(S24) - Ultimus Week

[AL_GRINGO]

Tier 3 PBE Welfare

Task #25

When talking about changes in the league the big one that sticks out to me the changing of the entire name of the league. Before it was known as the National Simulation Football League or NSFL. This was a reflection of the NFL in that the United States is really the only country where football is a very popular sport. For some reason, the head office decided it was not inclusive enough for the international user base of the league. The new name of the league is the International Simulation Football League. Now, this is something that makes no sense to me. There is not one international football league in real life. Football was born in America and is considered our sport. Most of the rest of the world associate football with soccer. When talking about the football we play in this league it is known as AMERICAN FOOTBALL. I just don't think there was a need to change the name unless they didn't want to be associated with the negative acronym of Not Safe For Life. I am still confused on the change and I know others feel the same way. I think something like this should be vetted with at least GMs and job holders to make sure it is a change people really want to see.

Task #27

When talking about the special teams of my team there is one guy that deserves the praise. That would be our badass kicker and punter Matty McDairmid. This guy has been a team leader from day one and he has the stats and leg to back it up. He set a San Jose Playoff team record for three different punting statistics this last season on our historic run to the ultimus. He averaged 56.3 yards per punt, had 507 total punt yards and kicked a rocket of a punt in the ultimus that went 76 yards. Our team has been built around defense and running the ball and none of those would be effective without McDairmids leg flipping field position for us. I think a lot of great players get over looked because of the position they play and I do not think that Matty McDairmid should be over looked. He is a great leader on and off the field and he makes me and the other guys want to try hard to win every game. I hope that my player can be his teammate until we retire but who knows what the future will hold. I am just happy to win a championship with him last year.

Task #18

So I have to choose any award from the past 23 seasons and explain why it should go to someone else. This is an easy one for me and it is the most recent season. Last season my team, The San Jose Sabercats, won the Ultimus even though we were way behind teams in TPE and also in experienced players. None of this matter to our GMs as they crafted an amazing gameplan that led us to one of the best defensive performances in the playoffs in league history. I don't know what the awards committee was looking at when they decided to pick gm of the year but I can tell you that I and my Sabercat teammates feel very slighted by this. Our GMs did an amazing job and won the championship as a huge underdog in each game. Our defense only allowed a combine 25 points in all our playoff games. that alone should give the awards committee all the need to vote San Jose as GM of the year. Yet once again it seems like the Sabercats get the short end of the stick. I don't understand why but there seems to be a real negative sentiment towards my team and I really hate it.

[NylarthePhoenix]

Task #2

     I’ve been with the ISFL since Season 14. Now, that may not sound like a long time at all, but that means I’ve been around the league for well over a full year now. That also means I’ve seen a grand total of 11 playoff seasons and Ultimuses come and go. I’ve seen dynasties rise, miracle teams go the distance, and miserable franchises finally make it to the long-awaited promised land. But out of all these seasons, one, in particular, stands out to me; Season 17.

     I think the reason why this season was so memorable was how competitive it was. Take the northern conference for example. The top three teams, the Yellowknife Wraiths, the Baltimore Hawks, and the Chicago Butchers, all finished the 13 game season with an 8-5 record. Ultimately, the seeding had to be decided via the team’s conference record. The Wraiths, with a 6-2 conference record, were awarded the 1st seed. Quarterback, Cooter Bigsby, widely considered the greatest to ever play the position for the team, led the Wraiths’ offense that contained tight end Jerrod Canton, and wide receiver Nate Swift. The Hawks received the 2nd seed. Bigsby’s fellow Season 14 classmate, Corvo Havran led what was, on paper, the best offense that season starring the best wide receiver duo in the league, Errol Maddox and Sunnycursed. The Chicago Butchers, in only their 2nd season in the league, slid to the 3rd seed but had a powerful offense in their own right. Yet another Season 14 QB, Rose Jenkins, commanded an offense with Kasmir Oles at WR, and Sam Torenson, who had just rushed for over 1400 yards and 10 touchdowns in his rookie season.

     The story of the southern conference was much simpler. The reigning Ultimus champions, the Arizona Outlaws, had earned the first seed with a league-best 9-4 record, led by the quarterback that had brought the team back from obscurity, Andrew Reese. In the second seed with a 7-6 record was the Orange County Otters, led by a rookie quarterback, Franklin Armstrong, tight end Johnny Blaze, and running back Apollo Reed. Finally, in the third seed, were the San Jose Sabercats, limping in with a 6-7 record, winning games off of their quarterback, Jolliet Christ, and star wideout, Xavier Flash.

As the first seeds of the playoffs, the Yellowknife Wraiths and the Arizona Outlaws were given bys into the second round, while the other teams faced each other in the Wild Card round for the right to play them. The first game of the tournament displayed the Baltimore Hawks playing at home against the Chicago Butchers. Now, it is a well-accepted fact that the sim heavily favors the home team. So whether the result of this game can be explained by Baltimore being even more superior to Chicago than we thought or by the sim’s favor of home teams, the fact still remains: the Chicago Butchers got destroyed. Rose Jenkins had a below-average game throwing 18/37 for 186 yards and an interception while being sacked 4 times. Corvo Havran didn’t fare much better, throwing 18/41 for 307 yards and 2 interceptions, but was able to score 2 touchdowns. It was a Baltimore running back, Vander Jones, and wide receiver, Errol Maddox, who stole the show, with Jones rushing for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns on 21 attempts, while Maddox caught 4 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. Baltimore also limited the once-explosive Sam Torenson to 75 yards and no touchdowns off of 20 rushes. In fact, Chicago would stay out of the endzone all day. All of this culminated in a 40-6 Baltimore victory.

     The southern conference Wild Card, where the Orange County Otters hosted the San Jose Sabercats, was a much closer affair, but the rookie, Franklin Armstrong and running back Apollo Reed was able to lead the Otters to a 20-13 victory, throwing 17/31 for 210 yards and 2 touchdowns, and rushing for 133 yards on 22 attempts respectively. Despite having Jolliet Christ throw 19/32 for 229 yards, the Otters defense was able to keep San Jose out of the endzone, aside from a last-minute rushing touchdown from the man himself, and record 6 sacks and a fumble recovery by Ginsberg.

     The closest game of the playoffs came from the northern conference finals, between the Baltimore Hawks and the hosting Yellowknife Wraiths. Three touchdown passes and a ForThe Brand field goal put the Hawks up 24-10 at halftime, but a pair of rushing touchdowns from Wraiths running back, Morgan Marshall, took the game to a 27-24 score in favor of the Hawks going into the 4th quarter. But Wraiths kicker, Kicky Bobby, missing the game-tieing, 22-yard field goal, and the questionable decisions of punting on the Hawks’ 43 and 36-yard lines ended the game for the Wraiths. Jerrod Canton was the Wraith’s best player on offense, receiving for 131 yards on 6 receptions, accounting for over a third of Bigsby’s total yards. However, Corvo Havran was unquestionably the player of the game, throwing 21/36 for 301 yards and 3 touchdowns, good for a 113.3 quarterback rating. The Baltimore Hawks were off to their second Ultimus in three seasons.

The southern conference finals saw the longtime rivals, the Orange County Otters and the Arizona Outlaws, face off against each other once again for the right to go to the Ultimus. The Otters got the off to bat with a 74-yard punt return by Dan Schneider. The Otters continued the scoring with rushing touchdowns from Apollo Reed, Corey Trevor, and quarterback Franklin Armstrong. In fact, this game saw the Otters use a new tactic involving several rushes by the quarterback. By the end of the game, Armstrong would have 36 yards rushing out of 11 rushes. This new tactic proved effective and won the Otters the game 37-20 off the back of their rushing attack. The Otters were headed to their 8th Ultimus appearance.

     Ultimus XVII saw the Baltimore Hawks host the Orange County Otters. The Hawks relied heavily on their passing game, and only rushed 11 times the whole game. By contrast, the Otters rushed a total of 33 times. Despite this, Franklin Armstrong was able to throw for 3 touchdowns and rush for one in his own right. Whether it was with his legs or his arms, Armstrong led his team to a 28-17 victory over Baltimore. After this season, the Otters kept the team together to begin a 3 season long dynasty.


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[AW13]

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4) The offseason is a critical reflection point for the league, during which the directions of entire franchises can shift dramatically. Choose any offseason up to and including the S23 Draft, and focus on a singular team. What strategies did this particular team employ to land the players they desired? What were the team needs during the offseason, and what was the overarching plan for the future? Did they lose or land any free agents that impacted roster holes? How have the players that they drafted contributed to the team?

The off-season is a crucial time for the San Jose Sabercats as we now have to go into overall Ultimus defending mode for next season. We need the team to stay together as much as we can with the expansion having been done and the entry draft coming forward soon as well, we have a better outlook of what will happen this off-season in preparation for the new season. The Sabercats still get plenty of time to celebrate our victory and get ready to welcome new Sabercats into our franchise to continue to grow our franchise and our brand.

First, we can talk about expansion and what happened there as the San Jose Sabercats effectively lost 3 players due to the recent expansion protections and expansion draft. The first player lost was the retired Water Chestnut III due to the expansion protections making it to be more beneficial for the general manager to retire his own young player in order to protect another valuable member of the team, presumably like wide receiver Deondre Thomas-Fox who can be argued against as he is in the back half of his career but that is another discussion. Chestnut is lost and the general manager is recreating again for the 2nd time because of expansion in the more recent times. Next, we have safety Mac Griddle who was also lost to expansion which is a decent size of a loss but in general was sort of a surprise as there were some great players still on the board from San Jose at the time and the pick allowed the Sabercats to protect Ty Brackenridge who has been an integral part of the San Jose defense in recent years, a big protection that the Cats were able to retain. The next loss by the Sabercats was pretty expected and unfortunate and that was tight end Leon McDavid who was a big part of the offense, especially being able to provide an extra blocker for the team and rack up a ton of pancakes and set up running lanes for the great Sabercats' running game. However, while we loved Leon, we were able to hold on to any other player that was left unprotected such as Rando Cardrizzian who San Jose honestly thought we would be taken and the fact that he remains here still is a big win. San Jose kept all players except for a safety, defensive lineman, and a tight end which no matter how awesome those players are, are really not the worst positions to lose from a team and are replaceable.

Now, we look at some of the other positions that we have to look at going forward and how that position group stacks up.

Quarterback:
We keep Monty Jack who is entering his prime years which is big and while taking away a weapon like McDavid can certainly hurt, the team still returns a ton of weapons to give Monty Jack the best opportunity to continue his growth into being the second best quarterback in San Jose history.

Runningback:
Here is where we see a huge win for the Sabercats as they will hold on to both Jamar Lackson and Rando in what is one of the best duos in the league. A big win and a huge position of strength for the San Jose Sabercats.

Wide Receiver:
HUGE WIN. San Jose protected both starting receivers in DTF and Ty Hood but also kept their slot receiver in Nate Swift who, despite being on his last leg is a huge locker room presence and a capable player to open up the field for the two top wide receivers. Big position of strength in helping Monty Jack continue to grow.

Tight End:
Oof. Big loss in McDavid and the team will scramble to replace him in some fashion. General manager CKRoyal has recreated as a tight end but look for the team to maybe look into a trade, a free agent or draft or just get a filler to wait for DingDong to be ready.

Defensive Line:
The team loses one player in youngster Chestnut III so it still stays intact which is definitely great for the team. Look for the team to get a decent free agent or draftee here in what is a very deep defensive line draft.

Linebackers:
We keep Brack! Big win and a huge positional group of strength with Brack and Fisher.

Cornerbacks:
Not great. The team loses Oles who was a rental, lose Krause in free agency who had a pick six in the Ultimus and the remaining corners are inactive or retired or very young. It is likely the weakest positions currently on the team but has a potential to be okay.

Safeties:
Safeties with Stein are okay but losing Griddle is a loss in terms of long term success at the position but we all know CK loves safeties and I expect him to be a safety at some point.

Kicker:
Yay we keep Matty! Probably Ultimus MVP!

[dahayn]

5) Write 800 words or more on something that interests you.

I would like to take this moment to recognize a man that many have seen before but not many have taken the time to get to know. This man's name is Mr. Billy Joe Bob Knutesen. He likes to go by Joe Bob because, and I quote "most of these kids now days have brains the size that could fit into my whiskey shot glass comfortably and can't remember my full name". Joe Bob has worked for the Colorado Yeti organization from its inception back when the league was started. He was one of the first employees hired in 2016 by then-GM and team founder, InciteHysteria, to be the equipment manager. Joe Bob has since his hiring held many other unofficial jobs on the team but he still retains the official title of equipment manager to this very day. The mostly tragic history of this team is written in the lines of Joe Bob's face but every time you see him, he will have his trademark smile on and wish you a beautiful day. He is ever hopeful and always dependable. That's the kind of man he is and that's the kind of man this team has always needed.

The first time I met Joe Bob was after my first practice with the team. I had just arrived from the shores of Myrtle Beach and was struggling with the playbook. It was getting late. Most of the team had already left the facilities and I was alone, sitting in my locker, trying to absorb concepts and verbiage that I wasn't familiar with so the next day's practice would go better than my first. An older gentleman shuffled into the locker room and started gathering the bins that held our dirty jerseys and towels. He was making a bit of noise and I was already frustrated with my performance and how hard it was to memorize the playbook so I might have snapped at him a little bit to keep the noise down so I could keep studying. It got real quiet for about 30 seconds while he just stared at me so I went back to my playbook happy for the silence. The next thing I know, I'm being pelted with dirty ass-sweat towels and half-full water bottles while the older man was yelling at me and cursing up a storm. He was not happy. I thought about getting mad at first but this guy was old like my grandpa so all I could do was to take cover behind my playbook while apologizing the whole time and wait until he ran out of ammunition. After what seemed like hours, he stopped throwing things and stormed out of the locker room. I didn't know what to do but the room was a mess and I really was sorry I snapped at the old fella as I did so I started picking things up and putting them back in the bins. About 10 minutes later the man came back in and informed me that I need to learn to respect my elders while helping me finish cleaning up the room. I apologized again and explained to him why I was so frustrated and that it accidentally manifested by me acting stupidly toward him. He said he understood and we officially introduced ourselves to each other.

Joe Bob asked me what was so hard about the playbook? Why was I not understanding what I needed to do? I explained to him about how the coaches wanted me to not only understand what I was supposed to do but they wanted me to know what the defense would do to try to stop me. As a DSFL wide receiver, I had 3 jobs. Get off the line, run fast, and catch the ball. That was easy. Now I have to count steps, remember routes, run block, and still catch the damn ball. Also I need to know what the defense is going to do so that when they get in my way I can counter their counters.  Joe Bob just started laughing at me. He asked me who I thought was the best WR to ever come out of this franchise was. I said, "James Bishop. I missed playing with him by just one year. Before he retired, he had 11469 yards, almost 700 catches, and 73 touchdowns." Joe Bob nodded his head.
"That's right, and you know what? He sat here in this locker room just like you after his first practice all pissed off because he had trouble as well.". Joe Bob looked me in the eye and said, "and I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him." He picked up my playbook and tossed it in the trash bin. "You don't need that to win. All you need is speed boy. Speed is king. You know where you need to go to get points and you're going to be covered by 1 or 2 guys. Get there faster than everyone else and it all works itself out in the end."

"Joe Bob, if that's what James Bishop did, then I'll give it a try." I felt hopeful for the first time that day.

"Oh no, James learned his playbook and was fast. Maybe you might need a couple of things in that book. You better get it out of the trash before your coaches think you quit the team. But don't worry about it so much. None of this stuff really matters. It's all a simulation. Digital words and dots on a computer screen. Turtles on turtles on turtles."

I laughed as I fished my playbook out of the trash and thought about what he said. Speed kinda makes sense but that last part was super weird. Maybe he's crazy? I don't know." OK Joe Bob, I'm going home. Thanks for your help and stuff. Have a good night".

[Dagumpa]

PBE PT

16) The last game of our season was honestly my favorite. It was an, admittedly, crappy ending to a pretty crappy season but I remember feeling like it was a pretty fun game. We were 3-12 up to that point. We were already, most certainly, out of the playoffs and this game was really just for fun. It was at home as well so we all hoped we could send our fans home happy. The offense looked extremely dialed in in the first quarter. Chika Fujiwara was throwing dimes, Williams was running the defense into circles, and the blocking was stellar. The Wraiths responded with a big attack of their own in the second quarter but we were able to head into the locker room with the lead at 21-14. The second half was, of course, not as fun. After hitting a field goal in the 3rd the Wraiths scored 10 unanswered in the 4th to send it to OT. But the 2nd half is why I remember this game so well. I felt like I was on fire. I was making plays left and right on defense: tackle after tackle. There’s only so much that can be done at the middle linebacker spot. Derred was the real playmaker between the two of us. He has, of course, since been named Linebacker of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year because of what he did. But this was my game. Of course, we lost in OT after a Yellowknife field goal but it doesn’t change the fact that I believed I had played my best game.

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[timeconsumer]

11) Give a thorough examination of a league scandal from any point in time. What made this particular drama so noteworthy? Who were the major participants involved, and what was the offense? What kind of impact did this scandal create on the league, and have any permanent changes come about as a result? (400 words 5 TPE)

There have been quite a few really good scandals over my time here. First we had the Noble scandal where he was giving himself TPE without doing the PTs and editing the claim. Then we had the Carmel Gibson scandal which honestly was probably a Noble multi. Then we had the big Er scandal and that was probably the craziest one we've ever had. But I want to talk about a different one than the usual old scandals and we're going to talk about the mass retirement of the Las Vegas Legion.

Las Vegas was an expansion team in season 2 that decided to go all-in on being competitive from day 1. They spent a lot of draft picks looking to secure iinactive players from other teams, likely under the plan that they would be able to get those players to come back to the league and help win. But that plan didn't work out very well. Eventually the GM for the team disappeared and we had to go out and find a new one. When the new GM came in the players and the GM were all pretty upset with how bad their team was and how bad the plan was from the beginning. They needed a lot of talent and it wasn't easy to find without any draft picks.

So what happened was this GM decided to try and petition HO to give them compensatory picks for free since the team was so bad. Yeah they didn't do that, no surprise there. But what happened next was a huge surprise when "Legion Retires Many" was announced. The team retired a solid 9 players at once. This was their way of trying to stage a protest or a revolt or that sort of thing over being a shitty team and not being given extra resources to fix it. HO still didn't give them anything to fix it, but said if anyone did want to come back and play they would waive the retirement TPE penalty.

So a new GM was appointed for this now shell of a team. At this point there was a quarterback scandal when the new GM decided he was going to move someone to QB but that offended the current QB about the situation. Then some players were going to leave over it. I might be getting this one mixed up but it definitely happened. This GM then stepped down as well. So the team had an alienated QB, a GM for 24 hours, and was missing a ton of players. Enter Bovo.

Bovo stepped in and became GM and built a crazy culture. He worked with the players there and did everything they could to build a strong LR culture and attract free agents. He rebranded to the New Orleans Second Line. They made some shrewd trades and within a few seasons they became a powerhouse team. They won 2 Ultimus trophies in 3 years and had one of the best regular season teams of all time. They didn't need special treatment to do it, they did it on culture and hype. And it worked.

25) The league is prone to change. Reflect on a past change in either the ISFL or DSFL that significantly impacted something - be it a rules change, an expansion or contraction, or even a complete rebranding. What were the effects of this change, and how has it shaken the status quo? (200 words 2.5 TPE)

A huge rule change that really changed the entire trajectory of the league was when OL bots were first introduced after season 3. There were far too few active OL players and a ton of teams were starting inactive 50 TPE dudes on their OL. Plenty of teams tried as hard as they could to draft top OL talent but people didn't really enjoy the position or league and often that top draft pick disappeared. It was getting to the point were DLs were so strong and OLs were so weak that 9 sacks in a game wasn't that abnormal. It was getting really rough for teams. Runningbacks were struggling to get more than 3 yards a carry. So we decided that to fix both the problem with not enough active players as well as the problem with OLs being too weak that we could implement a system of offensive line bots so that teams can use their cap space to buy bots and at the same time allow current OL players to move positions. What resulted was a lot of teams moving a crapload of TPE into positions like defense or quarterback (think Blocksdale or Akselsen). The result of the OL shift was what made teams like the S4-S6 Otters or the Hawks of the similar time period who while they didn't win as many trophies were just as powerful a team.

PBE Affiliation: http://probaseballexperience.jcink.net/i...ntry219968  (2.5 TPE)

[gucci]

5) Write 800 words or more on something that interests you. It could be related to statistics, to a league issue you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s Werewolf server. Be warned that freedom comes with risk, and this category will be judged especially stringently for anyone trying to spew complete nonsense.

Well I was recently criticized by a bootlicker for my recent Why Your Team Sucks article. The specific nature of this criticism was that I didn’t offer a concrete plan to improve the governance of the league. Ignoring that that’s a completely different subject than theses on the nature of an institution that lost its way, fuck it I’ve got some time, I’ll do it right here for some phat teeps.

For me step one is establishing boundaries on what HO is. If the powers are divided they can put as many people as they want in there, but since they’re not, we should not accept HO adding more members as a valid method to improve. Sure it increases their capacity, but I still see it as just another way to avoid a fair operating policy. HO should be a council, like they are now, appointed by the commish of the league. A position that requires the approval of GMs, who are essentially representatives for the teams, although I admit do not always have the players best interest at heart. This HO will no longer vote to pass rules and will no longer provide rulings on matters. They will handle executive functions of the league. From managing the forums, league jobs, league schedules, offseason event ideas, sims/streams, and things of this ilk. This would keep the league running in a manner that allows HO to focus solely on operating, growing, and improving the league. Which in my opinion is something they often do very well, but fail to accept responsibility for when they do it poorly. HO members would be allowed to serve as war room members as this would eliminate meaningful conflicts of interests from the HO position. However, they would be barred from serving as GMs as the GMs serve another role within this system.

The General Managers will form their own body, the GM council. These users will be in charge of the day to day management and operation of a team. There is a limit of two per team, however, each team will only be awarded one vote when voting on proposed rules. Any individual has the right to propose a rule. However, this individual’s rule requires sponsorship from a GM to be voted on. The other two bodies will be allowed to propose an unlimited amount of unique rules for submission to be voted on by the GM council. In order for a rule to pass, it must gain a 2/3 vote from the council of GMs. All voting records will be publicly recorded and shared with the league for maximum transparency. GMs will continue to vote on league awards as well, however a new job team under HO’s management, the pro bowl committee will be tasked with providing a list of all reasonable candidates for a pro bowl roster and present a list to the public for voting. Players must submit a vote under a valid username this can easily be verified as well as the duplicates easily removed. The votes are tallied and the public will them choose the pro bowl. This is where GM voting right and rule involvement ends.

This leads nicely into my third proposed governing body, the Disciplinary Committee. The name might sound harsh, but it is nothing more than a committee that oversees rules violations and assigns an initial punishment based on the precedent or their own judgment. They would also make rulings Something that currently falls under the responsibilities of HO, in my opinion needlessly so. This body would also have a secondary committee, the appeals team, which we have now. Neither of these teams would permit players to serve as GMs or war room members, as there is a serious and definitive conflict of interest in allowing players to do both jobs simultaneously. This body will also be involved in investigating and providing details on violations in short briefs on their decision. This information will be shared with the rest of the league in order to maintain maximum transparency. Both the disciplinary committee and the appeals committee will be granted these abilities.

In any situation, should any of the three branches make a decision that is immediately rejected by the other two, they can hold a vote to reverse that decision requiring simple majorities in two of the three governing bodies. Only the disciplinary committee will be voting to reject these decisions, not the appeals committee. This is the final check to ensure the entire league is provided for, but no governing body is able to enforce their will on the league without the consent of the others. Having three bodies also serves the purpose of spreading out the biases of the positions.

So that’s pretty much a rough draft of a plan. Clearly I can design a better system with literally no experience except as an observer and sometimes unwilling participant. Happy ultimus week everyone. Congrats Sabercats! Hell of a season.

[White Cornerback]

5) Write 800 words or more on something that interests you. It could be related to statistics, to a league issue you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s Werewolf server. Be warned that freedom comes with risk, and this category will be judged especially stringently for anyone trying to spew complete nonsense.

I been thinking about this for awhile and there's a few aspects I think we can improve on. For example I think we could greatly improve the media section by straight splitting it into NSFL and DSFL media, this is a small quality of life improvement but it would be effective all the same.

I've been thinking about how press conferences work, how you basically ask for questions,. answer them and you get only a 50% payout. So most people pretty much game the system by pretending that questions were asked by somebody, creating them for themselves. Answering them and then posting them into the media section and collecting the full 100% payout. They usually end up with what, like 13 views and 1 reply? If they're lucky.

I was thinking about the rookies who set up a sort of sports network on twitter with I'd like to say 3 interviewers/reporters/whatever who would report or aim to discuss and report rumors/interviews/news stories happening around the league. I'm unsure if it's still going however.

I propose we build off this. We create a channel in the ISFL gen discord called ISFL Live. Within it we set up another or the same RSS bot we have for the media section to spit out certain bits. Say the ISFL network interviews qb joe schmoe who won a clutch game 13 fixture against their closest rivals, he built on the interview by calling the team he faced a bunch of bums. Does this not generate discussion? Or how does player Zamir Kehla respond to rumors he's leaving the Outlaws? He responds openly and by calling out the ISFL media section. We need more media that's based on the lore of the league, its plot and kayfabe to speak. 

Ontop of that let's remove press conferences as we know it. Remove the 50% pish. Once a week we have a wheel (no hear me out). So for the ISFL and the DSFL we have a wheel, each real life week (on monday or sunday) it spins twice. One of the wheels has all the teams on it , the other has all the players in the league on it (or you use a random rng picker using player ID's or whatever). Wheels spin, numbers are picked and that week has a total of 4 press conferences. 2 team and 2 player press conferences. The media team builds questions up for the individual player (they can frame questions and answers how they want, like the real media) and report it to drum up some drama/news/whatever. They have to stick IN lore based. No usernames bullshit.

As for the team press conferneces, we make a team press conference area. It just consists of the media team creating questions that all the players of the team that was selected will answer, individual questions or whatever, maybe limit it to a max of 2 questions per player. Give people a reason to read press confernences, let's do something worthwile with what we've got. All of the responses get either manually pasted or automatically put into the TEAM PRESS CONFERENCE area.

Fuck it while we're at it remove some channels and put some in game, in lore, in plot and in kayfabe sections in there. 

While we're making grandscale changes holy FUCK could we change some stuff on the forum like 

- Let's remove the draconian restrictions on agents, we get it. You guys are angery that players might not skip to your lou in negotiations.
- Disable the bot in gen chat from posting graphics, or get it to post it in another section other than the media one.
- Get rid of the twitch link, we dont use it anymore.
- get rid of the trashcan, why tf can I view it???
- get rid/make charity events invisible when theres no events ongoing
- enforce mandatory reading tests for low iq brainlet members.
- Start paying out quality media over spam quantity media, at the very least dilute the raw % payout for extremely low effort media pieces, graphics and traditional media of course. Reward bigger payouts to group projects and just overall more well researched stuff.
- bring back the changes PT, replace one of the current PT's with it or give us the option to recommend feedback weekly and collect TPE from it in place of the PT stuff. Maybe instead of your generic af activity check you even combine that with the PT that gives out 3 tpe, ac gives out 2 tpe. Let us write idk 500 words of feedback for 5 tpe a week, anything dear god to make it seem like what we say matters.
- also please god just stop like bumbling into your own decisions , self sabotaging yourself at every step going forward jesus christ. It can't be that hard.
- Maybe bring back the nsfl community days/game stuff, honestly.
- Let Dotts be able to establish price mins and maxes for cards, let us sell BIN price or auction cards off. Have it established what rarity cards can NOT be sold for less then via price caps, please god.

[Air Crou]

Task 2

I think the season 17 playoffs were the wackiest in the league. But the wacky stuff began in the regular season. The NSFC turned from a tightly knit division to Yellowknife's parade. A 11-game win streak from week 2 all the way to week 11 helped the Wraiths finish with league's best record, only losing the first and the last regular season games. They were the favorites to win it all. And rightfully. They were boasting the best offense and the second best defence in the league. The only team that could stop them were the Orange County Otters, winners of the ASFC. But even for them, it would be tough, as Yellowknife not only had the home field advantage through the whole playoffs, but the Wraiths were also undefeated after six regular season home games. the NSFC playoff field was completed by #2 Baltimore Hawks and #3 Colorado Yeti. Baltimore punched their ticket after defeating New Orleans in week 12. Colorado on the other hand, had it rough. After 13 weeks they were tied with Chicago for the last NSFC ticket, but Colorado had one extra conference win, giving them the win on the tiebreaker. Both Baltimore and Colorado made it in with sub-.500 records, 6-7 and 5-8 respectively.

The ASFC was more clear. Orange County were atop with 10 wins in 13 games, one less than Yellowknife, but they were the team with the most Ultimus wins, so you should never count them out. And they were the league's best defence, and third best offence. Behind them, the resurging Arizona Outlaws, with a 9-4 record, who after a rocky start to the season, strung up 5 wins in their last 6 games, including wins over all three NSFL playoff teams in their last three games of the season. Another team to not ignore in the playoffs. The third ASFC team were the tough as nails Copperheads of Austin. Despite their 6-7 record, they had a win over Orance County and Arizona in weeks 3 and 10, respectively. The playoffs were sure to be a dogfight for every single one of the six teams.

But it all started with the wildcard games. In the NSFCWCG, the Baltimore Hawks hosted the Colorado Yeti. Colorado's first drive was a three-and-out. Baltimore's was not. A 5.5-minute drive, ending with a 3 yard rush by Corey Trevor and a made PAT by ForThe Brand. Colorado has the ball again. Another punt, after six plays this time. Another 5.5-minute drive by Baltimore. Another touchdown. This time, Havran connected with Sunnycursed for 26 yards. Brand was on point again. 13 minutes in, Baltimore was already up by 14, holding Colorado to 0 points. Both teams had 2 "three-and-out" drives apiece, only for Colorado to string up their first long drive of the game, that ended with Wolfie McDummy throwing an interception, after the Yeti had sniffed the redzone for the first time in a quarter and a half. And that was the only time. Baltimore's defence suffocated Colorado, and their running game kept taking precious time off the clock, while still providing points. Final score? Baltimore 31, Colorado 0. Back to the drawing board for the Yeti, off to Canada for the Hawks.

The ASFC game was more of the same. And it was obvious from the start, as both teams managed to score within the first 3 drives of the game. Zona's RB Slim Shady carried it in from the 10, while Austin's QB Easton Cole connected with Django Anoa'i. The difference were the PATs. Zona missed while Austin scored. 7-6 Austin after 8.5 minutes. There were fireworks in store. The darkhorse was up, even by a little. Zona's kicker would score a field goal to put his team up 9-7, with a minute to play in the first. The second quarter started as a gruesome defensive showcase. Until AZ QB Andrew Reese found WR Kazmir Oles. The PAT was good, and Zona were up 16-7 at halftime. Things were looking bad for Austin, and so they became. The two teams traded field goals in the third, until Reese found Oles in the endzone for the second time. The PAT was good, Arizona were up 26-10. Things were looking grim. But the Sneks found a touchdown. Failed two point conversion, Reese finds Oles for the third time, and that's all she wrote. Austin only managed to cut down the league to the final 33-26. Zona would now travel to California.

Back to the NSFC, this time for the championship game. The two best offences of the league would meet. Arguably the most star-filled squads in the league. The Hawks jumped off to a hot start, despite Havran's early interception, leading 14-6 at halftime. Nothing would work for Yellowknife. Three-and-out after three-and-out for the Wraiths. It was looking like a repeat of the previous season's championship game, where the Hawks beat the Wraiths in Canada. But Havran had a different opinion. Yes, Havran. Interception by Hornbacher, touchdown by Marshall. Wraiths within one. It was anyone's game heading to the fourth quarter. But Havran kept throwing passes to the Yellowknife defenders. Uchiha picked him off, returned it for 52 yards, setting Donaldson for his 5th field goal attempt of the game, which he made. He was 4/5 on field goals after that attempt. The Wraiths were up, 22-14. But Baltimore had 10 minutes to turn things around. And Havran finally threw his second touchdown of the night. But it was Kroustis who scored it. Yellowknife's safety. YKW up 29-14, and that's it. First Ultimus since season 8's win for the Canadians. 4 picks by Havran, and a return to Baltimore for the Hawks. Fun fact: Havran had more INT return yards than passing yards.

In the Ultimus game, Yellowknife faced the winner of the game between the Otters and the Outlaws. It was a very close game. After 30 minutes of football, Orange County was up 14-13, but the game was harder than it looked. The defenses had decided to show up for this. No interceptions, but not many big yard plays either. The third quarter was more of the same. The two teams alternated three and outs, until Arizona took the lead, after the initial 3-0, with a Cameron Clutch field goal. They were up by 2, 16-14. The Otters had 14.5 minutes on the clock. But they had a three and out. And so did Zona. And so did the Otters again. And so did Zona AGAIN. It was a stalemate. Zona was up by 2, but 4.5 minutes had been taken of the clock. That's exactly how much time the Otters needed to score. 21-16, Otters in the lead, after Armstrong connected with Blaze. But Zona was not out yet. They had 5:21 to score a touchdown and win. Reese managed to lead his team all the way to the 13 yard line, with 61 seconds on the clock. Fresh set of downs, 1 minute. He had to make it count. David Ginsberg came in clutch for the sack. But it wasn't over yet. There were still 25 seconds. Rush by Reese, but it was only for 9 yards, not enough. The Otters would travel to Canada. The Outlaws would return in Arizona, with hopes for the future.

The stage was set. The two best teams in the league. #1 offense vs #1 defense. Last time that happened, the Hawks beat the Sabercats, 49-0. But this game was different. Yellowknife's defense was no joke. Well, not really. OCO were quick to draw first blood, scoring in their first drive. By the end of the first, OCO was up 13-0. Yellowknife could do nothing on offense. The defence decided to show up, holding the Otters to a single field goal for the remainder of the GAME. But Bigsby throwing two interceptions and losing a ball to a fumble didn't allow the Wraiths to chase anything else. Cooter finding Swift in the endzone for 6 is just to ease the pain. Final score: Otters 16, Wraiths 10. The Otters were the champions once again. And the Wraiths had only gotten a taste of a very painful future.

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[Count chocula]

19.
 

24.