(S48) Offseason Task

[Jimi64]

1. The S47 Ultimini win for the Portland Pythons was unexpected and thrilling. Not only were the odds against us, but the road itself to the championship was a rocky one. Before the season even started, we collectively discussed, as a team, what are odds of success were for the season. Our eyes immediately went to TPE levels, as I think we’re all prone to doing. What immediately stuck out was Minnesota’s TPE. They had a significant TPE lead over every team in the DSFL, with many maxed out players to show for it. It was intimidating, and we were ready to hand them the trophy. Our TPE levels were average, pretty clearly in the middle compared to the rest of the league. However, the draft had brought in some exciting users, such as Willeh, so we were hopeful about our growth over the season relative to the other teams. On a personal note, I was not sure how much my player would be involved in the team during the season, as he was one of three running backs on the roster. I was pleased to see through preseason and week 1 that I was not only getting carries, I was actually getting most of them. The season started off poorly, as we dropped to 1-4 through the first five games of the season. I won’t say morale was the best, but it wasn’t toxic either, it was fiercely determined. The passion of our sim testers remained strong, with Willeh being a vocal leader on that front. That work testing, along with the consistent growth of our change, caused a total 180 degree turn for the rest of the season. Over 9 games of the season, we went 8-1. This was fantastic, but it actually still wasn’t enough to push us into the playoffs easily, as the ghost of our bad start haunted us. It came down to the very last week of the regular season to decide the final seeding. We were tied at an 8-5 record with the London Royals heading into week 14, setting up a true do or die matchup for us, with the winner getting the last playoff spot. It’s almost like we had to play an extra playoff game. We excitedly took care of business, and the team celebrated. It had been a difficult road, and there was a time in the season that playoffs didn’t seem a possibility to many of us. At that point, we considered the season a success. After all, in the conference championship we’d be facing the Minnesota Grey Ducks, essentially a powerhouse in our eyes, so we knew the chance of winning was slim, to say it lightly. The game started as a blowout for Minnesota. We were completely outclassed on both sides of the ball. At one point, we went down 27-0. That would seem to almost everyone as completely insurmountable. I wouldn’t be surprised if many simply turned the game off at that point and walked away. Not only were we down 27, we were still down 20 heading into the fourth quarter. If the Grey Ducks scored just a few more points or even just stalled the game out a bit more, it might have been just out of reach. As fate would have it, one of the most improbable fourth quarters of simulation football I’ve ever seen occurred, and scored 28 unanswered points to eek out a one point win against who we saw as the titans of DSFL heading into the season. With Tijuana up next, a more favorable opponent than the Ducks (though still strong in their own right), a championship appeared a real possibility. It wouldn’t be easy. The game was tight, a one score affair, for the majority of the game, with Tijuana spending most of the game leading. We swung the momentum in the second half and were able to hang on, claiming the S47 Ultimini. My player, Animal Blundetto, scored twice in the game, and I was proud to have made such in impact in that final game, one that would be my last as a Python. I have spent a decent amount of time in the DSFL as a user in this league, but this past season may have just been the most exciting.

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[lock180]

10. Wonderful question I'm glad you asked. The first and only thing I would change about this league is making it so that I don't have to do these tasks anymore. Writing literally hundreds of thousands of words about pretty much everyone of these things already but I can't talk about it because it is "double dipping". I shouldn't even be bothering with doing this task in the first place since I'm pretty much maxed out anyway but here I am slaving away typing up words to reach a word count because it isn't like I've written practically a whole book about one of these topics already. That's it. That's the only change I'd make. Get rid of these stupid offseason tasks that repeat EVERY SINGLE SEASON. I get that there's options that you can "Write whatever you want!" But I've been doing that for the past four seasons on my own time. I don't need to be forced to do it against my will. The offseason task is the worst task by a mile because at least the PT Tasks vary. So I would love to change the offseason task. Completely scrap this long answer nonsense that provides nothing for the league because I can promise you that if I, someone who writes media because they enjoy, don't enjoy writing these offseason tasks then everyone certainly doesn't enjoy it either. And since I have to drone on for another few sentences I'd also change everything to revolve around my schedule. We play games when I want them to be played not when everyone else wants them to be played. As judge executioner and whatever you are on my time now. I make the rules. THIS IS MY LEAGUE. Wasting my time making me write words for these prompts? Well I will put the games on just when you fall asleep so that I'm using time how I want it to be had.

12. The teams biggest rivalry is not the Berlin Fire Salamanders but for Zenzeroni it most certainly is. Besides the fact that they are in the same division as Yellowknife that is merely the tip of the iceberg for the issues I have with Berlin. It all goes back to the ISFL draft night where Zenzeroni was the consensus number 1 kicker to go off the board. In a shock that sent ripples through the entire league Golden Foote was drafted by Berlin to take Zenzeroni's place as the first kicker off the board. Yellowknife generously drafted Zenzeroni one pick later but the damage had been done. In Zenzeroni's first two seasons with Yellowknife Berlin dominated with Yellowknife going 0-4 in that stretch but in the last two seasons Yellowknife has almost evened the odds going 3-1 and it is likely more so to do with what is happening in Berlin than what Yellowknife has done to change things up on their side. Berlin drafted controversial figure Jreed12 who has been nothing but a thorn in Berlins side since joining the team. But the issues go deeper than that. Him and Zenzeroni have one of the fiercest rivalries in the league. All rivalries get heated and this one is no exception. After countless attacks on Zenzeroni's name he had no choice but to retaliate doing so by writing a scathing article about Jreed that would later receive a Gemini nomination exposing the truth. Jreed and Berlin are going downhill while Yellowknife has remained steady but that hasn't the stopped the "younger brother" Berlin from trying to ruin Yellowknife's chances at making the playoffs even succeeding last season by beating them 17-14 despite playing terribly all season. This shows that rivalries go beyond the win loss column.

[Greenbaynathan]

I did task #13 https://soundcloud.com/nathan-claflin-89...-13-and-16

and #16 https://soundcloud.com/nathan-claflin-89...al_sharing

[SmittyHextall]

16. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?

The Chicago Butchers worked hard last season to exceed expectations. Most expected the team to finish near the middle of the pack. Probably with a winning record. Most had them at a year or two away from leading the division. And to the surprise of everyone they finished the top of their division. Mainly due to the play of their running back duo, and the play of their stifling defense. The games where close but the defense would always pull through and make a big turnover or a big stop on 4th down. And the Running game would close out the games by making sure to get 10 yards in those 3 downs to put the competition away. Now there is always luck when it comes to those situations but skill is also a part of it. Painted also not making mistakes also helped greatly as well. Since if you know you know. Now Unfortunately the luck ran out in the play offs but the ground work is there for one of the best defenceses in the league as well as a young qb that may wrestle a few jimmies. Maybe not as many picks and a strong run game to come from it. The future looks really really bright for the butchers the LB core looking better then ever the Dbs taking control of the skies. Though still missing a Joe Reed in the front 4 they are also getting ready to take control of that area as well. So expect the Chicago Butchers to be one of the hardest match ups this season and the next 8. Definitely a team you do not want to play and Definitely a team that will continue to rise higher and higher. And maybe to add a couple of championships to the butchers trophy case sooner rather than later. 

23. What are your thoughts on the sim engine? What sort of improvements would you make to the sim engine if given the opportunity? (Written Task)

I do not know much if anything about the sim engine. But if I had to change anything about it. It seems the speed is the most important attribute. Maybe less a reliance on just using speed for the Wide outs and corners and making the physical players a better chance to succeed and not have to dump so much of their TPE into the stat. This goes for all the skill positions. Make more use of intelligence and strength for the game to be a little bit different. I just think that speed is used to much in the league and it needs to be a little bit different. 

24. You’re in charge of entertainment for the Ultimus or Ultimini half-time show. What would you do? (Written Task)

Obvious choice here but a large music act would have to be put in. Who knows ?‍♂️  but maybe add some fireworks and the possible public execution to just throw people off. That one is a joke. Would definitely want to have a fly over of some huge ass planes and maybe a giant paper dragon just for ahits and giggles. It might be interesting who knows make it like a Chinese new year level of celebration to get everyone excited for the big game and do it twice once before and once after the game and at halftime. Tons of paper confetti. 

[papalinator]

Task 7.

As many of you may know, I was punished for "tampering", which can be shown here.

I was fined $5M (!) by the head office.  I made an appeal, stating that jokes shouldn't be punished and that this is my first offense.  The appeals team was more lenient, as they lowered the amount to $2M.
I made several arguments that I should be absolved of this charge, and here were some of my appeals.

1. I pointed out that the official definition of tampering per the rules contains a key phrase noting the purpose of the message.

"...the “purpose of persuading them to join your team” is the key.  As can be seen in the private message, they even acknowledged the probability that this was intended as a joke.  I have made 0 other contact with this user, joking or not, with the purpose of having them join Tijuana (nor would I, we don’t want bandwagoners joining us in the 11th hour to win the natty, but that’s a separate issue).  I believe that this acknowledgement of the possibility of no ill will, along with the lack of evidence of any further action, should clear my name from all punishment."

2. I pointed out that this message did not have anything come to pass.

"...I understand that tampering is a serious offense.  However, when looking at this incident in totality, this event does not rise to that standard.  I have not interacted with this player since this message, I have not mentioned this interaction publicly, and (as far as I know), this player has not requested a trade at all, let alone to Tijuana.  With those circumstances in mind, this does not rise to the level of real punishment..."

3. I commented on the delay between the "offense" and the punishment.

"...if the offense was so egregious to warrant a 5M fine, why did it take 22 days to address it?  This seems like bureaucratic slog at the best and malicious prosecution at the worst.  I would think that a truly serious charge of tampering would not be leveled almost a full ISFL season after the alleged charge had occurred..."

4. I commented that this was my first offense, which should grant leniency.

"...since this is my first ever offense, no action from any involved parties or teams was taken, and my comment can clearly only be taken as a joke, I believe I should not be punished by subtracting money from my account.  Outcome and intent should both be evaluated in a fair judicial review.  The intent was not malicious, as stated by both parties.  The intent was a joke to add levity and joy to a discord server, while lightly teasing the other teams (let’s be honest, Tijuana has a reputation as the big brother to the rest of the other DSFL teams).  The outcome is also not malicious, as no action was ever taken by any involved party when looking at this incident..."

5. I introduced a new punishment concept.

"...I can begrudgingly accept the idea of a probationary period, as this publicly dissuades users from tampering in plain sight under the guise of “jokes”.  However, I do not agree to a money fine.  As a newer user, I am not particularly wealthy in the ISFL.  At the moment of writing this appeal, I have <2M in my bank...The system of punishment being linear overly punishes poor users while not impacting the older users in the slightest.  Quite frankly, I would like to make a suggestion to the HO that fines be proportional to the user’s bank account at the time of the notification, so that older users cannot flex their large bank accounts to practically ignore any monetary fines, while newer ones won’t get crippled in their build by the larger burden it places on them..."

Conclusion:
While I was sure that this logically approached idea would clear my name completely, I was only punished for 40% of the initial fine.  The LB case from 2020 was used as precedent.  I understand where they were coming from, but from what I could gather, my case was much less egregious.  At the end of the day, I feel like the appeals team did do their job, even if it was harsher than I would have liked.  While doing research into my appeal, I have discovered that Head Office, in my mind, has consistently over-fined users and appeals has had to bring them down to reason.  Head Office should not be leaning on Appeals as a backboard to find the correct amount.

I believe the idea of proportional fines is a great idea (seen to be effective for IRL fines in Europe).  Using a system of recording the user's bank account and levying a fine relative to that number, this allows for the poorer users to not be financially crippled and for rich users to not as easily be able to just shrug off the smaller fines.  Maybe the appeals branch cannot enact this change, and this probably can't be enacted by the PT graders either.  However, the more an idea spreads before it's introduction, the more it may be able to grow in the hearts and minds of the people.

[AJay887]

Task 16:
On the whole, the team did not do too great this season. The Austin Copperheads only wound up with a win/loss record of 6-10, with the lowest amount of points scored as a team in the ASFC, and third-lowest in the league, at only 333. Even the Silverbacks and Hahalua, who finished below us in the standings (technically the Silverbacks tied us), had more points scored by the offense then we did. Our Defense was a bit better, 5th in the ASFC, and 8th overall, but still nothing too crazy. We wound up 2-6 on the road, really struggling against teams when not on our own turf, and only doing average (4-4) on our home field. Overall, it was pretty surprising. Despite the defense's ranking in points, we did hold opposing teams to the least yards in the league, at 327.7, which is a HUGE plus. A big part of this was team captain Crasher Wake, tacking 119 players, with 10 being Tackles for Losses, as a linebacker, forcing 6 fumbles, getting 16 sacks, causing mayhem for opposing teams' offenses. Add onto that, that cornerback Trent Thigpen was 4th in the league in pass deflections, batting away passes left and right, and you have a couple of stars on the defense, putting in tons of work for their team. Linebackers Moloka'i and McGibbons didn't look too shabby either, putting up 93 and 80 tackles respectively. My player, CB2 Gajeel Redfox, had a fairly decent season. While he was outpaced by Thigpen in every relevant category, he still isn't quite at full build yet. With full-strength Gajeel still a couple seasons out, the defense of the Austin Copperheads still has room to grow, which, for enemy offenses, can be, and should be, incredibly scary. If this defense can hold you to the least yards in the league, and still isn't at its' final form, look out.

Task 13:
So let's talk about the rise of the Sabercats, and by extension, their Quarterback, Josh Patterson. Patterson debuted for the Sabercats in 2059 according to their Stats page on the index. They did not start off well, with a pass completion percentage of just 59%. When you look at the top Quarterbacks in the NFL last year, a pass completion rate of 59% even, would be the 50th best quarterback in the league. In that season, the San Jose Sabercats finished only 3-13, ranking 12th in the league out of 14 in Points, and dead last in yards. It was not a strong first season for Patterson. However, both he and the Sabercats as a whole, improved from year to year, finishing 6-10 on the second season of Patterson's ISFL career, then 9-7 the third season, and finally, 13-3 just last season. And this season has been the clear breakout for Patterson. Even during the 9-7 season, the offense was still low in the pack in both points and yards, 12th in the league in points, and last in the league in yards. But then something clicked this last season. Patterson and the rest of the Sabercats offense exploded, jumping up to third in the league in points, 4th in yards, 2nd in the conference in both,  only behind the Outlaws, the eventual Ultimus champions. And it isn't a coincidence that Patterson's rise has coincided perfectly with the rise of the Sabercats. While Patterson isn't a scrambler, finishing the season with -1 Rush Yards, and his pass yardage isn't too big of a jump from his first few years, he has been electric in the red zone, throwing for 41 touchdowns, jumping up from 18 last season, has cut down on his interceptions, and his pass completion is up to 66.66%, which, if we're using the same NFL metric from earlier, would make him the 11th best in the NFL last year. Quite a big jump from 50th just three seasons prior.

[mer]

Code:

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

PBE Affiliate

[Number 82]

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?

Another offseason and by some stroke of luck I once again find myself as commissioner for the day. Well I suppose it would be best to kick things off, this time with a change to awards. I would remove General Managers from the voters list and instead have the votes casters soles comprised by the Awards Committee. Why do this? Well there's some incentive to vote strategically in making this change this would remove some conflicts of interest in the ballot.

Another change I would make would be to retrospectively conduct All Pro teams selections for the missing seasons. Might make for some good media in analysing some accolades of earlier players and would also mean that the All Pro would cover all seasons and not just things post the mid to late 20s. Bit jarring to compare achievements when there's a subset of players who spent part of their career between not having that on offer and having that be something that they could achieve.

Next change, bringing back positional awards. Some positions don't get the shine they should and on paper means that they won't likely see their way towards a MVP, OPOTY or DPOTY nomination. Positional awards are a nice way to recoginse some positions which are no doubt important by don't get the attention due to their lack of stat stuffing by virtue of the sim.

Guess it's back to the sim balance team again for an investigation into the different personality types on offer in the sim. I've always been a bit curious as to whether this has any impact so I guess rather than finding out myself I can just make someone else do all the work who'd probably be more equipped to do so anyways.

Final one for this season, I will change how morale is reset. Instead of after each sim, I would only reset morale ahead of week 1 each season and leave it be till the conclusion of the post season.

Code:

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22. Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, or highlights. (Written or Graphic Task)


35. Create the front page of a newspaper celebrating the win or the Ultimus or Ultimini winner. (Graphic Option)

[bernardhibou]

10.

Although it's unlikely I could get it all done in a day, but assuming that I had some time to prepare appropriate marketing materials in advance, I would launch an aggressive donation drive for ISFL activities (with all funds publicly declared and accounted for).  The primary goal would be to hire a web developer/software engineer on a contract basis to create a fully functional web platform replacing the forum system for the purposes of TPE and cash generation/allocation.  This would be designed and constructed following a thorough exploration of the user journey and feedback from Head Office as well as general users.  Since general donation funds are likely to be lacking, I would kick things off with an initial personal donation and encourage other power/whale users to participate.  An initial list of features might include:

- Individual (and team) TPE trackers with purchasable stat/trait allocation items highlighted/greyed out accordingly (with read-only access to other players)
- Individual PT/OT submission via customized Canva-like boards (with read-only access to other players)
- Individual bank pages with purchasable items highlighted/greyed out
- General media image map via customized Canva-like boards with metatagged images displayed per team/player/league etc

To help the developer realize the ISFL's vision, a project manager job would be created in HO, which would be paid in league cash or potentially via an honorarium if donation revenues reach a certain point.  The dream would be to reach a point where the platform is stable enough to be handed over to a general administrator(s), where seasons/offseasons can be automatically generated.  A series of platform support roles could be created to maintain Discord-based user guides, and interface between the developer and the league, with these positions paid in league cash and/or mentor status.

There are already solid elements of this (in particular the player updater) on lemonoppy's website (lemonoppy.com), so we could either hire him or force him to release the code to save time on the project.  This drive would be repeated at the end of each sim season, with a retainer-like arrangement being created with the developer.

16.

Bertie Mannering-Phipps has had quite the tumultuous last few years in the ISFL, but has most definitely reached a comfortable mid point in his career.  Coming over from Baltimore where his duties at RB were split with the talented and hardworking Anakin Skywalker, Bertie struggled to find his place in a stacked AZ lineup in S46, but through hard work and a little luck, he's now enjoyed two straight Ultimus championships, as well as some recognition for his contributions in S47.

S47 began with the promise of additional work at RB, and Bertie raced out of the gate with an explosion of touchdowns, with several consecutive multi-touchdown games, including 3 versus Capetown in their third game of the season.  Although production fell off towards the end of the season as Arizona struggled with consistency, he set a new personal record with 16 TDs, continuing a pleasing upward trajectory.  In terms of rushing yards, Bertie found himself far more involved in the AZ offense, earning double the attempts and more than doubling his previous season's yardage of 543 with 1121 total rushing yards, good enough for 8th overall, and finishing just behind former teammate Skywalker.  

The S47 playoffs were wild, featuring a last minute comeback vs NOLA in game 1, capped by an overtime-winning TD by Bertie.  He was fairly quiet during the Outlaws' close second round match vs San Jose, but chipped in for a TD and 77 yards in the Ultimus win vs Cape Town.  While it didn't match his dominating performance in the S46 playoffs, Bertie was able to make important contributions to his team and help them towards a second consecutive championship.  

For S48, expectations in the AZ locker room remain sky-high, with the very real prospect of a three-peat.  Bertie is starting to get a little long in the tooth, and so offseason training is that much more important to ensure that he remains competitive, but he is confident that he can continue to improve on his performance and cement himself as a valuable ISFL player.

[ForSucksFake]

1.2

The S43, despite being the greatest draft class of all time, well, after S22, is one of the more interesting classes. There are some major league contributors that joined us for the first time in the class but also some major whiffs that were heralded at the time.

The first overall pick, Thomas Sutha (lemonoppy) has proven to be invaluable in his media but to me, most importantly, his website which features a player updater that resembles the PBE’s. It makes it so much easier to allocate your TPE which was always somewhat difficult for me as I am terrible at math. Lemon is also a great presence in the general league chat. As for his work as GM of the Outlaws, he’s off to an incredible start with a perfect 2-0 Ultimus record. Lemon should go down as one of the greatest first overall picks in league history. This user alone would make S43 an elite draft even if every other pick went IA.

At second overall, it was somewhat of a surprise to see Jay Cue III not go first. Opera_Phantom is a crucial member of our league. He's held HO positions and several jobs throughout his time here. He's got the same condition as DarknessRising, where seemingly every create they have makes the Hall of Fame. We will see how Cue III does, he's already got an Ultimus, something his first HoF player could not do.

At third overall, Wing Gundam (Now Gil Fischer), this seemed like a great pick for Sarasota. Ctots had recreated and was a good media contributor, both written and podcasting. For whatever reason, Ctots is now IA before hitting 1000 TPE.

At fourth overall, Sack Sparrow is one of three top 10 first round whiffs made by Berlin in a disastrous S43 Draft. User water has gone IA and there's really nothing else to talk about here. 607 TPE for a top 5 pick is a big oopsie.

Berlin followed up their fourth overall blunder with another bust in Gaius Gleel at 5. This one needs some more context. Crody was a great user from the early S20s and had become a key contributor to CHI with running sim tests and eventually GMing. I still don't know where he went but you can't hold this one against Berlin because it was seen as a slam dunk pick at the time.

At sixth overall, Ignatious Cleetington was a good pick. Radio was a prolific podcaster and showed great enthusiasm in the gen league chat. He's hit 1100 TPE and has a ton of money, but for whatever reason hasn't been around in the league gen chat for a while. As of May, his podcast has returned after a hiatus that lasted almost a year. Like I said, this was a good pick for Sarasota and Radio's contributions are back.

At pick 7, this is a disappointment for not only Colorado but the league as a whole. Honey is a great user and I hope to see them again soon.

Woof, Berlin. Kyle Bessey was the third of the Firesalamander's first round busts. While a beast for Tijuana, Bessey is just over 500 TPE and will likely never hit 900. Berlin traded Bessey to the Hawks this offseason and switched archetypes to blocking FB.

At 9, Sarasota went with Spruce Willis. Things looked good for a while as FootballisCool hit the 1100 TPE mark before, unfortunately becoming Sarasota's second first rounder to go IA.

At 10 we have Crasher Wake, who is a 1200+ TPE defensive monster now. Any given season sees Wake in the awards show. Not al lot of defensive players are in the MVP discussion but Wake has been. I also am a fan of Zodiak, a user like me. We don't get too deep into league jobs but are great earners.

PS. Pick 15 was a great one for Baltimore. Anakin Skywalker has been a great earner and has made a Pro Bowl and an All-Pro Team.