(S41) PT #1 - Off-season Memories

[ElMerchanto]

Honestly, for a young player fresh off of an All-Pro performance in the DSFL all the while adjusting to a position swap, there isn't really an offseason. Brand would love to have said he took the family for a relaxing week on the shores of the Ionian Sea, but alas it was not to be this year.

Ultimately, stepping up to the ISFL level represents the biggest challenge any rookie could face. With first round & All-Pro honours doing nothing but intensifying the expectations of fans, management and even now teammates in Colorado, the pressure is on to perform. Because of this, offseason was spent in many darkness retreats, individualised training camps, and organised programmes with other players. All of this was before even the start of official training.

Now, Brand is looking forward to Week 1 of the season. How will he handle the shift from star player to rookie on the depth chart remains to be seen, but no one can accuse him of underpreparing, that much is for sure.

[TheRake]

The Offseason went by in a whirlwind for Rico Savage. After an earlier than expected playoff exit, Rico took a week off to recharge and recalibrate but once he got his mind right, it was right back to training for the ISFL Draft. Rico was luckily one of the 14 invited to attend the draft in person so aside from picking out his fit for draft night, he was busy doing media appearances in between his training regimen. After the draft, Rico took a couple days off to celebrate with his friends and family then immediately started packing his bags once he got the call from the GM telling him he’d be moving up ASAP to Chicago’s starting lineup. After getting settled into his new place, Rico spent his free time outside of the Butchers’ facilities getting to know his knew city, checking out The Bean, Field Museum, and of course, making a trip to Portillo’s for a dipped Italian Beef!

[kenvald]

Jamdrian decided to spend part of the off-season with his family going on a Caribbean cruise. Getting everything taken care of for two weeks. Free drinks, free food, free entertainment. Although maybe I should say "included", instead of "free". The big ship took them to multiple Caribbean ports such Jamaica, Haiti, and a bunch of the saint-islands. The most excitement Jamdrian had was during an excursion on one of the saint-islands where he had signed up to climb a volcano. Not an active volcano, luckily, but still a massive thing to hike and climb up. It took about three hours just to get to the top. A lot of people had to stop partway up because they were taking too long but the cornerback's athleticism made it mostly an easy climb. But that was really the only kind of exercise Jamdrian took part in before the camp. Otherwise there was just a lot of relaxing by the pools and on beaches, eating unhealthy foods. Just don't tell the Otters GM.

[Aneeqs]

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[ValorX77]

[Akoustique]

Kairo Knight, fresh off of the rush of winning an Ultimini, decided to take a few days during the offseason to really celebrate with the city of Bondi Beach. Parades, autograph signings, the whole shebang. After the great week that was championship week, Knight decided to take a trip away from Australia and the great outback, venturing to his hometown of Los Angeles, California in order to begin a second celebration with his family. Many cocktails and beers were shared with his hometown crew, to the point of overindulgence... so a few more days were needed in order to recover. Once the celebration had well and truly died down, Knight received a call, informing him that he would be on the Cape Town Crash's active roster this upcoming season. It was then that Knight chose to get right back to training his body and mind; the big leagues were not about to be kind to a brand-new rookie coming in.

[jollyjiggs]

Legs McMillion had a tough decision to make over the offseason. He was coming to terms with the fact that he was now a corner back, and needed to make the most of it.

As a wide receiver, Legs felt like everything came naturally for him. When the ball was snapped, he would simply run in a straight line and hope that his quarterback would hit him with a perfect dime. This was every single play, and it got repetitive for Legs after awhile.

This position switch allows Legs to use more of his (non-existent) brain. He is working hard to make sure he'll never get burned on a route. League officials have already gave the OK for Legs to kick ballcarriers in a showing of making the league more accessible for those without upper bodies. To aid with this, Legs has also picked up kickboxing. So offenses better stay sharp, otherwise Legs will make CTE numbers rise like they never have before.

[ztarwarz]

During the offseason, Luigi went to see the recently released Super Mario Brothers movie. While it was quite jarring to see himself on the big screen, he did have an enjoyable experience. He did, however, have a few major complaints about the movie; while the voice actors used to portray him, his brother, and some of his closest associates were not bad, per se, he did find it jarring that they did not sound like himself. He also was disappointed at the movie's decision to portray himself as a person in need of rescue, though he does admit that at the start of his career there was absolutely no way he'd be able to overcome Bowser and escape him on his own. Still, he feels that it does tie in a little to his old, incorrect reputation as a coward. "Scaredy cat I'm-a OK with, coward not so much."

He did, however, get a laugh at seeing Mario fail at platforming when he first got to the Kingdom. "I can't-a believe that Mario would let the producers show that footage! He's always been so image conscious."

[PoopNukem]

I spent a lot of this offseason just celebrating the good ol' days. Having fun with the boys and making sure I stayed sharp mentally and physically. It's easy to get distracted when everyone is so happy that you made it out of your boring-old small town. It was business as usually back there, same people doing the same things. Its one of the reasons I worked so hard to get out of that mess. I hired the best realtor in town to sell my parents old house and bought them a brand new home to live in. They loved it.

Finally, I took a few of my closest friends on a trip to NYC. For all of them, it was the first time they had ever been out of Porcelain and well, lets just say there was a little bit of culture shock. I introduced them to new foods, shows, experiences and really tried to show them what the world has to offer. I then flew to London to get acclimated, find myself new place to live and start preparing for my rookie season.

[bjkman]

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