Well, the time has finally come to retire Tyron Brackenridge from the ISFL.
From the beginning of my time here in the ISFL in 2019 l said to myself that they were going to have to force me to retire before I willingly went out & that seems to be the case here as Tyron Brackenridge will no longer be viable after this season with the Sabercats bringing in a young stud linebacker in Duke Cheeks to pair him with other San Jose legends Fisher and Bass.
Before I ramble on for too long I want to give a shout out to some of the small S17 class that made it so enjoyable at the beginning stages for me to want to hang around in the first place and Brackenridge would have been retired a long time ago if not for you guys.
-@Buttersqauch101 (Brayden Ennis / Josh Campbell) you always made our little rivalry fun even if that got us into some tampering problems but you were a nice teammate in both Kansas City and San Jose and your infamous playoff stat record in San Jose will live on forever but I wish we could've won a chip together.
-@KillaScrilla (Action Jackson) yet another teammate that I enjoyed having along the way within my class and were one of the best receivers on a struggling team and I understand why you left lol
-@Jaspers (Takeda Okura) while your activity level fell off here in the later seasons in the ISFL, i had a great time comparing our two safeties in order to see who was better and end up the higher pick in the draft. One of my favorite rivalries along the way but I think we know who ended up better
-@ Kicky Bobby you were the best damn kicker I've ever seen or played with (maybe besides some Scottish guy that take your spot) and it's a real shame you had to auto retire so soon
My start with San Jose back in S17 was an interesting one as it had a cast of players ending off some of those title shots that San Jose had and the new guys like Brack & the guy who retired mid draft (lol) being some of the only younger guys that I remember lol. I believe I asked for a trade out of San Jose in those early seasons for me so that I could join up with Brayden Ennis or Action Jackson but I'm glad CK talked me out of it and funnily enough we were able to snag both Ennis & Jackson to set the table for the championship teams that would come in the future.
Stats were never really a huge thing for my player (even though I'm the stats guy for the Cats) I just wanted to put our team in the best position to win which saw me playing at Safety, linebacker, defensive line, and even some nickelback if I remember correctly
While Brackenridge may not have been the most statistically exciting linebacker to watch out there like Mo Berry, he was one of the most consistent ones out there and even managed to make a few pro bowls and a nomination for linebacker of the year.
As the seasons flew by we started to get better and better and finally saw some success in the playoffs which lead to our back to back championships that were due for such a team and individuals like CK and Rrad that put in the time and energy to construct a roster and gameplan suited to beating the Yeti.
While the success was fun, it was the community / cult aspect of the San Jose locker room that kept me coming back and wanting to watch the streams and progress my player and I can say that CK has constructed one of the best communities / cults for the team that often goes unnoticed but should be put into light more because I know he worked hard to develop one.
I did have one interesting moment in free agency where I was legitimately 5 minutes away from accepting an offer from the Arizona Outlaws but I decided to give CK a couple minutes and he sweet talked me all the way back to San Jose and I'm certainty glad he did cus it got me two chips.
Now, I'd like to thank both CK and Rrad
@ckroyal92 -I'm glad that you drafted me and took a chance on drafting some random safety (although safeties are sort of your thing in drafts) & putting up with some of the the shenanigans that Butters, Action, and I would cause over the seasons we were there. I honestly probably would not have stuck out this long in San Jose if it weren't for you at the helm of this team because even during those dark years we had you still made the small victories seem big and exciting. I know you put alot of work into the sim & the team and just wanted to say thanks for everything you've done.
@Rradum -It's a shame you didn't stick it out just a little longer so you could've been my GM throughout my time in both the DSFL and the NSFL but I also know you put alot of work in that needs to be acknowledged. You and CK were a pretty great tandem in how you tackled all the tasks associated with being a GM, especially one that had been through some tough seasons that you stuck out rather than jumping ship.
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Now what would be a retirement post without looking at some stats.
At the time of writing this article (S28 post-W10)
Tackles: 1,000
Rank for SJS all-time: 2nd
Sacks: 80
Rank for SJS all-time: 2nd
Interceptions: 13
Rank for SJS all-time: T-5th
Pass Deflections: 102
Rank for SJS all-time: 4th
Games played: 168
Rank for SJS all-time: 1st
Playoff OT pick-sixes (off of Jay Cue): 1
*We won the Ultimus that year so pretty much I won it myself
Rank for SJS all-time: Probably 1st
Just taking a look back at all of those seasons and stats that all add up I'm certainly happy and ended up around where I envisioned myself (I know have a scouting DM I got before the NSFL draft somewhere but couldn't find) but basically I aimed for 1000tck, 100sck, 100pds, and 10 int's. So I fell short of the 100 sacks but I played safety for a bit so cut me a little slack at least.
While I hope to someday make the hall of fame as maybe like a 2nd or 3rd ballot kind of guy because Tyron Brackenridge was the star of San Jose for a number of years. He might not have lit up the stat sheet, he sort of embodied the underdog attitude that the San Jose locker room embraced during our title runs because if everyone else has all the TPE and "sim masterminds" on their side why can't we use a little derpcat magic to win and in my mind could be considered on of the best Sabercats of all-time.
One last remark before I end this thing, @ckroyal92 my jersey number better be retired before some other player tarnishes its legacy