(S48) Offseason Task

[Dev0]

Tier 3 task 18

I don't think you would be surprised to know that the 2 most important things in leagues like these are being active and being organized. Well I can tell you this, I am not organized but I will talk the paint off the wall. I work in a Hospital and while that has many draw backs in a lot of my life, and online gaming it also have some benefits such as being online at all different hours. Often people who are in some of the less common time zones they have a lot less people to talk to or to get help from. I am great for people like that as in a single week I could potentially be online at any hour of the day or night. Back when I played World of Warcraft many many years ago, I actually played with a Filipino group because I would get off work at 7am and play til lunch time and then go to bed until work.

[Rusfan]

It is over.

Mandrews McHollywood has officially, for real this time, retired from the ISFL.

After 11 seasons in the league, 12 if you count his waiver stint with Minnesota, the career of the best wide receiver in New York Silverbacks history has come to an end.

If I had to pick one word to describe his career, it would have to be: consistent.

You see, Mandrews was never the flashiest receiver in the league. No matter how good a year he had, you would never find him atop the leaderboard for wide receiver statistics. His advantage was that, although he may not have been the best, he was so consistently top-10 to top-5 that he wracked up the stats anyways. Consider that only once in his 10 ISFL seasons did he fail to hit at least 1,000 yards, his sophomore outing where he only managed 802. Even then he still snagged 9 touchdowns. So while you might have never seen him win an Offensive Player of The Year award, or hardly ever get a nomination, you did see him pick up a handful of first and second-team All-Pros as well as numerous pro bowls.

But let’s talk about his 10th and final ISFL season. Going into this final season Mandrews was down to just 402 TPE after regression and so the expectations for him were not very high. He was just 37 yards shy of the all-time New York Silverbacks record and about 90 receptions shy of that record. While I had every confidence he would manage to grab the yardage record, I had absolutely no faith he would manage to get the receptions record.

He then accumulated 102 catches for 1,009 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Now the records for New York look as such:

Receptions:
1-Mandrews McHollywood-923
2-Tugg Speedman-897
3-Matthew Mara-718
4-Sean Robinson-578
5-Jackson Kingston-487

Yards:
1-Mandrews McHollywood-12,378
2-Tugg Speedman-11,501
3-Matthew Mara-9,785
4-Sean Robinson-7,311
5-Jackson Kingston-7,042

Yards Per Catch:
1-Jackson Kingston-14.45995893
2-Harley Fank-13.92405063
3-Matthew Mara-13.6281337
4-Mandrews McHollywood-13.41061755
5-French Fries-13.37209302

Touchdowns:
1-Mandrews McHollywood-87
2-Tugg Speedman-75
3-Matthew Mara-59
4-Jackson Kingston-45
5-Sean Robinson-43

In terms of league rankings his stats stack up like this:

Receptions-14th
Yards-14th
Yards Per Catch-100th
Touchdowns-15th
Longest Reception-T-1st

Hopefully we see Mandrews get his gold jacket when his eligibility comes up.

Now moving on to Caleb’s first season!


Caleb TheGEICOCamel just finished his first season within the DSFL and it was, by all accounts, rather unremarkable.

That isn’t exactly surprising. A few factors, his late start post-ultimus, the overall talent on Minnesota, the fact that 3 corners were taken in total including himself in his draft class, all combined to him not seeing the field as much as he might’ve liked. In total he finished the year with:

23 Tackles
1 Sack
6 Pass Deflections

And on special teams:

1 Kick Return
2 Kick Return Yards
16 Punt Returns
88 Punt Return Yards

Technically he only officially started 6 games out of the 14 so the sparse stats aren’t shocking. Hopefully when he starts his second DSFL season at the 250 DSFL cap, we will see him get more starting time.

He did pick up another 3 tackles and a pass deflection in the 28-27 playoff loss to the eventual DSFL Ultimini champion Portland Pythons. His best game by far was week 12 in the 22-14 loss to Portland once again where he racked up a third of his pass deflections with 2 and picked up a tackle. While he won’t win any awards for his performance this season, hopefully this is just the start of something great.

Almost every single team in the league has reached out to Caleb to talk about possibly picking him up in the draft so obviously these teams know that there is greater potential in him than what he showed on the field in his first season

To step out of character for a moment, while it is undoubtedly sad to retire a player like Mandrews McHollywood, by far my most successful player thus far, and one of the highest earning players ever in league history, I am excited to start my 3rd new journey and my second on the objectively superior side of the ball on defense. Everybody always needs more secondary, as Ozzie Newsome says, you can never have too many corners, and I hope Caleb TheGEICOCamel will get to be one of the best.

I’ll see you in about a week on ISFL draft night 8:00 PM sharp!

[Dev0]

Tier 3 #27
My current position is Offensive lineman, if that was not an option I would consider the positions in the middle, that do the dirty work. Defensive line more so Tackle than End, or Middle linebacker, and if it had to be one it might be Defensive Tackle. In high school I played Center and Middle Linebacker, and while when I started writing I assumed that my answer would be linebacker I have a soft spot for the positions that get less renowned for the dirty work they do.
Defensive tackles are the keys to a defensive front 7 working or not, if you get a push up the middle Quarterbacks are go side to side making it faster for pass rushers to get to them. Defensive tackles also tie up potential blockers for the linebackers behind them allowing them to roam sideline to sideline to make plays. While Defensive tackles often do not have high sack totals or high tackle rates their stats should show things like position in relation to the line of scrimmage or amount of times double teamed.

[High Stick King]

36. Affiliate PT from the SHL/SSL/PBE/VHL. The weeks of the task must match with the timeframe of this Offseason Task. You may only use a max of 1.

SHL Affiliate +2.5

[jj2416]

PBE Affilate-https://probaseballexperience.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=35597&view=findpost&p=715825

[KC15]

PBE Affiliate PT  +2.5 TPE

19. Your team has announced that they will be laying ground on a new stadium next season. What additions would you like to see included in it. +2.5 TPE

The Berlin Fire Salamanders are building a new stadium and is it ever going to be a showpiece!  Fire Salamanders will be everywhere.  Of course, there will be a giant gold and black salamander logo with bright red flames surrounding the salamander at the 50 yard line.  But there will also be live fire salamanders in a huge lizardarium with easy access from each of the entrances on the main floor.  Everyone will have an equal opportunity to see these amazing creatures on their way to their seats or after yet another win for Berlin.  The team is brining in the foremost experts on fire salamanders and on appropriate enclosures to keep them safe and healthy.

The seats are also going to be inspired by fire salamanders.  They will be painted in what might seem like a random pattern of black and gold and red, but when viewed from above with no one in the seats will reveal 4 large fire salamanders at the cardinal points in the stadium.

Code:

169 words

21. Written Option: If your player had a show starring them, what would the plot be?  +2.5 TPE

Most people do not understand why American Dream legally changed his name.  They see it and think that either he or his parents are jingoistic Americans who see no wrong in their country and believe it is superior to every other country in every other way.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, our young RB from the Berlin Fire Salamanders took on the name more as a commentary on how this image of America isn’t really true.  Sure, it’s a great place to live and Dream is grateful for his home country, but he’s also quite aware that not all is perfect in the land of Oz.  He, himself, has experienced too many instances of racism to be able to count and he knows the playing field is not level.  He took on the name to remind himself of this and to act better when he has truly come into his own as a star in the ISFL.

Therefore, the plot of the movie featuring American Dream would be about this kind of commentary and the hope there is that even when the odds are stacked against you, you can prevail.  It would end with a call to action for all of us to truly create the American Dream.

Code:

212 words

26. if your player wasn't a professional in the ISFL/DSFL, what would they be doing instead?  +2.5 TPE

If American Dream were not a football player he would probably be a history teacher.  The reason is simple.  While attending James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, Connecticut, Dream (born Allyn Marcus) was a brilliant, but just an average student.  That got him overlooked by a lot of teachers.  He just didn’t stand out with that much academic talent and everyone saw him only as a star RB for the school’s football team.  Everyone except Mr. Anderson – the history teacher.

Mr. Anderson thought that everyone needed to know their history to be able to learn from it – to avoid the mistakes of the past and chart a better future for everyone.  Especially for kids like those attending James Hillhouse.  He found Dream delightful in that he shared his desire to make the world a better place and ended up inspiring Dream to do just that.  Who knows where Dream will go as an ISFL running back and what he will do with his platform.  Who knows how much impact he would have had had he not gone into the ISFL.  But it’s pretty certain he would have made that impact as a history teacher like his favorite teacher, Mr. Anderson.

Code:

201 words

[roquefort]

2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?

S47 will go down as a historic draft class. If that wasn't clear before, I think with each passing week it's becoming more and more clear. We have a fantastic combination of new users and seasoned veterans, all competing with one another to earn as much as we can. Coming out of the DSFL (developmental sim football league, don't forget the D) I had no idea where myself or my fellow compatriots would land. We spread across the league like a plague, with key players from the class on their respective teams. I will highlight some of them below. 

The first player to take a look at is Tim Riggins, AKA Shahdude. Riggins joined the league as a tight-end but fell victim to the simulator and swapped to wide receiver. Since then he's been a top earner and performer within the class, and continues to be one of the top users in the league. He pumps out media that DESERVES A GEMINI AWARD and has been a huge influence within the KCC LR. Now officially announced as Kansas City's new GM, it's obvious that he will be leaving a longtime impact on both the team as well as the league at large.

Another user worth highlighting is jadda123876 aka Jonathon Irons aka Jackie Wilson. Jackie is another fantastic S47 user who has quickly made themselves a prominent member of our community. She is already a ULTIMINI WINNING GM! and has also carved out a niche for herself as one of the league's premier gameday casters. Overall a really good person and positive influence to whatever they touch. 

I think the initial DSFL draft had some interesting picks and definitely some steals. Despite his controversy, JJ What? was obviously the biggest steal of the draft. Going from a post-draft immediate waiver pickup to one of the top earners of the class as well as the NORFOLK GM is insane value. To go from Waiver pickup to first rounder at all would be impressive, but JJ made sure to make his ISFL draft even more memorable by forcing a trade off the team that drafted him and joining some real studs in Hawaii. I think for many reasons JJ will be a memorable player and certainly a notable player in a notable class. 

Another intriguing user is WalterYensid. Walt is a fantastic dude and probably my favorite user from the class. He and I quickly recorded a few podcast episodes (check-out the Shutdown Podcast) where we discussed the draft, the class, the league, and our projections. He was drafted 3oa to Berlin and was debatably a steal at that draft position. However some controversy took place soon after when Berlin drafted another player notorious for a CDL that involved Walt. At first this seemed to be a big nothingburger as both players continued on to their drafted team without much coming from it. In the time since, however, Walter has seemingly gone missing. Not seen in nearly a month it's to the concern of myself and many others within the class if he still is interested in the league or if he's simply just a busy fella IRL. Only time will tell where his career will end up. I think the best thing for the league is to see him return. 

Overall, I think we have a wonderful class and many of us will be hall of famers. I think a lot our class decided on being more team oriented so I am very interested to see who racks up the most stats within the sim and who's most likely to end up with the golden jacket at the end of the day. I like to think that after I win 10 rings with Honolulu I'll be a lock myself, but there's only one way to find out. Looking forward to the future. 

Roquefort Cotswald

[MMAJAKE710]

I don’t know what to even say… I felt like I gave it everything I had out there but still came up short. The Chicago butchers against all odds solidified themselves as the number 1 seed in our conference and finished the season 12-4. No one and I mean no one predicted that. Every game we played the commentators were writing out obituary, same as the fans, and other players. But we proved them wrong 12 out of 16 times. So much momentum going into the playoffs. A 5 game winning streak and all the pride and ambition you could ever feel or ask for from your team. As the game came closer I felt like this was really our year. I’m only my second season as a DSFL player I made it to the ultimini. So what’s to stop me from reaching the ultimus in only my second season? After a wild card game the Cape Town crash had solidified themselves as division champs. We would be taking them on in the conference championship game. We lost to them earlier in the season. They were one of our four losses. It wasn’t pretty either. We lost by nearly 25 points. This game wasn’t going to be easy but I knew we could win. I just felt it. The game finally started and cape town got off to a really hot start. They scored 10 unanswered points and were about to score another TD to make it 17-0 but then, our best CB got a interception and we took the ball down field and scored. It was no 7-10 and a light of hope was starting to peak above the horizon. The first half came to an end. We got the ball back and I caught a nice 20 yard catch to keep a 3rd down alive. 2 plays later we’re in the end zone. But wait there’s a penalty. Unnecessary roughness on the offense ?! Wow ok. Pushed us way back out of field goal range. Now we have two more chances but then penguin got sacked. We punted on what was a for sure scoring drive I thought. Cape Town gets the ball and drive down. They score a quick field goal and now we’re down 13-7. Almost the end of the third. We went three and out and gave Cape Town the ball again.  This would create a hole in my stomach. Cape Town got the ball and scored a TD. It was 20-7 and only a quarter to go. Things wetter not looking good. We got the ball back and with with the competitive nature we’ve had all season, we faught back. I caught 2 catches for about 10 yards each and penguin put a dot to our receiver and TD !! 14-20 We were only a score away from taking the lead. Cape Town gets the ball and there’s only 5 minutes left in the game. They go three and out and the light of hope that was once a speck over the horizon. Was now a giant sun of light fueling the spirit and energy of this team. This was it. We go down and score a TD it’s our one way ticket to the ultimus! We get the ball. Get a couple first downs and the momentum’s looking good. But the the worst thing imaginable happened. We fumbled the ball and Cape Town has possession in our own end zone. We luckily get a sack but now times running out. Only a minute left and cape town has a long third. They fail but now they’re only 30 yards away from making it a two score game with a field goal. THEY MISS!! 45 seconds left. We drive down. 20 yards to bonnett ! 10 yards to Bonnett ! 20 seconds left. First down! At the 50…. We can’t stop the clock. Times runs out .. Cape Town wins… the sun goes dark. It’s over.

[Wiggli]

Tier 2: Short Form Tasks (Each must be 300+ words) // Choose up to TWO for 5 TPE each.
10. Through a random lottery drawing, you have been named the league's new commissioner for a day. Congrats! What improvements would you make to the league if you had the power to do whatever you wanted?

Great! I won the lottery! But wait all I get is this admit one ticket to the commissioner’s chair? I guess that’s better than nothing. OK so here are some ideas that have been floating in my head if I polish them up a bit more I should probably call attention to them in a more visible space, but here goes.

1. Some sort of ‘like’ option for posts or threads. This would probably need a big overhaul of the forum system so isn’t something to be done lightly, but here’s some reasons I think it would be good. For media posts people put in work and maybe its ‘just’ a creative writing blurb that’s not of general interest. So people don’t really want to respond in any meaningful way but it'd be cool to drop a thumbs up or something to show you appreciate the effort. Also on mega threads like this some good posts get made, but its not always easy to find them. If you could ‘like’ individual posts and that increased their visibility maybe people would get more enjoyment out of both the consumption and creation for these responses to these prompts, a lot of which are really great.
   
2. Align traits for Defensive Ends and Defensive Tackles. So DTs are able to select both traits, power rusher and speed rusher, while defensive ends need to pick just one. That seems backwards to me. If anything DE are the more versatile rushers generally. I noticed DE tend to have slightly worse performance stat wise at least, maybe this is part of the problem.
   
3. Rethink incentives for media payouts. Is 2500 words really the length we want media to push for? One good thing I’ve seen that does is it encourages people to work together to help build the community. But generally, I think 2500 is too long, and even on articles in which I had a lot of things to say I ended up stretching in different directions that probably made the media less entertaining to read. Some sort of incentive is probably good (800 words? 1500?), but it really depends on the type of media people like to see. Personally I'm more likely to really engage with it if it’s a bit smaller, while when it gets really long my eyes will start to glaze over at some point no matter how well crafted it is.
   

Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks (Each must be either 150+ words or a graphic) // Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.
27. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why? 

You know how some teams have different names for their positions. Often hybrid linebackers get to have one like ‘Lobo’ or ‘Bulldog’. ‘Joker’ has been more widely adopted now, but same idea. Well Juan is a special specimen and would need a moniker that’s a little extra even if he’s sat squarely as the anchor of the defensive line. The ‘Rascal’ would be a defensive line position that thrives not only on their impressive size, but surprising intellect and quickness. And that’s the thing the ‘Rascal’ is very multiple, you think he’s just going to shade the center then BAM! he swaps over to the three technique pushing the end outside, and creating more space for an inside blitz. Or WHAMMO! he drops back into pass coverage?! Who’d have thought of that? The Rascal that’s who. And they’d have the total freedom to let their hamster wheel brain run free, attacking the offensive from all sorts of unexpected angles.

Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks (Each must be either 150+ words or a graphic) // Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.
29. What team do you think has the best branding in the league? Why? (Written Task)

I think there are so many teams that do a great job on the branding its hard to call any the best, but I did want to call out the Tijuana Luchadores. I always thought the concept was really fun, and a good fit for the league with a lot of interesting directions you could take it. But seeing them more frequently during their DSFL playoff run, I really like their field. The Aztec like patterns in the endzone with the Mexican flag color scheme, the Luchadore front and center with the belt buckle like name plate.  Just a lot of intricate details that I didn’t fully appreciate at first. I’m sure as I spend more time in the league I’ll see similar care and attention on offer from other teams as well. And that’s great! I can have a new favorite every week, and this is even before color rush when people get another opportunity to show their creativity and bring out fun new concepts.

[DocLars]

1. The Season 47 in the DSFL was an absolute roller coaster of a season, and no team experienced a larger range of emotions than the Portland Pythons. Saying the start of the season was rocky is probably an understatement, as the Pythons limped to a 1-4 record and looked destined to finish behind the 4-1 Grey Ducks and 3-2 Royals to miss the playoffs. Starting week 6, the Pythons got just what the doctor ordered with 4 straight games against the bottom 2 teams in the DSFL. They took care of business, and climbed back to 5-4, putting them only 1 game back of London for the 2nd seed in the North. With games against Bondi Beach, Tijuana, and Minnesota coming up, it looked like the run may end for Portland. A 31-16 loss to Bondi appeared to make this even more likely, but Portland was still just a game back of the Royals and hope never waned for the Pythons squad. 

In week 11, the Pythons found their groove and never looked back. They put the league on notice with comeback road wins against Tijuana and Minnesota, proving they could hang with the big boys if they needed to. After taking care of business against Norfolk in week 13, a win or go home game against the London Royals was set for week 14. Portland took control early and never let London get comfortable, winning 26-12 and securing a playoff spot.

Portland's reward for making the playoffs? A road playoff game against the number 1 seed in the entire DSFL and Ultimini favorite, the Minnesota Grey Ducks. The fairy tale looked like it was about to end as Minnesota roared out to a 27-0 lead, which they held late in the 3rd quarter. Kurt Wagner put the Pythons on the board to cut the lead to 20 at the end of the 3rd quarter, but all the Ducks had to do was run the clock out and start preparing for their Ultimini matchup with Tijuana. Then the unspeakable happened - Portland just kept scoring. An 8 yard pass to Jonathon Irons cut the lead to 13, and after an inexplicable interception from Ducks quarterback Greg Hirsch in his own end zone, Blundetto punched in another TD to cut it to 27-21. Again, Minnesota had a chance to run out the clock and win the game. Again, Minnesota failed. Portland marched down the field and scored the go ahead TD with 51 seconds left, taking the lead 28-27. Minnesota did not go down easy though, and hit Julian Rose for a 53 yard pass which would have set them up for the game winning field goal. Rose was stripped from behind, however, and the Pythons recovered the ball, sealing the victory and an appearance in the Ultimini against all odds.

This incredible comeback already made the season one to remember, but Portland had a chance to put the cherry on top with an Ultimini win against the Luchadores. Again, Portland trailed by multiple scores in the 4th quarter and again they buckled down and grinded their way to victory. This time, Tyler Higbee II was the hero, catching a 2 yard TD pass with 1:14 remaining to give the Pythons a 28-23 lead. Tijuana failed to match on their next drive, and the Portland Pythons were named the S47 Ultimini Champions. 

All in all, it's hard to argue against Portland deserving their win and it will certainly be one that's remembered for a long time. Minnesota will likely leave the season as the most disappointed, and with good reason. They had a big TPE lead all season, earned the #1 seed in the regular season, and held a 27-0 lead over the eventual champs in the conference championship game. It's hard not to feel like the trophy was within their grasp this season.

In the ISFL, it should never come as a surprise to see the Outlaws raise the trophy, though they played some absolute classic games in the quarter and semifinals. After taking down NOLA in overtime and then scoring 14 points in less than 2 minutes to steal a win over San Jose, the Outlaws pulled away from CTC in the 2nd half to win their 2nd straight Ultimus 33-17. Arizona can't keep winning every season, right?