Quote:13) Take a step back and predict what the league will look like three seasons from now. Who do you predict will be the dominant teams? Which young players do you think will have morphed into superstars? Will the league have expanded again in the next three seasons, and where would these new franchises be? Don’t be afraid to be creative, but don’t be entirely outlandish either.
Lets first talk about what the league looked like three seasons ago, compared to now. We might be able to pick out some trends. The NSFC was led by Yellowknife, Colorado, and Philadelphia. Chicago was last with a rough 3-13 record, but Sarasota and Baltimore were competitive. In the ASFC, Orange County led the way with New Orleans and Austin trailing behind. San Jose had a rough season, and Arizona and Honolulu missed out despite decent years. Now lets take a look at the most recent season. Colorado, Sarasota, Chicago, and Baltimore all made the playoffs, with Yellowknife, Philadelphia, and the new Berlin Salamanders missed out. In the ASFC, Orange County, Arizona, San Jose, and Honolulu all made it while Austin, New Orleans and the new New York Silverbacks watched from home.
So what you see is that there will be a few teams that consistently perform, while the rest of the league will bounce around a bit Three seasons from now I'm sure Colorado and Orange County will still be in the mix. Colorado while have gotten over their freshman quarterback struggles and the Otters are the Otters. In the NSFC, I think you can expect teams like Sarasota, Yellowknife, Chicago, and Baltimore to all compete for those remaining playoff spots. There will be a good amount of roster turnover for those teams in three seasons time, but some valuable rookies will have come of age. Arizona, San Jose, Austin, and New Orleans should be in the mix, but Honolulu could surprise. It will be tough for teams like Berlin and New York to make the top of their divisions, but there's no reason why they can't sneak in with that fourth playoff spot in either division. I don't believe the league will have expanded in three seasons time. I think we will still be looking to find our new equilibrium point with the newest round of expansion teams.
One of the biggest question marks when trying to prognosticate the next three seasons is the impact a new sim engine will have on the league. While the engine is made by the same studio and is, potentially, not wildly different from the current sim, there will still be differences and a learning curve. The teams that are able to solve and understand this new sim will be able to succeed quicker. By the third season, I would imagine we'll have a decently clear picture of how the sim operates, but still teams like Orange County and Colorado should have a much firmer understanding compared to other teams, which will tip their hand towards continued league dominance.
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Word count: 437Quote:15) This task is exclusive to non-recreate rookies of the S25 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?
To break up this task into a couple different components, let me first talk about my player. Dan Foster has been fine. In his first season in Portland in the DSFL, he had a solid year. One of the best freshman cornerbacks for sure, but the DSFL was crowded with defensive talent in S24 so he did not stand out too much. Still he was the starting left cornerback for a playoff team, so that has to count at least somewhere! After the draft (more on that in a minute), he was called up immediately to start for the Yellowknife Wraiths in the ISFL. At that point he was a medium-sized fish in an incredibly large pond. Unsurprisingly, it was a rough year for the young Foster. Although his tackle numbers were decent, he only had one interception all season and a fairly middling number of pass defends at ten. But it was a rough season overall for the Wraiths' defensive backs as a whole, so its not worth digging into too much. Regardless, Foster was a rookie in a difficult situation and he seemed to have made the best of it.
When it comes to the off-the-field and personal development in the league, I don't think it could have gone better. Joining the International Sim Football League was a spur of the moment decision as I was browsing my way through Reddit and saw a post on the NFL subreddit. Its turned into a wonderful decision and a great way to spend free time during COVID and combine my love of writing and sports. When you first enter the league, its a bit of an overwhelming experience. There's all these forum posts and tasks you need to pay attention to. 'TPE' is some sort of abstract thing that happens to be what everyone is focused on and this whole place revolves around. All the players have a bank account and certain activities cost money. Then there's Discord and the multitude of league channels and team locker rooms. All of it adds up and quickly, and its not surprising that some new recruits get discouraged and do not continue in the league.
Fortunately for me, I met a number of great people in the ISFL and DSFL that have been a joy to be around. Folks like Katarn, UberBJ, SouthPaw, qWest, Laser, ZEagle, Saba Donut, Fly, PMoney, and so many more have made being part of this league a joy. I look forward to waking up in the morning and checking Discord and seeing where things are at in my respective war rooms and the league as a whole. My first two seasons as a player have been just okay, but as a user they've been outstanding.
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Word Count: 457![[Image: Foster-Draft-GFX.gif]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/372161729532133376/759213646991327242/Foster-Draft-GFX.gif)
