10-24-2021, 07:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-25-2021, 06:56 PM by DrChops. Edited 2 times in total.)
11. Write about your team’s biggest rivalry and what makes it so fierce. Is the competition founded in statistics and the team’s recent performance, or is it a rivalry that developed over time during the team’s history that would exist regardless of statistics?
While the Berlin Fire Salamanders do not have as long of a history as other, older teams, they still have had enough time to develop several bitter rivalries. The Salamander's first season in the league was Season 25 and since then they have had a quite a bit of success, as they have won the NSFC 2 of 7 seasons and made it to the Ultimus game once. This has generate a bit of friction in the NSFC with teams like the Yeti, Sailfish, Butchers and the Wraith. Of those teams, the most hated would have to be the Yellowknife Wraiths. The regular season matchups have gone back and fourth, but the real rivalry spurs from the upset the Wraiths pulled in the season 28 conference championship game. The Wraiths defeated the Salamanders, who were the regular season champions and favored to win the Ultimus. That lose stung and was the deepest blow any division rival has struck against the Salamanders.
However, the Salamander's biggest rival has to be the New York Silverbacks. The silverbacks started in the league the exact same year as the Salamanders, making them natural rivals. Since their beginning, the Salamanders have played the Silverbacks every since in either the regular season or in the playoffs. As of now, the regular season series is even at 3 and 3, with both teams winning three games against each other. Only two of these games were decided by more than four points, meaning all the games played were decided by one score. The two blowouts were both won by the Silverbacks, which gives the Silverbacks the advantage in matchup points.
The rivalry reached new heights the one regular season in which the Salamanders did not face each other in the regular season; instead, the two faced off in the Ultimus. Speaking as a Fire Salamanders fan, that game was awful and was pretty much over at the end of the third quarter. The Salamanders scored a field goal midway through the first quarter, but soon fell behind as the Silverbacks scored 24 of the next 31 points, to lead 24 to 10 at the half. The Silverbacks poured it on in the third, taking advantage of a few Salamander turnovers to improve to 34 to 10 to begin the 4th quarter. The game was well out of hand at that point, as the Salamanders were able to put up a few points in garbage time to lose 40-20. Turnovers were the story of the game, as the Salamanders had 3 while the Silverbacks had 0. This game puts the 'fire' in Fire Salamanders, as we really want to avenge this lose and get an Ultimus title of our own.
13. Expansion Expansion Expansion! The league seems to love talking about it, but it has still not happened. Tell us why it should happen / should not happen soon?
Expansion is awesome. Everything about expansion in the ISFL is great: the expansion draft, the new team(s) logo(s), the new rivalry. It is all great. So, in this writeup, I am going to give a few reasons why expansion should happen as soon as possible.
1. 14 teams is just strange. 14 is just an odd number of teams to stick with. Having 7 teams in each conference just feels off as the divisions are very big. Adding two more teams to bring the total to 16 feels to be ideal because the conferences could be spilt in two to make 4 team divisions, similar to how it is in the NFL. This way, the winner of each of the divisions will make the playoff with a few different wildcard spots to the team with the best record who did not win their conference. I would hope the ISFL would allow more teams into the playoff, maybe 4 teams in each conference. It is important to give the regular season champions some advantage in the playoff though and adding another team would remove the bye week. Maybe give the 1st place team in the conference a double bye, the 2nd team a single bye and have the 3rd and 4th teams play in the first round. Winner then plays the 2nd place team and that winner places the 1st place team.
2. Adding more teams adds more completive spice. I love rivalries with personality, and adding teams provides an additional chance for more compelling matchup between teams. Nobody wants to lose to the new kids, so they immediately have a target on their back once they walk in the door.
3. More people can play positions that they want to play. Adding two more teams adds 2 more starting QB spots and more available spots for other popular positions like linebacker. While this would also increase the amount of spots for less popular positions, the league could consider allowing teams to add bots to spots that they can not fill with a human player, like they already do with the offensive line.
3. Having more teams would prevent some of the strange end of season results like Season 26 in the ASFC where 5 teams ended the year with a 9-7 record. This could happen because having more teams might spread out of the talent pool a bit more, making the difference between good teams and okay teams more noticeable.
4. The expansion draft is the best part of the ISFL. I am pretty sure GMs hate the expansion draft as they feel like they have to abandon some of their players. However, this makes the expansion draft very dramatic, as all the teams have to make gut wrenching decisions about who stays and who goes. This makes it a lot of fun to follow and shakes up ISFL teams way more than any other event. The other drafts are fun, but they lack the drama because in the expansion draft, you are drafting a player off an opposing team who may not be expecting to be drafted. It is chaos but it is a lot of fun!
While the Berlin Fire Salamanders do not have as long of a history as other, older teams, they still have had enough time to develop several bitter rivalries. The Salamander's first season in the league was Season 25 and since then they have had a quite a bit of success, as they have won the NSFC 2 of 7 seasons and made it to the Ultimus game once. This has generate a bit of friction in the NSFC with teams like the Yeti, Sailfish, Butchers and the Wraith. Of those teams, the most hated would have to be the Yellowknife Wraiths. The regular season matchups have gone back and fourth, but the real rivalry spurs from the upset the Wraiths pulled in the season 28 conference championship game. The Wraiths defeated the Salamanders, who were the regular season champions and favored to win the Ultimus. That lose stung and was the deepest blow any division rival has struck against the Salamanders.
However, the Salamander's biggest rival has to be the New York Silverbacks. The silverbacks started in the league the exact same year as the Salamanders, making them natural rivals. Since their beginning, the Salamanders have played the Silverbacks every since in either the regular season or in the playoffs. As of now, the regular season series is even at 3 and 3, with both teams winning three games against each other. Only two of these games were decided by more than four points, meaning all the games played were decided by one score. The two blowouts were both won by the Silverbacks, which gives the Silverbacks the advantage in matchup points.
The rivalry reached new heights the one regular season in which the Salamanders did not face each other in the regular season; instead, the two faced off in the Ultimus. Speaking as a Fire Salamanders fan, that game was awful and was pretty much over at the end of the third quarter. The Salamanders scored a field goal midway through the first quarter, but soon fell behind as the Silverbacks scored 24 of the next 31 points, to lead 24 to 10 at the half. The Silverbacks poured it on in the third, taking advantage of a few Salamander turnovers to improve to 34 to 10 to begin the 4th quarter. The game was well out of hand at that point, as the Salamanders were able to put up a few points in garbage time to lose 40-20. Turnovers were the story of the game, as the Salamanders had 3 while the Silverbacks had 0. This game puts the 'fire' in Fire Salamanders, as we really want to avenge this lose and get an Ultimus title of our own.
13. Expansion Expansion Expansion! The league seems to love talking about it, but it has still not happened. Tell us why it should happen / should not happen soon?
Expansion is awesome. Everything about expansion in the ISFL is great: the expansion draft, the new team(s) logo(s), the new rivalry. It is all great. So, in this writeup, I am going to give a few reasons why expansion should happen as soon as possible.
1. 14 teams is just strange. 14 is just an odd number of teams to stick with. Having 7 teams in each conference just feels off as the divisions are very big. Adding two more teams to bring the total to 16 feels to be ideal because the conferences could be spilt in two to make 4 team divisions, similar to how it is in the NFL. This way, the winner of each of the divisions will make the playoff with a few different wildcard spots to the team with the best record who did not win their conference. I would hope the ISFL would allow more teams into the playoff, maybe 4 teams in each conference. It is important to give the regular season champions some advantage in the playoff though and adding another team would remove the bye week. Maybe give the 1st place team in the conference a double bye, the 2nd team a single bye and have the 3rd and 4th teams play in the first round. Winner then plays the 2nd place team and that winner places the 1st place team.
2. Adding more teams adds more completive spice. I love rivalries with personality, and adding teams provides an additional chance for more compelling matchup between teams. Nobody wants to lose to the new kids, so they immediately have a target on their back once they walk in the door.
3. More people can play positions that they want to play. Adding two more teams adds 2 more starting QB spots and more available spots for other popular positions like linebacker. While this would also increase the amount of spots for less popular positions, the league could consider allowing teams to add bots to spots that they can not fill with a human player, like they already do with the offensive line.
3. Having more teams would prevent some of the strange end of season results like Season 26 in the ASFC where 5 teams ended the year with a 9-7 record. This could happen because having more teams might spread out of the talent pool a bit more, making the difference between good teams and okay teams more noticeable.
4. The expansion draft is the best part of the ISFL. I am pretty sure GMs hate the expansion draft as they feel like they have to abandon some of their players. However, this makes the expansion draft very dramatic, as all the teams have to make gut wrenching decisions about who stays and who goes. This makes it a lot of fun to follow and shakes up ISFL teams way more than any other event. The other drafts are fun, but they lack the drama because in the expansion draft, you are drafting a player off an opposing team who may not be expecting to be drafted. It is chaos but it is a lot of fun!
BUD R. FINGERS - WIDE RECIEVER
S32 DSFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
S32 DSFL Pro Bowler
FORMERLY HANK "BEEFQUAKE" STEEL - DT - 2 TIME NSFC PRO BOWLER (S29 and S27)
S32 DSFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
S32 DSFL Pro Bowler
FORMERLY HANK "BEEFQUAKE" STEEL - DT - 2 TIME NSFC PRO BOWLER (S29 and S27)