In honor of the Chicago history media that has been making the rounds lately, I figure I'm gonna talk about how the Butchers came to be and my part in the whole saga, since I did end up creating the team. The first part of this was looking to rebuild and save a city that had been deemed bad for the league, Chicago had a troubled past with the DSFL and no one was wanting to dive into a city that had a history that might make it harder for people to want to go there should that happen. Many players were worried that a team in Chicago (or Las Vegas, as I know AdamS had thought about a reclamation project of his own) would sink itself by being undesirable. This aspect is exactly why I wanted to send a team to the city, it is easy to hate on a city especially one where a team no longer exists, I mean you can still find plenty of Blues and Legion jokes if you know where to look, I wanted to change that though. A poorly run team is not a death sentence for a city itself, the city should have a second chance and under different leadership (even if that old leadership finds its way back during the drama filled events), the city can go from laughingstock to contender. That was exactly my plan, and eventually Muford's plan, as we built a contender in a day and quickly became a top team in the league (albeit for a very short period of time).
I had 3 teams in mind, but really it was between the Louisville Pedigree (my personal favorite of the two at the time, even though I feel like now the Butchers were the right choice), and of course the Chicago Butchers. I feel like Butchers as a whole are just a good name for a football team, but that's another story and just an opinion I hold. As was said, I was struggling with picking a team, I couldn't narrow one down so I used a poll, got the answers from the people, and essentially let the league (or at least those who paid attention at the time) decide an expansion team. There was a lot of your typical stuff with this, and that won't be too much of a worry considering that everyone goes through the process of identifying and creating a team, plus the drama isn't really in that part.
The main thing I want to address is why I went IA and stepped down so quickly. I never planned to leave the team when I did, I wanted a few more seasons and I wanted to spend more time than I did, but I also knew burnout was at its peak for me and I had been mentally exhausted for months even prior to getting the team. The team rekindled my love for the league, and brought me back to really enjoying it at the time, for the first time in a year or so I wasn't spending anywhere from 3-12 hours a day simming, streaming, or doing other commissioner duties for the DSFL. I was always on discord and always available at the time, trying to monitor everything when it came to the DSFL while also trying to coordinate it and make sure that streams went off without a hitch, setting up the file and streaming it all myself. When I stepped down and got the Butchers job, it was a huge relief, I had more time for personal matters that had arisen, but more importantly, the burnout had waned and I wasn't extremely anxious about the league as soon as I woke up in the morning. It was the first time I felt free in a while in the league, and being an expansion GM is one of the most fun experiences I've had in the league even if it wasn't all good. As quickly as the Butchers gig saved my sim league life (I contemplating disappearing from sim leagues quite a few times), I also got a lot more on my plate in real life and knew I wasn't going to be able to stay in the league for a bit. Going back to college, moving, a new job, and a new girlfriend (now fiancee) all led to me eventually having to leave the team. I hated to do it and I hated the state that the team was left in. I always planned on participating in the rebuild after our initial burst into the league and desire to acquire older players, but time just ended up running out on me with the Butchers. Building the Butchers is one of the things I don't regret doing, but how I left them and the state of the team is one of the things I regret most in the league, so I'm glad to see we're back on the right path and that the ship eventually found its way again.
I had 3 teams in mind, but really it was between the Louisville Pedigree (my personal favorite of the two at the time, even though I feel like now the Butchers were the right choice), and of course the Chicago Butchers. I feel like Butchers as a whole are just a good name for a football team, but that's another story and just an opinion I hold. As was said, I was struggling with picking a team, I couldn't narrow one down so I used a poll, got the answers from the people, and essentially let the league (or at least those who paid attention at the time) decide an expansion team. There was a lot of your typical stuff with this, and that won't be too much of a worry considering that everyone goes through the process of identifying and creating a team, plus the drama isn't really in that part.
The main thing I want to address is why I went IA and stepped down so quickly. I never planned to leave the team when I did, I wanted a few more seasons and I wanted to spend more time than I did, but I also knew burnout was at its peak for me and I had been mentally exhausted for months even prior to getting the team. The team rekindled my love for the league, and brought me back to really enjoying it at the time, for the first time in a year or so I wasn't spending anywhere from 3-12 hours a day simming, streaming, or doing other commissioner duties for the DSFL. I was always on discord and always available at the time, trying to monitor everything when it came to the DSFL while also trying to coordinate it and make sure that streams went off without a hitch, setting up the file and streaming it all myself. When I stepped down and got the Butchers job, it was a huge relief, I had more time for personal matters that had arisen, but more importantly, the burnout had waned and I wasn't extremely anxious about the league as soon as I woke up in the morning. It was the first time I felt free in a while in the league, and being an expansion GM is one of the most fun experiences I've had in the league even if it wasn't all good. As quickly as the Butchers gig saved my sim league life (I contemplating disappearing from sim leagues quite a few times), I also got a lot more on my plate in real life and knew I wasn't going to be able to stay in the league for a bit. Going back to college, moving, a new job, and a new girlfriend (now fiancee) all led to me eventually having to leave the team. I hated to do it and I hated the state that the team was left in. I always planned on participating in the rebuild after our initial burst into the league and desire to acquire older players, but time just ended up running out on me with the Butchers. Building the Butchers is one of the things I don't regret doing, but how I left them and the state of the team is one of the things I regret most in the league, so I'm glad to see we're back on the right path and that the ship eventually found its way again.
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