*A Necessary Decision

[Jiggly_333]

I don’t know how to properly put this in character as I barely even know how to say this myself. I have been in this league for about two and a half years now and have once again found myself in a position of power. It’s weird to think that when I first joined, I was actually lobbying the rest of the league to let me become the GM of the Orange County Otters when that job first became available before S1 even began. Looking back, I even had a “platform” which involved making our starting QB Josh Bercovici and trading Mike Boss. I think that should’ve been the tip-off to anyone in the future that I’m not the right fit for making these decisions.

Anyway, I’ve seen pretty much any team that I’ve been in charge of crash and burn in some way. In the EFL, I had a perfect season with Notre Dame, going 0-14 and apparently leaving behind an incredibly dark legacy there. The Chicago Blues were relocated into a bot team, in PBE the Milwaukee Swans were rebranded the moment I left, and the Chicago Coyotes were just a straight up mistake. Even when I was the GM of the OC Otters, it may have been their worst seasons before finally winning when I stepped down.

I attract failure when I am in charge. Maybe it’s due to my lack of knowledge in football, maybe it’s just my personality. Recently while scouting for the draft this season and doing FA last season, we were told by multiple users that they did not want to be around me. So that’s always a good feeling. Having a dead locker room due to my own failures. When I was still GM of the Chicago Blues, maybe I didn’t try hard enough with drafting, with keeping people around. The locker room was DOA after that first draft because I didn’t prepare enough. Anything after that was just a casualty of that. All activity was between me and whoever was my Co at the time.

So, I know people have problems with me. I’ve always been really fucking annoying. I’ve always been that annoying dog that you keep around as a pet, but is always really whiny and wants to play constantly, even while you’re trying to do something else. When I first joined it was .gifs of girls, now it’s been narrowed down to .gifs of anime girls (improvement?). I understand if you don’t want to be in a locker room with me, much less a locker room with me in charge.

This is where I’ve gotten about four paragraphs in and I haven’t even gotten to the point yet. I am, effective immediately, stepping down from GM of the Chicago Butchers. At the time of writing this, there are a couple of candidates who we’re already in discussions with and should hopefully be replacing me some time this week. You can probably guess who my preferred candidate is, but I believe in all of these guys as potential replacements.

I think that’s the specific legacy I want to leave behind for the Chicago Butchers. I wasn’t going to last here, we all knew it the moment that I stepped in. I just knew that someone needed to take hold of the wheel while we found someone more fit for the job. So I did that. I took the Co-GM job knowing full well that I’d probably have to take over completely and bring in someone else. I hold full belief that Toasty was and is the right man for the job. The kid has a love for this league and a love for the game that I don’t think I’ve had since the Summer of ‘17.

The Chicago Butchers were not created by me, but I was consulted on it. I gave them the Butchers name, Engi apparently used some of the ideas from making my Chicago Blues logo in making this logo (six-pointed star), and I absolutely jumped at the chance to be involved with their inaugural season when I was able to officially sign. Oles and Muf wanted a win-now mentality and later FlyEaglesFly wanted to try to continue it, but felt like he wanted to move on. It was up to me to try to lessen the blow of the fall and try to get the right people involved.

My goal is and has always been to be people-first, family-first. It’s my dream to be as transparent as possible when it comes to what my team does and unfortunately I failed in that as well a couple of times. But I feel like I have succeeded in some places. While the team itself isn’t as active as it could be, I’ve taken steps to try to keep the Discord LR as active as I can get it, even if it means bringing in outsiders and just shitposting anime memes in the Weeb-Chat. There’s still people there and with multiple first round picks in this upcoming draft it is ready to welcome all of them and has the framework to be a good and welcoming environment.

When I first was promoted to Head GM, I got a message from someone I’ve known in this league for a long time asking me if I was ready to really do this to myself again. He made sure to give us a full list of things that Toasty and I should do all at once to make ourselves more appealing to the rest of the league. He said that we needed to make sure that people knew that this team wasn’t just some carousel. That there was a plan in place. This was my plan.

I hope that I will always find my way back to Chicago in the NSFL. Rosie will never sign for another team and I don’t think I want to play for another team with any future players. But I cannot help lead the team from a position of leadership. There’s a difference between what I want to do and what I need to do as a GM that makes it very clear that I will never be effective in that position. To build a community in a locker room, I don’t need to be the one writing up regression or handling contracts. All I need to do is just talk to people and try to get others to talk back.

I’ve probably failed in my goal of trying to clear my name of being the worst GM of all time with that TB trade and the fact that we’ve missed the playoffs, but I stand firm in my belief that I will be leaving this front office better than how it would’ve been without me. I am leaving it in far safer hands than my own. And should Chicago need me again, I will step up. I pray that it doesn’t happen again, but I will not hesitate to take on that burden once more and guide it towards someone who will keep it safe.

I guess this has gone on long enough. I’m not leaving and as I said, I’m not going to leave the Butchers. I’m stepping back from the power, I’ll provide opinions, but Toasty probably knows what’s for the best anyway. I’d like to thank the couple of GMs who came to me and showed support in me coming back to the GM ranks and I’d also like to thank the new Co-GM of the Chicago Butchers, whoever they may be. Instead of applications, I like to just go straight to whoever I think is the best person for the job and ask them if they want the job. So, if you were asked about being the new Co-GM of the Chicago Butchers, you’re pretty damn special.

From the Days of Daisy Ridley to the Nights of Nezuko Kamado,

I am, have been, and always will be:

Jiggly

<3

[YoungTB]

Love you Mom

[bex]

[Buttersqauch101]

Nothing but a classy way to go out, good luck in Chicago Jiggly

[Huskies311]

Chicago has a bright future with toasty

[SwagSloth]

I think you're being way too hard on yourself. There's no shame in moving on if you think it's time and I agree that Toasty is a great guy to pass the torch to, but I don't consider you a failure by any means. I know it may feel that way some days. I have days where I second-guess everything. Our minds can play tricks on us and we can often be our own worst critics. But you gave it your best shot and you had good intentions. You deserve to give yourself credit for that. Part of being a GM is taking risks and, unfortunately, risks are often judged only by the results. Someone of the trades I've made have been blasted; others have been praised. But there's a lot of luck that comes with that and unfortunately that's a big part of the way our decisions are viewed in hindsight.

At the end of the day, it just comes down to what will make you happy and, if being a GM isn't making you happy, then it's time to pass that role to the next person. Just focus on your personal happiness, try to be the best friend/teammate you can be, and only worry about the things that are in your control.

[timeconsumer]

It's all water under the fridge

[shadyshoelace]

It's all water under the fridge

I think you should get your fridge checked out

[timeconsumer]

I think you should get your fridge checked out

Jokes on you I just keep my beer in the snow outside the window

[SwagSloth]

Jokes on you I just keep my beer in the snow outside the window

I miss the perks of living in Yellowknife.