*REDEMPTION ROAD Part IX - Printable Version +- 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: *REDEMPTION ROAD Part IX (/showthread.php?tid=52624)

*REDEMPTION ROAD Part IX - jreed12 - 08-11-2024 Wow… it certainly has been a while since I continued my media series. In fact, I believe it has been three whole weeks since I wrote any media at all. Truth be told, life got in the way, and I wasn’t feeling inspired enough to protrude the level of mind numbing word vomit you have come to know and love in Jreed media. However, today is the day that I will hop back on the media grind, especially considering we are beginning to close in on the S49 playoff race, and I once again need more money. Boo shame. It seems that my time I can dedicate to yapping (or riffing the repertoire of DL14-brand cat gifs with Sconnie in gen chat for the millionth time) is aptly dwindling, so I am turning back once again to continue what I started and reap yet another massive literary windfall. So, without further ado… Previously, on Redemption Road with jreed12… The season continues! The Dallas Bird Dogs continue their S49 campaign to try to keep their footing in a tenuous south conference. The draft picks continue to earn and perform, despite a few heartbreaking losses along the way! Elsewhere, the Fire Salamanders continue to battle the wrath of the dreaded Sim, squaring off against opponents with middling results. Jreed’s player, D’Jasper Probincrux IV, is having a bit of a down year as well, on a defense that has struggled to contain some of the explosive offenses in the ISFL, which could be a harbinger for bad times for the Fire Sally’s S50 Ultimus bid. With playoff races tightening, and the postseason fast approaching, who will rise above the pack to become a contender? Will the Bird Dogs be able to follow through and finish what they started? Read about all this and more in… Well, let’s get the elephant in the room (and perhaps the most soul-sucking topic) out of the way first. We lost to the fucking Yeti. Somehow, against all odds, Berlin decided it was our day to lay a big old salamander egg on the gridiron and snap an already historic (somewhere in the 30’s range) Yeti losing streak dating back to S47. I actually had to go back into the index to find the last team the Yeti beat, which was W4 in S47 against YKW. Slightly comical. The next most recent win the Yeti experienced was a W16 victory over AUS in S46, so needless to say, it has been a grueling run to say the least. And while I do feel sorry for the Yeti organization, their fans, the hardworking GMs, and the players (well, except for maybe Willeh), I DID NOT WANT or EXPECT the victory that broke their beleaguering drought to come against my Fire Salamanders. The amount of shame and mockery that this has caused cannot even begin to be expressed in words, and I fear this may have put a black eye on a season that was already shaping up to be slightly hopeless. Since our historic and legendary W2 victory over AZ this season, reader, it certainly has been the tale of two seasons. On one hand, we enjoyed a three game win streak, with our most notable win notched against a surprisingly strong YKW squad that currently has the fewest points allowed in the league. However, we have lost four of our last five, and I fear we may lose out the remaining three games against CTC, YKW, and OSK, who have all had strong campaigns this year. And, quite frankly, one of our wins proved to be rather controversial. By this I am of course referring to the resim week, in which we defeated the Orange County Otters after witnessing an absolute massacre of our squad in a pre-resim stream. While I don’t necessarily have an official opinion on the necessity of a resim, I do enjoy how this benefitted us and fits my agenda. As a plus, I don’t have to receive another ping from Uptown Cord to satisfy AJ’s nonsensical contract requirement that every time OCO beats BER the GM’s must taunt me in my DMs. And for what it’s worth, don’t the Otters WANT to lose more anyways to shore up their tank? Seems like a bit of a double standard, if you ask me. As for my player, I’m not feeling terribly optimistic about his run this season thus far. While he is already at a career best for tot tackles (35), he has been lacking in other numbers such as sacks and forced fumbles. Furthermore, the missed tackle numbers have been rising, a metric which stained his sophomore slump. But fear not, reader, for I have been working in the shadows to save enough TPE for my ultimate trump card, an ace in the hole. I present to you, the bull rusher characteristic, which I have just unlocked for my player in this past update. What will it do? I have no idea. However, the next three games and my player’s performance could be a sign of things to come if I start cooking again, so I will be watching these last three games of what has otherwise been a disappointing season for the Sally’s with careful optimism. Speaking of optimism, let’s turn to the shining light of my current involvements in the league over in the DSFL. Yes, that’s right: the Dallas Bird Dogs, which some pundits will still offensively say are the Dallas “Bum Dogs”, are currently ON TOP of the south conference with the tiebreaker over the nefarious Norfolk Seawolves. Despite getting swept by the Grey Ducks, which I quite frankly chalk up to some Sim BS, we’ve had two decisive sweeps against BBB, and most importantly, LON. The current juggernaut of the league, manned by two incredibly cunning yappers including OJ and the legendary Yap God Higbee, along with a strong aptitude for players with off the field issues (insert your best Antonio Brown gif here), LON hilariously outclasses us on every front and should be the decisive victor. However, this is where my Dogs have really proven their magic this season. Despite rebuilding the entire defense from scratch this season in the DRAFT, it has quickly become a force to be reckoned with and continues to smother opposing offenses week after week. A stat in particular I want to point out is the pass defense—which through W10 allows 237.3 yards per game. Not only is that best in the south and second best in the DSFL, it is a testament to the players we have developed in our secondary, including William Strong and Akane. Although we dethroned the reigning regality in a season sweep, our most pressing challenge is yet to come this Tuesday. In W12, we will have our long-awaited rematch against the Norfolk Sea Wolves, the team that we tied in W3 due to the shocking kickoff return TD to force overtime, which instantly became one of the most talked-about DSFL games in recent memory. DAL and NOR currently both sit at 5-4-1, but DAL owns the tiebreaker to sit atop the south. While TIJ has seen a resurgence in recent weeks, DAL and NOR should theoretically be the playoff teams coming out of the south unless something drastic happens. Outside of our game against each other, our remaining schedule has us playing KCC, POR and TIJ. Meanwhile, Norfolk will I see the first game in which we visited and lost to the Coyotes as a fluke, especially after AustinP’s comprehensive sim testing showed it was a game we should have one in a majority of instances. Meanwhile, the Norfolk, Portland and Tijuana games are less clear. In the most pessimistic scenario, we finish 1–3, winning the KCC game and dropping the final three. In the most optimistic scenario, all of these teams are beatable, and we could rise to a record of 9-4-1. I don’t want to speak ahead of myself here, but I have confidence that we will win the KCC game, and defeat two of our final three opponents. I think POR is beatable if we test properly, and we could defeat either NOR or TIJ. I see TIJ being the most likely team we lose to on our way out of the season, but the NOR game is essentially do or die, as this could determine home-field advantage in the playoffs. The proof will be in the pudding this Tuesday, but for now, look forward to a special surprise in our color rush! Thank you for reading, as always, and I hope to be back with a little more consistency going forward. That’s all for this time— Jreed12 #SeeYouInS50 RE: REDEMPTION ROAD Part IX - juniped - 08-12-2024 what's the TL;DR