16. This task is exclusive to recreate/non-recreate rookies of the S37 class and later. The season is over and the draft is coming up. What do you bring to a team, and why should a team choose to take a chance on you next season? (Written Task)
I'm new to the league, having just joined approximately a week ago, so my player, Good Player, will be part of the DSFL draft coming up in a little over a weeks time. What I want to bring to my team is someone who is fun to have around in a discord, and is also motivated to improve their player and claim TPE as often as possible. I want to be a productive player and have ambitions to see my player perform well and improve, with a goal being to eventually see myself playing an important role on an ISFL team. If a team takes a chance on me, I will make sure I do everything in my power to repay their faith in me as a player. While I can't guarantee my player will be immediately productive statistically, I will do everything in my power to be an active and productive member of a team
[156 words] - 2.5 TPE
27. What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why? (Written or Graphic Task)
I haven't gotten a chance to get familiar with most of these logos, as they're all relatively new to me, but there's a few that stand out to me on both sides of the coin. On the good side of logos, I think I enjoy the Hahalua the most. Their logo is simple enough to not be distracting or unorganized, but it's got details in all the right places and the color scheme overall is very aesthetically pleasing. I also enjoy it for the unique mascot that also ties into the regional culture, while also not being something overly cliché or obvious. I really enjoy the New York Silverbacks logo as well, specifically the font choice and bordering in combination with the simplicity of the logo and old school colors leads to a vintage vibe that is unique but visually very pleasant. In terms of teams that could use a refresh, I have to say the Colorado Yeti logo is a bit uninspiring, I get the logo being the Colorado flag with a yeti in front of it, but this is subjective and I don't like the primary color heaviness of the 'C' and it could use an update imo.
[199 words] - 2.5 TPE
13. Expansion Expansion Expansion! Tell us why you think the league should expand / not expand or include any ideas (in words) for team branding ideas you have or team locations.
I've taken part in a healthy amount of expansion in my time as admin for a video game sports league, and I know that it's a exciting topic but also comes with a uptick in work, which usually means lots of preparation and an increase in staffing. That being said, I think expansion is a healthy way to grow a league, and to eventually entice new players into joining and staying around. Being a sim league, a lot of player base changes are slow acting, as a large influx of players wouldn't lead to immediate growth in the ISFL, instead it would take a couple seasons for the influx to be realized at that level, as players need the initial time to develop. As such, I think expansion makes sense, but only if planned deep(ish) into the future, probably 2 seasons minimum in my opinion (i.e. new team would have first season be S40 if decision to expand was made now. A unique challenge with expansion is also the desire to keep an even number of teams. I think while preferable to expand 2 at a time for ease and balancing of conferences, it would make the most sense to me to expand with the teams staggered by a season or two, in order to slowly expand the ISFL player base and not do so by 2 teams instantaneously. Overall, I agree with expansion, just slow-acting and calculated ones, as an overaggressive expansion plan will inevitably lead to issues in the future, and in the worst case contraction, which would arguably leave the league off at a worse spot than it started. An expansion team starting 2 seasons after this next one, and then another 2 seasons after that would be a slow growth plan, that would give the league time to slowly expand the staff team and also carefully pick out GMs for the new teams that would be trusted with the difficulty of taking on a team from scratch. It also gives existing teams time to prepare for an expansion draft and to construct their rosters accordingly. An additional thought could be to allow a potential expansion team to take part in the draft one season prior to their calling up, letting them get a rookie class to develop in the DSFL for a full season before bringing them up to the ISFL, that way it can keep player development cycles normalized with the rest of the league. All that being said, I have to stay around for a while longer before I can truly understand the risks and benefits that expansion would bring to the league, as it'd be naïve to think I could know all the ins and outs of a league I've only just joined. In terms of team branding/locations, I've grown up around Seattle, so I'm biased to say that there should be a team there, but I couldn't get any good team branding ideas.
[490 words] - 5 TPE
I'm new to the league, having just joined approximately a week ago, so my player, Good Player, will be part of the DSFL draft coming up in a little over a weeks time. What I want to bring to my team is someone who is fun to have around in a discord, and is also motivated to improve their player and claim TPE as often as possible. I want to be a productive player and have ambitions to see my player perform well and improve, with a goal being to eventually see myself playing an important role on an ISFL team. If a team takes a chance on me, I will make sure I do everything in my power to repay their faith in me as a player. While I can't guarantee my player will be immediately productive statistically, I will do everything in my power to be an active and productive member of a team
[156 words] - 2.5 TPE
27. What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why? (Written or Graphic Task)
I haven't gotten a chance to get familiar with most of these logos, as they're all relatively new to me, but there's a few that stand out to me on both sides of the coin. On the good side of logos, I think I enjoy the Hahalua the most. Their logo is simple enough to not be distracting or unorganized, but it's got details in all the right places and the color scheme overall is very aesthetically pleasing. I also enjoy it for the unique mascot that also ties into the regional culture, while also not being something overly cliché or obvious. I really enjoy the New York Silverbacks logo as well, specifically the font choice and bordering in combination with the simplicity of the logo and old school colors leads to a vintage vibe that is unique but visually very pleasant. In terms of teams that could use a refresh, I have to say the Colorado Yeti logo is a bit uninspiring, I get the logo being the Colorado flag with a yeti in front of it, but this is subjective and I don't like the primary color heaviness of the 'C' and it could use an update imo.
[199 words] - 2.5 TPE
13. Expansion Expansion Expansion! Tell us why you think the league should expand / not expand or include any ideas (in words) for team branding ideas you have or team locations.
I've taken part in a healthy amount of expansion in my time as admin for a video game sports league, and I know that it's a exciting topic but also comes with a uptick in work, which usually means lots of preparation and an increase in staffing. That being said, I think expansion is a healthy way to grow a league, and to eventually entice new players into joining and staying around. Being a sim league, a lot of player base changes are slow acting, as a large influx of players wouldn't lead to immediate growth in the ISFL, instead it would take a couple seasons for the influx to be realized at that level, as players need the initial time to develop. As such, I think expansion makes sense, but only if planned deep(ish) into the future, probably 2 seasons minimum in my opinion (i.e. new team would have first season be S40 if decision to expand was made now. A unique challenge with expansion is also the desire to keep an even number of teams. I think while preferable to expand 2 at a time for ease and balancing of conferences, it would make the most sense to me to expand with the teams staggered by a season or two, in order to slowly expand the ISFL player base and not do so by 2 teams instantaneously. Overall, I agree with expansion, just slow-acting and calculated ones, as an overaggressive expansion plan will inevitably lead to issues in the future, and in the worst case contraction, which would arguably leave the league off at a worse spot than it started. An expansion team starting 2 seasons after this next one, and then another 2 seasons after that would be a slow growth plan, that would give the league time to slowly expand the staff team and also carefully pick out GMs for the new teams that would be trusted with the difficulty of taking on a team from scratch. It also gives existing teams time to prepare for an expansion draft and to construct their rosters accordingly. An additional thought could be to allow a potential expansion team to take part in the draft one season prior to their calling up, letting them get a rookie class to develop in the DSFL for a full season before bringing them up to the ISFL, that way it can keep player development cycles normalized with the rest of the league. All that being said, I have to stay around for a while longer before I can truly understand the risks and benefits that expansion would bring to the league, as it'd be naïve to think I could know all the ins and outs of a league I've only just joined. In terms of team branding/locations, I've grown up around Seattle, so I'm biased to say that there should be a team there, but I couldn't get any good team branding ideas.
[490 words] - 5 TPE