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+---- Thread: *A little history of the Orange County Otters (/showthread.php?tid=52994)
*A little history of the Orange County Otters - JuOSu - 09-03-2024
My player Maxwell Jacob Friedman has spent his entire career with the Honolulu Hahalua and has had a decent amount of success there, but as my career gets to a close, the decision was made to trade me - to the Orange County Otters.
I am very grateful to @IceBear32 especially as he didn't trade me at my peak, like so many others, because I had asked to stay in order to chase the team records. And with Friedman leaving, all of those team records are now in the hands of MJF. So I am not sad about leaving there and am excited for this new opportunity to chase some career league wide records still.
It was an interesting feeling especially to be sent back to Orange County. I had started my sim league career there. After joining the ISFL, I was drafted there. Matter fact, when I joined the locker room on discord, I found my oldest message from there: October 22nd, 2017
After almost seven IRL years, I once again return to my first place. It's kind of special!
So what has happened to this team since I was there, let's look at a brief history of some of the highs and maybe some of the lows of this storied franchise.
The start of the franchise is very strong and it becomes a tale of three dynasties in a sense, but really it was all just one big dynasty. The first starts almost right away. In the aftermath of the Arizona multi bloodbath, OCO filled that void and became the second dominant team to begin the ISFL with three titles in a row from S4 to S6. I was on that team with Julian O'Sullivan (another LB like MJF) and even briefly co-GM. That team was stacked with the likes of @JBLAZE_THE_BOSS at QB, who is now a Sloth with me in the PBE almost 7 years later. It also had timeconsumer and other big names of that time.
They almost won a fourth in a row but lost in the finals for that one. Still, even three in a row is extremely impressive. And it wasn't like the team fell off and rebuilt after that completely. Admittedly, I was gone by that point, moved on to NOLA, but OCO still made the playoff every season, albeit four first round exits in a row in the playoffs until finally, dynasty number two rolled around.
S12 and S13 saw another back to back championship run and once again, they didn't rebuild but just kept things going, with three playoff appearances that didn't lead to Championships until it became time for dynasty number three in this run.
S17, S18 and S19 saw titles six, seven and eight for Orange County and the second three-peat of the franchise. It was an impressive display of strength and really confirmed the dominance of Orange County as THE premier team in the ISFL.
At this point it was undeniable. OCO had won the most Ultimus trophies at this stage and had been to the playoffs every season of their existence - a streak that would go 26 seasons before ending, which I believe is still the record to this day. But since then, well that's a different story.
Since S19, the last of the OCO Ultimus wins, they have only reached two more title games, losing both which now counts for the longest Ultimus drought of any team in ISFL history. They have not necessarily been a terrible team since then, reaching the playoffs in about half the seasons since the streak ended, but when you dominate for that long, even half seems like a disappointment, including some big rebuilding years at only 3 wins (same as the last season now).
Despite this immense drought, Orange County is still 2nd all time in Ultimus wins, which shows just how dominant the first half of existence was. But for a franchise with such a success rate to go to being winless is and must be a huge disappointment and struggle for them.
Obviously last season was another rebuilding season and bringing in an aging MJF doesn't exactly strike me as a move to win an Ultimus soon, but I do think that OCO is obviously on a great path with many young players and a great core to build around, as well as a large number of draft picks. This is definitely a recipe for success, but honestly, in this day and age, that isn't necessarily enough to win a title anymore. Luck is a big factor, especially in the playoffs. But I think if you put yourself in a good spot for it, you can definitely succeed.
That being said, for a team like OCO, just making the playoffs can't necessarily be the goal anymore. The big goal to work towards HAS to be to break this negative streak, this drought and to bring championship number nine to Orange County.
Looking at the TPE tracker tells me that maybe some previous draft picks didn't work out the way you'd hope. Not enough max earners at the top yet, but that's where a younger core really becomes important and can change a franchise around. And if the upcoming and recent draft picks hit on a better rate, then I think nothing can stop this team from becoming successful again very soon. That being said, it's probably not during my time with the team (at most 2 seasons now with MJF) that this will happen and so the question becomes, how long will this drought live on for? In some way, this albatross will only become more and more worrisome with every season that passes.
As a GM I am always someone who tends to favor long term success and playoff appearances over selling the farm for a one-two season push for a title, but in this case, with this drought in mind, I might even say that a push at some point might be worth it, trading for some big TPE players to try to end this and get another title for the team.
But really, what do I know?
I think this is an awesome franchise though and I think the moment they get another championship will be a huge moment, not just for the team but for the league as a whole!
To Orange County!
RE: A little history of the Orange County Otters - jreed12 - 09-03-2024
Orange County would be pretty cool if their GMs weren't so dang stinky......