(S27) Ultimus Week

[GuitarMaster116]

10) Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?
The New Orleans Second Line had a really unique season. There was a lot of ups and downs throughout, but the team was able to pull together and make it all the way to an Ultimus in the end. So, I am going to talk a bit more about this. Going into the season, we had just made the Ultimus prior but fell short in that game against Yellowknife. We did lose our star running back and safety in Bex and JPach, but we also brought on board a couple of new rookies in their place who we hoped would help us with our success. Many people thought we were going to regress and not be good this season, as seen by our odds to win the Ultimus being very low. With a new sim and basically the same team coming back, we did not really see why, but we decided to try and prove everyone wrong.

Unfortunately, the beginning of the season was not pretty, and it looked like the people were right about us. We lost multiple very close games in heartbreaking fashion from last second field goals, to giant bombs that ended up scoring at the very end of games. It was brutal to see us falling short so many times. We eventually got to a 2-5 record. At this point, the teams moral was low, and we were already preparing to start looking forward to next season. We got a bounce back win against Philadelphia, but then proceeded to get curb stomped by Sarasota, leading us to a 3-6 record. This was the point of no return here, where we knew if we lost again our hopes for playoffs were over. So in a close game, we were able to beat San Jose to bring us to 4-6 and still in the race. With that win, our teams moral ignited, and with nothing to lose, we went all out and won 7 of the next 8 games, eventually making it to 9-7 and making the third seed of our conference in the playoffs, narrowly beating New York and San Jose who NOLA had big wins against both during our run. We then faced off against Arizona in the first round which most people thought we would be one and done, when we eventually went and beat them, then also beat Honolulu the next round to make the Ultimus. Unfortunately, the one team that destroyed us this season was Sarasota, and they repeated that in the Ultimus, ending our underdog and comeback of a season. Regardless of the results, I am still extremely proud of what the team was able to overcome and do.

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28) We’ve now finished a whole season in the new sim. What do you think about it? Are things working well for your player and team, or are there changes you think might be made?
After one full season of the new sim, there is a lot we have learned and we have seen area for growth. As a GM I have used the sim quite a bit for sim testing reasons so I know a bit about it myself. I want to start by saying no matter the faults and issues with the sim I or others had, I think that this new sim is a point in the right direction. A lot of the old issues of the past sim are gone, it is more roster building and scheme based than before, HFA is no longer as insane, and also while the UI is so much slower and is clunky, the sim for the most part is better to use. Plus it makes players who max earn and are some of the highest TPE players at their position play closer to what you would expect than before. Obviously I am a bit biased as with this new sim one of the best things is I was able to win OLOTY which was amazing, but OLine and most other positions in general played better overall, meaning a lot of the old records may be broken soon. The biggest changes I want is to kind of make defense a bit better so they can limit big plays, fix the run game, and just some other balancing things. Overall though I think the new sim is great and I cant wait to see its growth.

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PBE PT Affiliate Tier 3 Task

[Cklues]

Tier 2
11) All of these things listed are all things that are keeping me interested and engaged in the league. I’ve been looking for something like this for a long time and actually didn’t even know that leagues like this existed until recently. It combines two things that I love together, football and statistics. The football part is obvious but I am also extremely interested in the simulation side of the league and the game planning that goes in to it. I am intrigued with the idea of sim testing, because it involved compiling data taken from simulating games and figuring out the best outcome from those data points. It also is a lot of problem solving, like if you were trying to figure out why a RB was getting a low YPC, you could test several different formations, plays, etc. You could compile all of the data from these simulations in see in cold hard facts what would improve this running back’s play. This appeals to me a lot because I’m in the engineering field irl which directly involves statistics and problem solving. Being able to apply these skills towards a hobby I really enjoy (following football) has been great so far. I’ve really enjoyed my time in the locker rooms so far. I’m a quieter guy but when I’ve spoken, my opinions and just general things I’ve said have been respected and I’ve really felt appreciated for just being here. I feel like I can fit in and am valued with my teams. That was also part of what drew me to this league in the first place. It was advertised as a place for football, but also a place to just hang out with like minded people, and that’s exactly what it has been so far. I’m really happy that I got drafted by Berlin, I had some good scouting conversations with them and I know that they are going to put the team in a position to do great and will let me help them do that. They all seem like great people so far, and I am actually starting to get involved in sim testing over there which is awesome! I’m definitely very excited about getting involved in one of the things that I was most interested in. I’m not a huge talker, but I hope that I can make up for that through the work I put in earning and by helping out game planning. I hope that I can add as much value as I can to this franchise.

Tier 3
16) Oh boy, for most people this is a very good thing, but for me… It’s very bad. I’m about to get paid but at the time I’m writing this I’m 1.5 million in debt. So things would get bad very quickly. I’m about to get paid my new contract but that won’t change my money habits. So something radically has to change or I am about to be millions in debt. Good news is that things are changing! I joined the league late and had enough money to ride out the season without creating media until now. I also didn’t exactly know what to write or how much I was expected to write. But no more! I am working on an amazing post series that will rake in the money and be a valuable addition to league media. Introducing – Mascot March Madness. (similar to mammal march madness if anyone is familiar). I give the mascots ranks and they face off in a tournament similar to college basketball. It is not a fight to the death, it is just whichever mascot either leaves the battlefield, or is too hurt to continue. The matches are decided by their attributes, individual matchups against each other, and the location of the match being played. The location is decided by the higher seed’s natural habitat. I will assign a probability to the match and will simulate it, and post the results in a weekly narrative post. All of these matches and decisions are completely flawless and cannot be contested because they were decided by my infallible judgement.

28) What a season it has been! It was a fantastic regular season followed by an extremely disappointing post season, but I will definitely be ready for next season. I joined late this season as a free agent in Week 2, so most of the season I was trying to familiarize myself with the league and find my place with the team and the league itself. Things were bumpy at first, my updates were not applied properly and two players were created in the sim, one with my updated stats and one with just 50 TPE. The 50 TPE one played a lot of games, so my actual player only has a few games actually listed on the site. It was awesome seeing the improvement in my player once the error was fixed, and I could instantly tell the impact I was having in Portland. I am definitely finding my place in Portland and in Berlin. Portland has been very welcoming and I am looking forward to a full season with them and getting involved with them, whether it is during my actual time with them or just as an alumni. I spoke about Berlin in the other post but again, I couldn’t be happier with where I landed and I am so glad that they decided to take a chance on me. Especially when there are so many established users that still went after me. I want them to know that I won’t let them down!

[Drip]

8) Write about a potential new recruitment strategy for the league. How can we attract more new players, and what can we do to retain them better?

First of all, great prompt. When it comes to recruitment strategies, I believe that we have done a good job so far. The reddit classes have saved the league, without a doubt. Going back to my past experience as a commissioner, I know that recruitment is a fucking bitch. We were unable to get enough new players in the league to even start a second season, so the fact that we are now coming into season 28 means that something has gone right. I do think though that our reddit community outreach is dwindling. The only reason I think that is because we've already got a lot of the people who were interested in us already. My thought that I had for my old league, and it didn't work there because it was too small, is that we need to partner with a large entity. Think the Pat Mcafee show, where there are hundreds of thousands of active fans, so reaching out to them for a partnership, or even sending Pat a custom shirt. Or even identifying another userbase, smaller creators. Smaller madden creators, FlemLo, maybe even TikTok creators. Whatever avenue we can take to have more people know about us, the better. In terms of retention, the league does a good job of weeding people out per say. The people who aren't meant to be here usually just don't stay. 


10) Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?

PLACEHOLDER

[Jo3fish5]

16. For some reason, a bank decided that it would be a good idea to allow us to exchange our ISFL fake money to real life currency. Why? Maybe they want to make a player but don’t want to do the work for it. So the first thing I would do is EXCHANGE ALL OF IT. Congratulations banks, you just broke the economy. I’m now a millionaire and I can buy whatever I want to. First thing I buy is a computer, and not some janky chromebook, and actual computer that can do actual computer things. What are those things? I don’t know I don’t own a computer. But I do know that this computer will help me earn even more money in the ISFL, which I would then quickly exchange for even more real life money. I quit school to become a full time ISFL content creator. Every word I type is now worth a minimum of 725 dollars. Now that I make millions of dollars per hour, I make it rain. I buy a house. I buy an island, I buy a yacht. I donate massive amounts of money to various charities, because why not. I’m basically getting free money. The ISFL quickly becomes the best thing since sliced bread, and it has 17.4 billion active users. Because of this, hunger is eradicated, cancer cured, and sadness is a thing of the past. Now that I think of it this should happen, not just for me but for my would be money as well.

19. BREAKING NEWS: Local frog smashes world record cube time.

Last Sunday, local frog and football star Joseph Petrongolo attended a national speed cubing event in Western Berlin, where he decided he would attempt a world record attempt at fastest time to solve a 3x3 Rubik’s Cube. As the crowd of more than 3 people watched on, Joseph Petrongolo lifted the cover of his Rubik’s cube to reveal a cube, scrambled by a robot, that was somehow just one turn from being completed. One onlooker said “Why am I here when I could be sleeping.” Petrongolo picked up the Rubik’s Cube, turned it once, and set it down in 0.23 seconds, breaking the previous world record of 3.47 seconds held by Yusheng Du. Some critics call it “rigged”, “a publicity stunt”, and one king even claimed that he could do it faster. But in the end, the solve was verified and currently sits in the world record books more than 3 seconds faster than any solve previously done by a non-robot. When asked about the feat afterwards, Joseph Petrongolo said “pog” and then hopped into his car and drove to his practice for the Berlin Fire Salamanders, where he declared himself a god and ascended to the heavens. More on this story coming up at 11.

25. Ultimus 28. The Berlin Fire Salamanders win a decisive game over the Chicago Butchers, 78-2. The crowd is going absolutely bonkers. Black, red, white, and yellow confetti rains down on the players. Reporters flock to the player who has scored the game winning 77 point touchdown as time expired, the best running back to ever have existed on the Fire Salamanders, Joseph Petrongolo. They all want to know one specific thing, the one question, how is this frog going to celebrate his victory? He responds: “Well, I’ve wanted to say this all my life. I’M GOING TO DISNEY... plus.” That’s right, covid cancelled the actual Disney World, so the entire Berlin squad is going back to Petrongolo’s house in Frankfurt to sit in front of a projector playing kids movies while 6 foot tall, 300 pound men sing along to their childhood favorites, like Let It Go. For some reason, we don’t doubt this and actually think that even if covid wasn’t a thing, this is exactly how the team would celebrate anyway. Of course, Petrongolo lives in a 3-square foot hole in the ground, so this event is actually taking place in Joseph’s front yard, which is the entirety of the woods surrounding his house.

29. I feel like this prompt is directly geared to me. The newest award being introduced into the league is now the Offensive Joe of the Year award, as well as the Defensive Joe of the Year award. Now, I know what you’re thinking while reading this: “wow this is such an amazing idea, why didn’t I think of this” and the answer is because I’m just better. A whole award geared specifically to players named Joe? What could possibly go wrong. Joe is such an amazing name and it deserves to be honoured above all the other names with this very special award. Less players have earned this award than are in the Tijuana locker room, that’s how you know it’s exclusive. This award should immediately be implemented into the line up for this upcoming season. Why? It would cause an influx of new players who have the name Joe somewhere in them. This is the best decision that could possibly be made, because studies show that 99 percent of people named Joe are very wholesome and cool people. Sure, you get a bad egg every once in a while. JoeK is a stunning example of this. But at the rate new Joe’s would be joining the league, it wouldn’t even matter. I haven’t even gotten to the best part of this award yet. You don’t even have to be active to win it! That’s right, did you join the league and a Joe, and then realize you didn’t actually feel that Joe falling deep down inside? Well not to worry! You can feel free to sit back, go IA, and still win more awards than the average not-joe, because sim bad and IAs are good sometimes for some reason. Congratulations, you’ve won an award for being named Joe, the award we didn’t know we wanted but now could never live without.

[CalvinGolladay]

Task 11: There are really a few key things that keep me active in the league, and I have to say that my current player isn’t really one of them. As much as Golladay has been fun as an offensive lineman, I’m not gonna pretty it’s been a stellar career, which doesn’t really bother me. Tijuana is easily the #1 thing keeping me in the league. I honestly doubt I’d still be active if it wasn’t such an awesome place, whether in the general chat or the war room. Even when I eventually go IA/the league dies/contraction kills teams/I die irl I hope I can and plan to stay active over there. The second thing is Arizona. I know I said my player isn’t keeping me anchored here, but Zona as a team definitely is. I plan on going for the longest possible career over there on the min so we can finally win another Ultimus. I’m honestly pretty disappointed we couldn’t get Cue one after another wildcard loss, but right now the goal is just to hopefully win at least a playoff game before retirement. I haven’t been super active as an earner or a player, but I’m still committed to getting some success at some point. And finally, the third thing is the awards committee. I’ve got deniability when it comes to the votes, so people can’t slander me too hard when they hate the final vote numbers. As far as I know the vote counts for nominations are anonymous for non-committee members, not that it matters. For the most part things are really civil in there which is nice, but it is fun when things get somewhat heated as well, especially on tied votes for the heads to break. Whether arguing efficiency vs volume or “you have to look at where he got the stats!” it’s generally pretty fun. Not to mention it gives me a non-DSFL “behind the scenes” thing and probably the easiest job in the league, both of which are nice. Overall I don’t expect to go fully IA any time soon. I know I was technically IA for an early offseason in this career, but I’d like to think that I’ll stick around even if I get burned out as a player. I think connecting with players early is crucial to retention, in my case Tijuana and especially my draft class were my connection. Getting players reasons to stick around is crucial, though that’s more of an individual basis rather than league policy.

Task 16: I might not be Infinite or BR in terms of money, but I think pending my latest media I’ll be around $25 million. If this is only a one-time transaction I’m converting it all into $12 million real US dollars no questions asked and rebuilding my bank account. If it’s permanent I think it’s time to go into writing and full time make money through writing media. I’d probably become a max earner with the amount of time I’d have on my hands, and I could see myself leaving money in my account for equipment. $6 million US dollars is pretty expensive for equipment, but it’s not like I’d really need the money at that point. That money is going towards a house, a car, and investments. I know, pretty boring, but I hope I’d have the common sense not splurge on useless goods. Probably season tickets for the Lions so I could be disappointed in person, and of course jerseys for my favorite NFL and ISFL players. I could retire immediately with that kind of money, even if I just threw it in the bank and lived off a salary from it, so without any extravagant purchases I’d be pretty good to go. Meanwhile the ISFL 1% would be making nine figures off of this, so something tells me we’d see some crazy inflation unless it was only special Calvin Golladay ISFL money only. Now that I think about it Dotts would be super expensive as well, at $50k per pack.


PBE Affiliate

[Gumbaman]

1. The start of the S27 saw the Birddogs start off the pre-season with a close victory over the Minnesota grey ducks 27 to 16. The Birddogs started off the game with a Field goal from the best Kicker in Dallas history Dallas Dole. Then, Erik Gare ran one yard for a touchdown which Dole made the extra point. The only points Dallas got in the second quarter were from a 51-yard field goal from Dole. In the third quarter, Dallas got off hot with Both Chunt the Badger getting a 41-yard touchdown thrown by Joliet Christ Jr. Dole made the extra point. The final points Dallas got in the game were from a one-yard run from Sirdsvaldis Miglasķēms. Dole made the extra point to go three for three on the day. One important win in Dallas’s season was their week 6 game against the Portland Pythons. The game started out with the Pythons scoring ten points early in the first. A touchdown coming to Saleem Spence, thrown by Lebron James III. Then, came a field goal from Portland’s Cade York. The Birddogs struck back with a touchdown from a twenty-three-yard run by Sirdsvaldis Miglasķēms. Dallas Dole missed the extra point. The second quarter started out with Dallas’s Erik Gaare running one-yard into the endzone scoring six points. Dallas Dole made the extra point. Portland then tackled Sirdsvaldis Miglasķēms for a safety. Near the end of the second quarter, Dallas’s Sirdsvaldis Miglasķēms ran nine-yards for a touchdown. Dallas Dole made the extra point to put him two of three on the day. The third quarter started out with Portland’s Saleem Spence catching a pass from LeBron James III which lead to a touchdown. Portland made the two-point conversion. Dall struck back again. This time Bayley Cowabunga caught a touchdown from Joliet Christ Jr. It was an eight-yard pass and Dallas Dole made the extra point, putting him at three of four on the day. Dallas followed it up in the fourth quarter by first scoring a forty-seven-yard field goal by Dallas Dole. Dallas Dole quickly followed it up by making a twenty-six-yard field goal to give Dallas the lead by thirteen. Portland followed it up with a minute and twenty-six seconds left in the game with a two-yard pass from LeBron James III to Quavious McGrady to make the score thirty-three to twenty-seven. Bayley Cowabunga ended Dallas’s amazing game with a one-hundred-five-yard kickoff return to score six points. Dallas dole made the extra point to end him with four out of five extra points made on the day. The final score was forty Dallas and twenty-seven Portland. Dallas ended their season with eleven wins and three losses. What an amazing season for what would be Bradshaw’s last season in the DSFL and with Dallas. He will go down in the history books as one of Dallas’s best players in its history. The Dallas Birddogs faced the Tijuana Luchadors in their first game of the playoffs. Tijuana finished the season with six wins and eight losses. Which is a sub-five-hundred record. They finished above the Bondi Beach Buccaneers and the Norfolk Seawolves. It was a close race between those three teams. Dallas was untouchable in the South division. They lead by five games over Tijuana and had the best record in the DSFL. This was their best season in the organization’s history. They were hoping for their first playoff win. The game against Tijuana was a close game. They were shaken since it was their first time in the playoffs. They prevailed and were onto the Ultimini game. Their first time ever being on the big stage and fighting for the trophy. The Kansas City Coyotes won their game and were off onto the Ultimini game against the Dallas Birddogs. The Dallas Birddogs and the Coyotes were sworn enemies and rivals. It all started because of two players. Eleven Kendrick Watts and Jason Bradshaw. Bradshaw had played against Watts numerous times and continued to shut him down every game no matter what the KCC coaches tried. Bradshaw always had Watt’s number no matter where or when they played. It was close this game and it was going to be touch no matter who won or lost. It was a great game and penalties were being thrown left and right no matter who it was or what team they were on. IT was a tough and hard-fought game for every player and every coach. I’m proud of how the birddogs played and acted this year. It was an enormous year and It was Bradshaw’s last and final year in the DSFL. I can’t wait to what Dallas can do in the future and what they can accomplish with the future players. It’s going to be fun to see and It was the best season in Dall’s history thanks to Kya.

[MobiausGrander]

1) Man, S27 was a great and, for a lot of the time, surprising season for the ISFL! I am writing this after the playoffs and championship for the ISFL, so this will be a reflection on the teams that made the playoffs and how they got here and how each team did relative to their own expectations! Unlike last season, this season was completely done with a new sim engine so there were a lot of surprises to me.

    I will begin with one of last season's true contenders, the Chicago Butchers. The Butchers went 11-5 this season which is usually a good record that should be enough to make the playoffs in any season; however, last season they went 10-6 and were second in the ASFC; by comparison, because they went 11-5 this year, they improved by one game compared to last season but nearly clinched 1 seed due to a last second loss that dropped them half a game below Honolulu for the 1 seed. The improvement the team showed through the improved record appeared to be marginally as they were dominated by the Yeti in the quarter finals and feel out of the playoffs early in a sort of disappointing manner. The final score of 24-19 makes the game closer than it is as the Yeti were up 24-7 at halftime and in typical fashion let the breaks off the gas allowing a comeback effort by the Butchers that ultimately fell short in the end.

    The next team I will reflect upon are the Colorado Yeti. The Yeti, like the Butchers, had an improvement on their season record from a season ago as they went 10-5-1 and clinched the 3 seed in the NSFC. However, their exit from the playoffs was a bit brutal. After dominating the Chicago Butchers in the first game, 24-19, the Sarasota Sailfish mercilessly dominated the Yeti to a score of 47-27. Hell, the score is not even indicative of the destruction and decimation that was on display as Sarasota's defensive forced about 10 turnovers from the Yeti and had a sack party as well to the point as if they were just toying with the Yeti and had yet to unleash their full strength.  

    The next team up are the Sarasota Sailfish. The Sailfish's record this season was a massive step forword from their last season record of 8-8 as they went 12-4 and claimed the best record in the whole league. In addition, the Sailfish throughly dominated throughout the playoffs. In their first game, they matched up against the defending champions, the Yellowknife Wraiths. The game was close throughout as both teams went blow-for-blow against each other and gave the other all they can handle. However, the Sailfish came out on top with a score of 37-34. It would appear that the Wraiths were the toughest team that the Sailfish had to face as they humiliated and destroyed the Yeti, 47-27, and handily defeated my team, the New Orleans Second Line, in the Ultimus, 34-10 and even nearly shutting us out, capping off one of the most dominant season in ISFL history.

    The next team up is the team that the Sailfish beat in the playoffs this year, the Yellowknife Wraiths. The Wraiths went 8-8 this season after going 13-3 last season and winning the Utlimus. However, this year was a bit of a underwhelming and disappointing one for the Wraiths as the Wraiths fell to the champs, the Sailfish, in the first round to a score of 37-34, capping off a disappointing defense of their championship a season ago. 

  The next two teams up that I will reflect on are going to be combined: the Arizona Outlaws and the San Jose Sabercats. The both of these two teams improved massively from last season as they were both iffy teams last season and exceed expectations by going above .500 and making the playoffs this season. Unfortunately, they both matched up in the playoffs against better teams and both lost massively, setting up mini setbacks to both teams despite having improved seasons from a year ago. 

  The final two teams that I will write about are the Honolulu Hahalua and the New Orleans Second Line! Both these teams had great seasons relative to last year where they both went 7-9. The Hahalua went 11-4-1 this season, while the Second Line went 9-7, leading to them being at the top of their respective conferences or at least towards playoff contention. The two teams were top 5 in both offense and defense throughout the season and it showed throughout the playoffs! The Honolulu easily defeated the Cats but against the Second Line in a close game, while the Second Line won against the Outlaws and emerged victorious in an epic conference championship game against the Hahalua, leading for the Line to matchup against the Sailfish in the Utimus. Unfortunately for the Second Line, the Ultimus went like Super Bowl 48 again where the Line were the Broncos and the Line were the Seahawks as the Sailfish as they blewout the Line 34-10, leading to the title for this season.

All in all, this was an interesting season filled with epic games, suspense, and a great playoffs! I hope that this kind of season can happen again with the introduction of the new simulation next season!

[WhatAmUs]

UW Pass (KCC GM)