6) The playoffs have finally arrived. Choose one playoff team that is not your own from either league and recount how they got here in 400 words or more. What challenges and hurdles did they face in the regular season? Did they cruise into home field advantage or have to fight off contenders for the wild card? Are they led by MVP players on offense, or is a stifling defense the engine to their success? Don’t be afraid to go deep.
Instead of writing about one of the best teams in the league like I usually do, today I will be writing about one of the more average teams in the league that finally broke their playoff drought in S23. Yes, today I will be writing about the Philadelphia Liberty. Now the last time that the Liberty made a serious run into the playoffs was in S16 where they made a run to the Ultimus in which they barely lost to the Arizona Outlaws in a shootout that ended with a score of 34 to 30. Unfortunately, after making such a deep run into the playoffs they immediately had issues in the front office. One of their newest GMs, Vander Jones, decided to quit the league in a fit of rage and left the team gmless for a while. Due to this on top of many of their top players hitting regression their record immediately took a hit. For the next six seasons the Liberty struggled heavily and were usually picking in the top three. Luckily, due to these picks they were able to get some great young players that will be relevant later. Then we get to season 22. The Liberty had playoff hopes but unfortunately they finished with a 6-7 record which was tied with Sarasota for third in the NSFC. However, Sarasota had the tiebreaker over the Liberty which led to the Liberty missing the playoffs. That being said, that season showed that the Liberty were inching closer and closer to a playoff berth and many people predicted that S23 would be their season to break through and make the playoffs. Many of the young players that they had picked in the previous seasons were hitting their primes, most notably their quarterback Brock Phoenix. Their week one matchup was against the reigning champions, the Colorado Yeti. Most people expected them to lose, which they did, however most people also didn’t expect the game to be as close as it was. The Yeti were barely able to win with a score of 19-17. This gave the liberty players hope that they would be able to make the playoffs this season. They took a huge hit in week two though as they barely lost to the Butchers at home with a score of 19-17. In week three they rebounded in the most epic way in a dominating win over the Hawks with the final score being 51-17. They kept this momentum going as they proceeded to beat Sarasota. Their win streak ended in week 5 however at the hands of the Yellowknife Wraiths. This pattern described most of their season. They would go on win streaks of two before proceeding to lose about two games in a row. Going into week ten their record was 4-6 and they knew that they needed to make a late season push if they wanted to make the playoffs. They proceeded to win 5 out of their 7 last games to secure a spot in the playoffs with a record of 9 and 7 and just like that their playoff drought was over.
9) Pick any position, and determine who in your view is the greatest player to ever suit up at that position. Why do you view them as the GOAT? What achievements, records, accolades, or statistics do they hold? How do they stack up against the other legends in their position, and why does your chosen candidate come out on top?
As a wide receiver I think it makes the most sense that I would talk about the goat in that position. Before I come to any conclusions however, we need to talk about the nominees for GOAT wide receiver. Now the first player that has to be brought up with is Bradley Westfield. Bradley was a part of the original S1 class and was drafted by the Orange County Otters with the 72nd pick. He immediately became one of their top wide receivers and finished that season with 983 yards and 8 touchdowns. For the rest of his 10 season career his yards per season steadily improved until it hit a peak of 1756 and then went back down to 983. By the end of his career he finished with 13457 receiving yards and 109 receiving touchdowns. These career totals were both second on the career leaderboards for their respective stats. That being said, he is second in both these categories to one man, Trey Willie. Trey was a part of the S2 class and was consistently one of the best wide receivers every season. Throughout his 12 season career he averaged 1201 receiving yards per season 10 receiving touchdowns. He clearly deserves to be a candidate for the GOAT wide receiver. Now my final candidate may be a bit controversial but I do think he deserves to be in contention for the GOAT. My final candidate is Vincent “Vinny” Valentine. Now I know that Vinny Valentine barely scratched the top 10 for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns but he made it nonetheless. However, he is one of the only wide receivers to ever win offensive player of the year along with Vladimir Fyodorovich and James Bishop. Now this can’t be the only reason he is in consideration for being the GOAT wide receiver. Another important aspect of his career is that during the prime of his career he had to play with a shorter schedule compared to Westfield and Willie and still put up very similar stats. So now that we’ve talked about our three GOAT candidates I think that it is time to choose which will be crowned as the official GOAT of the wide receiver position. The official GOAT is….. (Drum Roll Please).... Vinny Valentine. Why did I choose Vinny? Multiple reasons really. First off, for almost the entirety of his career he was a contender for Wide Receiver of the Year and he even took the award home three times. Not to mention that he didn’t have the advantage of being a part of an early class and playing a lot of low TPE cornerbacks and safeties. Not to mention that Unicorn is my GM and will release me if I don’t pick him and that’s why Vinny Valentine is the GOAT Wide Receiver.
Instead of writing about one of the best teams in the league like I usually do, today I will be writing about one of the more average teams in the league that finally broke their playoff drought in S23. Yes, today I will be writing about the Philadelphia Liberty. Now the last time that the Liberty made a serious run into the playoffs was in S16 where they made a run to the Ultimus in which they barely lost to the Arizona Outlaws in a shootout that ended with a score of 34 to 30. Unfortunately, after making such a deep run into the playoffs they immediately had issues in the front office. One of their newest GMs, Vander Jones, decided to quit the league in a fit of rage and left the team gmless for a while. Due to this on top of many of their top players hitting regression their record immediately took a hit. For the next six seasons the Liberty struggled heavily and were usually picking in the top three. Luckily, due to these picks they were able to get some great young players that will be relevant later. Then we get to season 22. The Liberty had playoff hopes but unfortunately they finished with a 6-7 record which was tied with Sarasota for third in the NSFC. However, Sarasota had the tiebreaker over the Liberty which led to the Liberty missing the playoffs. That being said, that season showed that the Liberty were inching closer and closer to a playoff berth and many people predicted that S23 would be their season to break through and make the playoffs. Many of the young players that they had picked in the previous seasons were hitting their primes, most notably their quarterback Brock Phoenix. Their week one matchup was against the reigning champions, the Colorado Yeti. Most people expected them to lose, which they did, however most people also didn’t expect the game to be as close as it was. The Yeti were barely able to win with a score of 19-17. This gave the liberty players hope that they would be able to make the playoffs this season. They took a huge hit in week two though as they barely lost to the Butchers at home with a score of 19-17. In week three they rebounded in the most epic way in a dominating win over the Hawks with the final score being 51-17. They kept this momentum going as they proceeded to beat Sarasota. Their win streak ended in week 5 however at the hands of the Yellowknife Wraiths. This pattern described most of their season. They would go on win streaks of two before proceeding to lose about two games in a row. Going into week ten their record was 4-6 and they knew that they needed to make a late season push if they wanted to make the playoffs. They proceeded to win 5 out of their 7 last games to secure a spot in the playoffs with a record of 9 and 7 and just like that their playoff drought was over.
9) Pick any position, and determine who in your view is the greatest player to ever suit up at that position. Why do you view them as the GOAT? What achievements, records, accolades, or statistics do they hold? How do they stack up against the other legends in their position, and why does your chosen candidate come out on top?
As a wide receiver I think it makes the most sense that I would talk about the goat in that position. Before I come to any conclusions however, we need to talk about the nominees for GOAT wide receiver. Now the first player that has to be brought up with is Bradley Westfield. Bradley was a part of the original S1 class and was drafted by the Orange County Otters with the 72nd pick. He immediately became one of their top wide receivers and finished that season with 983 yards and 8 touchdowns. For the rest of his 10 season career his yards per season steadily improved until it hit a peak of 1756 and then went back down to 983. By the end of his career he finished with 13457 receiving yards and 109 receiving touchdowns. These career totals were both second on the career leaderboards for their respective stats. That being said, he is second in both these categories to one man, Trey Willie. Trey was a part of the S2 class and was consistently one of the best wide receivers every season. Throughout his 12 season career he averaged 1201 receiving yards per season 10 receiving touchdowns. He clearly deserves to be a candidate for the GOAT wide receiver. Now my final candidate may be a bit controversial but I do think he deserves to be in contention for the GOAT. My final candidate is Vincent “Vinny” Valentine. Now I know that Vinny Valentine barely scratched the top 10 for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns but he made it nonetheless. However, he is one of the only wide receivers to ever win offensive player of the year along with Vladimir Fyodorovich and James Bishop. Now this can’t be the only reason he is in consideration for being the GOAT wide receiver. Another important aspect of his career is that during the prime of his career he had to play with a shorter schedule compared to Westfield and Willie and still put up very similar stats. So now that we’ve talked about our three GOAT candidates I think that it is time to choose which will be crowned as the official GOAT of the wide receiver position. The official GOAT is….. (Drum Roll Please).... Vinny Valentine. Why did I choose Vinny? Multiple reasons really. First off, for almost the entirety of his career he was a contender for Wide Receiver of the Year and he even took the award home three times. Not to mention that he didn’t have the advantage of being a part of an early class and playing a lot of low TPE cornerbacks and safeties. Not to mention that Unicorn is my GM and will release me if I don’t pick him and that’s why Vinny Valentine is the GOAT Wide Receiver.