Next Year
Next year is the year that the Palm Beach Solar Bears will make a run for the Ultimini. This year it was simply impossible for an expansion team in a division with the reigning Ultimini champions and the most stacked team in the league to compete for the majority of the season. All the players on our team had low TPE to begin the season, and we didn't have the Kansas City Coyotes in our division to beat up on 4 times per year, and so we simply didn't have any realistic chance of making the playoffs in the first place. Next year will be different. We don't know who will be returning, but regardless of who does, the team will start the year in a much better position. The Marshals and Luchadores will still be good, but they won't have the advantage that they did this year, so the entire league should have a hell of a lot more parity, which will bode well for the Palm Beach Solar Bears. If I end up being sent down for another year in the DSFL, I can't wait to show the league that Palm Beach is back baby! It's time for the Solar Bears' second championship.
Unsung Hero
The unsung hero of this year's Ultimini championship was the most polarizing player in the game: Franklin Armstrong. People will look at his 3 interceptions and think, "wow, he could have done a lot better for his team." He also threw 3 touchdowns. He also had a 70% completion percentage. He also threw for 247 yards. Sure the 3 interceptions were bad, nobody is arguing otherwise, but he put up some stellar stats despite throwing 3 picks. He led his team back into the game and took them to the promised land. He was accurate (just sometimes to the wrong colour of jersey) and had great yds/comp and yds/att stats. The Luchadores defensive backs simply could not deal with the greatness of Armstrong this game. Unsung might be the wrong word for him, though it seemed like everyone was praising the running back by committee that the Pythons run instead of the guy hitting every throw and keeping drives alive for his team. He had 14 first down throws of the pythons 29 first downs in the game. For the DSFL, those are some exceptional numbers since the league is very run-first. I guess we should be thanking him though, since without those interceptions he threw this game would have gotten out of hand quickly.
Going to Disneyland
The MVP of this year's Ultimus was obviously Neo Donaldson. I shouldn't even have to say why he deserves the Ultimus MVP, but I will anyway. He didn't miss a single kick. That's already pretty great, but some might say, "Kulture didn't miss any kicks either!" Okay, so Mr. Fulture had a good game too, but it didn't compare to Neo. How many kicks did Fulture make? 4? Neo made twice that. He made 3 extra points and 5 field goals. He scored 18 points. That's half of the points that the Sabercats scored in total. What matters if you want to win games? Points. Did anyone else score half of the Sabercats' points? No. Therefore there should not be a question that Neo Donaldson is the MVP of this year's Ultimus. When Neo heads to Disneyland, he will indulge in all the lovely foods that Disneyland has to offer. Cotton candy, ice cream, Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes. Neo will then have to ride some of the spinny things that they have at the park, which will cause him to puke so that he can eat everything again. Neo will likely have to drop some weight after his Disneyland trip because all the sweet amusement park food goes right to the hips, and Neo needs to be limber so that he can kick the ball real far.
Playoff Review
This year's Ultimini was a tale of two halves. The first quarter opened with a strong drive by the Portland Pythons, and my thoughs immediately went to 'blowout'. With home field advantage and an easy opening touchdown, could this turn out to be a runaway win for Portland? But they quickly made things difficult for themselves, as even though the Luchadores offense quickly stalled they were given a gift. Franklin Armstrong threw an interception which led to a quick red zone possession and game-tying touchdown. Armstrong then promptly gave the ball away again, this time leading to a field goal. The teams traded poor drives for a while until Portland drove down the field and tied the game at 10. Tijuana couldn't quite get into field goal range, and giving the ball back to the Pythons led to a field goal as time expired on the first half. 13-10 Portland. The second half began with Armstrong's third interception, and another game-tying field goal. Portland began setting the tone with their next drive, as they adding a second touchdown. After a missed Stephen Harris Jr field goal they took the ball down the field again for a 14 point lead. The Luchadores got a long kick return which led to a quick touchdown, but Portland followed with another long drive ending in a touchdown. This put the game out of reach, and Portland took home this year's Ultimini.
Next year is the year that the Palm Beach Solar Bears will make a run for the Ultimini. This year it was simply impossible for an expansion team in a division with the reigning Ultimini champions and the most stacked team in the league to compete for the majority of the season. All the players on our team had low TPE to begin the season, and we didn't have the Kansas City Coyotes in our division to beat up on 4 times per year, and so we simply didn't have any realistic chance of making the playoffs in the first place. Next year will be different. We don't know who will be returning, but regardless of who does, the team will start the year in a much better position. The Marshals and Luchadores will still be good, but they won't have the advantage that they did this year, so the entire league should have a hell of a lot more parity, which will bode well for the Palm Beach Solar Bears. If I end up being sent down for another year in the DSFL, I can't wait to show the league that Palm Beach is back baby! It's time for the Solar Bears' second championship.
Unsung Hero
The unsung hero of this year's Ultimini championship was the most polarizing player in the game: Franklin Armstrong. People will look at his 3 interceptions and think, "wow, he could have done a lot better for his team." He also threw 3 touchdowns. He also had a 70% completion percentage. He also threw for 247 yards. Sure the 3 interceptions were bad, nobody is arguing otherwise, but he put up some stellar stats despite throwing 3 picks. He led his team back into the game and took them to the promised land. He was accurate (just sometimes to the wrong colour of jersey) and had great yds/comp and yds/att stats. The Luchadores defensive backs simply could not deal with the greatness of Armstrong this game. Unsung might be the wrong word for him, though it seemed like everyone was praising the running back by committee that the Pythons run instead of the guy hitting every throw and keeping drives alive for his team. He had 14 first down throws of the pythons 29 first downs in the game. For the DSFL, those are some exceptional numbers since the league is very run-first. I guess we should be thanking him though, since without those interceptions he threw this game would have gotten out of hand quickly.
Going to Disneyland
The MVP of this year's Ultimus was obviously Neo Donaldson. I shouldn't even have to say why he deserves the Ultimus MVP, but I will anyway. He didn't miss a single kick. That's already pretty great, but some might say, "Kulture didn't miss any kicks either!" Okay, so Mr. Fulture had a good game too, but it didn't compare to Neo. How many kicks did Fulture make? 4? Neo made twice that. He made 3 extra points and 5 field goals. He scored 18 points. That's half of the points that the Sabercats scored in total. What matters if you want to win games? Points. Did anyone else score half of the Sabercats' points? No. Therefore there should not be a question that Neo Donaldson is the MVP of this year's Ultimus. When Neo heads to Disneyland, he will indulge in all the lovely foods that Disneyland has to offer. Cotton candy, ice cream, Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes. Neo will then have to ride some of the spinny things that they have at the park, which will cause him to puke so that he can eat everything again. Neo will likely have to drop some weight after his Disneyland trip because all the sweet amusement park food goes right to the hips, and Neo needs to be limber so that he can kick the ball real far.
Playoff Review
This year's Ultimini was a tale of two halves. The first quarter opened with a strong drive by the Portland Pythons, and my thoughs immediately went to 'blowout'. With home field advantage and an easy opening touchdown, could this turn out to be a runaway win for Portland? But they quickly made things difficult for themselves, as even though the Luchadores offense quickly stalled they were given a gift. Franklin Armstrong threw an interception which led to a quick red zone possession and game-tying touchdown. Armstrong then promptly gave the ball away again, this time leading to a field goal. The teams traded poor drives for a while until Portland drove down the field and tied the game at 10. Tijuana couldn't quite get into field goal range, and giving the ball back to the Pythons led to a field goal as time expired on the first half. 13-10 Portland. The second half began with Armstrong's third interception, and another game-tying field goal. Portland began setting the tone with their next drive, as they adding a second touchdown. After a missed Stephen Harris Jr field goal they took the ball down the field again for a 14 point lead. The Luchadores got a long kick return which led to a quick touchdown, but Portland followed with another long drive ending in a touchdown. This put the game out of reach, and Portland took home this year's Ultimini.
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