14. 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.
(66 words)
Personally, I think that expansion should not be a main concern right now for the ISFL as adding one or two more teams piecemeal would offset the conferences and divisions and either force more expansion teams for a balance to be found, a very awkward and complicated schedule, or for it to fail altogether and set the league back a few seasons. The league is not yet in a place where it can handle so many teams without half or more of the rosters being filled with bots which wouldn’t be in the spirit of the league. Player recruitment to meet those quotas would have to be unrealistically high or other options, such as allowing multis for the first time, would be unpopular and/or bad in general. However, I still do think that plans for any eventual expansion should be made, as the league is constantly growing and I am of the belief we should be prepared should an abnormally large class appear (such as a Reddit class comparable in size to S36 or S41 + lots of recreates). Not only that, giving representation to some other places of the world, while of course nothing more than just symbolic, would still be a nice touch. I will be the first to admit I am a big advocate for my home country of Perú to appear in as many media as possible so I will give some ideas for possible teams: The Ucayali Dinosaurs (The political borders of the Ucayali department look like a dinosaur and I will die on this hill), the Tacna Patriots (Tacna resisted integration into Chile and returned to the country after the War of the Pacific (not the WW2 one)), the Cajamarca/Yanacocha Goldens (the Yanacocha mine in Cajamarca is the biggest gold mine in all of South America), the Paracas Parihuanas (the origin myth of the colour of the peruvian flag is that José de San Martín saw some Parihuana birds while he was resting in the town of Paracas. The bird’s colours are red on the wings and a white body), the Caral Ancients (the oldest human settlement in the Americas is found in Caral), the Cuzco/Titicaca Incas (Cuzco is self-explanatory as the ancient homeland of the Incas and where Macchu Picchu is, but one of their origin myths says that the first Incas emerged from Lake Titicaca), and many others. And as always, if you actually want to create one, I’d love for you to give me a call ?
16. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?
(484 words)
Diego López de Castilla, having joined the league after the Trade Deadline, was signed by the Dallas Birddogs in order to bolster their extremely thin receiving core. It was only composed of La’Fluke Paris-Johnson, a rookie who hadn’t yet maxed out his player, and bots/low earning players. This immediately meant that he was thrust into the WR3 position despite having just created. As such, he wasn’t prepared to make an impact nor was he given the chance to do so because he wasn’t particularly high in the depth chart. Over the 4 games he played in, he got 198 yards and not TDs. He averaged 4.5 catches per game and 49.5 yards per game. Remarkably, despite his low numbers, he didn’t drop a single pass. His best game was against the Minnesota Grey Ducks, recording 65 receiving yards in a 16-20 loss. As for his team, the Dallas Birddogs, despite having a rather strong team, only managed to go 2-2 in Diego’s time with the team. When he joined, they almost looked a lock for the playoffs at 7-5 despite being in a very tough conference and being neck and neck with the Tijuana Luchadores for the final playoff spot in the division behind a very strong Norfolk that would eventually go on to win the Ultimini that season. However, as luck would have it, their 9-7 and 2-2 record over Diego’s 4 games was just short of what was needed, as they lost on a tiebreaker on points scored to the Luchadores. Despite the very strong team and season, they fell prey to a few things such as lacking a strong receiving core due to callups. While most of their 7 losses weren’t particularly close which means that they outcome likely doesn’t changes, 2 losses stand out: A W1 loss to the Luchadores 20-17, and a loss on DL’s debut 20-16 to the Grey Ducks. Had either of those gone their way, they would have made it to the playoffs and possibly gone all the way. But we’ll never know. Nevertheless, both team and player are gearing up for S43 as DL looks to make a splash in his true rookie season and Dallas will look to run it back.
(66 words)
Personally, I think that expansion should not be a main concern right now for the ISFL as adding one or two more teams piecemeal would offset the conferences and divisions and either force more expansion teams for a balance to be found, a very awkward and complicated schedule, or for it to fail altogether and set the league back a few seasons. The league is not yet in a place where it can handle so many teams without half or more of the rosters being filled with bots which wouldn’t be in the spirit of the league. Player recruitment to meet those quotas would have to be unrealistically high or other options, such as allowing multis for the first time, would be unpopular and/or bad in general. However, I still do think that plans for any eventual expansion should be made, as the league is constantly growing and I am of the belief we should be prepared should an abnormally large class appear (such as a Reddit class comparable in size to S36 or S41 + lots of recreates). Not only that, giving representation to some other places of the world, while of course nothing more than just symbolic, would still be a nice touch. I will be the first to admit I am a big advocate for my home country of Perú to appear in as many media as possible so I will give some ideas for possible teams: The Ucayali Dinosaurs (The political borders of the Ucayali department look like a dinosaur and I will die on this hill), the Tacna Patriots (Tacna resisted integration into Chile and returned to the country after the War of the Pacific (not the WW2 one)), the Cajamarca/Yanacocha Goldens (the Yanacocha mine in Cajamarca is the biggest gold mine in all of South America), the Paracas Parihuanas (the origin myth of the colour of the peruvian flag is that José de San Martín saw some Parihuana birds while he was resting in the town of Paracas. The bird’s colours are red on the wings and a white body), the Caral Ancients (the oldest human settlement in the Americas is found in Caral), the Cuzco/Titicaca Incas (Cuzco is self-explanatory as the ancient homeland of the Incas and where Macchu Picchu is, but one of their origin myths says that the first Incas emerged from Lake Titicaca), and many others. And as always, if you actually want to create one, I’d love for you to give me a call ?
16. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?
(484 words)
Diego López de Castilla, having joined the league after the Trade Deadline, was signed by the Dallas Birddogs in order to bolster their extremely thin receiving core. It was only composed of La’Fluke Paris-Johnson, a rookie who hadn’t yet maxed out his player, and bots/low earning players. This immediately meant that he was thrust into the WR3 position despite having just created. As such, he wasn’t prepared to make an impact nor was he given the chance to do so because he wasn’t particularly high in the depth chart. Over the 4 games he played in, he got 198 yards and not TDs. He averaged 4.5 catches per game and 49.5 yards per game. Remarkably, despite his low numbers, he didn’t drop a single pass. His best game was against the Minnesota Grey Ducks, recording 65 receiving yards in a 16-20 loss. As for his team, the Dallas Birddogs, despite having a rather strong team, only managed to go 2-2 in Diego’s time with the team. When he joined, they almost looked a lock for the playoffs at 7-5 despite being in a very tough conference and being neck and neck with the Tijuana Luchadores for the final playoff spot in the division behind a very strong Norfolk that would eventually go on to win the Ultimini that season. However, as luck would have it, their 9-7 and 2-2 record over Diego’s 4 games was just short of what was needed, as they lost on a tiebreaker on points scored to the Luchadores. Despite the very strong team and season, they fell prey to a few things such as lacking a strong receiving core due to callups. While most of their 7 losses weren’t particularly close which means that they outcome likely doesn’t changes, 2 losses stand out: A W1 loss to the Luchadores 20-17, and a loss on DL’s debut 20-16 to the Grey Ducks. Had either of those gone their way, they would have made it to the playoffs and possibly gone all the way. But we’ll never know. Nevertheless, both team and player are gearing up for S43 as DL looks to make a splash in his true rookie season and Dallas will look to run it back.