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+---- Thread: (S28) Ultimus Week (/showthread.php?tid=31809)
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - ValorX77 - 05-10-2021
Task 4/1: The S28 Copperheads: The Art Of The Deal
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - golden_apricot - 05-11-2021
20. If your player had a show starring them, what would the plot be? Graphic Option: Create the cover art for your player’s show
Pepelegs would be the greatest star ever in the show titled, "how to get larger legs". See as pepelegs is a OL, he has yet to ever grow his legs as his name might suggest. He has always had smol legs and in this show he would star as the person that the trainer tries to make have some larger legs. This should would consist of multiple days to trainers coming in and trying to get pepelegs to do some type of leg work that should help him increase his leg strength and size. However pepelegs would never either do thee workouts that the trainer would suggest, or fail miserably while trying to do them because of his smol legs. This type of show would come off at the start as a story about how pepelegs went from pepelegs to reael human legs, but in the end would be a story about the trials and tribulations of a man who never is able to gain leg size and is always mocked for his smol legs. I think it would be a great show and would be enjoyed by everyone who would tune in on a weekly basis to watch and learn. This is pepelgs show.
26. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why?
Okay so if pepelegs could not have been a lineman in the ISFL, he 100% would either be a DT or a long snapper. Now the sim not allowing for long snappers is an issue that I will get into at another date, but Pepelegs at DT would be incredibly interesting as a development for the league. Imagine not only having the man with the smolest legs be running the center of the line on defense, but also him doing literally nothing while being there because apparently DT are fucking useless in the sim. That said pepelegs would be a team leader as it is in his DNA (just like having smol legs) Pepelegs would be a horrible DT and would soak up only a smol amount of space because he has smol legs that will nt really be useful for anything on the interior of the DL. Now after teams figured this out they would try and make pepelegs a corenr or something so that they would not have wasted a pick on a semi active smol boy, but this would not work for pepelegs and he would go IA. Being a DT would suck much more than being on the OL though so I would hope that this would never happen.
9. Through a random lottery drawing, you have been named the league's new commisioner for a day. Congrats! What improvements would you make to the league if you had the power to do whatever you wanted?
This is a fun one to look at so ill take a shot. Should I be given thee reigns of the league for a day I would make a few smol changes and then some changes good for the development of the league. The first change would be organizing the forum so its actually useful and you can find the information you need. Maybe adding a drop down menu or some shit so people don’t get lost looking for the shit that they want. Like have you ever tried to get to the index from the main page after not looked at the site for a few weeks? Its absolutely horrendous and needs to be fixed, why does it take someone else to figure this out though real bad look on the comish and HO there. The other change would be adding a player creater, again this isn’t fucking difficult to have a player creator that people and especially new people that likely have never used a forum before, can actually figure out how to create a fucking player. Seriously I have seen the player builder that some people have, how fucking difficult is it to 1. Add templates to a drop down menu 2. Make it so its easy to count to 50 tpe for the rookies there and 3. Add a generate code button which pops up the code they need to copy over? This isn’t fucking difficult but for some reason the logic on this site make it so they cant for some reason figure that out and fucking fix it. Again another easy one to fix so it should be done. The third change would be to toughen the league up a bit, some of yall do be real fucking soft and holy fuck you have some weak punishments over here. I would be reverting a lot of fines and handing back some more money to people cause some of the fines were for fucking dumb reasons. The fourth change would be a change to just allow tampering because it’s a ridiculous punishment and in trying to get your evidence you have to, to some degree, take out of context information to make a call. In addition if you don’t get it yourself, you have to ask someone to be a rat, thus probably isolating them from that community when it comes to light because no one likes a fucking rat. Fuck id block a rat like spooked.
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - huck24 - 05-11-2021
Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks (Each must be either 200+ words or a graphic)
Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.
19. Theres a prompt about stadium design, but now lets dig deeper. Each stadium serves some concessions for the fans coming in to watch the games. Talk us through their menu. Graphic Option: Design a menu for your team's stadium.
The city of New Orleans has always been different than every other city in the United States. A city dripping in creole culture, the Big Easy is one of a kind. That being said, their stadium concession menu is one of a kind as well. They still have to regular common fare available, mostly for the away teams fanbase, things like hot dogs and hamburgers. But for the locals and the more adventurous spectators, they can select authentic creole dishes, like gumbo and jambalaya, your choice of fried or blackened catfish and shrimp served along side of some grits. There are several stands where you can order multiple types of Po’Boy sandwiches if that is more your speed. And you wouldn’t want to miss stopping at he Crawfish Corner, where truck loads of fresh crawfish are brought in every game day for the fans to enjoy. And to wash down all of this delicious food, why not try some of the New Orleans born cocktails while you watch the Second Line on the field. Maybe a Hurricane or Arnaud’s Special Cocktail? My personal favourite is the Ramos Gin Fizz, a local favourite created at the end of the 1th century. So, as you can see, any ISFL fan who comes to a game in New Orleans will be able to sample some of the Big Easy’s food and drink while watching the best franchise in the league take the field.
22. Now thats two seasons on the new sim. Only two of the teams that made the playoffs in the first season made it as well in the second. Talk us through how the teams have been adjusting to the sim, and if we will start seeing more consistent playoffs' competitors in future seasons.
It’s definitely been a tale of two seasons for the New Orleans Second Line. Last season, the first for the new sim engine, was also my first season in the ISFL. So, we were both rookies and I had no expectations about how either of us would do. I was pleasantly surprised in all aspects of this! My player had a great rookie season, winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. And the sim was really shiny a new, and much better to watch in my opinion. And then on top of all of that, my team, the New Orleans Second Line, had a terrific finish to the season and we fought our way to the Ultimus game, which one really predicted. We unfortunately lost in the Ultimus final, but we had a wild ride! So, I would have to say, last season was a huge success all around! This season was a different story. We had a rough offseason, losing some key players to free agency and retirement, but we were still eager to get back out on the field. We had a slow start to the season, just like we did last season, but this time we weren’t able to turn the season around. We ended up missing the playoffs this season. So, it’s no surprise to anyone, that we were not one of the teams to make the playoffs in both these seasons. Although it sucks, I think it is great that there is that much turnover. We can’t take anything for granted, and once we do get back into the playoffs, we will remember what it is like to have a quick fall from the top. There are so many great players and teams in the league, we can’t take anything for granted and we’ll have to work as hard as we came, as players and as a team to make sure we get back to the top and stay there.
26. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why?
I’ve thought about this quite a bit. As I’m sure everyone remembers, during the drafting process you are asked about your willingness to switch positions. I wondered what position would interest me the most. I’ve always been a big fan of defense in all sports, so my go to was to select a defensive position. Linebacker has always been my favourite position, so I went with that. It was a toss up between that and a CB, since I really didn’t have interest in making a player on the line. But, if I had to think of another position that would be one I’d want my player to play, I think I’d go on the offensive side of the game. I never actually played football in a league or anything, I was a basketball and hockey guy. I do remember thinking that if I did play football, tight end was the position I’d want to play. It is a nice mix of physicality and skill. I loved the idea of laying down some solid blocks on one play and then running a route and making a catch on the next. So, if I did have to choose another position, I think it would have been a TE. And when recreate time comes around, I just may do that!
29. Affliate PT from either SHL/PBE/GOMHL. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this UW
SHL affiliate
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - gbfn - 05-11-2021
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26. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why?The other position i was really interested in was OL. I knew i wouldn't get those fancy stats and life will be a bit boring when looking at the box score. But i am sometimes looking back and think to myself. Damn, i should have chosen OL. At that time there were only a few players at that position. And at the time right now where all ISFL teams are pretty much filled with active and earning players teams are looking for OL to not having to spend all their cap space on bots so they can fit everyone under the cap. Sure, the times will look different as soon as the S22 class is going to fade out and not everyone will recreate. By then there are lots of positions to be filled and the need for OL will likely decrease again.
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13. Expansion Expansion Expansion! The league seems to love talking about it, but it has still not happened. Tell us why it should happen / should not happen soon?The next problem the teams, especially the gms of those teams, have to cope with is the limited cap room. Right now the cap is at a level where teams simply cannot afford high contract players. They will wreck their cap and have problems to keep a healthy cap structure. This is already the case and is one reason why we see so many contracts with max duration at 4 Mill per season. That way the teams can save 1 Mill per player if he is earning above 1000 TPE.
Those are the main reasons that would support a case for expansion. There might be a few more reasons but in my eyes those two are the biggest ones. However we currently have a problem that simply forbids to expand the league further. The draft class of season 22 was the biggest in ISFL history until now. At the time of the draft there where a staggering 248 players eligible for the draft. That not only meant a huge stress for the whole league. The players had to be scouted, they had to fit in the ISFL rosters at some point so due to that expansion was the only way to guarantee a spot for every player created. In recent seasons since then however we saw a steady decline in new users. So if the trend continues and the draft classes stay around the same size of draftees, there will eventually be less players and users around. For example, the actual draft class has 57 eligible players. Also I bet that quite a number of users will decide not to recreate after they retired their S22 player. Currently we as a league have to maintain the status quo and not consider a how I think senseless idea of a league expansion.
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17. Your team has announced that they will be laying ground on a new stadium next season. What additions would you like to see included in it. Graphic Option: Create a field / stadium design for your team.But not only that – The first designs and drafts show a stadium that is build into the ocean near Kailua Beach near Honolulu. The entrance into the stadium is at land where a glass tunnel will lead the spectators underwater to the stadium. The stadium itself has an open roof that will be able to be shut and will resist heavy winds and waves. To make sure everybody can enjoy the unique experience of watching a football game under water the walls above the stands will be a steel and glass structure. The visitors will have the chance to admire the beautiful underwater landscape of the ocean. The owner said when reporters asked for a statement “The stadium will perfectly represent what we, the Honolulu Hahalua stand for – No, jokes aside. It’s going to be posh, it’s going to be exciting and it’s going to be incredibly expensive. It is a kick in the ass for the other owners of the league to finally get going and do something about their old dreary things they call a stadium.”
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - KingSean - 05-11-2021
10. Write a short biography or story about your player. This could include background about how they came to the ISFL and how they’ve done so far, a story about their role in an exciting game, or anything else related to their experience in the league. (400 + words)
Mario Messi set his eyes on the professional football league in his sophomore year in high school. During that time, he was already rated as a five-star player and broke many records. He played both American football and soccer using his fantastic speed and ball skills. He hesitated between the two career trajectories: on the one side, American football is way more popular in the US, on the other side, Messi has a nice family name to support his pursuit of soccer. Unfortunately, he got seriously injured in the final soccer game during his second year. He tore his ACL, and it took him about half a year to get to a full recovery. The severe injury damaged his dream of becoming an elite athlete. But lucky enough, Mario Messi still got a nice football scholarship from the University of Miami. For the sake of money, Mario Messi decided to play football rather than soccer.
In college, Mario started with a very frugal lifestyle, trying to mimic monks by living for bare subsistence. After riding the bench for about half a season in Miami Hurricanes, he was thrust into the first starting position as a wide receiver when the incumbent WR got injured and ruled out for the season. Mario delivered a spectacular play with 10 rec and 2 TDs in the first game. His performance stunned the head coach, so he held his position even after the initial WR came back after the recovery. After becoming the core player of the football team, Mario Messi started to adopt a dissolute and tumultuous lifestyle, led astray by his bad friends. He became a nocturnal animal, frequenting nightclubs, made forgery dollars, and pampered himself with a lot of alcohol. He coveted the plush and luxurious limousines used by the real pro athletes, so he started to invest in speedboats and slept behind the hull of the boats during even training time. He wore colorful earpieces, squandered the money to gild his teeth, married to himself, and dyed his hair into rainbows to show homage to Dennis Rodman. He partied so much that the proprietor of the apartment called the police to frisk Mario so that everyone can sleep. One day he told the head coach that he cannot play since he sprained the collarbone when having sex with the whores wearing faked lashes. Mario’s hideous demeanors and waste of talent disheartened the friends, provoked the coaches, and sowed doubts into everyone’s mind. He was kicked out of the team after his degeneration.
It was a long story for Messi to recover and enter the professional league. I will have to stop here and present his story next time. : ) (451 words)
14. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season? (400 + words)
What a journey for Mario Messi in this season! Messi started this season with Hawks for the first ten games, and then switched to Fish for the remaining six. The journal was very hard, and Messi thought that he might have some curse because the team did not play well whenever he was there. Maybe it is just the stupid SIM randomness?
The first journey with Hawks was very tough. Hawks lost all ten games to the opponents. The question of each game was not whether Hawks could lose, but by how much. Some games were pretty shocking. Hawks lost to Liberty by 49-10 and to Outlaws by 52-23. Hawks did not even have many chances to hold the ball to organize effective offense. Hawks' defense was not very impressive either, and as a result, Messi can only watch the losing battles along the sideline without much time to play on the pitch. In spite of the difficulties, Messi still caught some balls and contributed to the team. Messi got about 100 yards per game and about 3 TDs in total. Messi really cannot blame the team since Hawks was really young. When many teams have around eight players with more than 1000 TPEs, Hawks has zero player that is more than 1000 TPEs. Even the lead QB (~900 TPEs) was not actively updating his TPEs. I know that Hawks changed the manager at the beginning of the season, but winning games was really difficult for a team with mainly S26-S28 players and a limited number of TPEs. But overall, Messi did not perform as good as he expected. Messi questioned whether he should be more patient to wait for the growth of the team, or just jump to another team with better potentials to win the championship. Messi's contract was approaching the end of the first three years, so the team in the next contract is really critical for Messi's career development.
Messi decided to move to Sailfish because two great friends are there and Sailfish is a great team with the potentials to win a championship. Messi really wants to thank slate and Mojojojo to make this transaction happen, and Sailfish traded away a first-round pick to get Messi. Messi also switched his position from WR to TE for the team. Sailfish already got three decent and active WRs, but the leading TE (James Angler) is from S22 and plans to retire soon. Currently, Messi has about 704 TPEs, so he could be a good second TE and continue to grow into the primary TE for the fish team. However, after Messi joined the Fish team, Fish lost 3 out of the last 6 games, while Fish lost 3 out of the first 10 games before Messi joined the team. Messi believes it is purely because of randomness and hopes that Fish can win a lot of games in the next season. (484 words)
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - Gragg9 - 05-11-2021
Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to? (10TPE, 800 words)
I believe I wrote about this prompt last season and I may as well write on it this season as well. By now several members of my class (S28) have spent some time with their new ISFL teams. The vast majority are getting ready to start their careers in the ISFL this next season. Despite each member of the class being at the very beginning of their careers, there are already some standouts and draft steals, as well as some that are looking dangerously close to bust (hopefully they come back).
Before looking at TPE and on field stats I thought it’d be fun to look at how the bank balances are looking for the members of the class, and especially the true rookies. I haven’t done a media on this so why not here. There was a time in S27 where the bank balances of the richest two members, Infinite and BigRed, exceeded the total balance of every other member of the class combined. Approx 1 billion vs ~700 million for everyone else. Nowadays it’s not so close as Infinite and BigRed are still around 1 billion and the rest of the class is sitting on approx. 1.7 billion. While I’m not keeping track of historical bank data (ok that kinda sounds like it could be a cool viz tho) Some earners here appear to be Dude_Man (52mil) and Shrub (69mil), both of who are true rookies. Many other true rookies are sitting on around 25-40 mil right now in preparation for equipment buys. Perhaps there are some big recreate earners as well but that's tougher for me to tell. Bex, Infinite, BigRed, etc are all still rich.
Now let’s talk a little about TPE (my favorite). From my estimations it looks like we’ll have around 20 players from S28 hitting 500 TPE at the start of next season. I know S22 numbers kinda jade a lot of people but that seems pretty high to me. At this moment the 31st pick of the draft, Saleem Spence, retains the top spot for TPE for the second season in a row. Glenn Smart has been making moves, getting up to the number 2 spot. Definitely proving they were worth the trade up for Arizona in the draft. Following them we have Stumpy Jones still going strong at number 3, the rich two from Baltimore at 4 and 6, two BBB players at 5 and 7. J00 and I have had a mini-rivalry going on with me taking the lead by a single TPE last season. This season we are dead tied at 430, along with former OL rival Cade Williams. Troy Abed has been proving deserving of their first round spot as they sit just outside the top 10 in TPE. The story of Shrub remains one of my favorites. From initially an inactive Tight End who ghosted scouts to top 15 TPE and fighting for the title of top LB. Andrew Warthol and Prof. Godfrey Gravity have fallen behind somewhat in earning, but still remain in strong positions. Should they come back to regular earning they will certainly still be well worth their first round picks.
By numbers alone the biggest draft steals are Saleem Spence, Jacob Raske, Brandon Prince, Stumpy Jones, Dexter Zaylren, and Henny Tingzpahcbol. Going off what I know about users I would also throw Bender Rodriguez, Tim Soulja, Dude_Man, and Lonnie Jackson in there. There’s still a ton of time for any player in the class to be a draft steal or bust. CCTyrant (who just retired) exemplified this pretty well after being essentially inactive for, I believe, the first two seasons of their career.
Predicting hall of famers at this point is excessively difficult, but it doesn’t hurt to try anyway. First prediction has to be Busch Goose. They have an extra season of stats on them, and pretty good ones at that. They’ve made it very clear that they will be stat+trophy chasing so I’d expect them to end up in favourable situations for most of their career. They could very well be RB1 from now until they retire. All this plus infinite is an old pro that knows how to make a build and knows how to earn. Beyond that it’s really tough to even make a prediction. Perhaps Stumpy Jones with the extra season up in a traditionally bot dominated position will be able to string together some hall of fame stats. I’m not sure if they allowed any sacks this season, which could end up working against them in the long run.
Finally lets take a look at which DSFL teams have developed best in respect to this specific class. Of course a disclaimer first: with only a few players per team there is a lot of luck and other factors out of the teams and GM’s control. That being said, average TPE per player from each team is as follows:
Minnesota Grey Ducks
299
Tijuana Luchadores
298
London Royals
289
Portland Pythons
260
Kansas City Coyotes
258
Dallas Birddogs
249
Bondi Beach Buccaneers
237
Norfolk SeaWolves
190
I’m of course proud to see Minnesota up there at the top with a class lead by several true rookes. Only 1 TPE behind is the perennial powerhouse/cult of Tijuana. While it’s often a destination for alumn, this particular class was led by Dude_man and j00 who have both been killin it. Not far behind are the current Ultimini champs London, followed by Portland who were one of the strongest teams in the league. Norfolk had a bit of a bummer season, which was followed up by an equally disappointing one this season. The nature of the DSFL is rapid changes though so hopefully they'll have better fortunes soon. Even the S28 class could have a quick turnaround still.
Word Count = way too many. Woops
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - shrub02 - 05-11-2021
8. With awards season upon us, make up an award for your player win for something not on the football field? (5TPE)
This season the IRFL (Interdimensional Robo Football League) has decided to present an award to a player in either the ISFL or DSFL. The Robo Player of the Year award is given to the best robot player. There were four finalists this year. 2 from the DSFL and 2 from the ISFL. Let's check it out:
The first player from the DSFL to be nominated is a kicker/punter from the Portland Pythons: Toy Robot. While he is merely an animated toy, Toy Robot has a surprisingly strong leg. He had the second longest punt and second longest average in the DSFL. Plus he is a robot so of course he would be on this list.
The second player from the DSFL that has a shot at the Robo award is none other than Xavier Walls, a linebacker from Portland as well. He put up stats that were so ridiculous this season that it confused the robo judges into thinking that he is not human. I don't blame them either. I mean the guy tied or broke several DSFL records. Go look at those stats. They are inhuman. I kinda feel bad for his opponents.
Moving on the ISFL, the first nominee is Sulieman Ramza, QB for the Orange County Otters. This is another pick that was based on the confusion of the judges. In their review of game film, the robo judges saw Ramza taking a beating every play. If he wasn't getting sacked, he still taking a hit or being hurried. The judges calculated that no mere human could take a beating like that and still play well. So he must be a robot.
And finally the last nominee is Bender Rodriguez, LB from Orange County as well. Bender, as is name implies, is a bending machine who went rogue and started playing football. He excelled in his rookie season and was robbed of a Defensive Rookie of the Year nomination. He hopes that getting a the Robo award will still make Mommy proud.
And the winner is... Xavier Walls!
"What?!" Bender exclaims as Walls takes to the stage to give his acceptance speech. As Walls is talking, Bender rushes the stage and pushes Walls away from the podium. " This is some grade A malarkey! These judges think this toy and two meatbags are even comparable to me, the great Bender? I'll show you! That's my award!" Bender snatches the trophy away from Walls and bangs it against his knee. As Walls falls to the ground, Bender runs away with the award saying, "Bite my glorious golden ass. hehehehehe."
431 words
20. If your player had a show starring them, what would the plot be? Graphic Option: Create the cover art for your player’s show (2.5 TPE)
![[Image: HEjYTM9.png]](https://i.imgur.com/HEjYTM9.png)
21. Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, or highlights. Written or graphic option available. (2.5 TPE)
Made for Bill de La T. Dauterive @Big_Papi
![[Image: JBNgH4R.png]](https://i.imgur.com/JBNgH4R.png)
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - NylarthePhoenix - 05-11-2021
Write a short biography or story about your player. This could include background about how they came to the ISFL and how they’ve done so far, a story about their role in an exciting game, or anything else related to their experience in the league. (400+)
Football runs in the veins of DSFL prospect Owen Reed, the eldest son of ISFL Hall of Famer, Apollo Reed. While he may have been only four to six years old during his father’s three year Ultimus dynasty with the Orange County Otters, his earliest memories include the view outside the window of the press box of The Dam in Anaheim, California, watching his father play with legendary players like Franklin Armstrong, Johnny Blaze, and Thorian Skarsgard. He knew, even from that age, that his destiny was to follow in his father’s footsteps. He was going to be an ISFL all-star.
His father Apollo may have had to struggle to even afford his education, but he made sure that his son wouldn’t have to suffer through the challenges of a poor upbringing and a cheap education. After retiring from his ISFL career in Baltimore, Apollo moved his family back to where his career started in Santa Ana, California to work with the Otters as an assistant coach. Not only was Owen a force on the field, but he was also able to maintain a solid GPA as well, allowing him enrollment into one of California’s most prestigious academic and football high schools, Mater Dei. At Mater Dei, Owen would play a multitude of positions, including CB, LB, and WR. With Mater Dei, Owen would qualify for the California State Playoffs all four years of his career and win the championship in his senior year.
While Apollo had to practically beg his way onto a D1 collegiate squad, Owen was a five-star, top 100 player being recruited by several major football programs, including schools from the SEC and the Big 10. Owen ultimately opted to remain in the Los Angeles area and play for the USC Trojans. In his freshman season with USC, Owen settled into the defensive back position and received limited play as the CB3. He rose through the depth chart in the following years, even seeing some play as a free safety. He finally became the CB1 for the team for his junior year. This year was a particularly successful one for the Trojans, as it saw them be a top 10 ranked team for the majority of the season, and defeat the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Rose Bowl. Believing that this team was close to a national championship, Owen opted to return to USC for his senior season. This season, the Trojans finished ranked 3rd in the AP Top 25. While USC was able to upset Alabama in the playoffs, they ultimately were defeated by Clemson in the National Championship. Owen Reed is now training independently in preparation for the DSFL draft.
Expansion Expansion Expansion! The league seems to love talking about it, but it has still not happened. Tell us why it should happen / should not happen soon? (400+)
The main benefit of expansion is, of course, the opportunities that it would provide to younger and brand new players. Every season, the ISFL loses users due to the current amount of talent saturation that exists in the ISFL. High activity users never see the fruits of their labor rewarded due to the DSFL’s TPE cap of 250. Expansion would allow these players to get to the big leagues much quicker and avoid burnout. Not only would more opportunities be available for players, but for users as well. Many GM roles can remain occupied for several months, barring them from new users who may be interested in a position. Expansion would allow users to potentially land a GM job, further investing them in the league and keeping them active.
The league currently sits at 14 teams, split into two divisions. For the playoffs, three teams from each division qualify. But, due to the amount of talent in the league, team records are often similar, and a deserving team with a record just as good as the 3rd seeded team may miss the playoffs. Some teams have missed the playoffs for several years due to this. By expanding to 16 teams, the league would be able to reorganize into 4 divisions made up of 4 teams. By proxy, this would allow the playoffs to expand to include 8 teams. An expanded playoff bracket would make the playoffs, the main appeal of any league, more interesting. More teams means more upset possibilities, more chances for a Cinderella story to gain traction.
A few seasons ago, the league rebranded to the International Simulation Football League. However, the league only has two of it’s fourteen teams in a foreign country: one of the founding six, the Yellowknife Wraiths, and one of the two youngest teams in the league, the Berlin Fire Salamanders. If the league wants to appeal to foreign markets, they need to expand to untapped markets, such as Asia, Australia, or South America. This would not only make the league more exciting, but make the league more unique.
Finally, league expansion inevitably brings an expansion draft alongside it. The expansion draft allows players who may be buried in the depth chart of their team to find new life on another, brand new team as a possible star player. An expansion draft also invigorates excitement around the league about the possibilities of the new team's future and the trades and signings that happen as a consequence of the expansion draft.
RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - Crodyman - 05-11-2021
4. “Sim gonna sim” is a popular expression in the league. Write about teams that have been graced by the sim gods and had amazing performances despite statistical odds, and/or about teams that were considered favorites but may have dealt with some bad sim luck that hampered their efforts. How much of an impact did it have on their season(s)?
Let’s talk about the Chicago Butchers season, shall we? When I think of the expression, “Sim gonna sim,” I typically think about it in terms of a player having a bad game or a team losing a close game. What I DIDN’T think about until now is how it is possible to have such a bad run of luck that you end up finishing 6-10 despite a fairly strong roster and some decent sim testing. To truly understand how the sim absolutely womped the Chicago squad, we have to take a look at the numbers.
The first thing you might notice looking back at Chicago’s season is that out of *16* games, *12* were decided by 7 points or less. It seemed like when it came to the 4th quarter, heartbreak was as common in Chicago as neon green relish and tomato slices on a hot dog. Out of those 12 games, Chicago only managed to win *4* of them--that’s 8 games of last minute heartache as we watched our season slowly wither away.
But it wasn’t just that we lost a lot of close games. To be sure, if it were only about losing close games then you could chalk it up to a normal roll of the dice. In actuality, it seemed as though the sim had a personal vendetta against Chicago for reasons unknown. To understand what I mean, allow me to go over a couple of the more harrowing and gut-punching losses we had in the 4th quarter and overtime.
Our very first loss of the season really set the tone for how the sim was going to crush our spirits in the weeks to come. Coming off of two big wins--including the season opener over the reigning champs in Sarasota--the Butchers hosted the Philadelphia Liberty in a game that many people had picked Chicago to win. The game ended up being a much closer game than anticipated, with the lead going back and forth on trading field goals. A successful two-minute drill led by Chicago QB O’Donnell brought us three points from a Sidekick field goal for the go-ahead points with only 5 seconds remaining.
That’s when the sim did something I’d never, or at least rarely ever, seen.
Philly WR Flash Panda fielded the kickoff with 5 seconds remaining, and returned it 105 yards to the house for the walk-off touchdown. We were gutted. But hey? It was still early in the season, and yeah sometimes the sim gonna sim. We couldn’t possibly have such bad luck again, right? Being 2-1, things still looked fairly bright for Chicago.
The next two games were losses as well, though the week 4 loss to Colorado wasn’t particularly abnormal--just a close game. Same with week 5 when we hosted the Yellowknife Wraiths; sure, it sucks to lose to a literal last minute 48 yard field goal, but still, it’s not SO unrealistic or unexpectedly. Sometimes things do be like that.
Things got a little more rough in week 6 when the Outlaws came to town. In a high scoring game, the Butchers fought their way into overtime against the Outlaws with a touchdown pass in the final minute to bring the game to OT. The two teams traded blows and possessions a couple times, and everyone knew that something had to give at some point. Unfortunately for us, on Chicago’s third offensive possession in OT, O’Donnell threw a pick to Outlaw Rich Triplet, giving the Outlaws immediate field goal position. They kicked it through the uprights and knocked us down to four straight losses and a 2-4 record.
Finally we were able to dig in and eke out a couple of much needed victories in week 7 and 8 to bring our record to an even 4-4. Just as our spirits were being lifted by the potential to still make the playoffs, we once again were absolutely gutted AT HOME again in week 9 by the Sabercats. Again, this loss felt more than just losing a close game--it felt like a personal attack by the sim.
Another back-and-forth battle that saw Chicago QB O’Donnell throw for over 400 yards, we managed to get into field goal range with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter. A Sidekick kick put another 3 points on the board as we took the lead 24-23--but no one, and I mean NO ONE, was relaxed in the Chicago Locker Room. After all we’d been through so far, we knew that one minute was more than enough time for the sim to womp us again, and embarrass us at home.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, that’s exactly what happened.
San Jose managed to move the chains a couple of times, but the swarming Chicago defense was able to stop them on third down right around midfield, presumably outside of field goal range. But when McDiarmid lined up for the 63 yard field goal, we all knew what was going to happen. The ball was snapped, and booted over 63 yards for the walk-off field goal. Victory, San Jose. Oh my god, the absolute state of Chicago at that point. The scenes in the locker room.
“Sim hates us! Sim sucks!” etc, etc.
I could go on and on about the rest of the season, but I’m not sure anything comes quite as close on the pain scale as the loss to San Jose that sealed the season for us conceptually, and the kick return TD with 5 seconds remaining. Honestly, it’s taken a lot out of me just to recount the season, and I hope, NO, I pray that the sim takes pity on us poor folk in Chicago, for we know not what we’ve done.
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RE: (S28) Ultimus Week - Fronk - 05-11-2021
7. Word Count: 567
I am a new rookie and this is my first simulation league of any kind. This league has exceeded my expectations of what I originally thought I was getting into. The users I have had the privilege of meeting and talking to have all been unique, kind, and boost your confidence to do more and push your commitments. Hell, I needed some of the guys from my Minnesota locker room when I was procrastinating getting through school. Now, simply for the fact that I like to show off, I am researching and typing up thousands of words a week or hunched over photoshop just to get some attribute points. Now there are a few people that I would like to thank in particular:
I had first heard of the International Simulation Football League when I was being especially nosey during my weekly board game night. I was playing Great Western Trail on Tabletop Simulator with ddrector and slothman07. Ddrector had complimented slothman on the awesome new field design and the two were talking about the game they were playing at that time. This seemed intriguing to me and not too long after butting into their side conversation, I was creating my first simulation league player: John Huntsman (There is a background story to the name that may be saved for a different post).
John Huntsman entered the Season 29 ISFL (S28 DSFL?) draft as a want-to-be pancake server. I ended up getting drafted 28th overall to, in my honest opinion, the best team in the DSFL which brings me to my next person I would like to thank:
Scouting was at first pretty exciting because people were seeking me out to talk to. Then I realized quickly that, unless I stood out, I was talking to a recording read by eight different people. I’d like to now thank the person who scouted me for the Minnesota Grey Ducks: Gragg. We connected via our mutual fandom for the Indianapolis Colts and our initial render of the greatest OL in the NFL; Quenton Nelson. From that moment, I decided that Minnesota was my preferred destination team.
Immediately upon getting drafted, the initial reaction of the Minnesota locker room is what this league is all about. Aside from Gragg and maybe one other previous draft pick, I had almost no prior formal greeting from anyone and they probably did not know much about me. But the reception and excitement was palpable and I barely slept that night. I was thinking about all the graphics I was going to show off and how I needed to immediately start earning.
Draft night is also when I first officially met the next people I need to thank: Crody and Russ, the Minnesota Grey Ducks GMs. They were excited to bring me to the team and had big plans for John Huntsman and his future career as a running back. I want to thank them for pointing me in this direction and I have no regrets switching positions.
I expected to get the lesser load of the carries for Minnesota, but was gratefully incorrect. John Huntsman exploded onto the DSFL scene and ended up having a great season.
I would lastly like to thank the DSFL awards committee for their political decision to give every position the equal opportunity for offensive rookie of the year and not have any duplicate positions in their nominations.
14. Word Count: 442
This is more or less a continuation post to my previous Ultimus week entry, but it fits in with this prompt so I will let it ride. John Huntsman came into the league with one thing in mind: pancaking defensive players in the trenches. I chose number 68 for John Huntsman because it is the funniest number I could think of. After I was drafted to the Minnesota Grey Ducks, I had my initial meetings with the GMs and we decided that the best path for John Huntsman would be to carry the ball as a running back. I was hesitant at first because of my dreams of quickly progressing to the big leagues and teams always needing more offensive lineman rather than running backs.
The preseason kicked off and I thought I was understanding my role as one of the teams back up running backs. The first game (we lost) John Huntsman had three rushing attempts for 10 yards. He even received two punts and put up 35 return yards. The rest of the preseason (1-3 total) followed suit and Huntsman only had 7 more rushing attempts for little yardage.
As soon as I was starting to doubt my decision to run the ball, the season started with a division opponent. The Grey Ducks defeated Kansas City Coyotes and John Huntsman had 17 carries for 98 yards. I was walking on clouds to begin the season and was fully on board as a running back. The DSFL season progressed and it became clear that John Huntsman was going to be the workhorse for the Minnesota Grey Ducks averaging 75 yards per game on just over 18 carries per game.
The highlights for the season came in week 5 against the Norfolk Seawolves. John Huntsman ran for 122 yards and finally broke through for a touchdown. He also had his longest carry of the season of 42 yards.
The lows of the season came with the team results. Minnesota Grey Ducks were obnoxiously close on many games, but ultimately could not beat the simulation their opponents. 0-5 in overtime games this season. I know that there are several third down and short attempts that Huntsman was not able to convert and could have made the difference in winning and losing.
Next season I see John Huntsman getting drafted, but being held down in the DSFL until the next level is ready for him. Currently Huntsman’s earnings have been capped by the league but he will continue to grind and earn to be ready for that first time being uncapped. Patience is key to John Huntsman’s future in the International Simulation Football League.