick just a few of them.

The first and foremost person that comes to mind is Ben, and that should go without saying. Ben has been around since the very early days of the league, and is truly one of the old guard of Tijuana. The guy eats, drinks, and sleeps this team and I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if he cares more about this team than any ISFL team. He has been a constant presence ever since I joined in S21 as part of the S22 class, and has been a guiding force in the war room since I was elected a captain during S22. It’s hard to imagine that Tijuana would be the place it is today without him, and we’re grateful that he continues to be a part of our culture.

The second person I would like to pick is FleshBagSoup who, as a surprise to some, actually goes by the name of Bagel. Bagel was really my first exposure to this league. He was the rookie mentor who approved my player, and immediately mesmerized me with his dancing dog forum profile picture. On top of that, his player Earl Sauce was one of the first I became familiar with due to just the sheer absurdity of the name and seeing it on his signature. I’d meet Bagel again later as he would be one of the first of the DSFL GM’s at the time to scout me. He’s just a fun, great guy all around and I really appreciate his contributions to making the Tijuana Luchadores locker room the fun place that he is. He also has a top notch emote game.

The next person I want to acknowledge as being on the Mount Rushmore for Tijuana is Jay Doctor. I know I mentioned Tijuana’s storied history in the introductory paragraph, and that this might be considered recency bias but to me Jay is a huge figure for Tijuana. Jay has been a class act since the day I met him. He handled the Tijuana general manager position with an air of professionalism and got results while still being a friendly and fun manager to play for. Though he didn’t scout me as part of the S22 class, I can confidently say that both Jay and Bagel absolutely knocked it out of the park when it came to that draft. They hit on almost all of their early picks, and as a cherry on top managed to find some late round gems that should seriously be in the consideration for biggest steals in DSFL history. Running back Julio Tirtawidjaja and kicker Jacob Small were taken in the last third of a 280 person draft class, long after everybody else had drafted several inactives over and over. Both of these guys turned out to be great earners for Tijuana, and Small’s kicking and punting game was a huge part of the Luchadores Ultimini run in S22.

Next up I want to talk about Tom Hanks. Hanks is another guy, like Ben, who has been around a long time but continues to hang around and contribute where he can in Tijuana. Really though, being not only a Tijuana GM, but an Ultimini winning Tijuana GM is probably just another box checked on a list of accomplishments for the man. After leading Tijuana to an Ultimini, Hanks elevated his general manager position to the ISFL (then NSFL) as GM of the New Orleans Second Line. Where he would once again, win an Ultimus. On top of that, since then he has gotten involved in head office, and is currently the commissioner of the DSFL. He decided this past season to recuse himself from the Tijuana war room in order to avoid any conflicts of interests, but he still pops into the team’s general chat once in a while and is always great to have around.

The final person I would like to mention is the great Gimmy Jaroppolo, or however it is that you spell it. While he is definitely a league wide meme, Gimmy holds a special place in Tijuana’s heart as the backup quarterback in two of the team’s back to back Ultimini wins (S16 and S17). He also happened to win a Ultimini in S15 to make it back to back to back wins, but that was with a different team. Nonetheless, Gimmy belongs on unarguably every team’s Mount Rushmore, and Tijuana is no exception to that.

Those are the main people I would put on Mount Rushmore for Tijuana. As I said earlier, I know there are more people and some arguably more deserving than those I have listed, but if I were forced to pick it would be these. My only hope is that one day I’ll be considered legendary enough to the team to be included with these others.