Just to be clear, because tone is sometimes hard to read on the internet: The title is a joke and this is not a slam piece targeting any of the users or players involved.
The S22 Award Nominations were not good. I think in most cases the player who eventually won the award was the worthiest candidate, but a lot of players who should have been on the ballot were not. This matters because people care about being nominated for awards, even when they don’t win. The recognition that being nominated for an award brings is a positive thing. The right people being nominated for awards is good for everyone, because those who are nominated feel good about having been nominated, and those who haven’t been nominated are secure in the fact that there were good reasons why they weren’t nominated.
I’ll provide some examples of nominations I thought were really poor, and rather than just complaining I’ll suggest some possible solutions to prevent this happening in future.
DE of the Year
There’s an obvious snub for the Defensive End of the year award. ILove Gimmy of the Philadelphia Liberty recorded 40 tackles, 7 TFLs, 1 FR and 7 sacks. Of the nominees, only Matt Hole (20 and 3) recorded more combined sacks and TFLs, and only Lawrence Bass (18 and 3) recorded an equal number. So, why were four players with comparable or fewer sacks and TFLs nominated ahead of Gimmy? Immanuel Blackstone, the eventual winner, had 12 TFLs and 6 sacks (both fewer), but also had 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, a safety and a blocked punt. This nomination makes sense. As above, Lawrence Bass accumulated 18 TFLs and 3 sacks, but also had a safety. This seems fair too. Simeon Works posted 32 tackles, 17 for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 2 sacks and a safety. Works was an elite run defender, but not on the level of Hole or Bass. I’d rather see the nomination go to someone who defended the run comparably (Gimmy had 8 more tackles, 3 fewer TFLs) but who also had 5 more sacks, more than tripling Works’ number. Maybe the awards committee really loved safeties, but they’re such a rare play that I feel uncomfortable assigning too much value to them. But that’s certainly debatable, and maybe that’s the conversation the awards committee had. Now, we come to Ben Tu'inukuafe. Ben T. recorded 47 tackles, 13 for loss, 2 fumble recoveries and 5 sacks. Nominating Ben T. over Gimmy implies that you value 7 tackles and a fumble recovery over a TFL and 2 sacks. I don’t think this is defensible. Fumble recoveries, at least in the real life game of football, are mostly random and not indicative of a talent for recovering fumbles (source: – you can find other articles too if you’re curious). I don’t think 7 tackles are worth more than a TFL and two sacks.
But that’s okay, because maybe you do value tackles at the defensive end position slightly more than TFLs and sacks. Or maybe, despite the heavy dose of luck involved, you value the extra turnover that Ben T. contributed to. In which case, I’d draw your attention to Nero Alexander of the Yellowknife Wraiths. With 13 TFLs and 5 sacks, Alexander recorded an identical number of TFLs and sacks. Alexander recorded 44 tackles, just 3 fewer than Ben T., but also forced 2 fumbles. Unlike fumble recoveries, forcing fumbles does appear to be a skill, at least on an individual level (source: some players consistently force higher numbers of fumbles compared to their peers). If you care more about plays in the backfield, Gimmy should have been nominated over Ben T. If you care more about turnovers, then Alexander should have been nominated over Ben T. If you care more about tackles, then Gimmy or Alexander should’ve been nominated over Works.
DT of the Year
The DT of the Year award is relevant because it supports the case that the Awards Committee was inconsistent in determining who should be nominated. I’d like to draw attention to Rapid Eagle. Rapid Eagle accumulated 38 tackles, 3 TFLs, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, 5 sacks, a safety and a blocked punt. That’s 8 combined TFLs/sacks, two potential turnovers (one if we’re dismissing fumble recoveries as relevant), a safety and a blocked punt. If we compare Rapid to the other nominees, we see that while he had fewer tackles and combined sacks/TFLs than each of the nominees. I think leaving Rapid off the ballot would be unwise, but defensible if they’d been applying the same logic to each of the positions. But as we saw with the DE of the Year award, being among the top 5 in combined sacks/TFLs isn’t enough to get you nominated for a DL award. Bubba Thumper had 2 more tackles, and two more combined TFLs/sacks (though Rapid recorded 3 TFLs to Thumper’s 0), but Rapid forced a fumble, recorded a safety and blocked a punt. Looking at the DE of the Year awards, it appears the committee prioritised turnovers, safeties and blocked punts over tackles, TFLs and sacks. So why was Rapid not nominated over someone who had 2 more tackles and 2 more combined TFLs/sacks given Rapid’s forced fumble, safety and blocked punt?
LB of the Year
This is one that got a lot of attention on the stream, on podcasts and in media so I’ll try and keep this concise. Honda Edmond recorded the most tackles (135) of any player since the league moved to a 13 game season, and more tackles per game (10.4) than the record holder for tackles in a season (Kurt Hendrix, with 144 in 14 games, or 10.3). Maybe the voters would’ve looked at his 1 TFL, 1 FF, 1 FR, 3 sacks and 4 passes defended and concluded that despite his record-breaking season someone else was the best linebacker in the league this past season. A nominee such as Ugarth the Dissector just had Wayne Howyanow’s season, but worse (Ugarth had 8 fewer tackles, 2 fewer TFLs, one more forced fumble and 0 defensive TDs to Howyanow’s 1). Another nominee, Galf Wilf, just had Mo Berry’s season but worse (10 fewer tackles, 2 more TFLs, one fewer forced fumble, 2 fewer sacks, 3 fewer interceptions). The awards committee decided that voters shouldn’t even have the opportunity to vote for a linebacker who recorded the most tackles per game in the league’s 22 season history. This achievement has gone unrecognised by the awards committee. The league doesn’t even have a history of snubbing linebackers who manage to record a huge number of tackles. Edmond’s company in the top 10 tackling seasons includes Hall of Famers and LBotY winners.
Safety of the Year
The elephant in the room here is Awkward Sexjoke. After the awards committee decided that Edmond’s 135 tackles were not worthy of a nomination, the player who led safeties in tackles is nominated for safety of the year. Sexjoke had 125 tackles, 1 FF, 1 FR, an interception and 9 PDs. Players like Johnny Hellzapoppin recorded 4 sacks, 3 interceptions and 5 PDs. A player like Prince Vegeta matched or bettered Sexjoke in every category except tackles and PDs (with 3 fewer PDs). Quinn Hughes did the same, adding more TFLs, more potential turnovers (via fumbles), more interceptions and got a defensive touchdown. To be clear: I’m not saying Sexjoke should not have been nominated for this award. But it’s clear, when you compare his stats to safeties that weren’t nominated, that the number of tackles Sexjoke recorded were key to the argument that he should be nominated. But at the linebacker position, where some in the community have said they believe tackles to be the most important statistical contribution, the player with a record-breaking number of tackles was not nominated.
I’m already at 1,200+ words, and it seems like overkill to hammer these points home even more. So just one more egregious example.
Defensive Breakout Player of the Year
Maurice Virtanen recorded 83 tackles, 1 FF, 13 sacks and 7 PDs in S21. In S22, he recorded 96 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FR, 12 sacks and 10 PDs. These stat lines are almost identical. Some would even argue that Virtanen’s S21 was superior. The fact that there’s any doubt that Virtanen actually improved statistically makes this really obviously a bad choice.
Summary:
1. The awards committee did a poor job selecting the award nominees.
2. The awards committee appears to have applied inconsistent logic in determining who should be nominated.
3. Perhaps these inconsistencies and poor selections can be attributed to the way the awards committee is comprised and the team rep system. Team reps are inherently biased, and some may see the function of the role as being to make the case for your teammates. I’d suggest a system where some calm, reasonable members of the community are selected or elected to the awards committee instead of the current system. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on how the awards committee should be reconstructed below.
4. Leakers from the awards committee claimed that some decisions were voted on, some weren’t. There appears to have been infighting within the awards committee that resulted in processes not being followed and people leaking information – someone passed on to me a leaked google doc of the nominees as early as the 25th May, which were seemingly leaked to invite criticism of the awards committee’s decisions. The best case scenario is that the committee was dysfunctional, and the worst case scenario is that this dysfunction was intentional in order to produce outcomes certain committee members wanted.
5. If the awards committee is making bad decisions, fighting among themselves and leaking against each other then the committee is not fit for purpose. The league awards are important for the positive reasons I mentioned at the beginning of the article, but this awards season was a really negative affair where bad decisions were made and people personally insulted one another. I’m not suggesting that the awards committee is entirely responsible for this, but it started with them. This shouldn’t be allowed to happen next season, changes are required.
6. A common response to criticism of the workings of the league is words to the effect of ‘apply for this role then’. In which case, if it’d help reduce some of the toxicity and dysfunction, sure, I’ll happily be a part of a new awards committee.
The S22 Award Nominations were not good. I think in most cases the player who eventually won the award was the worthiest candidate, but a lot of players who should have been on the ballot were not. This matters because people care about being nominated for awards, even when they don’t win. The recognition that being nominated for an award brings is a positive thing. The right people being nominated for awards is good for everyone, because those who are nominated feel good about having been nominated, and those who haven’t been nominated are secure in the fact that there were good reasons why they weren’t nominated.
I’ll provide some examples of nominations I thought were really poor, and rather than just complaining I’ll suggest some possible solutions to prevent this happening in future.
DE of the Year
There’s an obvious snub for the Defensive End of the year award. ILove Gimmy of the Philadelphia Liberty recorded 40 tackles, 7 TFLs, 1 FR and 7 sacks. Of the nominees, only Matt Hole (20 and 3) recorded more combined sacks and TFLs, and only Lawrence Bass (18 and 3) recorded an equal number. So, why were four players with comparable or fewer sacks and TFLs nominated ahead of Gimmy? Immanuel Blackstone, the eventual winner, had 12 TFLs and 6 sacks (both fewer), but also had 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, a safety and a blocked punt. This nomination makes sense. As above, Lawrence Bass accumulated 18 TFLs and 3 sacks, but also had a safety. This seems fair too. Simeon Works posted 32 tackles, 17 for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, 2 sacks and a safety. Works was an elite run defender, but not on the level of Hole or Bass. I’d rather see the nomination go to someone who defended the run comparably (Gimmy had 8 more tackles, 3 fewer TFLs) but who also had 5 more sacks, more than tripling Works’ number. Maybe the awards committee really loved safeties, but they’re such a rare play that I feel uncomfortable assigning too much value to them. But that’s certainly debatable, and maybe that’s the conversation the awards committee had. Now, we come to Ben Tu'inukuafe. Ben T. recorded 47 tackles, 13 for loss, 2 fumble recoveries and 5 sacks. Nominating Ben T. over Gimmy implies that you value 7 tackles and a fumble recovery over a TFL and 2 sacks. I don’t think this is defensible. Fumble recoveries, at least in the real life game of football, are mostly random and not indicative of a talent for recovering fumbles (source: – you can find other articles too if you’re curious). I don’t think 7 tackles are worth more than a TFL and two sacks.
But that’s okay, because maybe you do value tackles at the defensive end position slightly more than TFLs and sacks. Or maybe, despite the heavy dose of luck involved, you value the extra turnover that Ben T. contributed to. In which case, I’d draw your attention to Nero Alexander of the Yellowknife Wraiths. With 13 TFLs and 5 sacks, Alexander recorded an identical number of TFLs and sacks. Alexander recorded 44 tackles, just 3 fewer than Ben T., but also forced 2 fumbles. Unlike fumble recoveries, forcing fumbles does appear to be a skill, at least on an individual level (source: some players consistently force higher numbers of fumbles compared to their peers). If you care more about plays in the backfield, Gimmy should have been nominated over Ben T. If you care more about turnovers, then Alexander should have been nominated over Ben T. If you care more about tackles, then Gimmy or Alexander should’ve been nominated over Works.
DT of the Year
The DT of the Year award is relevant because it supports the case that the Awards Committee was inconsistent in determining who should be nominated. I’d like to draw attention to Rapid Eagle. Rapid Eagle accumulated 38 tackles, 3 TFLs, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, 5 sacks, a safety and a blocked punt. That’s 8 combined TFLs/sacks, two potential turnovers (one if we’re dismissing fumble recoveries as relevant), a safety and a blocked punt. If we compare Rapid to the other nominees, we see that while he had fewer tackles and combined sacks/TFLs than each of the nominees. I think leaving Rapid off the ballot would be unwise, but defensible if they’d been applying the same logic to each of the positions. But as we saw with the DE of the Year award, being among the top 5 in combined sacks/TFLs isn’t enough to get you nominated for a DL award. Bubba Thumper had 2 more tackles, and two more combined TFLs/sacks (though Rapid recorded 3 TFLs to Thumper’s 0), but Rapid forced a fumble, recorded a safety and blocked a punt. Looking at the DE of the Year awards, it appears the committee prioritised turnovers, safeties and blocked punts over tackles, TFLs and sacks. So why was Rapid not nominated over someone who had 2 more tackles and 2 more combined TFLs/sacks given Rapid’s forced fumble, safety and blocked punt?
LB of the Year
This is one that got a lot of attention on the stream, on podcasts and in media so I’ll try and keep this concise. Honda Edmond recorded the most tackles (135) of any player since the league moved to a 13 game season, and more tackles per game (10.4) than the record holder for tackles in a season (Kurt Hendrix, with 144 in 14 games, or 10.3). Maybe the voters would’ve looked at his 1 TFL, 1 FF, 1 FR, 3 sacks and 4 passes defended and concluded that despite his record-breaking season someone else was the best linebacker in the league this past season. A nominee such as Ugarth the Dissector just had Wayne Howyanow’s season, but worse (Ugarth had 8 fewer tackles, 2 fewer TFLs, one more forced fumble and 0 defensive TDs to Howyanow’s 1). Another nominee, Galf Wilf, just had Mo Berry’s season but worse (10 fewer tackles, 2 more TFLs, one fewer forced fumble, 2 fewer sacks, 3 fewer interceptions). The awards committee decided that voters shouldn’t even have the opportunity to vote for a linebacker who recorded the most tackles per game in the league’s 22 season history. This achievement has gone unrecognised by the awards committee. The league doesn’t even have a history of snubbing linebackers who manage to record a huge number of tackles. Edmond’s company in the top 10 tackling seasons includes Hall of Famers and LBotY winners.
Safety of the Year
The elephant in the room here is Awkward Sexjoke. After the awards committee decided that Edmond’s 135 tackles were not worthy of a nomination, the player who led safeties in tackles is nominated for safety of the year. Sexjoke had 125 tackles, 1 FF, 1 FR, an interception and 9 PDs. Players like Johnny Hellzapoppin recorded 4 sacks, 3 interceptions and 5 PDs. A player like Prince Vegeta matched or bettered Sexjoke in every category except tackles and PDs (with 3 fewer PDs). Quinn Hughes did the same, adding more TFLs, more potential turnovers (via fumbles), more interceptions and got a defensive touchdown. To be clear: I’m not saying Sexjoke should not have been nominated for this award. But it’s clear, when you compare his stats to safeties that weren’t nominated, that the number of tackles Sexjoke recorded were key to the argument that he should be nominated. But at the linebacker position, where some in the community have said they believe tackles to be the most important statistical contribution, the player with a record-breaking number of tackles was not nominated.
I’m already at 1,200+ words, and it seems like overkill to hammer these points home even more. So just one more egregious example.
Defensive Breakout Player of the Year
Maurice Virtanen recorded 83 tackles, 1 FF, 13 sacks and 7 PDs in S21. In S22, he recorded 96 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FR, 12 sacks and 10 PDs. These stat lines are almost identical. Some would even argue that Virtanen’s S21 was superior. The fact that there’s any doubt that Virtanen actually improved statistically makes this really obviously a bad choice.
Summary:
1. The awards committee did a poor job selecting the award nominees.
2. The awards committee appears to have applied inconsistent logic in determining who should be nominated.
3. Perhaps these inconsistencies and poor selections can be attributed to the way the awards committee is comprised and the team rep system. Team reps are inherently biased, and some may see the function of the role as being to make the case for your teammates. I’d suggest a system where some calm, reasonable members of the community are selected or elected to the awards committee instead of the current system. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on how the awards committee should be reconstructed below.
4. Leakers from the awards committee claimed that some decisions were voted on, some weren’t. There appears to have been infighting within the awards committee that resulted in processes not being followed and people leaking information – someone passed on to me a leaked google doc of the nominees as early as the 25th May, which were seemingly leaked to invite criticism of the awards committee’s decisions. The best case scenario is that the committee was dysfunctional, and the worst case scenario is that this dysfunction was intentional in order to produce outcomes certain committee members wanted.
5. If the awards committee is making bad decisions, fighting among themselves and leaking against each other then the committee is not fit for purpose. The league awards are important for the positive reasons I mentioned at the beginning of the article, but this awards season was a really negative affair where bad decisions were made and people personally insulted one another. I’m not suggesting that the awards committee is entirely responsible for this, but it started with them. This shouldn’t be allowed to happen next season, changes are required.
6. A common response to criticism of the workings of the league is words to the effect of ‘apply for this role then’. In which case, if it’d help reduce some of the toxicity and dysfunction, sure, I’ll happily be a part of a new awards committee.
Code:
1751 words![[Image: morisig.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/688507586177532117/1082481732604924036/morisig.png)
[OPTION]S24 (PHI): 16 GP, 73 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 FF, 3 sacks, 5 INTs, 10 PDs, 2 TDs
[OPTION]S25 (PHI): 16 GP, 67 tackles, 4 INTs, 13 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S26 (OCO): 16 GP, 68 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INTs, 10 PDs
[OPTION]S27 (OCO): 16 GP, 116 tackles, 4 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S28 (OCO): 16 GP, 84 tackles, 1 FF, 1 FR, 3 INTs, 20 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S29 (OCO): 16 GP, 99 tackles, 3 FF, 1 FR, 5 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]=============================================================
[OPTION]ISFL Playoff Stats:
[OPTION]S23 (PHI): 1 GP, 2 tackles
[OPTION]S26 (OCO): 1 GP, 5 tackles, 2 PDs
[OPTION]=============================================================
[OPTION]Trophies and Achievements:
[OPTION]Drafted 35th Overall by Myrtle Beach in the S21 DSFL Draft
[OPTION]S21 Ultimini Champion
[OPTION]S21 DSFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S21 DSFL Defensive Back of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]Drafted 4th Overall by Philadelphia in the S22 ISFL Draft
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Defensive Performance of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S24 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S24 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S25 (PHI): 16 GP, 67 tackles, 4 INTs, 13 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S26 (OCO): 16 GP, 68 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INTs, 10 PDs
[OPTION]S27 (OCO): 16 GP, 116 tackles, 4 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S28 (OCO): 16 GP, 84 tackles, 1 FF, 1 FR, 3 INTs, 20 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]S29 (OCO): 16 GP, 99 tackles, 3 FF, 1 FR, 5 INTs, 23 PDs, 1 TD
[OPTION]=============================================================
[OPTION]ISFL Playoff Stats:
[OPTION]S23 (PHI): 1 GP, 2 tackles
[OPTION]S26 (OCO): 1 GP, 5 tackles, 2 PDs
[OPTION]=============================================================
[OPTION]Trophies and Achievements:
[OPTION]Drafted 35th Overall by Myrtle Beach in the S21 DSFL Draft
[OPTION]S21 Ultimini Champion
[OPTION]S21 DSFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S21 DSFL Defensive Back of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]Drafted 4th Overall by Philadelphia in the S22 ISFL Draft
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S23 ISFL Defensive Performance of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S24 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S24 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S26 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S26 ISFL Returner of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S29 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S29 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]=============================================================
Player | Update | Wiki | Twitter
[OPTION]S26 ISFL Returner of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]S29 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection
[OPTION]S29 ISFL Cornerback of the Year Nominee
[OPTION]=============================================================
Player | Update | Wiki | Twitter
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