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+---- Thread: *Mendoza Career Retrospective (/showthread.php?tid=38390)
*Mendoza Career Retrospective - iStegosauruz - 04-03-2022
This is mostly for my personal record keeping - I wrote something similar when he position changed - and so I wanted to do it again.
From February 17th, 2020, to March 31st, 2022. 774 days. That’s how long I was Colt Mendoza. From the original render of Tyler Hall, a little known cornerback from Wyoming that infinite picked for me during the DSFL Draft because I was inactive to eventually using the cartoon dinosaur Moosey drew for me as part of a free agency pitch to come to New York. From creating as a cornerback to eventually swapping to defensive tackle in Season 30 after a season in which I won Cornerback of the Year. From going 144th overall in the DSFL Draft as an inactive CB for depth on an expansion team to going 1st overall in the largest ISFL Draft ever.
I never thought that Mendoza retiring would make me feel melancholy. I’ve been largely IA for the last few seasons as he faded into obscurity because I’ve been busy for work and watching your player regress into nothing at defensive tackle is a pretty boring task, however once I pulled the trigger on axing him I knew I had to recreate. The desire to grind earning on another player was back because I’m not ready to step away from the league quite let.
Mendoza was created while I sat in the Atlanta airport to wait on a flight to Chicago where I was going to essentially hitchhike into rural Iowa. Although I created on February 17th, my first “real” update wasn’t until March 8th when I finally noticed a message in my email from the website letting me know gucci had messaged me to tell me I had been drafted by Dallas. If he had never programmed that bot to send messages to everyone Dallas had drafted, I doubt I ever would have found the league again.
Shortly after that first “real” update, my college sent me home in the middle of my Senior year due to COVID. At the time we all thought we were just getting an extension to spring break, however me and my friends were never all back in town at the same point again. For the next few months the league took on a huge role in my life. With no job and no school I spent most of my days staying up late and running simulations in the old sim engine. During those first few months of quarantine I empirically proved the value of human offensive linemen and helped provide advice on the optimal build routes of cornerbacks. I had begun working on defensive end and defensive tackle optimization when the sim engine swapped. Somewhere I still have of those files and my notes on the work I did.
In about May or June of that year, after going stark raving crazy living in my parents’ house again during quarantine, I moved back to my college town and into my old house there. That is when I began branching out and helping more and hopping on the league draft streams. Suddenly there was a voice to the player. My time back there only lasted a few months. I moved to Michigan in August of that year and Mendoza came with me. He followed me back home to the south the following January when my contract ended. In March 2021, he followed me to a new job up north. In a year, Mendoza saw me finish school, move five times, and change jobs twice. He’s been with me for my full first year at my current job. Its just wild to think of how long he’s been an aspect in my life, how many years its been since I started checking Discord almost daily, and how much of an important factor he was in helping me stay busy and entertained during quarantine when I had almost nothing else to fill my days with.
Mendoza retired after spending four seasons with Austin and eight seasons with New York. As of now, his career statline is as follows:
930 tackles / 31st all time
22 tackles for loss / 156th all time
23 sacks / 245th all time
147 PDs / 40th all time
21 interceptions / 59th all time
2 defensive touchdowns / 97th all time
9 forced fumbles / 107th all time
7 fumble recoveries / 90th all time
For his four years in Austin, Mendoza accrued:
434 tackles / 13th in Austin history
5 tackles for loss / 23rd in Austin history
3 sacks / 37th in Austin history
56 PDs / 10th in Austin history
8 interceptions / 9th in Austin history
1 fumble recovery / 21st in Austin history
For his eight season in New York, Mendoza accounted for:
496 tackles / 4th in New York history
17 tackles for loss / 9th in New York history
20 in sacks / 10th in New York history
91 PDs / 2nd in New York history
13 interceptions / 4th in New York history
2 defensive touchdowns / 3rd in New York history
9 forced fumbles / 6th in New York history
6 fumble recoveries / 3rd in New York history
Awards:
Season 26 ASFC Pro Bowl Cornerback Reserve
Season 27 ASFC Pro Bowl Cornerback Starter
Season 29 ASFC Pro Bowl Cornerback Starter
Season 29 Cornerback of the Year
Season 30 ASFC Pro Bowl Defensive Tackle Starter
Season 31 ASFC Pro Bowl Defensive Tackle Starter
Playoff History:
Season 23 / Lost in the Ultimus with Austin (YKW 38 - AUS 13)
Season 28 / Lost in the first round with New York (AUS 21 - NYS 18)
Season 29 / Won the Ultimus with New York (NYS 40 - BER 20)
Season 30 / Lost in the ASFC Conference Championship with New York (AZ 33 - NYS 0)
Season 32 / Won the Ultimus with New York (NYS 27 - BER 24)
Mendoza does not jump off the page with any statistical accomplishment, however I’m proud of what he was able to accomplish while swapping sim engines halfway through his career and positions as he began to reach his peak. He made five total pro bowls across two different positions and won the Ultimus twice while playing two different positions.
Its definitely surreal to not be updating Mendoza anymore, however I’m excited for the new player. For everyone I got to interact with across Mendoza’s history, thank y’all for making the league such a great place. There would be far too many people to tag, but I can't express my appreciation enough.
RE: Mendoza Career Retrospective - zaynzk - 04-03-2022
The Last 8 seasons have been awesome, Mendoza was always a solid player at both CB and DT. 5 pro bowls and two rings speak for themselves