Had it not been for the fateful accident (https://wiki.sim-football.com/view/Ignat...arly_years) which gifted Ignatious his athletic powers he would never have wound up playing football at South Harmon Institute of Technology. Fortunately for him, he did fall into that leather tanning chemical tank and he did wind up at South Harmon. Although marred with injuries in college, he was very fortunate to find his way into the DSFL. The biggest wake up call for Ignatious at this level came during week one of the regular season (DSFL 42). Cleetington wound be slotted as a fullback for the first week of games. Amassing an impressive two carries for zero yards and three pancakes, Ignatious was overcome with a complete loss of sense of self. Was his accident that day at the leather factory really nothing more than an accident caused by a corporation failing to uphold OSHA guidelines? Did fate not have a greater destiny with football in store for him? He began to question why he had even gotten into football in the first place. After the absolute system shock that was week one, Ignatious resolved to work harder and push himself to prove there was a reason he was given the gift of being an absolute monster with the pig skin. In week two of the regular season Ignatious began to find a rhythm with his team (the 10x Ultimini Championship winning Tijuana Luchadores) and is slowly coming back to the realization that he is bound for the Hall of Fame.
The change between the DSFL and ISFL was an intense one for Craig Brand, as an early trade and rigorous training programs made their impact immediately on his energy levels. Ultimately he rose to the challenge in a stellar rookie season, but is now facing the infamous sophamore slump, and tracking how he deals with this all too common conundrum will be one of the more compelling storylines in his early career. It's not too late to salvage some decent performances at least, but it's undeniably a weaker season than his initial stellar effort as a rookie transitioning to the ISFL level. Other than that he's adapted well to the ISFL level as well as learning to fit in to a more professional scheme where expectations are undeniably higher than at either the collegiate or the DSFL level, where individual mistakes are far more to be expected. Still, the sophomore slump looms long and hard for Brand currently.
Craig Brand - LB: S40 DSFL First Team All Pro - DAL S41 Defensive Rookie of the Year - CTC S41 Ultimus Champion - CTC S41 NSFC Pro Bowler - CTC
Sailor Moon's "Welcome to the league" moment came from her ISFL debut. While she was having a decent career in the DSFL with the Seawolves, she knew that she wanted to jump on an opportunity to get up to the big leagues of the ISFL as soon as she can. However, she would have to do it as a Fullback, and very quickly learned how tough that life can be in her first regular season game against the Arizona Outlaws. She only managed to get 2 catches for 8 yards total while she failed to get any pancakes and was just bullied by the opposition.
Despite the fact that Honolulu won the game, Moon felt bad about her stats. Many of her new teammates came to her to offer support however, such as the GM of the team telling her that it is ok to have a bad game when you are just starting, and that bigger and better games will eventually come, she just has to be patient. Moon was happy with the conversation, and joined her teammates in the victory celebration.
Dan Dandrews started out his DSFL career very strong, winning an ultimini in his first few games as a free agent pickup form the Bucs. It was that high that he began his professional career, it wasn't quite the first game but it was pretty close. Ever since he had that high of ultimate victory, he's been chasing that dragon ever since and it's what keeps Dan hungry for wins. Since that championship, Dan has moved away from being an offensive lineman towards and towards a defensive end, a position more suited to his skillset. A position where he can punish other teams for making mistakes and destroy some quaterback's whole career. As a DE, Dan plays a bigger role in trying to win that championship again and get that winning high. Despite a disappointing ending to last season where the Grey Ducks didn't make the playoffs, I think this is our season to once again progress to the top of that mountain and hoist the ultimini (but for a different team this time).
Rico’s ‘Welcome to the League’ moment happened in the offseason between the DSFL and ISFL. Having started early in College and the DSFL, Rico had not faced much adversity in the way of playing time. However, after being drafted by the Chicago Butchers, Rico was asked to play out of position as the team’s 2nd Inside Linebacker and as the team’s Nickelback. Neither of these positions were familiar to Rico but he wanted to do what was best for the defense and the team. Playing out of position really hampered Rico’s performance on the stat sheet as he was constantly playing hesitantly, not sure where he was supposed to be on the field, which caused him to be less aggressive, a hallmark of his play in college. As the season went on, Rico was able to learn the defense and become more comfortable, finally having breakout games against CTC and almost helping the Butchers squeak into the playoffs.
"...TheRake may be the most controversial new player of the S41 class. Notorious not only for shamelessly tampering but also for confidently arguing his broadly incorrect NFL opinions, TheRake has managed to navigate the dangerous waters of controversy fairly well—which is no small feat!" - aeonsjenni
DJ Maclean made his name in college as an elite edge rusher, a player QBs feared. Coming into the DSFL, he ended up playing as an inside linebacker and excelling in coverage in his first season. His sophomore season was a bit more of a struggle, as it was for the team generally. His stats were down across the board and he moved outside and found his pass rushing mojo again. Averaging a Sack per game for the rest of the season, he thought that the stage was set for his big move up to the ISFL, time to terrorise some QBs in the big league! But reality hit him like a wall. Yeah, the team effectively plays a base 3-4, so plenty playing time, right? Well, actually, it’s a lot more 3-3-5, so you’re going to get somewhere around 20 snaps per game. Those first few games, he felt like he had failed. He’s got to the top, but the games are passing him by. Luckily, when the season looked lost, he spoke with his coaches about his playing time, and they decided to test him on the outside. And he is paying them back in spades.
Jay Cue III welcome to league happens on every game night. When he throws a bunch of interceptions and pick sixes to help other teams get their wins. He was great in college, playing for Harvard, and now he just bloody sucks. Such is the life of a QB in this league.
The way Cue rebounds from this is to go to practice and try again. Another thing he does is to think about all his bad plays differently. Where you and everyone see a pick 6, Cue sees an opponent getting happy for padding his stats. Where you see a broken fan base watching him fail every single game, Cue sees a whole another fan base winning bets and getting happy because their team just won another game. I did not want to say it, but Cue pretty much keeps this league running by doing this. He is the glue that keeps everything together. And that glue stinks. (159 words)
Honestly, I wish my progression had been better. My rookie year had started out really well and I feel like this season has really been a step back. Not as many tackles for loss especially hurts some of my aspirations for the all time record. But ultimately my career is still early and hopefully at my top TPE levels I will be able to dominate defensively a bit and add my name to the history book in a few categories or potentially also finally by winning an award again of some kind or being in the running at least. So far I have not quite reached those heights anymore sadly in a long time and Maxwell does not look like a big contender either. But I am still growing and still earning TPE and far from regression so hopefully I can still challenge for those amazing spots among the Linebackers in the league and get even better and have some progression.
Coming into the DSFL was quite a shock for Gaius Gleel, who exclusively played Ultimate Frisbee at his Alma Mater, Bennington College. His stats showcased his athleticism, yet it was still a very different, much less physical sport. By the time the preseason started for the DSFL, Gleel thought he had adjusted quite well to this new more demanding sport. Still, the very first tackle he attempted was broken as he miscalculated how strong his opponent would be. In fact, the entire preseason he seemed a little more scared of contact than the rest of the players, which is particularly bad considering he is a linebacker (NOT A SAFETY).
Gleel has seemed to adjust quickly however as he leads all TRUE rookies--those that created after the ultimus--in tackles. As he becomes more comfortable with the sport of football, we can expect his stats to only get better as his skills become more defined. Code: Written option: Reflect on your player’s career, from their first football game to their current career in the ISFL or DSFL, and expound upon one particular story where your player faced their “welcome to the league” moment. How did the change in competition between college and the league, or between the DSFL and ISFL, initially challenge your player? Did they suffer a drop in stats or an ugly debut game? How did they rebound from it? I would have to say that Michaelangelo McTurtle's welcome to the league moment came in his first ISFL game with the New York Silverbacks. Even though New York ended up winning that game against the New Orleans Secondline 31 to 24 while on the road, McTurtle did not see any personal success in his first foray into the ISFL ranks. McTurtle only rushed the ball 14 times that game, but that was probably because he averaged only 1.3 yards per carry! McTurtle quickly found out that defensive lines at the top professional level are a lot better than the ones he was seeing down in the DSFL. He realized he was going to have to work a lot harder in order to accumulate rushing yards in the ISFL. Mikey managed to learn his lesson very quickly as in the next game against the Sarasota Sailfish McTurtle managed to put up 109 rushing yards on only 9 carries for a whopping 12.1 yards per attempt! He was also able to score the first rushing touchdown of his career so I would definitely say he learned his lesson from that first game against the Secondline. 193 words Thank you to @bfry for the signature!
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