Tier 1: Task 7
I wanted to expand upon T2s Task 9 so that is what I did here.
When it comes to moments that changed the entire course of the league as we know it, there is one that immediately comes to mind and it has some serious history. Season 24 was beginning and something big and exciting was about to be announced. The day was August 11, 2020 when a Head Office newsletter dropped onto the site. There in big green letters was the dreaded "E" word: Expansion. The league had just found itself in an expansion in S22, only 2 seasons prior to this announcement. That felt like it was too close but the league was in its boom phase. This pandemic thing was really ramping up and everyone was just hanging around at home looking for something, anything, to do in their free time. Bids came in and a few weeks later, we saw the new teams for the very first time and got to know their managers. The one team we will focus on is the New York Silverbacks headed by woelkers and bwestfield (As a note, both of these guys use the convention of first initial-last name as their username. Just thought that was a fun little tidbit).
Everyone was doing their rounds of media speculating how the expansion protection lists will go and some even went as far as to mock draft with those lists. It was a great time for media. Then came the announcement. The protection lists were live to all on the site. New York was slated to have the very first pick in the draft, so they had a lot of research to do ahead of time. The draft came and thus we get to the moment I alluded to in the opening.
With the first pick in the Season 25 expansion draft, the New York Silverbacks select… Jack Banks, linebacker, Honolulu.
There it is. The very first pick in the expansion draft sent the league into a timeline of chaos and will forever be changed for it. For those who are newer to the league, Jack Banks’ user is TheRocheLimit who is the current General Manager for the New York Silverbacks. Of course, hindsight is 20-20 but it really makes you think when looking at these protection lists. Each team was given the opportunity to protect 8 players prior to the draft and the list that Honolulu provided is… well, puzzling. Here are the final TPE totals for every player they protected and the total at roughly the time of expansion.
Ke’oke’o Kane-Maika’i – 1329 (637)
Shawn Dawkins – 1478 (733)
Luke Skywalker – 917 (680)
Jim Waters – 1197 (639)
Heinrich Kackpoo – 1504 (610)
Jed Podolak – 1098 (936)
Nicholas Ayers - 1141 (496)
Ray-Ray Jackson – 657 (489)
Obviously, there are some seriously good players that came out of this for Honolulu. They had to protect their GMs so they only had 6 protections to throw around. They were still new to the league and building up what would be their corps for the foreseeable future. They had to give up someone but even just the thought of not protecting Banks who had 574 TPE at the time at a premiere position in linebacker was throwing off the league. Everyone was pointing to the future hall of fame kicker in Venus Powers as the go to pick here but New York chose Banks.
Now for the future that was created. Looking at where roche is now, you can clearly see that he is the GM for the team that took him in the expansion draft. That is the very first thing people notice about this transaction. What you do not immediately see is that Banks was a key contributor that lead to the team winning two Ultimus championships in S29 and S32, both over their expansion brethren in the Berlin Fire Salamanders. Banks was never the best player in each season, but he was damn consistent his entire career. He has found himself as a legendary figure in Silverback lore and a member of the team’s illustrious Band of Honor. (682 Words)
I wanted to expand upon T2s Task 9 so that is what I did here.
When it comes to moments that changed the entire course of the league as we know it, there is one that immediately comes to mind and it has some serious history. Season 24 was beginning and something big and exciting was about to be announced. The day was August 11, 2020 when a Head Office newsletter dropped onto the site. There in big green letters was the dreaded "E" word: Expansion. The league had just found itself in an expansion in S22, only 2 seasons prior to this announcement. That felt like it was too close but the league was in its boom phase. This pandemic thing was really ramping up and everyone was just hanging around at home looking for something, anything, to do in their free time. Bids came in and a few weeks later, we saw the new teams for the very first time and got to know their managers. The one team we will focus on is the New York Silverbacks headed by woelkers and bwestfield (As a note, both of these guys use the convention of first initial-last name as their username. Just thought that was a fun little tidbit).
Everyone was doing their rounds of media speculating how the expansion protection lists will go and some even went as far as to mock draft with those lists. It was a great time for media. Then came the announcement. The protection lists were live to all on the site. New York was slated to have the very first pick in the draft, so they had a lot of research to do ahead of time. The draft came and thus we get to the moment I alluded to in the opening.
With the first pick in the Season 25 expansion draft, the New York Silverbacks select… Jack Banks, linebacker, Honolulu.
There it is. The very first pick in the expansion draft sent the league into a timeline of chaos and will forever be changed for it. For those who are newer to the league, Jack Banks’ user is TheRocheLimit who is the current General Manager for the New York Silverbacks. Of course, hindsight is 20-20 but it really makes you think when looking at these protection lists. Each team was given the opportunity to protect 8 players prior to the draft and the list that Honolulu provided is… well, puzzling. Here are the final TPE totals for every player they protected and the total at roughly the time of expansion.
Ke’oke’o Kane-Maika’i – 1329 (637)
Shawn Dawkins – 1478 (733)
Luke Skywalker – 917 (680)
Jim Waters – 1197 (639)
Heinrich Kackpoo – 1504 (610)
Jed Podolak – 1098 (936)
Nicholas Ayers - 1141 (496)
Ray-Ray Jackson – 657 (489)
Obviously, there are some seriously good players that came out of this for Honolulu. They had to protect their GMs so they only had 6 protections to throw around. They were still new to the league and building up what would be their corps for the foreseeable future. They had to give up someone but even just the thought of not protecting Banks who had 574 TPE at the time at a premiere position in linebacker was throwing off the league. Everyone was pointing to the future hall of fame kicker in Venus Powers as the go to pick here but New York chose Banks.
Now for the future that was created. Looking at where roche is now, you can clearly see that he is the GM for the team that took him in the expansion draft. That is the very first thing people notice about this transaction. What you do not immediately see is that Banks was a key contributor that lead to the team winning two Ultimus championships in S29 and S32, both over their expansion brethren in the Berlin Fire Salamanders. Banks was never the best player in each season, but he was damn consistent his entire career. He has found himself as a legendary figure in Silverback lore and a member of the team’s illustrious Band of Honor. (682 Words)