(S28) Ultimus Week

[Leafer]

21. Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, or highlights. 

I will do a scouting report on the best ISFL prospect right now. In the S29 class, we have Lip Gallagher who is the top prospect in the draft and has a lot of potentials to be the next superstar. He is a cornerback for the Portland Pythons and he is one of their best defensive players already. He currently has 270 TPE which is the highest in his draft class and he will continue to max earn throughout his career at this pace. Lip Gallagher is already a fast cornerback which is his advantage over the others and he would be one of the fastest in the ISFL. In his rookie season, Lip Gallagher put up great numbers in the DSFL. In 14 games, Gallagher has 88 tackles which would 14th in the league and he had 21 pass deflections which would be the most by anyone in the league which is very impressive. What is even more impressive is that Gallagher is one of the 3 cornerbacks to have an interception and result in it in a touchdown. He is a great talent and he should be a top 3 pick in the draft. I am not sure whoever has the top pick is in need of but Gallagher is the one.

26. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why?

Haha, well I have been in this position before. Back in S6, I was a quarterback and teams did not need a quarterback except a few teams like the Yeti and New Orleans but those fuckers passed me for a bust which still pisses me off to this day because Austin Roenick could have battled Mike Boss with the way Roenick was playing in the DSFL but nope, he had to switch in order to get more playing time and to this day, I have no forgiven the teams that have screwed me and Austin Roenick. So what other position did Austin Roenick pick? A linebacker and Austin Roenick went onwards to be in the hall of fame. Not only is Austin Roenick a hall of fame player but he is also a unanimous Hall of Fame player. So would I still pick an LB to this day? Of course. An LB is one of the most important positions in American football and I want the important role for my team which is why I like being a quarterback. So I would still pick a linebacker if I had to switch during the draft. Another position would be a tight end probably or just a position that a team needs.

28. What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why?

I am not a huge expert in logos but I know which logo is good and which logo needs improvements. So we can get that starts. So which logo do I think is the best? I like the Liberty logo as it has nice colours and a decent bell and it has a very good design to it. It really represents the team and its name very well and I am a fan of that. Whoever has done the logo has done a very good job at it and should be proud. Another logo I like is the Sarasota logo as it has great colours and that fish is great for an American football team. Now which logo needs improvements? The two logos have not been changed since the stone age. The Otters and Sabercats should at least make some mini change to their logo because it has not changed and I get that it is a classic logo but teams in real who have been around since the early 1900s have also made mini changed to the logo like the colour or font or outlier. So the two oldest logos in the league should have some improvements to their logo but not major improvements because again, it is a classic.

29. PBE PT

[StadiumGambler]

Tier 1: Long Form Tasks (Must be 800+ words)

Choose ONE for 10 TPE.
6. Write 800 words or more on something about anything in the league that interests you. It could be related to statistics, a league issue that 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 participation on a Werewolf server or something.

There's some league issues with the sim obviously that interests me and I take seriously, with one of the most egregious cases being the Chicago Butchers just getting crapped on by the Sarasota Sailfish in a giant meme of a game.

Both teams were guilty of some pretty egregious coaching errors that would not occur in a real life setting. First of all, instead of doing hurry up offense, Sarasota burned two precious downs spiking the ball to stop the clock, including one that pushed them into a must convert 4th and 4 to win the game. Sarasota then left 19 seconds on the clock before kicking a field goal from 51 yards out to tie the game 34-34. For one, Sarasota should've burned off more clock, and instead spike it with 2 or 3 seconds left, thus ensuring that if you make the kick, it forces overtime and doesn't give Chicago a shot at winning the game with a late kick return or Hail Mary. For another, there maybe should've been only one spike at most to stop the clock during the actual drive itself, but the sim is unfortunately reluctant to run quick sideline out routes like a normal football game, thus causing more clock to bleed, and the drive to look less realistic than conventional football.

But then the main event happened. Chicago ran three quick passes to force a 4th and 1 with just 4 seconds left on the clock, they were on their own 34, and instead of just burning the clock with the punter running around and kicking it out of bounds with 0 seconds left or something, they decide to go for it on a 4th and 1, where after they'd go for it it'd be dubious that they'd even have any time to throw a final Hail Mary or call a miracle lateral play like real life. But instead of throwing a Hail Mary, they run it on 4th and 1, and get stopped before the clock runs out, giving Sarasota 2 seconds to kick the game winner since Chicago turned it over on downs in their own half. There is no chance in hell any of this would happen in a live professional game, and probably not even college or high school. In fact, the coaching is so egregiously bad that it borders on point shaving or game throwing levels (which I riffed on in an article). This indicates clear issues with the sim, that Wolverine Studios would need to fix (However according to site veterans that probably won't happen ever.)

Another league issue I think exists that I take seriously and would like to see changed, is the way inactives are handled in the DSFL. As it stands right now, it seems that anyone who doesn't Activity Check around the time of the Ultimus isn't eligible for the next season. To me that's a bit BS, because teams have plenty of roster spots to fill, they drafted the players, no other ISFL team really needs them. I believe teams like Norfolk and Bondi Beach had teams with 4-5 open slots on defense filled by 50 TPE bots, when they had guys from last season at 100-120 who might've just bowed out due to college or COVID or something. Teams should be allowed to gather people they drafted to at least fill out the ranks, with rules that active rookies always need to start ahead of the bots when necessary.

I get that the rules are probably there to promote participation and stat-compiling amongst the rookies, but again, include rules to protect rookie's spots in the lineup. Also, rookies can still achieve good stats even against fairly good defenses with the right scheme fit, as Chunt the Badger proved when she set the DSFL record for receptions and yards in her rookie season. Rookies would be able to function in a more offensive minded sim and get stats, and defensive rookies are gonna have a hard time regardless (although DeAndre Chuggs and Tim Soulja had nice years). IFAs would allow teams to fill bot positions, and give some paycheques to IA users who might come back someday with another, stronger player that can help the league. Overall I believe it'll improve the quality of DSFL play, and make things look more professional. GM Bots can't cover the sun with their finger.

Finally, a league issue I'd like to see fixed is playoff structure for the ISFL, namely an expansion of teams allowed in. We should just expand it to 8 teams already, as all the hypothetical 4 seeds over the past 4 years have gone either 8-8 or 9-7. The sim does an 8 team playoff anyways, so instead of having to re-sim to rig the game against the 4 seed in the 1 v 4 matchup to make the playoffs line up properly, just let them have a fair game. And even if a 7-9 team makes the playoffs, that has happened multiple times in the actual NFL, so it's not entirely out of the realm of unrealism (unlike our sim sometimes). Plus it also helps all of us trying to get TPE from playoff predictions, by giving us an extra two games to hopefully get right.

[Hord300]

Long form task, 800 words for 10TPE.
2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?

I can’t speak too much on the other Rookies this year, as I am brand new to this league and I spent my time focusing on my team the Pythons. So I will only be able to comment on the Rookies who played on the Pythons, and primarily the Defense rookies as they helped the Defense as a whole, carry the Pythons to the top of the division. The Pythons had 6 total players in the top 35 in defensive total tackles. 4 of those players were Rookies! CB Gallagher, CB Upshar, LB Murphy, and LB Hord (myself). There were 3 rookies who were in the top 20 of pass deflections: CB Gallagher, CB Upshar and LB Hord. Teams knew that they weren’t going to be able to run against this defense, but little did the league know that NO team was going to be able to pass on this squad, especially with these Rookies running all over the field making plays earning their spot on this coveted defensive unit legacy.

CB Gallagher took the role of starting CB seriously and created “Gallagher’s Island”. Any WR who went on a route, found themselves stranded on “Gallagher’s Island” with no hope of leaving with a catch. This is how he ended up 4th overall on the Pass Deflection list with 21. The few times a receiver actually came down with the ball, he wasn’t finding the end zone. He made sure to secure a tackle well short of them crossing the goal line, with 84 tackles (2nd on the team, 14th overall). He also added a Pick 6 to his impressive stat line for the year.

CB Upshar was set up nicely on the opposite side of the field, and receivers found themselves “Up Shar’s creek without a paddle” when they saw him lining up in front of them. Once he had his sights on you, he wasn’t going to let you out of his grasps. Racking up 66 tackles (5th on the team) 12 pass deflections AND 4 forced fumbles (recovering one).

LB Murphy enforced “Murphy’s law” every single game for the opposing team. What ever could go wrong, he was going to MAKE it go wrong for you! He played OLB and the team sent him Sack Searching a lot. He found the QB 3 times for sacks. He was 3rd on the team for tackles with 70. He also recovered 2 of the MANY fumbles forced by this defense.

LB Hord was drafted in the 2nd round to help lock up the middle of the defense. He played MLB and immediately began to “Horde the yards” and not sharing one inch to the opposing offense. He was 6th on the team for tackles, with 65. If you didn’t know he was a LB you would have thought a CB was playing in the middle of the field, as he swatted 10 passes and stole 2 INT’s.

Again, these are just the rookies on the Defense. This entire stout squad put up these amazing numbers as the top defense of the league: 691 tackles (3rd), 29 forced fumbles and recovered 23 of them (1st/1st), 38 sacks (1st), 79 pass deflections (2nd), 11 interceptions (6th), 3 touchdowns (T-1st).

If there is anyone who deserves to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year, there is no argument its CB Gallagher. He was drafted towards the end of the 1st round/beginning of the 2nd round by the Pythons and he did not disappoint them, solidifying that he was the “Steal of the Draft”. Any player who can step into a starting role as a rookie and dominate like he did, earned this coveted title. And if it wasn’t for the record setting year by Python veteran LB Walls, Gallagher would have been in the strong discussion of Defensive Player of the year. With this performance and forthcoming Defensive Rookie of the Year honors, he will be one of the top prospects going into the ISFL draft. He will undoubtly be the very first defensive player taken in the draft, and shouldn’t fall further then a top 3 pick in the draft. He will fit into any teams locker room and in time will play his way into their Ring of Honor, on his way into the ISFL Hall of Fame.

If the Pythons can keep these rookies together, they will only become stronger and MORE dominate. They will be able to be the anchors of this defense for multiple years if not called up to the ISFL. The team is losing their starting QB, and the Defense is going to have to keep bringing the same intensity every week to put the young offense in good positions to win games. But as their rookie year showed, these 4 players are able to take on that daunting task!


Go Pythons!

[Muford]

Task 29 - https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3031727 Welfare baby

Task 16 -

Vincent Sharpei Jr., much like his father, brings a no-nonsense attitude to the Field as well as to practices, and is especially equipped with some would call Glue Hands. Vincent Sharpei Jr. has had it in his blood since he was a child to play in the now defunct NSFL, or the ISFL for you young cats, but Sharpei Jr. Remembers being on the sidelines in New Orleans when his father was there to lift up a title with the Second Line. Vincent Sharpei Jr. Brings the fire every play, even if the ball is not coming his way, he’ll make sure to get the pancakes for the Running Backs. VSJ knows that no matter what happens, it’s time to bring the pain to the opposition. Easily, anyone who has watched the games know what Vincent Sharpei Jr. Brings to the field, and in the few games he has already played with the Tijuana Luchadores, it proves that he has come to demolish opposing cornerbacks. He caught two touchdowns against the Bondi Beach Buccaneers where you could see Vincent Sharpei Jr. taunting the opponents on the sideline saying “He’s to small.” Referencing the size of the cornerback that couldn’t even jump with Sharpei. All in All, Vincent Sharpei Jr. has winners blood, and is bringing the winning attitude to a team near you soon. Don’t be scared to draft him.

(230 words)

Task 21 -

Scouting Report for Vincent Sharpei Jr.

Receptions – 12
Receiving Yards – 110
Touchdowns – 2
Games Played – 4

As you can see, through the limited exposure that Vincent Sharpei Jr. has had to the game, he lacks a knack for scoring. He was able to pull down two touchdowns against the Bondi Beach Buccaneers but overall, he wasn’t as big of a threat as you would have liked to see. Coupled with his lack of receptions and total yards through four games, he might not be the game changer that teams would expect.

He’s a jack of all trades, master of none sort of player. He’s well rounded in speed, agility, and hands, but he is not the smartest guy out on the field nor is he the strongest. Vincent Sharpei Jr. already has 84 hours on the practice field (TPE) which sure is helpful, and is tied for lead in his class, but there is no proof if he can keep up the pace and stay on top. Vincent Sharpei Jr. has the potential to be great, and he has the potential to flake out. This is a high ceiling, high floor, but also a high-risk high reward type of player. We do not know what we are going to get out of Vincent Sharpei Jr. this upcoming year.


(218 words)

Task 28 - 

Since I am in the DSFL, and will be drafted in this upcoming DSFL draft, and have been around since the beginning, I’ll talk about some good and bad branding in the minors. I in no way mean for this to hurt my draft stock or whatever have you, but it’s just my personal opinion. I believe some of the best branding, at this moment, is probably the London Royals and the Tijuana Luchadores. While I am apart of the Luchadores right now, I do think that maybe a “updated” logo is in order, but the color scheme and just the history of the team stands out to me. London’s logo, to me at least, is clean and crisp. I am not a fan at all of the Norfolk Seawolves, nor the Portland Pythons. I truly believe that both of those logos need to be thrown in the trash and started over from scratch. The Norfolk Seawolves might as well just full on rebrand, but you don’t really see that happening in the DSFL. The Pythons, I get what you were trying to go with there, but I just think it was poorly executed and just lacks something that would draw me in and make me proud to be apart of that team. It just lacks that power.

(218 words)

[Seymour]

19.


20.


23.
Everybody wins with Sponge Bob ft. Nickelback


24.

[3lewsers]

17. Your team has announced that they will be laying ground on a new stadium next season. What additions would you like to see included in it. Graphic Option: Create a field / stadium design for your team.




19. Graphic Option: Design a menu for your team's stadium.




20. If your player had a show starring them, what would the plot be? Graphic Option: Create the cover art for your player’s show




29. Affliate PT from either SHL/PBE/GOMHL. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this UW

SHL Affiliate PT

[Skindog44]

Ultimus week  - Tier 1 question 6:

Well let's start with this and get this out of the way I created my player on Monday of this week which is just two days ago. I then moved forward and trying to find the best ways to earn TPE and get started on creating my character. So, what did I do I went and looked at the ultimus we can found 800 word question that I could try an right with essentially 0 experience within this League. so this article will be basically written from the eyes of a brand new member of this League.
so let's start with observation number one: league make up and teams.
my background in football is exclusive with my personal life growing up playing Little League high school and college and then being a fan of both college football in the NFL. so when I saw that there was a simulation League around football I was immediately intrigued. so a few months ago I clicked on the forum page to see what this was all about and kind of lurk around for the next couple of months before I ended up finally joining. So looking at the general makeup of the wig I see that the ISFL is the majors or upper tier League with 14 teams within two divisions and the DSFL is essentially the minor that also has two divisions with four teams within for a total of eight teams. let's take a look at some of the branding obviously they don't use professional teams within the NFL or college teams and these are all original branding. First impressions is the branding is really interesting taking a look at the minor League my first team that I am attracted to is the Kansas City coyotes well because I'm from Kansas City. the first team that reached out to me upon entering the discord was the London Royals. which love the black and gold and the branding for that team it looks really good. next the Minnesota grey ducks interesting choice for mascot and enjoyable considering the originality and the Portland pythons again a pretty cool render for the mascot looking down in the southern division you got cities like Dallas nor folk and Tijuana which are all pretty known places. so I had to immediately look at Bondi Beach and Google what the hell that was. which is pretty funny and cool and original the second team that reached out was the Dallas bird dog so I took a closer look at them and enjoy the color scheme and the logo. so overall the minor League has some really interesting locations a branding that is all pretty cool and original the only one that I find a little weird are the grey ducks well because grey ducks.
jumping up into the majors Division I will not touch on every team but the one that really catches my eye from the NSFC are the Chicago butchers mostly because black and red is one of my favorite color schemes and it's just a cool render. and then Secondly the yellow knife rates because well the wraiths just look cool and has a really sweet logo. down in the AFC just at first observation San Jose Sabercats looks interesting I like the dark green on gold and a really cool render and then I'd have to probably go with the Arizona outlaws because of the black gold and red color scheme. again, looking at these teams I really like the original branding original logos well original I think, but a lot of these teams and logos and renders really catch the eye which I think is the purpose of having original teams.
Next lets take a look at the website.
So the first impression of the forum site was a little daunting I think that is said for basically every sim that uses a forum. my background is in the pro baseball experience which uses a very similar form system and took quite a while to get used to navigating through that as well. after creating my character two days ago I immediately wanted to find out ways to start earning TPE. so I wish there was a little bit of a shortcut of after creation after that first tricky task where to go from there that might have been a little help and guidance. and I may be speaking too soon cause there very well could be one but I just couldn't find it. so I went into the discord channel and immediately got a response to go to the ultimate sweet PT and start earning their. they also advised to create a wiki page that would also earn TPE. so I will say that I'm extremely impressed by the activity within the discord to immediately answer questions upon request. it's a nice little safety net for new players like myself that are little lost within the jungle of the forum.

next lets take a look at the actual game itself.
so since I joined two days ago this League is currently in the playoffs for season 28. so I watched a few of the YouTube videos and obviously since I'm new I'm not exactly sure how to watch and exactly how the players are affecting the simulation. all my video game experience from football is playing the Madden series an NFL 2K series several years ago and this is obviously not that. the pro baseball experiences experience utilizes the OOTP or outside the park baseball video game as their simulation. since joining that League, I purchased the game and understand how it works and understands how changing your player's stats affects your end game performance and so that will be something that I will try to learn here in the ISFL. Secondly my next impression was it's a little soft since it doesn't use an actual player like this is and just uses these little circles to move around the field. I think once I get a better understanding of player stats and how they affect the end game simulation I'll probably be able to read the game a little bit better and so I feel like I probably have the longest way to go when it comes to understanding the simulation in itself. that said as a person that liked to play those little board games where you move pieces around. or the football game where you put little miniatures on a vibrating field, and they've move around the actual YouTube channel simulation game is pretty interesting to watch this to kind of see how it moves up and down the field and how it operates play to play.

Final thoughts:

so after spending two days navigating the website looking over the YouTube page and playing around with in the discord I am very intrigued by what this League has to offer. I really enjoyed my time in the pro baseball experience and I'm very active over on that particular League but football is my true love and I hope that I can continue my enjoyment of simulation football as much as I did baseball. I think there's a lot to offer in this community and within the simulation in itself and I'm excited to start my career. so if you're reading this I hope this a qualifies for the tpe for this tier in the ultimus week, but also maybe a little insight on how somebody that's only been here for two days is interpreting at least through my perception how things are set up within the form in the League itself.

Code:

1279 words

[Reno]

Task 17 - 216 words

Chicago is making a new stadium eh? The old stadium isn’t bad at all but I guess you can always upgrade. First thing first that I would want to see would be the addition of my cereal vault in to the stadium full time. The vault started in Kansas City and has remained there since then, but most of the cereal has been moved to my house full time and it takes up space. Flying the vault in from Kansas City to Chicago will enable me to free up some space in my house for “exercise equipment” that I will use for “personal training.” Another thing I want to see the Butchers add in our new stadium is something that doesn’t usually exist in most stadiums. I’m talking about adding a graveyard to the stadium, probably somewhere in the gardens in section 105. Think about it, every stadium has the super manufactured fan patio, they have the team hall of fame and they have gift shops every second store. But they don’t have a graveyard. Just imagine the pure intimidation that would come with it. The opposing team walks into the stadium for gameday and the first thing they see is the new graveyard with Tree standing right next to it. That’s going to be lit.

Task 20


Task 22 - 221 words
Will we be seeing more consistent playoff competitors in future seasons? Absolutely not. To put it kindly, this sim is garbage. The logic behind it is significantly more baffling than the logic of previous sims, and that was already baffling as all hell. Up by a field goal on 4th and 1 on your own 20 yard line? What’s punting? You’re running on 4th and 1 for a turnover on downs and then losing because they kicked a chip shot field goal from your end. Kicking a field goal from midfield? Sure why not what could go wrong. Kicking a field goal from their 25 yard line? Nah we want to punt here instead. The fact that this game pre-decides things with a coin flip and then just does asinine things to meet that coin flip decision is ludicrous. It takes the wind out of your sails watching your team do well for 99% of the game but then losing because the sim rolled you losing so you make a stupid play to lose the game for your team. To answer the question, no we wont be seeing more consistent playoff competitors, because the sim is so wacked out on complete random chance teams will have to get more lucky than not to keep pace at the top of their divisions.

Task 29
PBE Affiliate PT for CW

[IceBear32]

Task 4 - 840 words 

The sim gonna sim: Ducks done wrong

I want to start by saying what fun and exciting this season has been for a rookie like myself entering the league. Great people all around and I’m super proud to be a Duck. That being said, the sim has it out for us feathery friends. Finishing with a 7-7 record and 3rd in the North division, it feels like we were always right there but could never capitalize. Out of our seven losses only one loss was more than one score and Two of those losses came in OT to TIJ.

Week one we were able to bounce back from a winless preseason and take a with from division rivals Kansas City Coyotes. We are here! This is the season!
Week two through four really knocked us back into place. Going 0-3 during this stretch with “we should have had it” games. Week 2 we faced Portland and held our own the entire game. Tied with 2 mins left in the game Portland was able to strike and score with 1:49 left on the clock. We were not dead yet though. Ducks drove right down the field but giving us some false hope as ducks would have a turnover on downs at about the Portland 40 ending in a 35-28 loss.

Week 3 was more of the same. This week we were holding on to a 10-7 lead with 2 minutes left in the game. But the under two-minute curse strikes again and Bondi Beach scored the go-ahead touchdown. Again, the ducks drive right down the field giving us such hope that we will not repeat last weeks woes. But again, we turn it over on downs with less than 30 seconds left. Ducks lose 14-10.

Week 4 hurt the worst. Week 4 regulation ended in a 14-14 tie to TIJ. But this time we were not going to get the short end of this deal, at least we thought. TIJ quickly drove down the field and were in the RedZone, we thought game was over but we were able to stop them on downs and get the ball back. Immediately we throw and INT and spirits were crushed. BUT Ducks D steps up big again and get a RedZone INT, there is still life! But we are forced to punt the ball away. TIJ scores a OT game winning TD with 40 seconds left in OT.

Week 5 and 6 we were able to muster up a couple big wins vs Dallas and Norfolk.

Week 7 we are back at it and lose another nail bitter in the final seconds. It was 17-12 with 2:30 left on the clock and our defense was on fire at this point. We get a couple back-to-back stops and have an opportunity to drive down the field and score. Turnover on downs on the LON 30-yard line. Ducks lose 17-12. We at least follow this up with a week 8 win vs Bondi Beach.

Week 9 we are back to another OT thriller vs TIJ. 9-9 at the end of regulations, the defenses have yet to let up a TD. This will hold true throughout OT as well.  After 9:50 seconds of OT TIJ kicks a game winning FG with 8 seconds left in OT.

Week 10, this is the one week I’ll say we just played bad, and we had our only multiple score loss. 20-6 to Portland.

That must have been the fire we needed as we went 3-0 with wins vs Norfolk, Dallas, and Kansas City for weeks 11-13.

With one week left and no shot at playoffs we faced LON and sought revenge for our earlier near miss. But with a terribly slow start we were down 23-9 with 8:00 mins remaining in the game. But we finally woke up and were able to get another score putting us back within a one score game. Defense as it did all season took the lead and held them when they needed to. Ducks offence is on the move and got all the way to the opponents 12 yard line before time expired. What a fitting way to end the season…

Our 7 losses totaled out to a difference of 6.5 points in those 7 losses. Throw out the one game vs Portland and we are looking at less than 5.5 points.
If you were to take the LON series and could change history to have those games go the Ducks way, we would have ended the season 9-5. The same record as LON and would now hold the tiebreaker. That is just that series. That is 2 Touchdown different in the league this yea could have a whole new playoff team and a whole new champion.

The ducks were getting hot at the right time. We just had heartbreak after heartbreak that we dealt with throughout the season. I hope the young team we have now is able to find a way to handle the close games next year and be on the winning side.

[Mavfatha]

SHL PT

12. Choose a team or player to write about that isn’t your own. What did they do well in the last season? Have they shown any drastic improvements from previous years? What could they do better?

I tend to be fascinated by expansion teams so I'll go back to the imo coolest of the most recent expansion teams in the Berlin Fire Salamanders and track their progress through the league recently. So their first season in the league was back in S25. They were pretty clearly the worst team in the league - nothing against them and it certainly stacks the deck against you to start as an expansion team, but having the worst record, fewest points for, and most points against is pretty damning. They made a solid improvement moving into S26, now finishing 7-9 and ahead of 2 other teams in their conference plus the Hahalua over in the ASFC. On the other hand, they still weren't great and were overshadowed by their fellow expansion team the Silverbacks who had finished 9-7. Berlin would go on to take another step back in on-field performance in S27, dropping back down to a 6-10 record. However, there were signs of improvement to come at the time, as their point differential was only -17 on the season indicating some close games and likely just bad luck in a few occasions. Only bad luck couldn't explain the massive jump into the current season of S28 though. They dominated the conference in finishing 12-4 as the number 1 seed, scoring more than 100 points more than they allowed and in particular jumping out of the gate by winning their first 6 contests all in a row. Additionally, their 4 losses were by a total of 13 points, so they were truly competitive all the way through the schedule. They are currently scheduled to play in the conference championship game against the Yellowknife Wraiths, and have to be considered the favorites to move on to represent the NSFC in the Ultimus. So what changed that led to this new franchise rising from the dregs of the league to winning 12 games in just 4 seasons? They certainly have a similar player quality as many of the other competitors around the league, but they aren't in the top 3 in either Total TPE or Average TPE, sitting right on the edge of the top 5 in both instead. I think a lot of the cause of this whole process of theirs was the decision to build through a core group of S22 players who are all theoretically at their peak right now before starting to regress next season. With 8 players from this season at or very close to 1000 TPE, clearly they were able to successfully identify and acquire such a core, and it's paying off right now. They have no players older than this, indicating that they'll likely remain competitive for several more seasons before the S22 folks die off.

26. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why?

In the darkest timeline of the ISFL, fair rubs were never given to human offensive linemen and it would not have been possible for myself to enter the draft with such a noble and prestigious position. If this were the case, I would have instead entered the draft as a tight end, which from my understanding is basically just a smaller offensive lineman but with a great butt. Admittedly this part of the timeline isn't that bad, but as a whole we'd either have way too many tight ends from all of my fellow linemen doing the same thing, or just a bunch of large dudes sitting around not getting to play football. Anyways, back to my personal gig as a tight end, assuming there were still enough jobs available for me I would obviously be a blocking tight end. Sure I would suck for fantasy football purposes and not put up those flashy stats that earn accolades and big contracts, but at least I would be a man of principle and continue to smash the living daylights out of defenders. I am not entirely sure how well the game engine would handle such a player but that's not my problem, it's you guys that got rid of my position for no reason and now y'all gotta deal with the consequences. It would be pretty exciting to catch a touchdown the one time it would happen in my career though, I won't lie.