6. The league has a rich and fascinating history, and our perspectives on it differ from person to person. In 600 words or more, describe any significant moment in ISFL or DSFL history, whether you were around for it or not. Describe the context, the significant members, and the events. What exactly made this event so famous (or infamous) and why does it deserve to be remembered? Events might include championship wins, the inducting of players to the hall of fame, or even a league scandal.
I know that plenty of people have probably talked about this already but it has been on my mind a lot since it happened. I am of course talking about the trade scandal (if that's what you want to call it) between NOLA and Baltimore. I want to preface with I don't think Baltimore was dealing in bad faith, rather they were using an advantage that they had in the player involved in the transfer becoming their new GM and his contract happening to run out at the end of the season to get the best trade possible. Bad trades are made here and in the real world but I think what makes this is a little different is that NOLA was pretty much forced into making the trade with the threat of receiving nothing in the offseason. That coupled with the fact that ONLY Baltimore could make the trade for the player is really what pushes it over the edge for me. In the real world, there, of course, isn't a rule like this that forces a player to play for a certain team and if a blue-chip player was to suddenly be on the trading block, then all teams would have the chance to make an offer for them. In the ISFL, that isn’t something that can happen which can lead to teams taking advantage of the rules and forcing a team into a bad trade with no cost to themselves. Let’s face it, a late second round pick has a pretty high likelihood of that player being IA or just not as active as someone who was taken first in any given draft and whether they say they knew that or not, they knew they were getting a first overall pick for basically nothing, right away.
I’m really glad that the league really rallied around this trade being made, I think everyone knew that whether or not there was foul play here, they knew that the trade just was not fair. After a ton of discussion, both inflammatory and thought-provoking, eventually I think Baltimore realized that they had done NOLA pretty bad and amended their trade to include a first-round pick which is more than fair for a top earning, high involvement player in a position of need. I think going forward, there should be a little more oversight when it comes to trades like this. The exclusionary nature of these trades can give teams a ton of leverage to force through unfair trades and there should be some sort of regulation when it comes to this. Maybe something along the lines of voting amongst the other GMs where a majority is needed to pass the trade through. This way, at least there is some sort of way to ensure that a trade that has be pushed through, is at least somewhat fair for the team losing what is sure to be a prized asset. At the end of the day, I don’t really think anyone did anything wrong, NOLA was in a tough spot and wanted to get something instead of nothing and Baltimore were negotiating from a position of strength trying to make the best deal possible for their team. As I said before, I’m really glad the community saw this trade for what it was; a place for us to come together and protect the integrity of the league and hopefully, make some changes going forward to make sure that teams stuck in this type of situation don’t just get shafted because they have a good league member taking on a larger role within the league and community.
I know that plenty of people have probably talked about this already but it has been on my mind a lot since it happened. I am of course talking about the trade scandal (if that's what you want to call it) between NOLA and Baltimore. I want to preface with I don't think Baltimore was dealing in bad faith, rather they were using an advantage that they had in the player involved in the transfer becoming their new GM and his contract happening to run out at the end of the season to get the best trade possible. Bad trades are made here and in the real world but I think what makes this is a little different is that NOLA was pretty much forced into making the trade with the threat of receiving nothing in the offseason. That coupled with the fact that ONLY Baltimore could make the trade for the player is really what pushes it over the edge for me. In the real world, there, of course, isn't a rule like this that forces a player to play for a certain team and if a blue-chip player was to suddenly be on the trading block, then all teams would have the chance to make an offer for them. In the ISFL, that isn’t something that can happen which can lead to teams taking advantage of the rules and forcing a team into a bad trade with no cost to themselves. Let’s face it, a late second round pick has a pretty high likelihood of that player being IA or just not as active as someone who was taken first in any given draft and whether they say they knew that or not, they knew they were getting a first overall pick for basically nothing, right away.
I’m really glad that the league really rallied around this trade being made, I think everyone knew that whether or not there was foul play here, they knew that the trade just was not fair. After a ton of discussion, both inflammatory and thought-provoking, eventually I think Baltimore realized that they had done NOLA pretty bad and amended their trade to include a first-round pick which is more than fair for a top earning, high involvement player in a position of need. I think going forward, there should be a little more oversight when it comes to trades like this. The exclusionary nature of these trades can give teams a ton of leverage to force through unfair trades and there should be some sort of regulation when it comes to this. Maybe something along the lines of voting amongst the other GMs where a majority is needed to pass the trade through. This way, at least there is some sort of way to ensure that a trade that has be pushed through, is at least somewhat fair for the team losing what is sure to be a prized asset. At the end of the day, I don’t really think anyone did anything wrong, NOLA was in a tough spot and wanted to get something instead of nothing and Baltimore were negotiating from a position of strength trying to make the best deal possible for their team. As I said before, I’m really glad the community saw this trade for what it was; a place for us to come together and protect the integrity of the league and hopefully, make some changes going forward to make sure that teams stuck in this type of situation don’t just get shafted because they have a good league member taking on a larger role within the league and community.