+- International Simulation Football League (https://forums.sim-football.com)
+-- Forum: Community (https://forums.sim-football.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Forum: Media (https://forums.sim-football.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=37)
+---- Forum: Graded Articles (https://forums.sim-football.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=38)
+---- Thread: *OPINION: Ultimate betrayal, courtesy of the DSFL (/showthread.php?tid=16548)
*OPINION: Ultimate betrayal, courtesy of the DSFL - Baron1898 - 11-19-2019
OPINION: Ultimate betrayal, courtesy of the DSFL
By Venus Powers
It’s a day I thought I’d never have to see. The gates of Marshal Stadium, in downtown San Antonio, have been locked since the regular season. It won’t be long before equipment and personnel are all transferred a thousand miles away to the cold lands of Minnesota. The team will be moving with them.
The familiar spectre of contraction has loomed over the DSFL, afflicted by yet another prospect drought in between the popular recruiting cycles. The league has traditionally shuttered the doors of the Palm Beach Solar Bears and the Norfolk Seawolves whenever the time comes, but the Solar Bears — fresh off rebranding as the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers — don’t want to contract. But keeping them on means folding the Kansas City Coyotes and leaving Portland all alone in its conference.
So the Marshals step in with a solution. They switch conferences, switch locations, switch branding. It’s now the Minnesota Grey Ducks to you. The conceit focuses on switching Tijuana vs. San Antonio (apologies, Tijuana vs. Minnesota) to a likely Ultimini matchup instead of the perennial conference championship bout. Isn’t this better? It’s the same leadership, same players. What’s in a name really?
Myrtle Beach gets to keep their team alive. SA leadership gets their rebrand. Tijuana gets an even easier path to the Ultimini. Everyone wins. Just not San Antonio.
I grew up in Alamo Heights, just a twenty minute drive into downtown San Antonio. Me and my father have been ticket holders for the Marshals since I was eight. We’ve seen the highs and lows, the championships and the embarrassments, the Fabulous Five and the Tijuana dynasty. The Marshals are in this city’s blood. The rivalry with Tijuana is the fiercest rivalry in the DSFL; I’d argue that it could stand toe to toe with anything the NSFL could have to offer.
Throughout high school and college, suiting up in the black and green was my dream and my goal. It’s been in my eye for years. After declaring for the draft, I made it well known to the league at large that Venus Powers was meant to be a Marshal. I told other teams as such when scouting season started.
Then I learned the news. And my heart just isn’t in it.
So I’m changing my mind. I will no longer hold out if drafted by any team other than the Marshals, because the Marshals are dead. It’s open season. And whether that means I get drafted by Myrtle Beach, Portland, Tijuana (shudder), or even the new Minnesota team, so be it. I’ll play my heart out for a year and then move on to the big leagues.
Here’s to hoping that professional football will return to San Antonio one day.
Signed,
Venus Powers