09-08-2021, 02:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-13-2021, 09:56 AM by allbetsonjames. Edited 1 time in total.)
Sconnie: I'm pleased to be able to sit down with the dynamic duo, two of my favorite users, members of the esteemed "girl gang gang", and my new GMs, SchwarzNarr and Tesla! Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to chat with me today! If you don't mind, we'll get right into it!
Let's start at the beginning. Can you tell our readers a bit about your starts in the league and how you worked your way up to ISFL management?
SchwarzNarr: So, I originally was asked by Isa to join in Season 18, when he joined via the reddit recruitment. However, he wasn't quite the best at selling the league, and when he was describing point tasks and what you needed to do to earn TPE, he described them as "little essays". At the time I was in the midst of working on my master's and the last thing I wanted to do was write essays for fun.
After a few months of the pandemic, the school year was ending, and I was kind of at my wits end. He had just been talking about the upcoming draft, and I said 'okay fine, give me the link to your stupid football thing'. I joined, was picked up by Norfolk on waivers as I had created after the DSFL predraft had started. It was instantly home, Isa was there and playing, but it was more than that. I had J0EB and Blasoon cheering me on, I had scorp instantly going "wait you like moose?" and adding the !moose command. Juniped, Lightnoir, hotdog, and xQc were all alum who were still heavily active and involved, and I had a great class with users like Pppaul and Teyon. It was just such a fun place to be.
So they kept me involved, I joined the war room at the end and just... started scouting everyone. After that, I joined the rookie mentor team, worked toward becoming the rookie mentor head, and wanted to become a part of the war room in Colorado, as well.
I have to be honest, I never really expected or thought that I would want to be a GM. I had said for seasons that I didn't want to be a GM. It just seemed to chaotic from the outside (and it definitely is chaotic at times). But, we had a sudden opening in Colorado. TVC had stepped down, Syl was finishing out the draft and the few offseason tasks while he talked to those who were interested in the job. I wasn't originally going to apply, but as the week went on, I just kept thinking about it. Lots of talks with Isa and him going "You wouldn't be doing it alone", really made me dive in and message Syl that I was interested. An interview, tough decision for him, and HO approval later, here we are.
When Syl was looking to step down, I kept thinking about who would be the partner to complement myself as a GM. Syl and I have a lot of similar ideas, but we were also not afraid to disagree, and so I was looking for a partner like that. For seasons, I had always thought about Tesla as being that great balance to myself, and then after she joined the team in free agency, there was always a part of my mind that knew she would be an incredible GM. She provides the strength in the areas where I have some weaknesses, and vice versa, so I think we work really well together.
Tesla: Pleased to be here G2019!
Interestingly enough I also almost got my start back in S18 as I saw the post on Reddit then, but I was especially busy at the time and did not feel I could dedicate the appropriate time to it. When the recruitment post was made for S22 it came right around the time a few of my other online hobbies died down and so I joined without really having any idea what I was getting myself into.
I got off to a slow start if I am being honest as it took me a week before I joined the Discord, and even then I just asked a couple of questions over the course of my first few days of real activity. It was not until I saw Bex say that between two roughly equal candidates that activity would win the day in terms of draft position that I got truly invested. While I come from a fanfiction and roleplay background I try to do right by my characters and so I decided to try to step out of my comfort zone to give Magnus the best chance at being drafted early.
Magnus did get drafted early going tenth overall to the Norfolk Seawolves in the largest draft class in league history. Almost immediately after that I was given my first taste of management as I was given war room perms by Scorp because another user asked for it as a joke. Right at the same time I also got my first league job by winning a Media Grader Hiring Battle. I presume courtesy of my 17k words worth of media before the draft and my considerable conversations in rookie discord that I had made an impression on some people. Also got Magnus drafted second overall to the New Orleans Second Line where I joined the war room after signing my first extension.
During my time in the Norfolk and New Orleans war rooms I considered becoming a general manager as I think most people would, but I also did enough scouting work for the two that I learned I am awful at it. Social anxiety is a redacted and messaging people you do not know out of the blue does not work well with it. That said I did learn how to contribute to a war room despite that fact by being observant and doing my best to gather information without having to talk to people. Even so I figured being a general manager was not in the cards for me on account of my limitations, and those of my computer since it is a potato that cannot run the sim.
Courtesy of my experience when I signed with the Colorado Yeti I was able to contribute to the war room in ways outside of scouting though, and those ways were apparently seen as valuable by my dear partner Schwarz and my former general manager Sylphreni. Given everything I have learned since joining the Yeti I would have to agree with Schwarz that I can complement her considerable skill set with some of my talents, and that we make an amazing pair for that reason.
Sconnie: Thanks so much for that background information! Let's fast forward to the recent ISFL draft. How do you feel the Yeti did overall? Was there anything about the draft process that surprised you? Are there any other teams you thought came out with especially strong draft classes?
SchwarzNarr: There are a lot of people who might think we didn't really do as well as we could have in the draft, given we only had two picks, but that said, I think the quality in both of our picks is outstanding. The fact that with almost 10 picks to the end of the draft, we were able to get JamesGames23 who is still active, has been super chatty in our discord lately, and everything is just great.
In addition, making the trade up to grab you at 5oa is something I'd do again and again. We knew how much you wanted to be here, and so we were thrilled to offer some additional picks to another team to make it happen.
As far as other teams that did really well, I think that Berlin did a great job this draft, they were able to make some trades to get quite a bit more value, and it sets them up nicely with their team which had a lot of S22 guys at one point. They're able to begin that aging down process, and will have a good group in place when Laser starts to hit his prime.
I also think that Woelkers going to Philadelphia is such a great move, coupled with their other young rookies. Philly gets a young CB who is looking to help support the team and help them continue the special thing they have going there.
Tesla: Overall we got more than we initially expected as after our prior trades I think it safe to say we only expected to get one true active out of this draft. Which we did and then some in the form of you who wanted to be a Yeti and has lived up to expectations so far. So I will second Schwarz that the fact we also got the amazing JamesGames23 who I trust has better taste in royally named bands is an absolute win in my book.
Given this is my first time being a general manager in a draft I can say it was a bit surprising to see how the hot dogs are made so to speak. It is significantly more normal than you would expect behind the scenes. Beyond that though I really cannot comment off the top of my head on how the draft went for other teams as I actively purge all that data from my mind as it is happening to avoid the risk of leaks. So please give me a moment.
After looking through the draft I can second Berlin did a brilliant job getting so many solid selections in the draft. Also think Arizona got great value relative to where they picked and that New Orleans got a good group.
Sconnie: Good analysis there! Obviously, I'm thrilled to be a Yeti and I know JamesGames23 and I are looking to make an impact whenever you're ready for us!
As someone who is new to the organization, and for the benefit of our readers, can you talk a little bit about some of the players the Yeti will look to really lean on in the coming season? Who should we really watch out for?
SchwarzNarr: We're going to see a lot of shifts on our offense this season. With Gilbert and Michell having retired, and Lim regressing further, we have quite a few shifts there. We were fortunate enough to have several younger wide receivers waiting in the wings, so we'll see Raphael Delacour coming up and taking the wide receiver one slot, Drip Dad taking over as our primary running back, and we were able to land Buffalo Hunter in free agency to really add some strength at tight end, which we were missing for awhile.
Tesla: Schwarz covered offense and so I will take defense. Courtesy of heavier regression in our front seven I expect us to lean more heavily on our secondary in this upcoming season. Albert Ruschmann is now our highest TPE player and our clear CB1 who will ideally have a season befitting said TPE total. Would not be surprised to see the rest of the secondary also take a step forward overall as people get moved around to account for recent changes. Redbeard McFredbeard and NationalSimulation FootballLeague especially could take a step forward. Also despite regression hitting the majority of our front we do still have some youth there in Xmus Flaxon Jaxon-Waxon and Rusty Rucker who I believe will also be in a position to make big time plays as top tier players at their positions.
I will also take this moment to shout out Lux Opal who I would say has exceeded expectations at the kicker position and has proven to be a great value to the team.
Sconnie: I appreciate you giving us some players to watch! Speaking of players, what are the main things each of you look for in potential draft picks/free agent signings? What are some things that might encourage you to NOT go after a player?
SchwarzNarr: When we're scouting, we look for someone who just really fits into the Colorado family and jives with us well. We care about the sims and the league, but we're also focused on doing so many other things together too. We'll play games, hang out, we've done movie nights, and so finding ways that we can just enjoy each other's company is really important. We basically look at the draftees we've started becoming friends with and start there, I'd say. The same goes for free agency. A lot of the free agents we've gone after over the past several seasons are all users who have had close connections to at least one of us on the team.
As far as what might us wary about drafting someone? I think attitude plays a lot into it. There was a user a few seasons back who was a little rough around the edges, and we weren't quite willing to take a chance on him. Fortunately, though, another great team did and they've turned into one of my favorite members on the site. You don't always have to be positive and upbeat, we all get frustrated, and a little trash talk is good, but we're really just focusing on users who mesh well with the team.
Tesla: I will second Schwarz in that we look for friendly folk. The games take up a few hours a week, and our ideal is that everyone can enjoy the company even outside of that. Locker room culture is the primary goal in Colorado and so we want people who get along with the vibe of the locker room.
By extension people who are aggressive, rude, and standoffish are likely to be taken off our draft board. Thankfully they are not a common encounter in my experience, but being a jerk is the quickest way to be given a 'do not draft' grade. The one thing that has most encouraged me to not go after a player that I have seen in my time as general manager though is someone thinking Queen is overrated.
Sconnie: From what I've seen from the locker room so far, you have just the types of users you like! Any predictions for the team's performance this season?
SchwarzNarr: Honestly, no. There have been a ton of changes throughout the league on teams, a lot of quarterback shifts. I'd like to think we'll have the upper hand against Baltimore, Philly, and now Berlin, but Berlin is most likely still a strong team, and Philly has done a great job shoring up their defense by gaining a few free agents over the offseason.
Tesla: Schwarz and Syl did a superb job setting up a lovely locker room. Why I am so happy to be a part of the team.
I would second Schwarz that there has been enough shakeup that a prediction would be difficult even before taking into account the chaotic nature of the sim. That said I think it safe to say we expect to be in competition for a playoff spot like we were last season, but anything more specific than that would be beyond my skills as a seer.
Sconnie: Is there anything else you'd like to let our readers know while you have the stage?
Tesla: Nothing comes to mind besides thank you for reading. Also thank you for having us here G2019!
SchwarzNarr: I have nothing else except that your wife is adorable
Tesla: I will second that sentiment!
Sconnie: There you have it, folks! Thanks so much to both of you for your time, and let's hope the sim gods smile upon our Yeti this season!
(2828 words)
Payouts:
@SchwarzNarr 10%
@Tesla 10%
@g2019 80%
Let's start at the beginning. Can you tell our readers a bit about your starts in the league and how you worked your way up to ISFL management?
SchwarzNarr: So, I originally was asked by Isa to join in Season 18, when he joined via the reddit recruitment. However, he wasn't quite the best at selling the league, and when he was describing point tasks and what you needed to do to earn TPE, he described them as "little essays". At the time I was in the midst of working on my master's and the last thing I wanted to do was write essays for fun.
After a few months of the pandemic, the school year was ending, and I was kind of at my wits end. He had just been talking about the upcoming draft, and I said 'okay fine, give me the link to your stupid football thing'. I joined, was picked up by Norfolk on waivers as I had created after the DSFL predraft had started. It was instantly home, Isa was there and playing, but it was more than that. I had J0EB and Blasoon cheering me on, I had scorp instantly going "wait you like moose?" and adding the !moose command. Juniped, Lightnoir, hotdog, and xQc were all alum who were still heavily active and involved, and I had a great class with users like Pppaul and Teyon. It was just such a fun place to be.
So they kept me involved, I joined the war room at the end and just... started scouting everyone. After that, I joined the rookie mentor team, worked toward becoming the rookie mentor head, and wanted to become a part of the war room in Colorado, as well.
I have to be honest, I never really expected or thought that I would want to be a GM. I had said for seasons that I didn't want to be a GM. It just seemed to chaotic from the outside (and it definitely is chaotic at times). But, we had a sudden opening in Colorado. TVC had stepped down, Syl was finishing out the draft and the few offseason tasks while he talked to those who were interested in the job. I wasn't originally going to apply, but as the week went on, I just kept thinking about it. Lots of talks with Isa and him going "You wouldn't be doing it alone", really made me dive in and message Syl that I was interested. An interview, tough decision for him, and HO approval later, here we are.
When Syl was looking to step down, I kept thinking about who would be the partner to complement myself as a GM. Syl and I have a lot of similar ideas, but we were also not afraid to disagree, and so I was looking for a partner like that. For seasons, I had always thought about Tesla as being that great balance to myself, and then after she joined the team in free agency, there was always a part of my mind that knew she would be an incredible GM. She provides the strength in the areas where I have some weaknesses, and vice versa, so I think we work really well together.
Tesla: Pleased to be here G2019!
Interestingly enough I also almost got my start back in S18 as I saw the post on Reddit then, but I was especially busy at the time and did not feel I could dedicate the appropriate time to it. When the recruitment post was made for S22 it came right around the time a few of my other online hobbies died down and so I joined without really having any idea what I was getting myself into.
I got off to a slow start if I am being honest as it took me a week before I joined the Discord, and even then I just asked a couple of questions over the course of my first few days of real activity. It was not until I saw Bex say that between two roughly equal candidates that activity would win the day in terms of draft position that I got truly invested. While I come from a fanfiction and roleplay background I try to do right by my characters and so I decided to try to step out of my comfort zone to give Magnus the best chance at being drafted early.
Magnus did get drafted early going tenth overall to the Norfolk Seawolves in the largest draft class in league history. Almost immediately after that I was given my first taste of management as I was given war room perms by Scorp because another user asked for it as a joke. Right at the same time I also got my first league job by winning a Media Grader Hiring Battle. I presume courtesy of my 17k words worth of media before the draft and my considerable conversations in rookie discord that I had made an impression on some people. Also got Magnus drafted second overall to the New Orleans Second Line where I joined the war room after signing my first extension.
During my time in the Norfolk and New Orleans war rooms I considered becoming a general manager as I think most people would, but I also did enough scouting work for the two that I learned I am awful at it. Social anxiety is a redacted and messaging people you do not know out of the blue does not work well with it. That said I did learn how to contribute to a war room despite that fact by being observant and doing my best to gather information without having to talk to people. Even so I figured being a general manager was not in the cards for me on account of my limitations, and those of my computer since it is a potato that cannot run the sim.
Courtesy of my experience when I signed with the Colorado Yeti I was able to contribute to the war room in ways outside of scouting though, and those ways were apparently seen as valuable by my dear partner Schwarz and my former general manager Sylphreni. Given everything I have learned since joining the Yeti I would have to agree with Schwarz that I can complement her considerable skill set with some of my talents, and that we make an amazing pair for that reason.
Sconnie: Thanks so much for that background information! Let's fast forward to the recent ISFL draft. How do you feel the Yeti did overall? Was there anything about the draft process that surprised you? Are there any other teams you thought came out with especially strong draft classes?
SchwarzNarr: There are a lot of people who might think we didn't really do as well as we could have in the draft, given we only had two picks, but that said, I think the quality in both of our picks is outstanding. The fact that with almost 10 picks to the end of the draft, we were able to get JamesGames23 who is still active, has been super chatty in our discord lately, and everything is just great.
In addition, making the trade up to grab you at 5oa is something I'd do again and again. We knew how much you wanted to be here, and so we were thrilled to offer some additional picks to another team to make it happen.
As far as other teams that did really well, I think that Berlin did a great job this draft, they were able to make some trades to get quite a bit more value, and it sets them up nicely with their team which had a lot of S22 guys at one point. They're able to begin that aging down process, and will have a good group in place when Laser starts to hit his prime.
I also think that Woelkers going to Philadelphia is such a great move, coupled with their other young rookies. Philly gets a young CB who is looking to help support the team and help them continue the special thing they have going there.
Tesla: Overall we got more than we initially expected as after our prior trades I think it safe to say we only expected to get one true active out of this draft. Which we did and then some in the form of you who wanted to be a Yeti and has lived up to expectations so far. So I will second Schwarz that the fact we also got the amazing JamesGames23 who I trust has better taste in royally named bands is an absolute win in my book.
Given this is my first time being a general manager in a draft I can say it was a bit surprising to see how the hot dogs are made so to speak. It is significantly more normal than you would expect behind the scenes. Beyond that though I really cannot comment off the top of my head on how the draft went for other teams as I actively purge all that data from my mind as it is happening to avoid the risk of leaks. So please give me a moment.
After looking through the draft I can second Berlin did a brilliant job getting so many solid selections in the draft. Also think Arizona got great value relative to where they picked and that New Orleans got a good group.
Sconnie: Good analysis there! Obviously, I'm thrilled to be a Yeti and I know JamesGames23 and I are looking to make an impact whenever you're ready for us!
As someone who is new to the organization, and for the benefit of our readers, can you talk a little bit about some of the players the Yeti will look to really lean on in the coming season? Who should we really watch out for?
SchwarzNarr: We're going to see a lot of shifts on our offense this season. With Gilbert and Michell having retired, and Lim regressing further, we have quite a few shifts there. We were fortunate enough to have several younger wide receivers waiting in the wings, so we'll see Raphael Delacour coming up and taking the wide receiver one slot, Drip Dad taking over as our primary running back, and we were able to land Buffalo Hunter in free agency to really add some strength at tight end, which we were missing for awhile.
Tesla: Schwarz covered offense and so I will take defense. Courtesy of heavier regression in our front seven I expect us to lean more heavily on our secondary in this upcoming season. Albert Ruschmann is now our highest TPE player and our clear CB1 who will ideally have a season befitting said TPE total. Would not be surprised to see the rest of the secondary also take a step forward overall as people get moved around to account for recent changes. Redbeard McFredbeard and NationalSimulation FootballLeague especially could take a step forward. Also despite regression hitting the majority of our front we do still have some youth there in Xmus Flaxon Jaxon-Waxon and Rusty Rucker who I believe will also be in a position to make big time plays as top tier players at their positions.
I will also take this moment to shout out Lux Opal who I would say has exceeded expectations at the kicker position and has proven to be a great value to the team.
Sconnie: I appreciate you giving us some players to watch! Speaking of players, what are the main things each of you look for in potential draft picks/free agent signings? What are some things that might encourage you to NOT go after a player?
SchwarzNarr: When we're scouting, we look for someone who just really fits into the Colorado family and jives with us well. We care about the sims and the league, but we're also focused on doing so many other things together too. We'll play games, hang out, we've done movie nights, and so finding ways that we can just enjoy each other's company is really important. We basically look at the draftees we've started becoming friends with and start there, I'd say. The same goes for free agency. A lot of the free agents we've gone after over the past several seasons are all users who have had close connections to at least one of us on the team.
As far as what might us wary about drafting someone? I think attitude plays a lot into it. There was a user a few seasons back who was a little rough around the edges, and we weren't quite willing to take a chance on him. Fortunately, though, another great team did and they've turned into one of my favorite members on the site. You don't always have to be positive and upbeat, we all get frustrated, and a little trash talk is good, but we're really just focusing on users who mesh well with the team.
Tesla: I will second Schwarz in that we look for friendly folk. The games take up a few hours a week, and our ideal is that everyone can enjoy the company even outside of that. Locker room culture is the primary goal in Colorado and so we want people who get along with the vibe of the locker room.
By extension people who are aggressive, rude, and standoffish are likely to be taken off our draft board. Thankfully they are not a common encounter in my experience, but being a jerk is the quickest way to be given a 'do not draft' grade. The one thing that has most encouraged me to not go after a player that I have seen in my time as general manager though is someone thinking Queen is overrated.
Sconnie: From what I've seen from the locker room so far, you have just the types of users you like! Any predictions for the team's performance this season?
SchwarzNarr: Honestly, no. There have been a ton of changes throughout the league on teams, a lot of quarterback shifts. I'd like to think we'll have the upper hand against Baltimore, Philly, and now Berlin, but Berlin is most likely still a strong team, and Philly has done a great job shoring up their defense by gaining a few free agents over the offseason.
Tesla: Schwarz and Syl did a superb job setting up a lovely locker room. Why I am so happy to be a part of the team.
I would second Schwarz that there has been enough shakeup that a prediction would be difficult even before taking into account the chaotic nature of the sim. That said I think it safe to say we expect to be in competition for a playoff spot like we were last season, but anything more specific than that would be beyond my skills as a seer.
Sconnie: Is there anything else you'd like to let our readers know while you have the stage?
Tesla: Nothing comes to mind besides thank you for reading. Also thank you for having us here G2019!
SchwarzNarr: I have nothing else except that your wife is adorable
Tesla: I will second that sentiment!
Sconnie: There you have it, folks! Thanks so much to both of you for your time, and let's hope the sim gods smile upon our Yeti this season!
(2828 words)
Payouts:
@SchwarzNarr 10%
@Tesla 10%
@g2019 80%