(S26) - PT 1 - Keep the Change You Filthy Animal

[Thor]

Well this season is as different as it has ever been for Heath Evans, and while he finds himself on a new team he is surrounded by familiar faces. Evans has 12 teammates or send down prospects on the Otters who he has either played with, GM'd with or was the GM of - so there are no awkward moments in the locker room. He has found it very enjoyable playing against greats such as Brandon Booker and Rotticus Scott who were also just added to the team in free agency and Prince Vegeta and Rapid Eagle as long time veterans, as well as playing alongside fantastic players such as Lord Beerus, Owen Holloway and Ne Mo. Garfield Despacito Jr is there too, but eh. All players with ties to Myrtle Beach, Evans' DSFL alumnus.

It's been drastically different in the team mentality though, while Evans played four seasons in Arizona he only made playoffs once, in that same span Orange County only missed them once. Being able to line up as a feature player in a loaded offence has been a dream so far for Evans, and he can only hope things will get even better going forward. With a contract that ties him to the Otters for the remained of the career, it seems as though Evans is optimistic about his outlook with his new team.

[37thchamber]

A lot has changed over the offseason, after being drafted into the ISFL. Moving almost 900 miles, from Norfolk, Virginia, to Chicago, Illinois. Going from Pro Bowl to untested rookie. Again. Going from number one receiver to fourth or fifth on the depth chart. Going from a focal point in the offense to something of an afterthought. Going from a group of friends to new faces, strangers, effectively.

"I didn't expect to end up here, if I'm honest," Raphael Delacour admits. "We didn't have any indication from the Butchers that they were looking at me, they had enough bodies in the wide receiver corps, it just never crossed my mind they'd draft me." Oddly, though, the Baltimore-born receiver isn't expecting a massive change in his performance level. "I'm a better player now, sure," he says. "But the opposition, the level of competition is even higher. At Norfolk, we didn't really air it out that much so my numbers weren't great. Can't imagine I'll be getting many looks in this offense to start with. It's gonna be a tougher road than I was expecting, tougher than I hoped for."

He's not down on himself over it, though. "My first season of pro ball wasn't easy either," he notes, referring to a tough year in Norfolk. "But I came through it, I took lessons on board, I improved. Now I'm on a team who are legitimate contenders to win the Ultimus." He pauses. "It's on me to contribute as much as I can, that's all."

[Crunk]

The Arizona Outlaws faced a turbulent few days at the end of last season. After being shocked by the SaberCats in their improbably championship run, the Outlaws were rocked by their star cornerback Zamir Kehla deciding to leave in free agency, at the same time as Unicorn stepped down as GM. Their new GM pairing faced a problematic future, but with the Liberty appointing their DT prospect Doy Fieri to their coaching staff, the talented defensive back Wesley Eriksen fell into their lap in a trade as a ready made Zamir replacement (as Kehla found his free agency tougher than expected, and subsequently retired before his peak. F.)

Heath Evans decided to follow his good friend Bruce Buckley out of the door, opting not to join him but to leave for for Orange County, a move widely seen as a major blow to Arizona, but one that the Outlaws coaching staff were confident that they could mitigate with some smart drafting and creative schemes.

The news that Mathias Hanyadi was opting out of his deal to sign with Baltimore was the next unpleasant surprise for Outlaws fans, but they knew that Darren Pama was stashed in the DSFL waiting to take the place of the aging legend.

The ravages of time on quarterback Jay Cue have meant he has been forced to adjust his playstyle, but Arizona insiders say that the coaching staff love his new cautious approach. Indeed, management believe that this team is better than last year's Outlaws roster, with smart acquisitions and callups keeping enough of their talented core to offset any losses. Arizona may have started 0-2, but they did so last year before finished 2nd in the conference. Watch this space.

[Slothman07]

A New Life in New Orleans

A Treatise on Change, by Dorothy Zbornak

There are pivotal moments in life when a single decision has tremendous effect on everything to come afterward. I recall two such moments in my own life: The night I walked out on that cheating bastard Stanley, and the night I made the choice to leave the Liberty and join the Second Line.

After my cybernetic horse lung transplant still failed to get me into the starting lineup in Philly, I began to spiral. My life was a haze of cheesecake and anonymous sex. I wasn’t training like I should have been, as I had maxed just about all the relevant stats for a Defensive End. I wasn’t pushing myself, and when you stop moving forward, you may as well be moving backward.

Then, one night, as I sat smeared with cheesecake in the glow of my laptop reading and re-reading the offer to move to New Orleans, I had an epiphany. With the click of a mouse my entire life changed; I switched positions, allowing me to continue to challenge myself, I got a pay-raise, which I used to upgrade from my studio apartment in South Philly to a townhouse in the French Quarter, and I got onto the starting lineup in the greatest party town in all of history.

As I sit here on a bench in Jackson Square, stuffing my face with Beignets and trying to type this out on my phone through the veil of powdered sugar, I can’t help but think that I made the right choice, and the best part of the saga of Dorothy Zbornak is yet to come.

[Raven]

Written Option: The offseason is a time of change. Tell us what has changed for your player or for your team since you last took the field. Are you loaded up with new weapons or a large cast of rookies? Has your player improved, or are they currently in the throes of regression? How do you think this season will play out differently than ones before?

After ending his rookie season with the Honolulu Hahalua with 101 tackles, 1 for a loss, 3 interceptions with 1 pick-6 and 11 pass deflections, Davriel would head into the offseason looking to improve on what was the basis of an amazing career. Two big parts Lavigne was looking to improve on his game were his hands and his on field defense play reading. 3 interceptions and 11 pass deflections were nothing to scoff at. However 2 of those interceptions came in their week 5 game against the New York Silverbacks, meaning Lavigne only snagged 1 interception in the other 15 games. A big outlier was the 4 pass deflections he gained in the week 3 game agsinst the Baltimore Hawks.

Looking to become more consistant in the air defending game, Lavigne spent many hours per day studying game tape, working up his understanding of play calling and what the QBs of the ISFL like to do. Besides game tape he spent a ton of time on the field working with his QBs and WRs working on ball handling and understanding ball physics to up his interception and pass deflection game.

For the Hahalua themselves this offseason came with a few changes to the squad as they added S26 draftee Richard Littlewood to their offensive line and brought in hot young free agent Korbin Brown. Bringing in a future replacement for the aging Podolak. The team also saw S22 defensive end Ismael Sanchez finally be a part of the team. Rumour has it Ismael was quite high up on Honolulu initial draft draftboard, but lost out on him however.

The Hahalua who were looking to improve on their 8-8 record last season, came out of the starting gate this season with a disapointing 0-2 record. However with 14 more games to play anything is posible for this team.

[Hallmonitor_20]

PBE PT

[deadlunatic]

The offseason is a time of change. Tell us what has changed for your player or for your team since you last took the field. Are you loaded up with new weapons or a large cast of rookies? Has your player improved, or are they currently in the throes of regression? How do you think this season will play out differently than ones before?

The offseason helped my boy Mark Walker out a lot. He went from being a first year call up with some super low stats to a second year with semi low stats. He is now the clear number two wide receiver on the team. Which in theory should help his receptions and yards out, but this offense is stacked with weapons in the pass catching area. We have an established wide out number one with a couple seasons of really good production. We have a tight end out there catching passes like a mad man. We have a running back known for receiving out of the back field and an up and coming wide out three. But only being season two as a pro, the expectations were that he will continue to grow into the roll of wide receiver two. If the price for winning is low catches and yards for my boy mark walker, then I would say it is worth it. His goal going forwards is to continue to grow in to an offensive weapon that can be utilized however in order to increase the teams chance at winning. Personal success is great and obviously he wants to get those stats for his career, winning championships is more important in the long term for him. Whatever he got to do to win, he gonna do it.

[CementHands]

SHL PT Claim

[Alucas]

PBE PT Affiliate

[TheDangaZone]

SHL PT