(S27) Ultimus Week

[AL_GRINGO]

PBE Welfare = 2.5 TPE

[mcgriddleluver]

16) If the real world somehow ended up accepting ISFL currency most of us would never have to work again. I however only have $200,000 in my ISFL account at the moment which would give me $100,000 in the real world. While an instant $100,000 is not as much money as most people on the site would have it would still be enough to do several thing around the house I need to do. First I would treat me and my wife to new cars, we really don't need anything fancy but I think we would both appreciate cars that actually have a functioning air conditioner inside of them and I would not mind having a car that does not have an exhaust leak. Next I would use some of the leftover money to get random things I need around the house; a grill, new furniture that isn't off Facebook for both inside and outside the house. It wouldn't hurt to get another puppy either, while we already have one I'm sure the little guy would love to have a friend to play with instead of having to wrestle the cat all the time. If I have anything left over I guess I would just do the responsible adult thing and deposit it in a savings account. (216 words)

[/url][url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/546084440590516252/821856735420743771/uw2020.png]Task 23

21) One of the greatest debates in sports, real or not is what team has the best branding and what team just misses the mark. Naturally in the ISFL that debate still holds true for most of us on the site. While I think several teams have good branding my favorite belongs to the New York Silverbacks. Even if I wasn't on the team they still have my favorite branding. The logo is very clean to look at, nothing is too distracting either good or bad, the lettering for the team name is in the same style you would see on Broadway which adds a nice local flair to the team. The colors also pair very well with each other, the black and gold tie together the mint and green better than expected if you just heard that those were the colors that they decided to use. The Silverback name isn't your typical generic animal themed sports name but instead they went with something even slightly unique which is refreshing in a league with teams such as the Arizona Outlaws and the San Jose Sabrecats which is already an existing (or was) arena football team. The Silverback branding not only makes them the kings of New York but in the ISFL as well. (212 words)

Task 26

[negs]

11) What is it that keeps you interested in the league? Is it your love of dot football, your locker room, a specific job or role you play, or something else? What do you like most about it? What could be improved?

Although watching dots run around on a screen three nights a week is a lot of fun for me, the locker rooms are absolutely what makes the ISFL a great experience for me. Even when I first came into the league and joined every DSFL locker room, the relationships I made are what got me invested in the league. The Minnesota Grey Ducks locker room has made every single day in the ISFL a great time. The people that are on discord every day are awesome and so much fun to talk to about anything, dot football or real world stuff. The relationships that I had in the locker room motivated me to earn and continue on my path as a quarterback and have me where I am today. Once I got drafted to the ISFL, the Philly locker room was amazing as well. Having two groups of people to lean on, have support from, and have great times makes me want to jump on discord every day and be involved in the ISFL. Now that I am three seasons in with my first player, there are even more things keeping me interested in the league. One of them being in an ISFL and DSFL war room. Going behind the scenes in roster building, free agency, and drafting is a lot of fun for me. It adds depth to something that was before just dot football and the locker room to now being involved in helping the franchise in terms of decision making and general direction of the organization. Additionally, another thing that keeps me interested in the league is the immersion added to make it interactive. By this I am referring to the media and twitter. I really enjoy reading the media about the league whether it be mock drafts, statistical analysis, or graphics. It adds an extra layer of interest to the league that users are dedicated enough to spend time on this stuff like they were reporters in real life. Twitter is also a lot of fun taking the role of a team or player and giving it a real personality. Lastly, this offseason I applied for a lot of league jobs and ended up getting one of the backup updater spots. This will keep my interest in the league for a long time and even enhance it. I want to contribute to make this league as great and as smooth as possible and I am motivated to do that any way possible.

10) 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?

My player’s journey through this season was filled with lots of highs but also a lot of lows (nothing new from the past three seasons). In the beginning of the season, the Grey Ducks fell into a 0-4 hole and not much was going well for them. My player in particular did not throw as many interceptions as I usually do, but I was not performing in the touchdown area either which did not help the situation. With losses to in-conference rivals Kansas City and Portland the season looked somewhat bleak. However, we ended up rattling off wins in 5 of our next 6 games to go on a streak, including conference wins over Portland, Kansas City, and London. At this point we were riding on a high sitting at second place in the division and only needing to win 2 of our last 4 games to clinch a playoff spot. We split our next two games, with our loss being a grueling 20-19 defeat to the eventual Ultimini winning Birddogs. At this point, all we needed was a win over either London or Kansas City to clinch the playoffs. Coming off a win, we were all thinking that the playoffs were in our sights. However, that excitement was a little too soon. In the first game, we fell 20-10 to the Royals that we had just beat earlier in the season. In particular, I had my once a year meme game where I threw 4 interceptions and was sacked twice to end with a passer rating of 49.7. I felt so bad for my team that I had let them down but we had another opportunity to right the ship in the last game. The game was versus the Seawolves where if we won, we would go to the playoffs to play the Portland Pythons. We lost to Norfolk earlier in the year but this time we were away. This game was very weird and we honestly played super undisciplined. Penalties were flying the entire game including some that were backbreaking to us. The offense and defense both played well but in the end we made too many mental mistakes and fell to Norfolk 29-14, ending our season and my final year with the Ducks. I honestly do not know what we would have done differently. Ther general managers and this team for the Ducks was the best one to be a part of and the one I had the most fun with. We just needed a few things to break our way and they did not. Next year, I expect the Ducks to be back in the playoffs with the new class of rookies. I will be off to Philly to start my journey in the ISFL!

[TheRocheLimit]

#9

If I'm building a team from scratch I'm building it to compete for the Ultimus for many seasons. And that means we need a combination of youth and experience. Let's take a look at a few key positions on both sides of the ball and let's build a contender!

We're starting with offense and what position is more important on offense than quarterback? We need someone that has put in the work (high TPE) while also having many seasons left of high level play. To me the obvious choice here is none other than Sam Howitzer. Howitzer is already well over 1000 TPE and has three seasons left before he has to worry about regression. He gives us a great window of high level competition.

Howitzer needs weapons. He needs a reliable running back to help him shoulder the load and a top flight playmaker out wide to stretch the field. Again, these seem like obvious picks. Who else would you rather have watching your back in the backfield than Captain Rogers? I mean, seriously. He's fast, he's strong, and he's got that sweet shield. A no brainer. And Jackson Kingston as your team's #1 option at wide receiver seems like a sure bet. He's as reliable as they come at the position and as an added bonus he's a stud in the return game.

Rogers and Kingston line up very well with Howitzer's timeline and gives our team multiple seasons of opportunities to bring home the title. However, I think we should always be looking toward the future as well and so our team needs a younger playmaker. Tight end James Wilkinson is an easy choice here. A candidate for offensive rookie of the year brings another dimension to what is shaping up to be an explosive offense.

Now, we can't forget about defense. I'm a defense guy and we are bringing in some absolute studs to play on this side of the ball.

Let's build a monster of a front seven. How about we start with a nominee for BOTH defensive end of the year AND defense breakout player of the year? That right, it's Brick Van Sanzo. Joining him will be a deadly duo of linebackers: Hank Winchester and Makoto Otawara. These three are all young and hungry, and they're the perfect foundational pieces to build a defense around.

Of course, no defense is complete without a devastating secondary and I've got some great names in mind. Dukburg QuakStak, Bob Roberts, and Dogwood Maple have the ability to lock down the deep threats and support that strong front seven.

So there it is: Howitzer, Rogers, Kingston, Wilkinson, Van Sanzo, Winchester, Otawara, QuakStak, Roberts, and Maple. The perfect foundational pieces to build a long term contender. Oh? They're all Silverbacks? Well, who could have guessed...?

#20

It's week seven of the new ISFL season and unfortunately the New York Silverbacks have been ravaged by injuries. Superstar running back Captain Rogers has been diagnosed with a moderate knee sprain and is expected to miss multiple games. In addition, both Buster Bawlls and James Wilkinson have been ruled out due to an undisclosed off the field incident. Despite all of this the Silverbacks find themselves in the middle of a close game against the Berlin Fire Salamanders. New York is driving down the field, trailing by four points with just over a minute to go in the game. Sam Howitzer throws a strike to Jackson Kingston to put the Silverbacks on the Berlin 2 yard line. Unfortunately star offensive lineman Marlon Alexander tweaks his ankle on the play. New York finds themselves down another player with the game on the line. All of a sudden linebacker Jack Banks checks into the game. He's strong, he's fast, and he's big. He's exactly what New York needs to help punch this ball into the endzone. Banks lines up as a blocking tight end as the Silverbacks attempt a pass into the endzone. Incomplete. On the next play Banks lines up as an interior lineman and throws a block trying to free up Howitzer on a QB sneak. Howitzer gets closer but can't quite make it. Time is running out. One last play. Banks lines up at fullback, gets the handoff, and punches it into the endzone. Touchdown New York! Game. Over.

#22

Imagine exploding up the field. The offensive lineman can't keep up with you. You're a blur. You get to the outside edge, blow past the running back trying to chip you, and you lay out the quarterback. What a rush. I'm Jack Banks, star linebacker for the New York Silverbacks, and striking fear into the opposition is what I do for a living. And when I do it, I'm wearing my signature Under Armour cleats.

Now you can rock the same style I do off the field with my new 'Money in the Bank' sneakers. These shoes combine the style and flash needed to play for the city that never sleeps plus the support and innovation to keep you at your best all day long. You can be the first on your block to rock a pair by following me online. Under Armour and I will be hiding pairs of these sneakers in major cities across the country and if you can unravel the clues on my website you can get your hands on a pair before they drop in stores next month.

Remember, if you absolutely need to be at your best and you need to look good doing it then look no further than Under Armour. And you can take that to the bank.

[DatSmolBoi]

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?

S22 is the best draft class ever in the history of the ISFL/NSFL. For more information, S22 was the same draft class that many people from reddit came over to join the confusing looking https://nsfl.jcink.net/. It turned out the "many people" were 284 PLAYERS that actually committed to the NSFL draft. Unfortunately, I was not apart of reddit during these times as I was a clueless motherfucker that searched "football sim" looking for some GM fun until I came up to the reddit post that the S22 people were already there. So I was like squished in the Portland Pythons on like week 10 and my draft ratings were pretty low. So the draft came along and me over here absolutely stoked to see where I get drafted on so I basically got to see everyone who got drafted into the NSFL. So the first pick was out of the Dallas Birddogs (Who I think sucked that year) Cornerback Colt Mendoza! So your probably thinking, "Did he only put him there because he was the #1 pick?" Well, no. The only reason I put him here is because he is now on the best team in the ISFL, the New York Silverbacks. For the #2 pick, NOLA would select Magnus Rikiya, a DT from the Norfolk Seawolves (a team I haven't heard in a while tbh) I honestly have nothing to put for this dude despite the fact that Rikiya is fucking awesome and is still apart of NOLA, the 2nd greatest team in the ISFL! For the #3 pick, the Liberty selects Matt "Son of havoc" Cross, another player from Norfolk! This time this guy is a Safety that is pretty damn good for a Professional Wrestler and according to google, a basketball player? In the #4 pick, the Liberty pick Brandon Booker! Brandon Booker is a CB from the bucs that according to other people at the time, was a god. He went to the Liberty where he would unfortunately get released by aswell. From there he would go to the Otters for a 6 YEAR CONTRACT? Jesus christ, anyways, he is definitely one of the best to come out of the S22 Draft Class. From here im just going to go by position now, so for the rest of the cornerbacks that actually did something in the draft were Andrew Witten (LEGEND),Tyler Oles Jr, Eldrick Avery (has 1041 TPE but is IA?), Zamir Kehla (I had to put him here because he actually did something), and Tyron Shields. Moving to defensive lineman now that actually did something we got Troen Egghands (2nd round pick 19), BIG EDD, Sandro Ryeu (IA), Deshun Jones (Moved to LB i think but still counts as DL in the draft), James Cho (940 TPE,IA), Claude Miller II (one of the first people ive seen but never interacted with in this league so if your reading this Miller, Hi?), Patrik Money (legend?), Slinky Claxton (please come back alive) and Hank Steel (Sorry if I missed any other Defensive linemen there was just so much DL's I have to research everybody) We will do LBs next because there is a lot of them as well. First up is Derred de Ville (1195 TPE!?), Haha Mango-Panda (one of the best names), Lawrence Bass, Fawn Dillmiballs, Jack Banks (legend), and George Fisher. Are yall UW readers convinced that S22 is the best yet? No? Well here are the receivers! First off there's Eddie Jeeta, William Lim (my fantasy wr), Michael Witheblock, Thomas Passmann, Jeffrey Phillips (Yes I am counting TE's as WR's), Garfield Despacito Jr. (meme), Heath Evans, and Daymond Brooks. I was also in the S22 WR Class but was not as good as these dudes right over here. Now its time for the safeties of the S22 Class! The notable safeties would include Johnny Hellzapoppin (dude what happened bro i miss you on the ISFL streams), Shawn Dawkins (PORTLAND GANG), Literallyjust A. Hexagon, Eric Barlow, Hamish MacAndrew, and Magnus valdyur. This is a pretty long list already, but we gotta get threw all of the notable S22 Class players, So next up are the running backs! To start the RB's we got White Goodman, Tatsu Nakamura (PoRTLAnD GaNg), Acura Skyline (actually is really good), Jamar Lackson (thought he was a QB), Richard Gilbert, and Zed Keppler (I know he isn't notable but he was apart of the sneks locker room and was pretty chill). Im on my last 3 positions and since I need to do OL and QBs, ill put em in the same spots. First from the QB/OL gang we got Ben Slothisberger (miss you man), Colby Jack (godly qb), Monterey Jack, Bryon Dolls (godly ol), Bruce Buckley, Galvin Golladay, Luke Skywalker (pretty much a bust), and Suleiman Ramza (has a Ultimus). For the last position we are finishing off with Kickers! Going first from the last there is Matthew McDairmid, Sam Sidekick, and Jacob Small. Now that we have gone over the godly players from the S22 Draft Class, I will now have to show you the BEST player from the S22 draft class which of course is....Dan Jackson! A safety that was picked #284 by Honolulu! Thank you for reading this forced Ultimus PT!

[KingSean]

6) Write 800 words or more on something about anything in the league that interests you. It could be related to statistics, a league issue that you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s participation on a Werewolf server or something.

WR Statistics - Since my player is a rookie WR in ISFL (Mario Messi from S26), I am interested in the WR build and the efficient use of TPEs. Certainly, I can train harder to secure more TPEs, but conditioning on certain TPEs, how to efficiently use them is a pretty important issue. Since the league just got a new SIM environment, it is quite unclear to what extent the old knowledge can still be applied to the new environment. I decided to look into the players' build and the WRs' stats to gain some insights. WRs' performance is relatively easy to be evaluated - I only need to focus on three main performance stats - Yards, receivings (No), and TDs.

Yards/Games - The best WRs are always those with the highest TPEs. For example, Lim, W. have about 1200 TPEs, and this lead to around 140 yards every game. Lim did not purchase any trait, but as a speed receiver, he has reached the max values on all possible traits - e.g. speed = 100, hands = 95, endurance = 90, competitiveness = 75, strength = 65, agility = 85, etc. He is from S22, so he has reached his prime time in the league. Hard and consistent working definitely pays off. Another player I can learn from is Podolak J. from Hahalua. As a veteran from S19, he still got about 102 yards per game using around 800 TPEs. I kept track of how he removed his traits from week2 to week16. In week 2, his strength = 65 and endurance = 83, but in week 16, his strength = 30 and endurance = 75. At the same time, Podolak kept other attributes at the maximum values: speed = 100, hands = 85, agility = 80. The veterans have a lot of wisdom to learn from. Given Podolak's impressive efficiency, his move suggests that the strength really does not matter to a speed receiver.

Receiving/Games - Ranking the number of receiving per game, it is not a surprise that the slot receivers tend to do well. A S26 rookie (Delacour R.) had got about 8 receiving for each game. This number is ranked as the highest among all the WRs. It is just an unbelievable achievement for a rookie with 500-600 TPEs. This can be attributed to his wise traits allocations. Delacour R. has attributes: agility = 80, speed = 90, hands = 90, endurance = 70, and he bought the trait Slot Receiver. Basically, he has targeted to maximize the strength of a slot receiver by receiving balls as much as possible. Besides, some star speed receivers also got very high receiving numbers. For example, both Podolak J. and Lim W. got about 7.5 receivings per game. Interestingly, both only purchased the DeepThreat trait, and did not buy any of the other two. Although I hate to mention those who did not do well, some variations in the performance and traits are actually very informative. Passmann (TPE = 1000) from S22 got about 3.5 receivings every game, which is roughly of the same magnitude as Messi. Passmann's attributes are: Agility = 85, intelligence = 80, speed = 100, hands = 85, endurance = 86, and competitiveness = 80, without any trait purchased. In fact, Passmann has also almost maximized his attributes. If we just compare William Lim and Passmann's traits, I can see that they are quite similar, except for a 4-point gap in endurance (Lim's endurance = 90 while Passmann's endurance = 86). The difference can only be attributed to the two teams' different styles. Yeti is the team with the second highest throwing attempts, while Outlaws ranks as the third lowest. It just suggests that besides individual efforts, it is really important for a WR to choose a team with good throwing QBs.

Take away - First, hard training is really important. All the analysis above just shows that the achievements are positively correlated with TPEs. There is no way to get around. Second, if a WR cares individual achievements, the player really needs to get to a team that likes to throw a lot. The case of Passmann shows that your individual efforts cannot counter the team style. When all the plays are running plays, how can a WR get nice stats? The best WRs come from the teams with the highest pass attempts (Hahalua, Yeti, etc.) Lastly, it comes down to a smart way of using your TPEs. Based on the lesson from Podolak, the priority list should go as speed > hands > endurance > competitiveness > agility > all other things. I have a strong belief that many attributes do not matter for a WR. Maybe I should just ignore strength and intelligence for now. Probably nobody cares whether a WR is stupid or not.


Words: 803

[mango8154]

15) I am only in the ISFL unfortunately, so I will be proposing a new sim league, a football (soccer) league, it will be based in football manager 21 (or whatever the latest on time of league creation) the league can also update the football manager game every 3 seasons or so.

The first choice I would have to make is whether I use the draft method to bring new players into teams or try to find another way to bring players in, although I don’t know how I would do that so I would default to drafting players to teams, this would be an important decision early on as it would affect how new users experience the league and that would decide on if they stay around or not.

The league would have two tiers of leagues, a league 1 and league 2, and there would be promotion and relegation between the leagues as this is an important aspect of the sport, this would also allow top teams to loan there developmental player to the weaker teams so the players get developed and aren't wasted, and the weaker lower division team would get a decent player to help them challenge.

The league 1 would consist of 8 teams with the champion winning the title (of course), the bottom team will get automatically relegated and the second bottom side will go into a playoff with a league 2 team, league 2 would consist of the same number of 8 teams, with the top team getting automatically promoted and the 2nd team would play against the 2nd bottom league 1 team. Promotion and relegation will allow the leagues to stay fresh with different teams, it will also promote team switching as league 1 is obviously more prestigious than the 2nd league.

Unfortunately I cannot see how you could put realistic transfers in the league without it being to unfair, the best most realistic way would be to give a set amount of money to buy players to the league 1 teams at the start of the season, and a slightly smaller set amount of money to the league 2 teams, this would be as fair as I could make it as it would allow pretty even playing field with a slight advantage to the bigger league, this would require a use for the money else they would be no incentives to sell players and get money, maybe the ability to buy strong bot players for a year to flesh out the squad.



20) I think Daniel would be drafted into a running back if injuries got too bad for the squad, knock on wood, he would have to be a power back of course as he fits the archetype surprisingly well, he is decently speedy for a big boi surprisingly at a speed of 70, however he would have to get a bit more agile to get the ability to get around people instead of just running into the tackler as he has an agility of 60, however he is very strong of course at 84 (and growing) in strength so he would be able to break through that opposing defensive line easily and leave them in the dirt, I think he would be able to be a decent 1-2 yard 3rd down running back that would be used to get them clutch yards and to get those goal line touchdowns, although I’m sure Austin will want something different to a massive DT at running back running for 1 or 2 yards, I’m sure he could become a crowd favourite RB for the absurdity of it and get a few touchdowns, he could also be used as a blocking running back which would allow for a greater variety of play calling from the coach.



28) After my first season in the DSFL I have experienced the new sim with no previous experience to the other sim apart from a game I saw last season, so I will just comment on what I have observed as a base and not compare it to anything, the sim speed is a bit faster than my liking but I understand that the simmers don’t have all the time in the world and it can’t be too long, also sometimes the dot tracker gets stuck behind the opponent's side before the snap is made, I don’t know that can be fixed or not though, gameplay wise there was so many fouls, and I understand that has been tweaked a bit, I have also noticed that QB’s will start running, have an open lane to run but then throw an impossible throw instead of getting a first down, I don’t know if that is tweakable but I think most QB’s should try running more for yards, I have these few small complaints however overall the new sim has been great and from what I have seen a good move, the changes I would make would be to slow it down, adjust QB running and turn down fouls which one of those has been done, , I would also like DT’s to be buffed but I may be biased in that regard.

[Luciddreams702]

7) This task is exclusive to non-recreate rookies of the S28 class and later. In 400 words or more, how has your experience been in the league? Who have you met that has made your time here more fun, friendly, and exciting? Have you been satisfied with your player’s early start? What was it like being drafted for the first time? Do you have any comments or suggestions for the entire league that you think should be implemented?


Follow me through the eyes of a Rookie. I’ve been in this league for four days now. Embarking on a journey to create my first Simulation Player. Every step of the way something brand new. I’ve never played in a Simulation League before. The concept is something that hooked me in straight away. After finding an advertisement for the League in an article I was reading, I had to check it out. Thirty minutes later, after a quick google search I found myself in the International Simulation Football League Discord. After verifying that this was still functioning, the next step for me was Creating a Player. This is where things began to get overwhelming. Not having any idea what I was doing the creation process became confusing and slightly frustrating, Until I discovered the video linked to the thread. The create a Player walk through video made the process a lot easier and cleared up most of my confusion. That video was probably the single most useful thing I found on the forum when creating my player.

I would have to say the most helpful thing the League has set up for Rookies are the Rookie Mentors. Every Mentor I’ve met since joining the League has been helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly answering all my questions while going above and beyond to help me get set up. I really can’t thank everyone enough. Over the last four days getting to know the different DSFL Locker Rooms and Players has been a blast. Getting the chance to interact with people you know you could possibly build an actual friendship with I found just as important as building my Player. Waiting for action after creating a Player was like watching paint dry. Filled with excitement and anticipation for the Season I took to the Locker Rooms and found people just as passionate and excited for the upcoming Season as I was. Pair that with a handful of entertaining Bots and the wait became manageable.

That brings us to last night. The Prospect Bowl!! Are you kidding me?  It’s everything I’ve been waiting for. My first ever Simulation Game. The Series of games left me pumped and I’m pretty sure solidified my addiction to this League. Now starts the six day wait to the DSFL Draft. The longest six days that have ever existed. As much as I’ve enjoyed the different Locker Rooms I can’t wait to see who calls my Players name on Draft Night and where I will get to call home. Ready to build off a successful Prospect Bowl and continue to roll into the Regular Season. Through the eyes of a Rookie the possibilities are endless.

24) Create a billboard, magazine cover, unique trading card, or video game cover depicting a superstar of the league. Graphics only.

[Thiath]

6) The time has finally come where I feel myself being more active in the league. So for ultimus week I’ve decided to talk about my reinvigorated interest and how I’ve gotten to this new point in my ISFL career. For a great deal of time I was really debating on whether or not I really wanted to stick around. Of course that indecisiveness has in turn made my player far worse than he could be. But after recent events I think it’s safe to say I’m willing to go above and beyond anything I’ve done previously. The final deciding factor for me I think was finally getting into a war room and being able to do more than just watch a dot play fake football.

Of course not long after I got into the war room the team, how would you say it? Imploded. There were a lot of moving parts behind the scenes I didn’t know about, and for a lot of the process I felt like I was in the dark. It was a tough time for me personally, but after things settled down, and we got our new GMs I became more and more excited for the future. My first worry with new GMs was that I’d no longer be a part of the war room, and my quest to start over would be halted abruptly. However, with the exodus that happened, by sheer luck I was the only one in the war room from before the new GMs and the interim GMs. Of course not by a huge margin, either way I was happy to still be a part of the rebuild.

There was a lot of work to be done with the change of power. And a lot of uncertainty after losing so many assets right away. I thought for sure at least someone would stick around but I was proven wrong almost immediately. The first step of course came down to identifying exactly what the problems were, which we could fix immediately, and which we could hold off on until we get a foundation set. It didn’t take long for us to realize one of our most immediate concerns was becoming a more active locker room.  This played heavily into our scouting strategy. We wanted to bring in users who we thought could elevate not only our team but bring our locker room to a point where prospects in the future would drop the negative stigma around the team and want to come here.

We pretty unanimously agree on our top two picks being infinite and BigRed. We felt they would be a massive help to switch gears and send this team in the right direction. My contributions to this team finally came in when we finally began scouting as I had to do everything I could to find people I thought could help us become more active and inviting to new users. I really enjoyed the scouting process. At least my version of scouting which involved doing everything I could to predict the kinds of users other teams would be looking for, as well as identifying people that could fall to the later rounds and still hold substantial value. I think it’s fair to say now that the draft is completed that we accomplished that with flying colors.

Of course after the draft ended things quieted down for about a week and it became time again to look towards the future. There are still some things we need to work on in order for the team to be in the best shape it can possibly be. However I think we’ve made moves to put us by far and away further along the path to success than a lot of people were expecting. Now that the big part is over and we have a new foundation to build on I’m incredibly excited to begin working on the little things. I think this team has an incredibly promising future and I’m very hopeful to be a part of it for as long as possible.

Of course there's still a lot of time between now and the kickoff of season 28, and I’m sure we’ll find more things to work on. I have a great deal of things I’d like to get done personally for this team, I’m hopeful they can be done. I think we’re going to be perennial underdogs for a while, at least until I hit regression in season 32. It’s a shame not everyone is aware of the amazing work that’s been put into this franchise so far, and all the plans that will be taking place in the future. While I am saddened we couldn’t draft everybody we wanted to, I am really happy with who we’ve been able to bring in, and I think by this time next season the team will be thought of much differently.

[Sermokala]

Pull up a chair because I'm going to recount the tale about choccy milk and the weird stuff you hear about the Minnesota Grey ducks. Truthfully the stuff you hear is probably complete garbage. I have a whole theory on how the league functions more and more like a high school and has severe issues with gossiping and a lack of respect between people with how dehumanized everyone is on discord. God knows I've been on both sides of that and can't really throw stones around about it. Despite it however, you get some really fun things that run its course and come up now and then as memes or more inside jokes really.Now I've seen some meme stuff and other culture I guess about choccy milk but the real foundations of the "milk faiths" came down to a conversation one night about things that people drink. It got into milk and someone asked what flavor of milk. You have to understand that for the majority of Americans at least you get school lunch where you have to pick what kind of milk you drink. America has a long weird history about milk and school. Post great depression the government started ensuring a floor on the price of milk. What this manifests about is that the government finds itself in possession of a lot of milk. Sometimes this milk has blood in it due to the cows that make milk. So they add chocolate or strawberry to it to hide the color and taste. The government sells this milk as much as they can to local schools in the various milk flavors or cheese that they then sell to kids for lunch and breakfast. We can go back and forth on the various functions and purposes of this but basically, we get a lot of memories as kids in America with milk, cheese, and for this story the milk flavors. So the most common milk flavors that you got at school was 1 percent 3 percent and skim milk. But then you've got uncommon with the chocolate milk. Then you get the rare strawberry milk, these last two were rarer mostly because of the demand and I guess less supply. Anyway long story shorter milk flavors are really just a reference point for anyone whos been to an american elementary school or higher. It worked in Minnesota beacuse we've got people who are younger and people who are older but if you've gone to a public school you've had way too much government milk. I mean we all know covid is out there as well. You have to understand that we're running less than a year into this milk faith thing I'm pretty sure and so its always been a thing to blow off some insanity with the boys. Now we've got to talk next level scouting. The big secret that isn't a secret with Minnesota Grey ducks scouting, the mysterious question that isn't ment to have a real answer. Its useualy something like "is a taco a sammich". See the philosophy behind the question is that the point isn't that they give an answer but how they react to an insane question that doesn't mean anything. It generaly weeds out the people with issues and the Grey ducks Locker room being fully public needs some sort of test to get out the people who are so far into themseles that they have an issue with a question that they don't really understand. After the new GM's that came into power just after Dewalt and I think Jamar left to join an ISFL gm job they decided to change this question into the milk flavor. This means that everyone who the team scouting who got these questions is now selected into a group based on the milk flavor preference. This is the werid part you hear from the Minnesota Locker room. Its genuinely a completely open LR and no one is truely serious about the milk faiths. I think people just have an awkward experience with first impressions and then can't handel a werid inane question on scouting maybe. Anyway CC is a werid fellow and started meming about chocolate milk in Pro Basebal experience servers. This became a cross sim drama where people said because he was a rookie that came from the international simulation football league this was somehow a werid International simulation invasion or drama thing with the chocolate milk faith spam. Again the lack of reliable information sharing makes it so that the real story never really gets shared most of the time but it really wasn't anything more than a werid meme joke. If anything, the whole thing should be celebrated as being a meme to get people to drink milk instead of sugary drinks like soda and fruit juices. The whole thing has calmed down a lot in the last few months but in the end guys it's really all just a scouting meme and an inside joke for an open lr in a league that has a number of teams being as closed and isolating as possible. What I cant guarantee is that you'll learn to ride a bike without crashing lmap. Also I did this all on my phone #nothumblebrag also task 6 if that's necessary