I created my first player, Julian O'Sullivan in Season 3. as a linebacker. I had some good first impressions and must have written some decent articles. The draft class was bigger than I remembered it. I thought it was only 2 or 3 rounds, but there were actually 66 picks made. I felt really good about my player and chances and felt like I was going to be a first round pick.
There were some good talks with teams ahead of the draft. Before the draft, my wish was to go to San Jose actually. I knew they were drafting Bayley 4th and I was hoping they would take me 5th. However, they ended up taking a kicker instead and I think that kind of spurred me on and gave me the right kind of edge I needed in the early seasons.
I think Arizona was thinking of taking me at 8th pick. I remember talking to ErM a lot and he was sure they would take me. That was the plan all along. But then I suddenly heard from TC before the draft and he was letting me know Orange County was taking me with the 6th pick. I was headed to the OC.
In my first season with the Orange County Otters, I was immediately a starter and doing well with them on defense. In 14 games I managed 97 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 7 sacks, 3 interceptions, 10 PDs and I scored my first touchdown as well. I was really happy with this first season and happy with how the team did.
The second season was interesting. With Winchester moving to LB as well, I was worried I was going to lose my spot a little, but it ended up alright and I managed to get 90+ tackles once more. I ended up with 93 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced and recovered fumble, 12 sacks, 2 interceptions and 7 PDs. Overall, I can be pretty happy with this season. More importantly though, the Orange County Otters went to the playoffs and there managed to upset the reigning three-time champion Outlaws in the first round, 27-9. In the game, I had 4 tackles, 2 sacks and a PD which felt like I at least helped somewhat. We then played the Wraiths in the finals, where we also managed to win 30-23. The championship game wasn't great for me, I only had 3 tackles and 1 PD, which seemed underwhelming but I was extremely happy over my first championship!
My third season was again very similar. I ended up with 92 tackles (keeping the 90+ streak alive), had a career high 14 sacks, 3 interceptions and 9 PDs. The 14 sacks were 2nd in the league only behind my teammate Winchester. This felt like another successful season for my player. The Otters dominated the league in this year and went into the playoffs as the favorites. There, we managed to win the first game against Arizona again. We won big, 43-19 and I managed 7 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 PDs in a good playoff game for myself. In a repeat of the previous final, I managed to win my second title with Orange County in a 26-15 win. Sadly, the championship game was once again a bit of a letdown, with only 3 tackles and no other stats.
My fourth season continued the previous trend again, with me reaching 93 tackles and keeping the streak alive. I had 11 sacks again, which is very good for a LB. I also had 3 TFLs, 6 PDs, 1 INT and two safeties! The safeties were especially weird as this was not something that I necessarily was ever good at before but I guess they are very luck dependent. Orange County won 11 games again. In the first round of the playoffs we narrowly beat the San Jose Sabercats 32-29. I had a good game with 8 tackles and 1 sack. In the finals we played the Philadelphia Liberty and we ended up winning our third title in a row. We won the game 23-17. Sadly once more, my finals went less than ideal on a personal level with 3 tackles and 1 sack.
My feeling of laziness definitely came out a lot during this time. The team had won three titles in a row, my player was doing really well. I felt almost no motivation to continue earning TPE, everything was working so well anyway, why bother? It definitely hurt me in the long term but it’s also hard not to feel that way sometimes.
As described, my inactivity and laziness sort of bothered me. I really liked this league and I wanted to make an impact and continue how well my player was doing. But I was also a strong believer in league parity and wanting to help bad teams be good. I wanted to play for an underdog. My contract was not going to be over soon and I felt stuck a little. I loved OCO but I felt like I had more to give in the league and so I talked to Molar and we came to an agreement that he would look for a trade partner for me. I think in retrospect, this feels like a bigger deal to me. I am normally not someone who raises any problems or is against my team, but I feel like OCO really did understand my reasoning. I don’t think there was any bad blood at all, especially not from my view.
There were a few interested teams but early on, NOLA became interested in me and asked in relation to a trade. They fit my thought perfectly. They had had 1 win the year before and were truly one of the underdog teams. They had just gone through a major shift in team branding and Bovo as the GM was someone I really got along with, as well as several other players on the team. I really liked the idea of joining their team and it would make me motivated again.
So finally the trade became official. Orange County received the third overall pick in the draft, whereas NOLA got myself, a 2nd and a 3rd round pick. I feel like overall NOLA got the better of this deal but who knows who OCO picked at the third overall pick then. I guess I could look but I don’t think I will.
Well, I got what I wanted in an underdog team. We won 4 games that season, though that was three more wins than the year before. I will also say that that was one of the most fun seasons I had ever had. So many amazing memories of the locker room. I crushed it on a personal level. I destroyed my previous best season and got 119 tackles, good for fourth in the league. I had 1 TFL, 1 forced fumble, 6 sacks, 14 PDs and an int. It was a REALLY good season for my player.
Well, it didn’t take long for me to return to the playoffs. Just one season after making the switch to arguably the worst team at the time, the New Orleans Second Line found themselves in the playoffs following a 9-5 record. There, we faced my former team, the Orange County Otters and I managed to get the win with NOLA, 20-17, despite another mediocre game for myself, 2 tackles and 3 PDs. Sadly, we could not do it in the finals and lost against the Wraiths. In the finals I had 7 tackles, 2 PDs and a forced fumble. For the regular season, I once again returned to my familiar place, with 92 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 8 sacks, 1 int, 8 PDs. The tackles for loss were high for once and I was 4th in the league there.
New Orleans became really great at this point, ending the next season with 12 wins and only 2 losses. The defense was especially dominant around this time. My player continued to do well, getting the first 100 tackle season in a few seasons for me, ending with 102 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 2 interceptions and 5 PDs. Once more we faced Orange County in the first round of the playoffs and once more we managed to get the win, this time more dominantly with a 39-21 win, the offense really playing well that game. I had 6 tackles in the game. In the finals, we were facing the Hawks. The Hawks actually had the lead going into the fourth quarter, but then NOLA turned it around and won the game 37-24 decisively in the end. This time, I had an absolutely fantastic finals game and recorded 14 tackles, which ought to be a finals record if you ask me! I also forced a fumble and had a PD. It ended up being my fourth championship.
I think I was already facing regression at this point, but still going strong. I had another 100 tackle season, finishing with 106 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles, 6 sacks and 16 PDs. NOLA was still doing very well, this time ending with 11 wins and 3 losses and still the first seed in the ASFC. In an absolutely defensively minded masterclass, the Second Line managed to beat Orange County in the first round of the playoffs, 10 to 3. I had 8 tackles in the game. Sadly, the Hawks were the dominant team that year, only losing one game all year and they beat us in the finals, 29-23. In the game, I had 11 tackles and one PD.
Another season into regression and once more fighting for a title. The Second Line managed to get the first seed once more, but much closer this time, with another 11 win season. I arguably had my best year at this point though, with 122 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 2 sacks, 1 interception and 6 PDs. At least my tackles were the most! The offense SHOWED UP for the playoffs, with a 40-13 win over Orange County in the first round. I had 6 tackles and 1 sack in the game that was never really close. The final was indeed closer, with a rematch against the Hawks. The game went back and forth, admittedly with little defense. This was the time to shine for a guy who is still on NOLA all these seasons later, Vladimir Fyodorovich, who had an insane game, where he had 10 catches for 99 yards, 3 touchdowns, plus 136 combined return yards with a punt return touchdown as well, and oh by the way, he also played defense and had 8 tackles and 2 PDs as well. Maybe the best game ever? For me, I had 11 tackles with a tackle for loss and a PD. The game went into overtime, where Darren Smallwood caught a touchdown pass and the Second Line were once more on top, giving me my fifth championship as a player!
This sort of abruptly changed our team a lot, with the next season only bringing us 4 wins all of a sudden, in a major shift. I am not sure what happened that year! On a personal level, I cannot complain again though, as I once more bested my stats with an insane 128 tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble, one sack, one interception and 8 PDs. Clearly we didn’t have a playoff game in this season.
In my last season, I played a slightly different role and boy did it work well. I only had a 74 rating anymore at this point and probably only 200 TPE or so, but my game was transformed. I was no longer the main tackler, but played a bigger role in the passing game. I ended the season with 88 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovered, 11 sacks, 2 interceptions and an insane 31 PDs, which lead the league, as well as a touchdown. PDs don’t appear on the top 10 seasons list, so it’s hard to say if this is a record, but give me a few minutes and I will check.
Didn’t even take five minutes. Well it appears that at the time, I tied the record of Marc Spector from a few seasons prior, but the record has been broken in the meantime with a 33 PD season by Ryan Applehort in S15.
In my last season, we managed to go 6-8 and missed the playoffs again, so the dream of one last championship sadly did not come to fruition.
I ended my career with 1132 tackles in 154 games, 32 tackles for loss, 79 sacks, 9 forced fumbles, 2 fumbles recovered, 17 interceptions, 120 PDs, 2 safeties and two defensive touchdowns. I was a five-time Ultimus champion, I went to the Pro Bowl six different times and in my last season managed to win my first awards as well, winning Linebacker of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year AND Most Valuable Player in an unprecedented sweep that should not have even been working but it happened anyway, due to votes being split.
At the time of my retirement, I was first all time in tackles and 10th all time in sacks, though in the meantime, Roenick has bested me for the all time tackles lead. I also retired with the most tackles and forced fumbles in playoff career numbers, as well as 10th all time in sacks there as well, though have once more been bested since then by Brown in tackles.
I received 14 out of 15 votes and was therefore inducted into the NSFL Hall of Fame, as the first player that was not S1 or S2, an accomplishment I am incredibly proud of and therefore wanted to write this article as a little history of my player to accompany him into the Hall of Fame. I want to thank a lot of people, though I will keep it fairly short for the sake of keeping it brief.
Thank you to @Molarpistols for believing in me, making me co-GM when I really did not know enough yet and for allowing me to pursue other goals.
Thank you to @Bayley for being awesome in the league early on and being the first person I really got along with well and for later choosing me to be his successor as the New Orleans Second Line GM.
Thank you to @bovo for believing in me and bringing me to the team in New Orleans via trade and allowing me a second half of a career that really changed how I felt about my player.
I am sure I am forgetting a ton of important people right now and I am sorry for that. Thank you to everyone who voted for me for the Hall of Fame as well. As I said, it was a huge honor to be inducted and I look forward to many more seasons in the NSFL.
There were some good talks with teams ahead of the draft. Before the draft, my wish was to go to San Jose actually. I knew they were drafting Bayley 4th and I was hoping they would take me 5th. However, they ended up taking a kicker instead and I think that kind of spurred me on and gave me the right kind of edge I needed in the early seasons.
I think Arizona was thinking of taking me at 8th pick. I remember talking to ErM a lot and he was sure they would take me. That was the plan all along. But then I suddenly heard from TC before the draft and he was letting me know Orange County was taking me with the 6th pick. I was headed to the OC.
In my first season with the Orange County Otters, I was immediately a starter and doing well with them on defense. In 14 games I managed 97 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 7 sacks, 3 interceptions, 10 PDs and I scored my first touchdown as well. I was really happy with this first season and happy with how the team did.
The second season was interesting. With Winchester moving to LB as well, I was worried I was going to lose my spot a little, but it ended up alright and I managed to get 90+ tackles once more. I ended up with 93 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced and recovered fumble, 12 sacks, 2 interceptions and 7 PDs. Overall, I can be pretty happy with this season. More importantly though, the Orange County Otters went to the playoffs and there managed to upset the reigning three-time champion Outlaws in the first round, 27-9. In the game, I had 4 tackles, 2 sacks and a PD which felt like I at least helped somewhat. We then played the Wraiths in the finals, where we also managed to win 30-23. The championship game wasn't great for me, I only had 3 tackles and 1 PD, which seemed underwhelming but I was extremely happy over my first championship!
My third season was again very similar. I ended up with 92 tackles (keeping the 90+ streak alive), had a career high 14 sacks, 3 interceptions and 9 PDs. The 14 sacks were 2nd in the league only behind my teammate Winchester. This felt like another successful season for my player. The Otters dominated the league in this year and went into the playoffs as the favorites. There, we managed to win the first game against Arizona again. We won big, 43-19 and I managed 7 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 PDs in a good playoff game for myself. In a repeat of the previous final, I managed to win my second title with Orange County in a 26-15 win. Sadly, the championship game was once again a bit of a letdown, with only 3 tackles and no other stats.
My fourth season continued the previous trend again, with me reaching 93 tackles and keeping the streak alive. I had 11 sacks again, which is very good for a LB. I also had 3 TFLs, 6 PDs, 1 INT and two safeties! The safeties were especially weird as this was not something that I necessarily was ever good at before but I guess they are very luck dependent. Orange County won 11 games again. In the first round of the playoffs we narrowly beat the San Jose Sabercats 32-29. I had a good game with 8 tackles and 1 sack. In the finals we played the Philadelphia Liberty and we ended up winning our third title in a row. We won the game 23-17. Sadly once more, my finals went less than ideal on a personal level with 3 tackles and 1 sack.
My feeling of laziness definitely came out a lot during this time. The team had won three titles in a row, my player was doing really well. I felt almost no motivation to continue earning TPE, everything was working so well anyway, why bother? It definitely hurt me in the long term but it’s also hard not to feel that way sometimes.
As described, my inactivity and laziness sort of bothered me. I really liked this league and I wanted to make an impact and continue how well my player was doing. But I was also a strong believer in league parity and wanting to help bad teams be good. I wanted to play for an underdog. My contract was not going to be over soon and I felt stuck a little. I loved OCO but I felt like I had more to give in the league and so I talked to Molar and we came to an agreement that he would look for a trade partner for me. I think in retrospect, this feels like a bigger deal to me. I am normally not someone who raises any problems or is against my team, but I feel like OCO really did understand my reasoning. I don’t think there was any bad blood at all, especially not from my view.
There were a few interested teams but early on, NOLA became interested in me and asked in relation to a trade. They fit my thought perfectly. They had had 1 win the year before and were truly one of the underdog teams. They had just gone through a major shift in team branding and Bovo as the GM was someone I really got along with, as well as several other players on the team. I really liked the idea of joining their team and it would make me motivated again.
So finally the trade became official. Orange County received the third overall pick in the draft, whereas NOLA got myself, a 2nd and a 3rd round pick. I feel like overall NOLA got the better of this deal but who knows who OCO picked at the third overall pick then. I guess I could look but I don’t think I will.
Well, I got what I wanted in an underdog team. We won 4 games that season, though that was three more wins than the year before. I will also say that that was one of the most fun seasons I had ever had. So many amazing memories of the locker room. I crushed it on a personal level. I destroyed my previous best season and got 119 tackles, good for fourth in the league. I had 1 TFL, 1 forced fumble, 6 sacks, 14 PDs and an int. It was a REALLY good season for my player.
Well, it didn’t take long for me to return to the playoffs. Just one season after making the switch to arguably the worst team at the time, the New Orleans Second Line found themselves in the playoffs following a 9-5 record. There, we faced my former team, the Orange County Otters and I managed to get the win with NOLA, 20-17, despite another mediocre game for myself, 2 tackles and 3 PDs. Sadly, we could not do it in the finals and lost against the Wraiths. In the finals I had 7 tackles, 2 PDs and a forced fumble. For the regular season, I once again returned to my familiar place, with 92 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 8 sacks, 1 int, 8 PDs. The tackles for loss were high for once and I was 4th in the league there.
New Orleans became really great at this point, ending the next season with 12 wins and only 2 losses. The defense was especially dominant around this time. My player continued to do well, getting the first 100 tackle season in a few seasons for me, ending with 102 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 2 interceptions and 5 PDs. Once more we faced Orange County in the first round of the playoffs and once more we managed to get the win, this time more dominantly with a 39-21 win, the offense really playing well that game. I had 6 tackles in the game. In the finals, we were facing the Hawks. The Hawks actually had the lead going into the fourth quarter, but then NOLA turned it around and won the game 37-24 decisively in the end. This time, I had an absolutely fantastic finals game and recorded 14 tackles, which ought to be a finals record if you ask me! I also forced a fumble and had a PD. It ended up being my fourth championship.
I think I was already facing regression at this point, but still going strong. I had another 100 tackle season, finishing with 106 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles, 6 sacks and 16 PDs. NOLA was still doing very well, this time ending with 11 wins and 3 losses and still the first seed in the ASFC. In an absolutely defensively minded masterclass, the Second Line managed to beat Orange County in the first round of the playoffs, 10 to 3. I had 8 tackles in the game. Sadly, the Hawks were the dominant team that year, only losing one game all year and they beat us in the finals, 29-23. In the game, I had 11 tackles and one PD.
Another season into regression and once more fighting for a title. The Second Line managed to get the first seed once more, but much closer this time, with another 11 win season. I arguably had my best year at this point though, with 122 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 2 sacks, 1 interception and 6 PDs. At least my tackles were the most! The offense SHOWED UP for the playoffs, with a 40-13 win over Orange County in the first round. I had 6 tackles and 1 sack in the game that was never really close. The final was indeed closer, with a rematch against the Hawks. The game went back and forth, admittedly with little defense. This was the time to shine for a guy who is still on NOLA all these seasons later, Vladimir Fyodorovich, who had an insane game, where he had 10 catches for 99 yards, 3 touchdowns, plus 136 combined return yards with a punt return touchdown as well, and oh by the way, he also played defense and had 8 tackles and 2 PDs as well. Maybe the best game ever? For me, I had 11 tackles with a tackle for loss and a PD. The game went into overtime, where Darren Smallwood caught a touchdown pass and the Second Line were once more on top, giving me my fifth championship as a player!
This sort of abruptly changed our team a lot, with the next season only bringing us 4 wins all of a sudden, in a major shift. I am not sure what happened that year! On a personal level, I cannot complain again though, as I once more bested my stats with an insane 128 tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble, one sack, one interception and 8 PDs. Clearly we didn’t have a playoff game in this season.
In my last season, I played a slightly different role and boy did it work well. I only had a 74 rating anymore at this point and probably only 200 TPE or so, but my game was transformed. I was no longer the main tackler, but played a bigger role in the passing game. I ended the season with 88 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovered, 11 sacks, 2 interceptions and an insane 31 PDs, which lead the league, as well as a touchdown. PDs don’t appear on the top 10 seasons list, so it’s hard to say if this is a record, but give me a few minutes and I will check.
Didn’t even take five minutes. Well it appears that at the time, I tied the record of Marc Spector from a few seasons prior, but the record has been broken in the meantime with a 33 PD season by Ryan Applehort in S15.
In my last season, we managed to go 6-8 and missed the playoffs again, so the dream of one last championship sadly did not come to fruition.
I ended my career with 1132 tackles in 154 games, 32 tackles for loss, 79 sacks, 9 forced fumbles, 2 fumbles recovered, 17 interceptions, 120 PDs, 2 safeties and two defensive touchdowns. I was a five-time Ultimus champion, I went to the Pro Bowl six different times and in my last season managed to win my first awards as well, winning Linebacker of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year AND Most Valuable Player in an unprecedented sweep that should not have even been working but it happened anyway, due to votes being split.
At the time of my retirement, I was first all time in tackles and 10th all time in sacks, though in the meantime, Roenick has bested me for the all time tackles lead. I also retired with the most tackles and forced fumbles in playoff career numbers, as well as 10th all time in sacks there as well, though have once more been bested since then by Brown in tackles.
I received 14 out of 15 votes and was therefore inducted into the NSFL Hall of Fame, as the first player that was not S1 or S2, an accomplishment I am incredibly proud of and therefore wanted to write this article as a little history of my player to accompany him into the Hall of Fame. I want to thank a lot of people, though I will keep it fairly short for the sake of keeping it brief.
Thank you to @Molarpistols for believing in me, making me co-GM when I really did not know enough yet and for allowing me to pursue other goals.
Thank you to @Bayley for being awesome in the league early on and being the first person I really got along with well and for later choosing me to be his successor as the New Orleans Second Line GM.
Thank you to @bovo for believing in me and bringing me to the team in New Orleans via trade and allowing me a second half of a career that really changed how I felt about my player.
I am sure I am forgetting a ton of important people right now and I am sorry for that. Thank you to everyone who voted for me for the Hall of Fame as well. As I said, it was a huge honor to be inducted and I look forward to many more seasons in the NSFL.
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