08-28-2021, 04:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-30-2021, 09:04 PM by Crunk. Edited 3 times in total.)
When I was drafted in in the season 25 draft by the Philadelphia Liberty, it wasn’t necessarily the best place to be in the league, and it wasn’t my top choice. I had arrived on the recommendation of J0EB, now a longtime veteran and leader of the Liberty, a user I was and still am very close to. The team had tried and failed to contend, and it had broken the spirit of the Liberty. It was a dead locker room. That’s not to say there weren’t good people there, and I loved getting to know the vets, such as the recently retired Juni and Simon, but it wasn’t a place that I was sure I would be staying after my rookie contract.
After my rookie season things went from bad to worse. Many know the story, but to summarize, we abruptly lost our GM who would then leave the team in free agency, our recently hired co-gm stepped down, one of our top defensive players left in free agency, and another requested a trade. The reputation of the team went into the garbage (as much of this happened on bad terms), and the mood in the locker room was a great overwhelming depression. I was invited to the war room just before all of this happened, so I, a user who just finished his second season, had a front row seat to this catastrophe. If you wanted to know what the general public thought of us at that time, look up (dare I bring it up?) Dogwood Confidential, which took place very close to the events. You’ll see Philly as a common answer to which team would ruin a player.
I can’t lie and say part of me wanted to request a trade too, though I never revealed that. When our old GM signed elsewhere, we were not informed ahead of the decision, and although this was terrible news, it did light a fire within us. The sadness that had taken over morphed into an anger. We were angry at the notion that we had been abandoned and betrayed. We know longer wanted to sulk, we wanted to rise up in the face of all the chaos. It brought us closer. I’ll never forget Hall’s renewed passion for Philly and the media he wrote, and I’ll never forget Slm’s poised leadership as a temp GM to guide us through the troubled waters. Though I initially wanted to run from the terrible situation, I now was committed to pulling Philadelphia’s name out the mud, wanting to spite the league and all those that jumped ship.
Slm worked with HO to find us a new GM, and when he brought up Pat, I really didn’t have much of an idea who he was. I had to be reminded of his username, and when I found Punter715 I remembered thinking he was a pretty cool dude, but that was kind of the extent of it. Slm, apparently having a great eye for this sort of thing, hired Pat to take over a terrible situation despite being a first time GM.
You young users out there, and even some veterans who may have forgotten, you have no idea how rough the situation was for Pat to try and turn around. Even though the recent Baltimore rebuild had some drama surrounding it at the start, and they went full fire sale early, I don’t think it compares to how terrible the culture was for Philly in that time and how terrible the state of the locker room was.
Pat reached out to me immediately when he was hired, telling me he saw me as one of the “cornerstones of this franchise.” Frankly, I didn’t know Pat knew who I was, but I suppose looking back that just shows how in touch he stays with the league as a whole. I’m not sure how long it was until Cody was hired as well, but Cody is just as lovely as Pat, and having them together as my GMs has given me such a wonderful experience as a player and war room member. If anyone else had been hired, I might’ve been long gone to be honest. They got me and every single one of that S25 class to buy into something when we were the laughingstock of the league. They’ve deserved GMOTY for seasons upon seasons now.
I think that those that know me well in this league know that I don’t usually like to toot my own horn, but this free agency period has given me a lot of time to reflect on my relationship with Philly, and I must say that I’ve put in a lot of damn work to bring this team to where it is. It’s something I’m incredibly proud of. Now you might be saying, bring Philly to what? Hell, I haven’t had one winning season as a member of the Liberty. That being said, our culture has changed incredibly. I believe we’ve built one of the best communities in the league, and that’s the type of change that takes seasons and seasons of building and shaping a locker room into what we hoped it could be.
There’s no doubt that Pat and Cody are the main builders, but I’m sure they’ll agree that I am one of the main contributors to the modern Liberty. I think I’m on my fifth season in a row of being voted captain, and as much as I say I want someone else to win, I’m glad to know that others have noticed my efforts.
So why did I enter free agency then, having said all this? Well as I mentioned earlier, I haven’t had one winning season. I’ve known that we’ve been in a rebuild, but losses can weigh on a person. Problem is, they weigh more when you expect to win. This past season was gut punch after gut punch. We knew we weren’t great, but we thought we’d hang more around the middle of the pack, and with luck we’d be fighting for a playoff spot. We didn’t come near that result, and I grew frustrated with the league and the sim, so I decided to look around and see what my options were. I think now even anyone reading this will see it’s obvious why I’d stay with the Liberty, but in that moment of frustration and prolonged negative feelings when you feel you deserve more, you’re just looking for a place you can be happy. And really there’s nothing wrong with leaving when you feel that way.
However, after taking a really long time to listen to other teams and reflect on my situation, the true feelings in my heart became clear. Although I’ve talked already to the teams that reached out, I want to reiterate that I took every pitch and seriously considered them fully.
It became a difficult decision. We are lucky as a league to have so many good people in positions of power to have made it a hard decision for me. I am lucky as a person to have so many friends to want to tell me to come to their team.
But with that being said, I helped build this team. My connection with Philadelphia is far too strong. I don’t think even winning an Ultimus anywhere else during this career would feel right. I have grown to love all the people we brought into this team. I need to see this through to the end. Last season sucked, but I truly believe we’re on the cusp of something great. We have been through season after season of losses, but now it’s time to taste success. It’s time to reach the top of the mountain.
It’s time to finish the job.
After my rookie season things went from bad to worse. Many know the story, but to summarize, we abruptly lost our GM who would then leave the team in free agency, our recently hired co-gm stepped down, one of our top defensive players left in free agency, and another requested a trade. The reputation of the team went into the garbage (as much of this happened on bad terms), and the mood in the locker room was a great overwhelming depression. I was invited to the war room just before all of this happened, so I, a user who just finished his second season, had a front row seat to this catastrophe. If you wanted to know what the general public thought of us at that time, look up (dare I bring it up?) Dogwood Confidential, which took place very close to the events. You’ll see Philly as a common answer to which team would ruin a player.
I can’t lie and say part of me wanted to request a trade too, though I never revealed that. When our old GM signed elsewhere, we were not informed ahead of the decision, and although this was terrible news, it did light a fire within us. The sadness that had taken over morphed into an anger. We were angry at the notion that we had been abandoned and betrayed. We know longer wanted to sulk, we wanted to rise up in the face of all the chaos. It brought us closer. I’ll never forget Hall’s renewed passion for Philly and the media he wrote, and I’ll never forget Slm’s poised leadership as a temp GM to guide us through the troubled waters. Though I initially wanted to run from the terrible situation, I now was committed to pulling Philadelphia’s name out the mud, wanting to spite the league and all those that jumped ship.
Slm worked with HO to find us a new GM, and when he brought up Pat, I really didn’t have much of an idea who he was. I had to be reminded of his username, and when I found Punter715 I remembered thinking he was a pretty cool dude, but that was kind of the extent of it. Slm, apparently having a great eye for this sort of thing, hired Pat to take over a terrible situation despite being a first time GM.
You young users out there, and even some veterans who may have forgotten, you have no idea how rough the situation was for Pat to try and turn around. Even though the recent Baltimore rebuild had some drama surrounding it at the start, and they went full fire sale early, I don’t think it compares to how terrible the culture was for Philly in that time and how terrible the state of the locker room was.
Pat reached out to me immediately when he was hired, telling me he saw me as one of the “cornerstones of this franchise.” Frankly, I didn’t know Pat knew who I was, but I suppose looking back that just shows how in touch he stays with the league as a whole. I’m not sure how long it was until Cody was hired as well, but Cody is just as lovely as Pat, and having them together as my GMs has given me such a wonderful experience as a player and war room member. If anyone else had been hired, I might’ve been long gone to be honest. They got me and every single one of that S25 class to buy into something when we were the laughingstock of the league. They’ve deserved GMOTY for seasons upon seasons now.
I think that those that know me well in this league know that I don’t usually like to toot my own horn, but this free agency period has given me a lot of time to reflect on my relationship with Philly, and I must say that I’ve put in a lot of damn work to bring this team to where it is. It’s something I’m incredibly proud of. Now you might be saying, bring Philly to what? Hell, I haven’t had one winning season as a member of the Liberty. That being said, our culture has changed incredibly. I believe we’ve built one of the best communities in the league, and that’s the type of change that takes seasons and seasons of building and shaping a locker room into what we hoped it could be.
There’s no doubt that Pat and Cody are the main builders, but I’m sure they’ll agree that I am one of the main contributors to the modern Liberty. I think I’m on my fifth season in a row of being voted captain, and as much as I say I want someone else to win, I’m glad to know that others have noticed my efforts.
So why did I enter free agency then, having said all this? Well as I mentioned earlier, I haven’t had one winning season. I’ve known that we’ve been in a rebuild, but losses can weigh on a person. Problem is, they weigh more when you expect to win. This past season was gut punch after gut punch. We knew we weren’t great, but we thought we’d hang more around the middle of the pack, and with luck we’d be fighting for a playoff spot. We didn’t come near that result, and I grew frustrated with the league and the sim, so I decided to look around and see what my options were. I think now even anyone reading this will see it’s obvious why I’d stay with the Liberty, but in that moment of frustration and prolonged negative feelings when you feel you deserve more, you’re just looking for a place you can be happy. And really there’s nothing wrong with leaving when you feel that way.
However, after taking a really long time to listen to other teams and reflect on my situation, the true feelings in my heart became clear. Although I’ve talked already to the teams that reached out, I want to reiterate that I took every pitch and seriously considered them fully.
It became a difficult decision. We are lucky as a league to have so many good people in positions of power to have made it a hard decision for me. I am lucky as a person to have so many friends to want to tell me to come to their team.
But with that being said, I helped build this team. My connection with Philadelphia is far too strong. I don’t think even winning an Ultimus anywhere else during this career would feel right. I have grown to love all the people we brought into this team. I need to see this through to the end. Last season sucked, but I truly believe we’re on the cusp of something great. We have been through season after season of losses, but now it’s time to taste success. It’s time to reach the top of the mountain.
It’s time to finish the job.
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