*It's over!

Opera_Phantom · (This post was last modified: 07-17-2020, 12:21 AM by PigSnout.)

Yeah, it is true. This might come as a surprise to some, but it is finally over for young QB Jay Cue.

Looking back at my career, I have to say that it was a bit disappointing. But let us start from the beginning.

Well, Opera_Phantom was one day casually swiping on r/nfl and the occasional r/gonewild post on his phone (Baconreader), when he sees something that piqued (Screw you moose) his interest. A simulation football league? What? How did I miss something like this? Apparently, the recruiting team had posted there a few months before, but somehow, I must have missed it. Strange. Seems like it could be cool, so let us check that out.
Hummm… A forum and discord based sim game? Well, that is definitely a first for this Portuguese dude, never heard of something like this before. First of all, let’s try and get our discord password back, have not used that for a few years I think, and then register at the forum. Ok, now it is time to look at the Rookie Guide and decide what position I want to be. I have always wanted to be a QB on a sim game, but come on, there is like 10 teams on the league, probably that is a heavily packed position with the most experienced users right? Besides, everyone on reddit is saying that it is one of the few positions that if you want to be good, you have to be really active… That’s not good, what if I get fed up with the game? What if it is really hard to grind and upgrade my player? Well, screw that, I want to be a QB, I will be a QB, we will see what happens later. Besides, Cam Newton is the bomb and I can choose a Mobile QB Archetype! That is perfect. I can already imagine myself running through those defenses and getting some rushing TD’s and doing the Superman celebration. Great!

After creating my player, I hop on discord and immediately get DMs about my player. What was a planning to do in the game, if I was willing to change positions (classic), if I was willing to be active enough to have a good QB, all those questions that I later found out were pretty normal for new users.
For a couple weeks I think, the new players gathered on discord and created a nice environment. I was always looking for new QB users that might steal my spotlight, and there were a couple, but if I played my cards right, I was confident I could land on a team and be a game changer for them. I knew that that dude that was putting up like 3 50k words media a day was probably going first (I mean, who has the time and desire to write that much, damn!), but everything after that pick was fair game. I tried to get some media out to help with money for equipment buys, which helped me get a feel for the league and it’s history.
Coming draft day, I had talked with pretty much every team in the DSFL, so I knew I was high on some draft boards, so I decided to stay awake later that night to see the draft stream live (it was streamed at like midnight or 1AM in Portugal) and to my surprise I was drafted at #5 (#1 QB off the board) by the Portland Pythons. Funny that Maurice Virtanen was drafted at #4, right before my pick, and we eventually “fought” for the S18 TPE lead until a few weeks ago. Some of the players that got in the game at that time are still playing, but I think most either recreated or quit the game entirely. Too bad.

It was a match made in heaven, and the Cue Python connection hit the ground running that season, where he helped the Portland team get to a 11 – 3 record in the regular season and later to a Ultimini loss vs those damn Tijuaners. Still, 22:13 TD to Int ratio, a tie for the most TD passes in a DSFL season and an MVP award is not a bad calling card for sure. Then, the moment every player is anxious for, the NSFL draft. Who would take a risk on an unknown Portuguese dude for a Max Earn needed position? I was one of the top TPE earners, I think like Top 3 (if not, at least 5), and I knew that if I decided to change positions I would be drafted around there, but I decided to stick to my guns and be a QB in the NSFL. And even though I was watching the stream live, knowing that I would not be drafted that high, I could not help in being disappointed on seeing players with less TPE and activity get drafted, while I was on the board. It really sucked, but hey, I knew that coming into the draft as QB. Finally, with the 8th pick of the second round, 18 OA, I was selected by the Arizona Outlaws to replace Andrew Reese and become their QB of the future. And by “the future”, I mean exactly that, because I had to drop to the DSFL for another 2 long seasons. I was honestly thinking I would be going to Philly to become the new liberty QB after Adriana Falconi, but the Outlaws jumped them. I hope that, in a good way, some teams regret not taking Jay Cue in that draft. Some teams were completely set on QB for a while, but some others besides Arizona and Philly, i think could have had a different fate if they took me when they could. I guess we will never know.

But those seasons extra seasons in the DSFL were good for Jay Cue. In his 2nd with Portland, he led them to the championship. After another 11 – 3 season, this time against the San Antonio Marshalls, beating them 23 – 10, with Cue getting the game MVP award. He also won the season MVP award, again with 22 TD passes.
The 3rd season was the worst one. 8 – 6 regular season record and a loss on the conference final game vs the eventual Ultimini winners, the Minnesota Grey Ducks.
Looking at his DSFL career, we have to consider Cue one of the best QBs ever to grace the league. With regular season and playoff games, he had 47 total games for Portland, with 8895 passing yards, 73 TDs and 33 Int, for a Quarterback rating of 87.7 and he is still tied for the most TD passes in a season record with a certain Franklin Armstrong.
After this, finally he arrived in the NSFL. And while his time in the league was not perfect, he did pretty well in my opinion. Coming into a team in rebuild mode, he led the Outlaws to a 7 – 6 record in Season 20, missing a playoff spot by 1 win. Even though he did not get a postseason spot, he was nominated for the season MVP award, getting 2nd place behind the perennial Franklin Armstrong.
After this fairly “successful” season, he did not accomplish anything else relevant. Season 21 the team finished last in their conference, with a 3 – 10 record. Season 22, brought them a 4 – 8 – 1 record, only ahead of an expansion team, the Honolulu Hahalua and now, on Season 23, the team is still on the playoff hunt, fighting with pretty much every team on their conference. 3 games to go in the regular season and they sit 3rd, ahead of the Austin Copperheads, who are having a very disappointing season. Still a lot to play for, so maybe this time Cue gets his first playoff start. This week he will play 3 very important games, that will end in heartbreak or joy. Coming into this season, he was with nearly 11 thousand passing yards and 62 TD passes, numbers that are growing very well, as he is having what I think it is an MVP caliber season.

While all this was happening, Cue was earning TPE at a very good rate. He is not very good with predictions or fantasy football, so he missed a lot of TPE there, but still, he managed to keep his earnings at the top of the Season 18 class. For a QB that is extremely important and I feel he did very well with that. I even tried to get some mates to come to the game for that sweet referral TPE, but to no avail. This type of game has no relevance in Portugal, so i guess i will be the only one here for a while. I even tried to get a portuguese user from the EFL to sign up here, but he was not interested. Sucks. I need that TPE.

Outside the field, Opera_Phantom tried to help the league grow as much as possible. He was part of the Player Progression Team, a banker and had a short stint as a Head Office Intern, which was great. Helped a lot of new users on discord and did his best to be a good locker room presence. I even decided to run a NFL Draft prediction thread that, while i was hoping we had a few more entrances than we did, i think it was pretty cool and fun.

I would like to thank a few people, sorry in advance if I miss someone, my memory is not what it used to be!

First, Saba and Toasty, for taking the chance on drafting an unknown guy to lead the Portland Pythons. I have nothing but respect for both of them, even though we do not agree with everything.
Then, SwagSloth and Moosecop, that saw what I could bring to the team and drafted me to the Arizona Outlaws where I found an incredible locker room, filled with a lot of great users, that I really enjoy talking to.
To every single one of my Arizona Outlaws teammates, new and old, I am really sorry you suck and can’t be as great as Cue, so you keep dragging him down! Kidding. Or am I? I might be. Or not... Last couple of seasons, with the big draft classes, the team environment became completely different, for good, with so many active and engaged players. The war room members, Unicorn, BRNX, Thor, Zamir, Soryan and xQc this season (Saba, Moose and Swag also), we have so many good talks there and bash on so many opponents, teams and players, it is really fun to be a part of it and that made the game a better place for me.
As for other players, the eternal TE Hall, Baconbrother (he will come back I hope), Isa, CLG, Frostbite, bex, GvE (RIP), Isidore (RIP, hope you are OK), drector, DylanDeluxe (RIPpest), Drizzy, Mooty (you suck at GMing), manic, infinite, Dwyer, teyon, raven and soooo many more users that I had the pleasure to “meet”, thank you all for pushing me back into the game and discord and making this game so enjoyable for me.
Sorry if I got on the wrong side of any of you reading this, if I did, let me know so that we can fix it while we have time. I am not ashamed to own my errors or bad attitudes.

After all this, let me tell you why I am writing all this. I sit now at 1239 TPE (or Training Points Earned!), one short of the 1240 necessary for me to become a Max stat QB. With last night predictions, trivia and PT, I am going to be over that next week. I can’t wait to earn whatever I can next season so that I can fight regression and help the Outlaws for as long as I can and they want me there.

Now get me that 2x media money so that I can buy equipment and save for my next player. Thank you all for reading this long post.

(2004 words)