(S30) Ultimus Week

[Modern_Duke]

Tier 3 #22
The way awards committee works right now is, each team gets a representative, and it is their job to collectively determine the five or so players nominated for each award. However, based on this structure, each representative feels their main responsibility is to get the player from their team onto the ballot, rather than to get the 5 best candidates nominated. With everyone acting in their own self interest, the ballot selection can often be overly swayed by which representative can talk the most, loudest, and longest. In my experience in the committee another thing that I have noticed is that the longer that a discussion about a group of players lasts, the more likely it is that people lose sight of the objective and get lost in the details (see: Cole Maxwell not getting nominated for offensive rookie of the year despite having the most prolific season for a rookie wide receiver ever).

So my solution to both the problems of overly drawn out conversations and of people just talking more to get their point across is: keep the one representative per team structure, but now the process for nominating someone for an award is to write up a paragraph (or whatever it takes) explaining why they deserve it. After all nominations are in, there is no further discussion. Representatives read all the explanations and make their decisions via vote. And to keep things as objective as possible, representatives are not allowed to vote for the players on their own team.

[HENDRIX 2.0]

Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks (Each must be either 200+ words or a graphic)
Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.

18. Written option - which teammate of yours is the ultimate team player and why? How does this person exhibit selflessness and put the team first? Are they a great locker room presence who encourages others? Do they play an important but unappreciated role on the team which doesn't receive much recognition for awards? Graphic Option: Create a graphic of your player with your teammate who exhibits a team-friendly attitude.

My teammate UberBJ aka Djibutee McJimmerson aka Sulaiman Kazi is the ultimate team player. A max earner who is always a positive influence in the locker room. From day one he was an important piece of the team. Injecting an elite talent at cornerback is exactly what the Wraiths needed to make up for the retirement of Mervin Leonard. Kazi was part of two Ultimus winning squads and many lock room laughs. This is a bittersweet point task as I learned just a few hours ago he retired. He will be almost impossible to replace. Sources say even when Kazi is no longer with the team, the Wraiths plan to keep his locker intact and burn an eternal flame in front of it. In addition to being one of the best teammates and cornerbacks in the league, Kazi is well known for having a gigantic cranium. Sources say his helmet had to be custom made to fit his dome. Vicis, the ISFL helmet maker, said Kazi wears the largest helmet they have ever manufactured. This was abundantly clear to the league after the two Ultimus wins by the Wraiths. As championship T-shirts and hats get distributed to the winning team, Kazi walked around with the cap literally resting on top of his head because it was impossible for him to properly wear. (222 words)

24. If you could create a team using any active players in the league, what would that team look like? Would you build a group of all-stars to contend in the next Ultimus, or a team full of jokesters for the fun of it? Describe the roster and why you chose the players you did.

I would be interested in what an “old person team” would look like. Would they dominate or be abysmal? This team would be composed entirely of the oldest players in the league at their respective positions. Starting off at QB we would have George O’Donnell. Based on old George’s last ranked passer rating in S30 we would be in trouble here. Maybe we could rely on the running back tandem of Ichinose and Yoda? Yoda languished on the free agent wire all year and Ichinose announced his retirement but is still a solid player. Our tight end would be Lewandowski who is still a very good player. Our trio of WRs would be Barker, Panda, and Okusi. Barker still has great production but the depth there isn’t great. The defensive line would have Blackstone, Eagle, Miller, and Allen. This is an elite group of players, best on the team so far. The linebacking corps would consist of Quaid, Dissector, and Summers. Quaid is still a good player but the other two are DSFL caliber players at this point in their careers. The defensive backfield would have Booker, Witten, Dawkins, and Clemente. This group is tremendous. Finally, our specialist would be Venus Powers. She is adequate for a kicker. I think this team would struggle mightily on offense but has the potential to be an elite defense despite two of the linebackers being poor. (233 words)

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

I like most of the ISFL team brandings, but I absolutely love the NY Silverbacks. Gorillas are an amazing mascot for a football team. They’re huge, strong, calm, and loyal to their family. They have a set of razor sharp teeth despite being primarily vegetarians. Every family of gorillas has a Silverback that is the leader. He watches out for his group and is well respected. If there is any trouble he will confront it head on. A football player who is a true silverback is a true football player. The uniform coloring is simple and good. It’s a very nice combination that reminds me of the Oakland Raiders in the NFL. Being based in NYC is a good touch as well so they could capitalize on the whole King Kong story, which almost everybody knows about. A team that could use a refresh in my opinion would probably be the Sabercats. They have had the same one for thirty seasons and I’m pretty sure they never had any kind of rebrandings. They’re an original team that has stayed completely original. I like the coloring but the logo doesn’t really do it for me. Seems too simple, a ferocious looking Sabercat would be better, instead of such a generic looking logo. (211 words)

28. Choose one existing award. Tell us why you think a certain player should win that award this season. Stats, or anything else possible should be used to support your case.

Perhaps the most obvious and easy to argue for award this offseason will be ISFL Wide Receiver of the Year. My teammate Kai Sakura should be a unanimous winner of this award. Sakura nearly set the receiving “triple crown”. He had the most receiving touchdowns in the league with 15, he had the most receiving yards in the league with 1,948 yards, and he had the second most receptions in the league with 128. His yards per reception was tremendous as well at 15.2. The player who had more receptions was a far less 10.8 yards per catch, so Sakura was dynamic every time the ball was in his hands. His 1,948 receiving yards was also an ISFL regular season record. It was even 2 yards more than NFL great Calvin Johnson amassed in his peak season. Throughout the season Sakura had these incredible numbers despite sharing the field with another extremely talented WR in Walker. Most of the time these triple crown caliber performances happen because the offense doesn’t have any other show in town. A lot of it has to do with the Wraiths being a pass heavy team, but Sakura just did not waste many opportunities when the ball came his way. He only dropped 1 pass all season! (216)

[Gwdjohnson]

9. Through a random lottery drawing, you have been named the league's new commisioner for a day. Congrats! What improvements would you make to the league if you had the power to do whatever you wanted?

Ah, being the commissioner of the ISFL. Having the power to fix this broken league and repair the current imperfections of the system. Let us dive into my process of saving us all:

Step 1: I permanently ban the user jeffie43

It is pretty clear that Jeffie must be banned for the good of the league. This man has done nothing but cause issues for this league, such as tamper and get into fights with other users. I think this is a necessary step (note: this is a joke Jeff is my friend don't dock me for this pls)

Step 2: Make it more easy for the average person to earn money / bridge the gap between rich and poor

I don't know exactly what steps would have to be taken to do this, but I've noticed ISFL has a very exaggerated version of the problem SHL has, which is the high end of users being absurdly rich while there are many who struggle massively to earn enough in order to max earn. Media pay is already pretty generous here compared to SHL, but the cost of equipment in the league is pretty absurd. I would likely reduce the cost of each tier of equipment so that while it's still something you have to work for, it isn't as egregious a cost every season as it is now. Money is something that's essential for top users to distance themselves from the average, but I just think in ISFL it feels like the divide is excessive.

Step 3: I move us back to the old sim! 

This one is almost definitely unpopular but I guess I should say it for this. I hate DDSPF21 as a sim engine compared to the old one. I find the sims have been stretched to be too long now because of the slow pace of play compared to 16, and I also find a lot of the ways games play out feel very weird and scripted, and I don't just mean this for games I was involved in. It feels like there is an unrealistic amount of dramatic finishes to games that really you would only see in real life every season or two. I personally started to lose enjoyment with the sim after we moved sim engines so my main autocratic one day commish move would be rolling the league back.

Step 4: I make it mandatory to have the iconic "We Are Despacito" image in everyone's site signatures, under the threat of a perma ban if they refuse to add it.

All users would have until I am no longer commish to add



to their sigs, or else they would all be permanently banned from the league. I think this would be the most sensible of my personalized commish rulebook.

(467 words)

16. This task is exclusive to recreate/non-recreate rookies of the S31 class and later. The season is over and the draft is coming up. What do you bring to a team, and why should a team choose to take a chance on you next season?

Garfield Despacito III will bring a lot to the table for whoever drafts him into the DSFL.

First of all, I have a good network of ISFL users that I know who can give me sound advice on how to build my player, and what attributes will help especially for a defensive tackle. With Despacito Jr. I didn't earn a crazy amount of TPE, but in my peak I had some great seasons thanks to the good build advice I got from people. This will be a good asset for a juniors team looking for immediate success.

Secondly, I've built up a solid bank, and should easily be able to hit cap by next season, which I entirely plan on doing. I aim on surpassing my peak of just under 1.1k on Despacito Jr. and I'm sure I'll be able to do so now that I have the experience of one long term player under my belt.

Thirdly, my amount of time on SHL helps with teams needing pointers on SHL people that would be a good team fit/good bet to be active long term. In MB and OCO I was essentially their resident SHL dude, which with more crossover between the two leagues recently is especially important now.

I doubt many GMs will read my ultimus week but draft me ?

(218 words)

32. SHL Affiliate

ALL 10 TPE EARNED

[jackalewis229]

Tier 3

16. I think I bring a few things to a team that would make me a great fit for whoever drafts me. First, I am motivated to grow my player into the best kicker/punter in league history. Though I’ve only been in the league a few weeks, I am second in my class for TPE earned and I’m serious about keeping that pace. I want to earn as much as I can and have been working on some media and have applied for a league job. I will be someone who works hard to be the best I can be in this league. Second, I feel I’m a great locker room presence. I try to be a fun and positive influence and try my best to be as active as I can. While I’m not able to talk all day, every day, I’m usually in the locker room at some point everyday to interact with the team. Third, I can perform on the field. With my ability to be a max TPE earner, this will translate onto the field. In my 4 games with Norfolk this season, I went 100% on both field goals and extra points while also leading the league in average yards per punt. I will make sure that whoever drafts me will not regret it.

(219 words)

20.

27. 

Best Branding

I LOVE Austin's branding. The logo is modern and professional. It's something you could see in a real-life professional league. The colors complement each other very well and go with the southwestern theme. Their wordmark logo is my favorite overall logo in the league and it adds to the overall package.

Best Branding Runner-Up

While it was close, I picked New York as the runner-up. I love the old-school NYC feel of the logo. The colors work great together. I also like the King Kong reference. This is a solid overall branding that I could see a professional team use.

Worst Branding

While there isn't necessarily any "bad" branding in the ISFL, I selected Chicago due to their primary logo. While I do enjoy the Doom themed wordmark, the rest of the logo, to me, looks like a few generic logos were pieced together on a free logo maker website.

Worst Branding Runner-Up

I chose New Orleans as the runner up. While I think the brand fits the New Orleans style, the logo again doesn't do it for me. Also, the name is confusing unless you do some research. The overall vibe of the logo/team name, to me, doesn't really fit for football.

(206 words)

32. SHL PT #1

[Lowlycrib]

17.

Well, it's official, San Jose is finally getting a new stadium and we deserve one after the recent history of the team and it's championships. One of the first additions that should be included is statues for some of the greatest players in franchise history such as Joilet Christ, Tyron Brackenridge, and Dan Miller. Without some of these great players the team would not have been as successful as it has. Another great addition would be a decked out recreation room or center where the players are able to unwinds during the rigors of the season and can Include things such as pool tables, table tennis tables, pool, sauna, entertainment systems, you name it. A practice facility is a must because having to drive to and from the different facilities can be a pain and puts uneeded risk and time loss at stake in the process. I think it would be interesting to add some other wilder ideas into place if the team has the capital and space allowed for such things. Some of these things could include an art gallery, cryotherapy chambers, Buffets, or even a indoor garden area. All of these additions would be welcomed by most of the team I imagine but being able to add some of the most important ones would be crucial to both team morale and future success in their new stadium.

(229)

27. Branding

Branding is a part of every facet of life for us from different food brands, cars, toothbrushes, etc. While we might not think of it, the branding of the team is an important first part of learning about the team and if your branding is bad then that could turn both fans and players away. I'll start out with the team that I believe could use a little refresh. The New Orleans Second Line is the team that could use a change up, while it definitely a unique logo, it is just too crowded and active for me to truly enjoy or like their logo. They could definitely take a step in trying to simplify their logo but still keep the aspects that represent their team and location. An honourable mention here would be the Philadelphia Liberty, wow you guys used the Liberty Bell, how unique. On the other hand, a logo that real stands out to me is the New York Silverbacks that is both eye popping and pleasing to the eye and has a cool gorilla which is pretty hard to beat. I honestly don't really see any part of this logo that I don't really like and for me that is definitely a solid logo that can continue to be used. Another honourable mention that I can bring up here is the FireSalamanders. While I think their name is truly pretty dumb, their logo is pretty fire (see what I did there?), It is also eye popping and simple to the eye which is great to see for the league and potential users to like and grow to have a favorite team.
(275)

22. Halftime

The halftime of sports championships has started to take on a roll of trying to continually best the previous with bigger acts, bigger performances, and crazier stunts. The ISFL has started to take on this trend and has hypothetically tasked me as the ultimate decider on what should happen for the Ultimus and Ultimini which is perfect. The Ultimus and Ultimini should definitely have different themes and vibes, the Ultimus should be far more rigid and focused and bringing the best show possible with some of the best acts available. The Ultimini on the other hand can go a little more crazy in their planning and get some unorthodox acts and performances that could even top the Ultimus but should pack the best experience in what ever form whether it is traditional or not. In the dotverse the ability to attract talent to these halftime shows is unlimited so I feel that each team in the Ultimus should be represented in some sort of way whether it is the artist or band performing or even bringing in traditions or parts of that areas cultural into focus for this celebration. The Ultimini does not really need to adhere to this sentiment as it can shift towards a focus on upcoming talent or acts that might not usually be considered like dog trained acts, flame throwers, or any wacky idea that comes to mind when thinking about how to best cap off a special night for the players and the league.
(249)

29. Awards

There has been alot of speculation and anger towards the awards in this league for a number of seasons since my time in season seventeen. There's been a number of different theories and proposals on how to make this part of the league far much better. Having members of teams throughout the league in theory is a good idea but often is flawed as you can see that teams put their own guys or rivalries ahead of putting forth a fair vote or decision for the awards. Another idea would be to only have league staff or Head office to vote but once again this results in the same issues and has an uneven amount of support for certain teams (Nola because Bex sucks). Now my suggestion would be a little unorthodox but would rely on having a three part system that are all equally weighted for fairness and equality. The first two have already been a part of the system before in having Head Office vote, and to have GMs or a representative from each team vote but the last method would be a a league wide survey or vote format that is available to any and all league members that want to participate. With the combination of all of these methods it would be the most fair in my opinion and allow for players to state their case to the entire league through media and discord and help drive activity levels across the league.

(246)

[StevenOSullivan]

PBE PT

[Daybe]

https://soundcloud.com/david-barton-2458...-the-daily

tier 1 10 tpe podcast

@Frostbite
@zaynzk

[Troen]

21. Now thats three seasons on the new sim. What are your thoughts? Do you think that it is better than DDSPF16?

(I think it's actually been 4 seasons?)

There are 2 big things and 1 small thing that I like much more in the new sim.
First big thing: The revamp of stats and traits makes the max TPE point for all positions much closer to each other. Previously, I think the top DE build only needed something like 985 TPE while the top QB build needed 1400+, while now it's more like 1150-1350. That helps marginal TPE be a bit more useful at the top end than before and helps me at least feel like I'm not wasting time with a 300 TPE bank.
Second big thing: The sim recording/playback looks much better. Trying to follow the game action is still kinda garbage compared to actual live broadcasts, but there are a lot of little improvements showing ball movement and the like which makes watching games a bit more understandable. I think DDSPFL still has a long ways to go to be in the same class as OOTP, but I think it's a big improvement.
The little thing I like is that the index actually has player pages with career information. It's a really small thing but I personally enjoy being able to compare cross-season stats there rather than having to open all the tabs for the old index. If there was just a way to pull in seasons from the old sim then it would be amazing.

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

When I created my player, I guess I had the impression that making an NSFL team (rather than staying in the DSFL) was harder, I guess, and so I picked my position based on what had the lowest average TPE in the ISFL which at the time was DE. Conceptually, I was more interested in safety since seeing great safety play in the NFL is really impressive in a way that most D-line play isn't (ignoring Aaron Donald). Given the choice of doing it again, I think I'd have gone with safety instead since I realized that minimizing time in the DSFL isn't a core goal, though from what I've heard the actual safety position in the new sim feels underwhelming to many players in terms of impact/statistics. I definitely did want to play on the defensive side, though, since I was interested in how that would play out ever since I played in a super deep IDP fantasy league and started seeing the more detailed defensive player stats. Now the sim engine doesn't really make stats in the same way that NFL football does and so my intuition match between the stats that players produce in the two different systems is poor, but it's still one of the big reasons I want more interested in defensive positions rather than offensive at creation time.

26. Football is a game that has been going on for a while, loved by fans all over. But what if you were able to make some rule changes? Talk us through your new version of football, and what would be different and why?

At a high level, I'd want to try and reduce penalties for actions that don't related to player safety and maybe increase the impact of those that do. On the decrease side, for things like pass interference and illegal contact, I'd like to make those rarer by eg increasing the threshold for interference vs. incidental contact or by increasing the buffer zone where a defensive player can legally contact a receiver. To me, I think the ways those penalties are set up incentivizes specific kinds of offensive/defensive interactions and since it doesn't risk injury to players I'd like to reduce them.
On the other side, for things that can impact player safety, I'd consider making penalties larger and/or increasing the number of ejection-eligible penalties. For example, clipping or egregious block in the back/tackle out of bounds penalties seem like good candidates to make more stringent so as to get players to reduce actions that lead to injuries. Admittedly, injuries are not an ISFL problem, but I do think that conceptually I'd want to move in that direction.
The one possible caveat is that I'd want some way to handle "bad looking" tackles which are actually legal. There's a number of penalties I've seen called on tackles on crossing routes where the defender legally hits the receiver with a leading shoulder, but it looks really bad in real time and so a flag is thrown. Now I'm presuming that legal tackles are safe/non-injurious tackles in this statement - the alternative is to make that kind of tackle illegal if it's unsafe for the players involved. I don't specifically care which since I don't know how well those have been studied, but I do think they're one of the most "it looked bad so we're throwing a flag" penalty categories.

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

When I was in the DSFL and getting interviewed by the various NSFL teams, I produced a fancy top hat and monocle version of a couple team logos, and the Sailfish was the clear best one. Ever since then, they've stuck out in my mind for having a good color set and mix of vibrancy in their logos. However, the part of a team's branding that sticks out to me the most now is New York's amazing field design. It to me is insanely far ahead of any other team's field with their iconic font and skyline elements. The colors are maybe not my personal favorite, but they work fine.
For a redesign, I'd start with San Jose. Their logo is functional but not exciting and they've had it for as long as I've been in the league, I think. There are 2 big changes I'd aim for: First, changing the logo, maybe to a more 3-d or front view of the face? Second, get a third color involved. My first though is to work with the logo change to make the teeth white or ivory colored and then use that as an accent or outline. I personally would also reconsider the green since to me it doesn't seem related to a sabercat's colors, but I do think that abandoning it would be a major overall or rebrand rather than just a refresh, so I'm guessing that's bigger than they'd be interested in. So, I think trying to find a solid third color would be a good way to create more options for variety.

[zaynzk]

https://soundcloud.com/david-barton-2458...-the-daily

tier 1 10 tpe podcast

@Frost
@zaynzk

UW for Affiliate Purposes

[Haseo]

Code:

969 words
nice


Task 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.

To: all voters for the ISFL awards

I am writing this to inform you that your votes for awards are requested for the Season 30 ISFL Awards presentation. The awards presentation is a time where we honor the best players in the game of simulation football, and it normally occurs after the Ultimus Bowl every ISFL season. It is that time of year again where every player in the league is gathered under one roof (or on one YouTube stream as some may say), where friends (and frenemies) catch up with each other after a long and grueling season.

While this is normally a cause for celebration and joyous reverence, I must ask that you sincerely think about your votes. You alone have the power to rightfully award the absolute best athlete for each award, or you could succumb to pressure and the awards devolve into a popularity contest.

One of the awards I speak of would be the International Simulation Football League Offensive Rookie of the Year award. The candidates are in the midst of being selected, and while I don't like to toot my own horn, I'm almost positive I will be one of those nominated for the award simply because I was one of the top 5 rookies this season, while other rookies simply had pedestrian seasons. For some positions, a pedestrian season may be enough to sway some voters because a pedestrian season as a rookie might actually be impressive for say, a quarterback, of which we have one. This rookie feels that the award should go to someone who has made the most impact for their team during their rookie season.

I know that I made the biggest impact for my team out of any rookie during Season 30. I managed to produce almost as much as the legend Heath Evans, whom I succeeded when he retired after Season 29. During his final season, he caught 70 passes for 803 yards (11.47 average yards per catch) and 6 touchdowns while pancaking 32 defenders and allowing 2 sacks. During my rookie season, I caught 80 passes for 831 yards (10.3 average yards per catch) and 4 touchdowns while pancaking 46 defenders and allowing only 1 sack.

There seems to be a pretty big difference in some categories, but look at a couple of underlying stats: during Season 29, Evans had an average of 4.4 catches per game for 50.2 yards per game for 24 first downs (good for a 34.3 first down percentage). During Season 30, Zack DiNozzo had an average of 5.1 catches per game for 51.9 yards per game for 36 first downs (good for a 44.4 first down percentage).

Needless to say, I came in clutch for the team on almost half of my targets that would have resulted in a first down while Evans only converted just over a third of those same types of targets. I also watched every Otters game last season, and Evans did not catch a game winning touchdown in overtime to win the game for the Otters. Guess who did? That's right, Zack DiNozzo caught the game winning touchdown during Week 11's win against the Austin Copperheads. While Evans had an overall better season from a receiving production perspective, Zack DiNozzo had an overall bigger impact as a rookie than Heath Evans did in his final season with the Otters.

I mean, let's even go back and compare Evans's rookie season to mine. Heath Evans played for the Arizona Outlaws during his rookie season in Season 22. While starting every game of the season, Evans compiled a stat line of 62 catches for 556 yards (good for an average catch of 8.96 yards) while catching 2 touchdowns. He also pancaked 34 defenders and allowed 2 sacks. Compared to my 80 catches, 831 yards (10.3 average) and 4 touchdowns while pancaking 46 and allowing only 1 sack, my rookie career was just... better. I mean, even for Season 30, I lead all rookies in receiving yards, touchdowns, and (besides a couple of great offensive linemen), and pancakes

While the only rookie quarterback, who I'm sure will get nominated SOLELY because he's a quarterback (heyo @Frick_Nasty, I'll @ you this time bb <3), had a very pedestrian and simply "meh" season. While this quarterback had a fantastic start to the season, he completely fell off a cliff from a production standpoint about 6 or 7 weeks into the season. The only thing he has going for him is a good touchdown to interception ratio, and that's simply because he did NOT take any risks. His main style of attack was dumping the ball off to his two fantastic running backs and maybe little dump offs to his tight end. Any balls he threw barely traveled more than 7 or 8 yards in the air. The bulk of his yardage comes from yards after the catch on these little dump off passes. Unfortunately, even good defenses have a hard time intercepting passes that barely go beyond the line of scrimmage, hence his low interception count. This rookie threw the LEAST amount of passes for the LEAST amount of yards and if you watch that quarterback's every game, I guarantee you that a majority of those yards were after the catch. Even a blind squirrel could probably throw one good pass beyond 15 yards in this league, so I'm sure there will be one. However, this rookie season was set to be game managing from the very beginning.

Is simply not losing games good enough to be Rookie of the Year while there's a player at a completely undervalued position in this league who absolutely made an impact on his team, actually winning games, and had almost 900 yards receiving despite being the FOURTH receiving option on his team at best?