The Season 24 ISFL Rookie Entry Draft has been completed and in the books for a few days now and the initial excitement and euphoric feelings have settled back to reality. A lot of players found new homes and have wide eyed expectations and visions for what their careers could become on these new teams. Today we sat down with rookie Tre'Darius J'Vathon who was selected 51st overall in the draft by the Honolulu Hahalua and so far has been no stranger to some controversy with an earlier statement he put out there in regards to another user in this draft class. We will dig into that and more in this interview so let's get started.

Q: Right off the bat I have to bring up your comments about Jiggly and the backlash it received by some members. Do you feel like you were in the wrong for those comments? What do you feel about the comments made about you by some other members?

TJ: Honestly all I can do is laugh about that whole situation. I don't feel I was in the wrong in any way, I have seen way worse things said on forum and in the numerous league discussion discord channels. This really was a case of one guy being overly sensitive in @YoungTB which opened the flood gate to my long time stalker and harasser @Ben. If saying that I personally felt like another player was annoying and I personally couldn't have a conversation with him because I would want to leave is the worst thing in the world then damn. Honestly what I said was not that bad and I also praise Jiggly for continuing to turn out elite clients in the various sporting leagues. Privately after I put that statement out there people told me they felt the same way and also believed it's why he fell so far in the draft so that tells me that I am not wrong in my assessment. I could say, "Oh I am so sorry for saying something publicly that was wrong and I won't do that again," but honestly things are so soft these days that if calling someone annoying is grounds for trashing someone and being the worst person in the league, then whatever I will still do it if I feel that way without apologizing. If you take a look at the comments in that article they are way worse in attacking me, mostly by @Ben who again has been harassing me for awhile now but I don't go up in arms crying about it. I think the people posting in the comments need to evaluate their own self because if there was a bully in this scenario, it certainly isn't me.

TJ: Here's the thing, I know I am not a popular figure in this league and not so much because people don't like me, that is mostly reserved for @Ben but I simply am not that active in discord and I no longer provide test simming. My value is strictly TPE earning and even there I haven't been elite at that in this league specifically. I had a good player in Vander Jones but it was for a short duration as I had to leave the league due to personal matters but ultimately it hurt my value now since the reason I left gets forgotten over time and the only thing that gets remembered if me only earning up to a certain amount of TPE before I left. So combine that with a lack of discord activity, a position that isn't highly sought after and you will inevitably fall further than you should. With that being said I was still surprised to fall that far in the draft considering I have come out of the gates as one of the top earners in this class and if I had joined at the same time as players like Joshua Campbell or Korbin Brown then I would be at the same TPE as them. So, yes, I was expecting to fall further than my talent suggest I should go but I didn't expect to fall that far down the draft behind guys with 90 and 100 TPE and little to no activity went. Maybe @Ben is right maybe nobody likes me because I am an asshole. Either way I am on a team now and I have a path to early playing time by next season if I keep earning and going about my business as planned. I will make the rest of the GM's regret passing on me multiple times and I will be sure to bring it up every now and again as I watch guys that went before me fall off into the abyss.

TJ: Honestly I did not have a preference for where I went in this draft. Well let me back up and say that I did not want to go to Philadelphia because that is where I spent most my time the last time I was in the league and I wanted something different. Just going off the color scheme and team branding Honolulu was definitely in my top three with Sarasota and New Orleans. I like the colors and logos for these teams and I leaned this way based on that alone. I was only scouted by three teams and Honolulu was not one of them so I was a bit surprised to get drafted here but at the same time I wasn't because I was simply a best player available pick. I know Honolulu did not come into this draft targeting me specifically, no team did, otherwise I would not have fallen so far. So because of that I did not feel like I owed any team that drafted me anything and I would keep my options open and not lock into one franchise without experiencing them first. This is why I made that comment. It is not me saying I am looking to leave but it is me saying that I am not in debt to any team after falling so far being passed bye every team multiple times in that draft. Where I got selected I became a major steal and ultimately just a bonus and was never part of the future plans until I was somehow still available. I know I am rambling but my comment about not being sure if I will be staying very long is simply me saying I am feeling it out in Honolulu. If the team is improving and the locker room is cool then I am totally down to stay and be part of the rebuild. I also never like to give my intention publicly because then I would be committing to something down the line that may change and would make me look even worse than I already do if I were to back out of a previous public statement committing to staying. Ultimately I am one hundred percent a team player and a loyal player despite what I may say publicly. Most things I say publicly are to give guys like @Ben and @YoungTBmaterial to bully someone on. I feel like I am doing a good deed for them to give them something to bash since they love doing that so much. You're welcome boys.

Q: Well even if you will not commit to Honolulu long term right now and want to feel it out, how have your first impressions been?

TJ: The first impressions were just kind of average. I can definitely tell the locker room needs an infusion with youth because the old guys, which includes me, are not huge discord users. The team definitely has hold over talent and brought in more talent in this draft but it will be critical to hit free agency hard next season and have another great draft class that will light a fire in the locker room. After a day though I warmed up a bit more to the team as I had some good talks with my teammates in there and felt like Honolulu is definitely doing their best to head in the right direction. Like I just said, if the team is making strides towards improving, then I will definitely stick around and be part of that. Effort from the front office is the biggest thing for me and if you look at my Pro Baseball Experience career I stuck with the Providence Crabs for nine seasons before they decided to go big and sign two elite players and couldn't keep me financially anymore. That team was hot trash when I got there but the locker room was fun and the front office, which eventually I became part of, was working hard to bring in the pieces to set up future success. Eventually it finally paid off with a championship. The main take away from that story is that I stayed there for nine seasons despite not winning a ring and I only left because they could no longer afford me. I am a very loyal player and I want to be loyal to Honolulu but I have to see the improvement season to season that gives me hope that we too can win a championship eventually.

Q: I would like to go in a total different direction and ask you about your desire to play with you best friend Mike Boss Jr. You have stated multiple times you want to play with him, although most people didn't see that or didn't care, but seeing that he is in Sarasota and you are in Honolulu, is the desire still to eventually play with him?

TJ: In every league we are in together we want to play together. Mike Boss Jr. and I work extremely well together and we get the best out of one another by holding each other accountable to keep updating and improving. Of course I want to catch passes from my best friend and I hope to be able to do that one day. Before the draft I didn't want to play anywhere but the team Boss was on as long as he was the planned quarterback of the future. People loved to talk highly about fellow draft class quarterbacks PigSnout, Trautner, Mr. Stennet, etc. because of who they are and what they have done in this league. However not many people talk about Mike Boss Jr. and he has already had a stint at quarterback in this league and created the greatest quarterback in league history. Again the curse of not being discord active or a test simmer hurts his value. Sure, he has had a player that didn't work out in Jamal Slick, but he also had a tight end that was one of the greatest in league history as well. This guy can and has created legendary players and I have always done my best to give him the publicity he deserves. But getting back on track, I still would love to be his teammate in the future but I don't see it happening until the very distant future, if at all. He is likely going to be locked into Sarasota as their franchise quarterback and I am giving Honolulu every opportunity to keep me around as a franchise receiver. So, yes, the desire is there to play with him eventually but right now I do not see how that will happen.

TJ: You know what, honestly, I am not that familiar with the other guys that Honolulu brought in. I was aware of Asher Montain because he was a high draft pick in the DSFL last season and of course was the first pick for Honolulu this season. He seems like he will be a great player and be a fixture on the defensive line causing havoc for a long time. He did throw a quote at me about my comment of not being sure if I will be here long and I threw it back at him in the locker room, jokingly of course and we had a good chat and get along pretty well. He is a cool guy and maybe even a better player. Then Honolulu double downed on the desire to create a dominating defensive line by selecting defensive tackle Sigismund Sternernstaub. I hope he can keep working and getting better because Montain and him can do a lot of damage in the future growing together at the same stages of their career. The other two guys that went before me in tight end Ragnar Krashwagen and offensive lineman Ajay Krishna look like prospects with some potential. They haven't quite earned as much as the two picks before them and myself but I am not sure when they joined the league either. I am not the person to ask about the rookies because I literally only know about the top round or two worth because they are easy to notice with the high TPE counts. Hopefully all the guys in the draft class work out, stay updating and we can be the start of something special in the Honolulu come up. Honolulu definitely targeted players that will help solidify the trenches and get the team tougher so I am happy about that. I love having a physical presence on the team that will bully opponents and getting talent in the trenches is a great way to do that.

TJ: Of course I have. These guys are the guys I want to outperform in my career and make sure to let them know about it as well as the general managers that picked them over me know about it. Just talking about TPE I was the third best receiver in this draft class and that was simply due to not creating at the same time as Joshua Campbell and Korbin Brown. Since joining I have been a max earner and will continue to be. Honestly I do not care so much that Joshua Campbell, Korbin Brown, Gunner Thornbjornsson, and Tairo Ramon were drafted before me because they are all great players. I just hate how far I fell. However make no mistake I will be following these guys careers with a burning desire to be better than them and have more success on the field. Hell, Gunner is my DSFL teammate and I see him in practice and on game day every day. I know I am better than him but he is a better discord personality than I am and helps test sim. That is an example of how these general managers draft and I am cut from the old school cloth that does not mesh with the modern day team. Oh well, I am ranting again, but ultimately I will be paying close attention to these guys and the desire to be better than them will continue to burn a raging fire inside of me.

Q: Well I think it is time we wrap this up. Did you have anything else you wanted to say before we end this?

TJ: I will just reiterate that I fully plan to make every general manager regret not selecting me. Not only not selecting me but passing on me multiple times for inferior players.