As many of you know, the San Jose SaberCats franchise is very near & dear to my heart, at least our virtual version of it. As General Manager of the team basically from the start, I've seen a lot of very dedicated members & talented players alike, so narrowing it down to an all-time top 4 is a very tough task to tackle, but let's give it a go, shall we?
First up is an easy one. In my opinion, the greatest player to ever don a SaberCats uniform, Joliet L. Christ. Despite getting off to a very rough start, winning only 1 game as a rookie, Christ led the Cats to one of the greatest comebacks in league history, winning 10 games during the following season & a total of 42 over the next 4 seasons, culminating in a pair of Ultimus appearances & the franchise's first championship in Season 14. Now enough about what the team did around him, let's take a look inside JLC's trophy cabinet. During his illustrious, albeit brief, 7 season career in the ISFL, Christ racked up his fair share of individual hardware, including the Most Valuable Player in Season 13, Offensive Player of the Year in Seasons 14 & 17 as well as Quarterback of the Year in his MVP season. Much of this, at least in my view, can be credited to his prowess as a dual threat QB. At the time of his retirement, Christ was the most prolific running QB in the history of the league, placing himself 2nd all-time among QB in rushing yards with 2,732 in just 96 games, as well as one of the most efficient passers the league has seen to date with a near 2:1 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions. Because of all of this, one last piece of hardware certainly awaited him & was almost a foregone conclusion when his name graced the Hall of Fame ballot in Season 21, becoming just the 3rd player to enter the Hall as a SaberCat & the 1st to do so as a lifetime SaberCat.
Now for our 2nd member of Mount Derpcat. This one is another pretty simple selection as we honor one of the first truly dominant defensive linemen in OG SaberCat Dan Miller. Beginning in an era before OL bots existed, the best defensive linemen in the league absolutely bullied their subpar counterparts & Miller was among the elites. In fact, I would go out on a limb in saying that he, along with Outlaws DE Jayce Tuck, almost forced the implementation of the OL bot system. In Season 3, the final season of solely human OL, Miller recorded an absurd 24 sacks, which was good for 2nd in the league behind only Tuck's 32. During his tenure as a SaberCat, the league's all-time sack leader recorded double digit sack total in each of his 6 full seasons in the green & gold before being traded to Colorado during season 7. To this day, his career mark of 132 sacks stands alone as the best in league history. Following his retirement in Season 9, Miller became the first player to enter the Hall of Fame as a SaberCat, being elected on his first ballot.
Now is where things start to get a little tricky as we split hairs for the final 2 spots on Mount Derpcat. For our 3rd spot, we go to another one of the original SaberCats from all the way back in Season 1, wide receiver Shane Weston. This one may come as a surprise to some because, for my money, he's one of the most criminally underrated players to ever grace the NSFL gridiron. Despite only being regarded as the team's outright #1 receiver for a handful of games during his career, Weston managed to record 6 straight (7 total) seasons of 1,000 yards or more receiving. What really made Shane special though was his play on special teams. As one of the most effective return men of his time, Weston retired as the all-time leader in career return yards, punts & kickoffs combined, with over 10,000 & to this day, remains 2nd all-time, only behind Dermot Lavelle of the Wraiths. Unforunately, due to his lack of hardware & over recognition by the masses, Weston becomes the 1st player on this list not also enshrined in the Hall of Fame, but his number 81 was retired by the SaberCats shortly following his retirement in Season 11.
Here we are, the final slot on this edition of Mount Derpcat. Who could it be? It's tough as there are so many deserving, but there's one name that continues to stick out in my mind & I can't ignore it any longer. The 4th & final member of our monument tonight will be none other than Kolby Deringer. Another lifetime SaberCat, Deringer, along with Chad Pennington, was a centerpiece of a devastating San Jose defense in the mid-teens that was an absolute force year after year. It may be a total cliche that defense wins championships, but that's certainly how I like to build my team. During the heart of Deringer's career, the SaberCats defense allowed the fewest points in the league for 4 years straight from Season 12-15, averaging under 20 points against each time. Kolby may have been overshadowed a bit by his LB partners in Chad Pennington & Ben Horne, but he definitely carved out his own legacy as a SaberCat, racking up over 1,000 career tackles in 11 seasons. Deringer should 100% be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but he's somehow only received 3 votes in each of his first 2 years on the ballot, but I digress.
That about wraps up this edition of Mount Derpcat, but I have just one quick reminder for the 2 people who might still be reading this. The Cats are still the champs baybay!!! Haha derpcat go meow meow
First up is an easy one. In my opinion, the greatest player to ever don a SaberCats uniform, Joliet L. Christ. Despite getting off to a very rough start, winning only 1 game as a rookie, Christ led the Cats to one of the greatest comebacks in league history, winning 10 games during the following season & a total of 42 over the next 4 seasons, culminating in a pair of Ultimus appearances & the franchise's first championship in Season 14. Now enough about what the team did around him, let's take a look inside JLC's trophy cabinet. During his illustrious, albeit brief, 7 season career in the ISFL, Christ racked up his fair share of individual hardware, including the Most Valuable Player in Season 13, Offensive Player of the Year in Seasons 14 & 17 as well as Quarterback of the Year in his MVP season. Much of this, at least in my view, can be credited to his prowess as a dual threat QB. At the time of his retirement, Christ was the most prolific running QB in the history of the league, placing himself 2nd all-time among QB in rushing yards with 2,732 in just 96 games, as well as one of the most efficient passers the league has seen to date with a near 2:1 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions. Because of all of this, one last piece of hardware certainly awaited him & was almost a foregone conclusion when his name graced the Hall of Fame ballot in Season 21, becoming just the 3rd player to enter the Hall as a SaberCat & the 1st to do so as a lifetime SaberCat.
Now for our 2nd member of Mount Derpcat. This one is another pretty simple selection as we honor one of the first truly dominant defensive linemen in OG SaberCat Dan Miller. Beginning in an era before OL bots existed, the best defensive linemen in the league absolutely bullied their subpar counterparts & Miller was among the elites. In fact, I would go out on a limb in saying that he, along with Outlaws DE Jayce Tuck, almost forced the implementation of the OL bot system. In Season 3, the final season of solely human OL, Miller recorded an absurd 24 sacks, which was good for 2nd in the league behind only Tuck's 32. During his tenure as a SaberCat, the league's all-time sack leader recorded double digit sack total in each of his 6 full seasons in the green & gold before being traded to Colorado during season 7. To this day, his career mark of 132 sacks stands alone as the best in league history. Following his retirement in Season 9, Miller became the first player to enter the Hall of Fame as a SaberCat, being elected on his first ballot.
Now is where things start to get a little tricky as we split hairs for the final 2 spots on Mount Derpcat. For our 3rd spot, we go to another one of the original SaberCats from all the way back in Season 1, wide receiver Shane Weston. This one may come as a surprise to some because, for my money, he's one of the most criminally underrated players to ever grace the NSFL gridiron. Despite only being regarded as the team's outright #1 receiver for a handful of games during his career, Weston managed to record 6 straight (7 total) seasons of 1,000 yards or more receiving. What really made Shane special though was his play on special teams. As one of the most effective return men of his time, Weston retired as the all-time leader in career return yards, punts & kickoffs combined, with over 10,000 & to this day, remains 2nd all-time, only behind Dermot Lavelle of the Wraiths. Unforunately, due to his lack of hardware & over recognition by the masses, Weston becomes the 1st player on this list not also enshrined in the Hall of Fame, but his number 81 was retired by the SaberCats shortly following his retirement in Season 11.
Here we are, the final slot on this edition of Mount Derpcat. Who could it be? It's tough as there are so many deserving, but there's one name that continues to stick out in my mind & I can't ignore it any longer. The 4th & final member of our monument tonight will be none other than Kolby Deringer. Another lifetime SaberCat, Deringer, along with Chad Pennington, was a centerpiece of a devastating San Jose defense in the mid-teens that was an absolute force year after year. It may be a total cliche that defense wins championships, but that's certainly how I like to build my team. During the heart of Deringer's career, the SaberCats defense allowed the fewest points in the league for 4 years straight from Season 12-15, averaging under 20 points against each time. Kolby may have been overshadowed a bit by his LB partners in Chad Pennington & Ben Horne, but he definitely carved out his own legacy as a SaberCat, racking up over 1,000 career tackles in 11 seasons. Deringer should 100% be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but he's somehow only received 3 votes in each of his first 2 years on the ballot, but I digress.
That about wraps up this edition of Mount Derpcat, but I have just one quick reminder for the 2 people who might still be reading this. The Cats are still the champs baybay!!! Haha derpcat go meow meow
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