(S26) Ultimus Week

[37thchamber]

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.

The time when half the league's teams tried to sign a receiver who doesn't catch touchdowns

Raphael Delacour's debut season in the ISFL, it is safe to say, did NOT go according to plan. After an underwhelming year in Norfolk, the son of Baltimore Hawks legend and ISFL Hall of Famer Antoine Delacour put in extra time over the summer in preparation for his move to Chicago. It was expected that, with a better quarterback to work with, and a stronger supporting cast, he would finally be able to show his true talent. Instead, he made just five catches this season, and is now two years into a professional career at wide receiver, with no receiving touchdowns.

"I'm not sure what went wrong, to be honest," he admits. "Everything sounded good in pre-season when we talked about my likely role in the team and so on, there were no issues raised. But something happened later in the season and I just wasn't getting opportunities."

A count of all plays involving Delacour last season shows he featured in just nine plays for the Butchers across the entire season. Five of these, he caught, for a total of 120 yards. He dropped one, had one catch broken up, and one fell incomplete. The other was intercepted, and returned for 70 yards in his first game in the ISFL.

"Ah man that one hurt," he says. "I made the first catch, eight yards, I'm feeling good. I'm playing against the team I supported as a kid, you know? The team where my surname is associated with legend. And... I honestly don't know what happened. One second I thought 'hey I might have a chance at a touchdown here, its only ten yards or so' and next thing I'm looking at the DB's back, chasing after him. It was surreal."

It would be fair to call this the lowest point of his season, perhaps.

"Yeah, either that or the ... I wanna say six weeks? [it was five games, weeks five through nine, just short of six weeks between them - Ed.] where I didn't get on the field at all." He explains. "I thought maybe I'd done something wrong, but the last thing I'd done was make a pretty good catch for like, thirty yards or something. At first I thought maybe the other guys had just outperformed me in training or something, so I pushed harder. But after a few weeks pass, you start questioning whether it's something else."

In week nine, when the team travelled to Orange County, and Raphael once again did not feature, he nearly cracked. "I called my cousin that weekend, didn't get back on the team flight to Chicago. I just needed ... something. So I went to L.A. and linked up with family for a day. I knew we didn't have training the next day so I had time."

The break seemed to help, as Raphael found himself on the field the following week, in Yellowknife. "They don't tell you how tough it is to play up there," he laments. "So I knew I had to really bring my A-game, and the first look got broken up. I was thinking 'ah man that was my chance!' but George [O'Donnell] looked my way again on the next play, and I got the first down. And some more."

That was his lot for the day, however. The following week, he was back in the dark, left out again. This time against Philly. "The next week... was that the one where I dropped the pass?" He asks. It was, against Berlin. "Yeah that one was odd. I'd forgotten who it was against, but I know Berlin were interested before the draft. So I guess that wasn't the best time to drop one, huh?"

He would redeem himself in week fourteen, when Sarasota came to the Windy City, hauling in a forty yarder in the third quarter, to put the Butchers into field goal range. "That's probably the high point of the season," he says, almost forlorn. "A forty yard catch is always nice."

At the end of the season, Raphael opted out of his contract with the Butchers, believing that his opportunities are limited if he stays with Chicago, but we understand he has since spoken to the management about returning. "There's a few teams in the mix," he reveals. "Still haven't decided what I'm gonna do next."

We spoke about his next move, and Raphael reveals that his older sister, Elaine -- who is a statistician, fittingly -- has been helping him pore through various league statistics, analysing the metrics to find which of his suitors would be the best fit. "Elaine's a genius when it comes to numbers," Raphael gushes. "She helped me a lot at Harvard, too. When I was a bit drained from training and playing, she'd come over and help me refocus. Always had the answers."

So... what does the genius think for her brother's next move?

"She's being really vague about it," Raphael says. "I think she doesn't want to influence me unfairly, or something. We spoke about the different options and what it would mean going forward. How I would fit into each team's offense. What parts of my game I should focus on to get back on track with my goals, things like that. But she won't draw any conclusions for me. She just tells me 'what the numbers say' and keeps telling me I have to be the one to make the decision."

Apparently, his father is similarly not being particularly helpful. "Pops won't say anything because he would want me back in Baltimore, but the Hawks aren't interested. Failing that, I'm sure he'd love to see me end up in New Orleans, since that's where the family is, but again, no interest there. So now he doesn't much care where I land, from a personal standpoint. He just says to go where I can 'make the biggest impact' because I won't be able to join him in the Hall otherwise."

Interestingly, the person Raphael would normally turn to for advice -- his oldest sister, Sophia -- is unavailable, having moved to France last year. "Soph would just tell me straight up where I should go," he laughs. "She's always been pretty up-front about things. I called her the other day, but she seems pretty swamped so I thought I'd leave her to it. We'll catch up some other time."

Until then, the second year receiver has a big decision to make, that will potentially define his career. And he knows it.

"If I get this next move right, I could be set for the rest of my career maybe. But if I get it wrong, I might as well say bye to any chance of achieving my goal of making Hall of Fame, so there's a lot of pressure." He concedes. "It's even tougher when everyone's being so cool about everything, because you don't want to let anyone down. Especially when you're a receiver with no touchdowns. Like, why do these teams want me to sign so badly? I was always told that this business was cutthroat. I know I'm good, but they can only go by what they've seen from me on the field... and that's not a lot. It just makes you think, you know?"



(pretty sure I'm well over 1k words at this point so I'm gonna stop. I was gonna submit this as media but meh)