(S24) - PT 2 - Rising Stocks

[Raven]

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Written Option: After four weeks of league action (and one week of the league down under), some teams’ stocks are flying high while others have been driven low unexpectedly. In 200 words, discuss a particular team or player and demonstrate how their hypothetical stock has risen or fallen since the start of the season. Is the team facing unexpected issues or a flurry of success? Has the player regressed unexpectedly on the field or have they taken a step forward?

After a 7-9 season in S23 the Honolulu Hahalua seemed to be finding their strive in the ISFL. However with a rookie quarterback, in Luke Skywalker starting for the Hahalua, the general consensus as to where they would finish this season looked to be dead last in the ASFC. However after 5 weeks of ISFL action, the Hahalua sit happily in second in their conference at 3-2. While it is still early day, this is a great start for them as they seek to continue this throughout the rest of the season. The defense has been tremenous with sophomore Jim Waters really coming into his own out on the field with 4 interceptions so far. Shawn Dawkins has scored one pick 6 on his two interceptions. Meanwhile the offense has been booming, rookie Nicholas Ayers has punching in 4 touchdowns on the rush aswell as 2 while receiving. Jed Polodak continues to have incredible form and is on his way to get another 1000 yard season under his belt.

Home games seem a bit of a worry, but after last nights win at home against Austin the tides seem to be turning for them. The stocks for the Hahalua seem to be rising and in a season where their young guns will only keep getting better and better who knows what they can achieve by the end of the season.

[Forty Jordy]

You can't deny that the Sarasota Sailfish stock has not punched a hole through the 55th floor of a midtown high rise. After finishing last season with a .500 record at 8 wins and 8 losses they are already 3 games away from reaching 8 wins 5 weeks into this season. Yes, that puts them at a perfect 5-0 record. Which is the only perfect record still standing. Two of those wins you cannot deny from Sarasota with both of these wins coming against formidable opponents, Colorado Yeti and Yellowknife Wraiths. The Colorado game is the most impressive win that Sarasota has won this season going on the road to Colorado, who just won the Ultimus in season 22 and winning 34 to 16. The part that you should not forget and as well as this is the fact that make Sarasota success surprising is the fact that this is their third season in this league. Which in ways is not surprising as you would expect their first two seasons to be a gimme and by the third season you would expect an expansion team to start showing success if they have built correctly. But what is surprising is for a 3 year old expansion team to be showing this much dominance.

[Thor]

You'll notice a few trends within the ISFL stock markets, the two main take aways I have seen so far are:

1) People tend to buy the cheapest stocks
2) People tend to not buy the most expensive stocks

There are good reasons as to why people take these approaches, a risk averse person would generally assume that the highest stocks have nowhere to go but down, and those with the lowest value can only get better. At the five week mark we can note that at least one of these theories holds absolutely no water, as those who have purchased Chicago Butchers stock can attest to with only a 0.17% increase from their starting value.

So far it seems as though the better approach for the risk averse investor would be to purchase stocks of a strong team coming off losing some away games, or underperforming over the short term and then selling upon the teams eventual rebound. The risk with purchasing stock in a cheap, yet unproven team is that there is no record of success to fall back on and this no guarantee that the turnaround will eventuate - on the other hand a team who is generally competitive but had a tough run is nearly assured to rebound from this. Those wise investors who purchased shares in the Orange County Otters after their 0-3 start to the season have been amply rewarded with a return of over 17% in the two weeks following.

Seemingly the best and somewhat safest approach would be to buy and sell the same team within two to three weeks rather than holding out hope for a blue chip investment.

[IsaStarcrossed]

I think for this particular task, there is really only one team that you can truly talk about. The now 1-4 Chicago Butchers have really thrown a lot of people in this league for a loop. They went out and signed a bunch of big name free agents with huge TPE numbers to make one of the most terrifying offense this league has ever seen. They have managed to build a solid core group of players through some decent drafting over the last couple season. They've managed to put together a roster that is third in TPE in our league. Looking at them on paper, almost the entire league saw this team making the playoffs. No on really saw them as world beaters who would take the league by storm, but people thought they might finally get the monkey off of their back and head into the next phase of Butchers football. Once again they would at least be middle of the pack. To start the season that has not happened at all. Their high flying offense is ranked dead last in the league. Their defense is being constantly torched. Most of their games haven't even been close as they've been systematically destroyed time and time again. This team is struggling with a third of the season gone and I'm not sure how they get back into the mix at this point. Chicago simply isn't who we thought they were

[Nictox]

SHL PT

[ddrector]

SHL PT

[Kotasa]

I do not think any team has had stock plummet farther than the Orange County Otters. In S23 the Otters went 11-5 and made the postseason semi-finals before being knocked out by the 8-8 Copperheads, which may have been a sign that the end was near for this team. A rocky start at 1-3 the otter’s offense and defense seem to be in a serious limbo. Looking at the points for and against does not tell the whole story though. 39 of their 90 points came in their only win against Honolulu, while on the road and very impressive I just am not ready to buy this team. Franklin Armstrong is one of the best QBs the league has seen and has brought the Otters three titles, but recently he has not been looking great on the field. Currently ranking tenth in the league on offense they have been relying on their defense to carry the load, it is not sustainable to rely completely on defense for the rest of the season. Offenses will figure out what you are scheming, adjust to it and start to pick them apart. Unless this team’s offensive coordinator can find someway to get momentum going, I don’t see the Orange County Otters making the post season in their QBs final year.

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217 words

Side note from the writer: I picked y'all to win the conference you're killing me please prove me wrong

[Pat]

The Arizona Outlaws have been the most negatively volatile stocks in the entire league, and this comes down to the very up and down play of star Quarterback Jay Cue. Cue has become the ISFL's version of Ryan Fitzpatrick - some games he goes out and looks like a world-beater, as he did in their week 2 win over Austin, when he threw for a very efficient 21/31 with 318 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. They, other weeks, you can tell he is trying to force it too much, like he did in their opening game against Honolulu, where he netted a 28.6 quarterback rating, while throwing for an abysmal 22/51 with 0 TD and 3 INT.

At the start of the season, many experts picked Arizona to fight for the ASFC regular season title, many thinking that the loss of RB Baby Yoda to Chicago in free agency would be something they could overcome due to the abilities of Cue. I think both the experts and the front office in Arizona may have underestimated the importance of Yoda to the Outlaws' offense. Teams have been able to sit back and force Cue to beat them, and so far this season, it's been a successful gamble.

Your position on the Arizona Outlaws' stock should depend wholly on your position on Arizona QB Jay Cue. If you think he has the ability to right the ship and play up to his potential, then buy and hold. If you think his poor games are going to be the norm going forward, sell, sell, sell!

[kingtag1999]

PBE PT 20-1

[zeagle1]

Sam Howitzer, the star QB for the Portland Pythons, is a player who's stock has started rising this season. He didn't have an incredible season last year, but put together a respectably above-average stat line on the worst team in the DSFL. He was drafted by the reigning ISFL champs, the Yellowknife Wraiths, and then sent back down to the Pythons for the season. This year, with more experience and TPE under his belt, he started the season strongish versus the reigning DSFL champs, the Norfolk Sea Wolves. 15/25 for 137 yards and 2 TDs is not a superstar performance, but when you consider the opposition, this is the first building block on the road to success for Sam Howitzer. Tonight he will match up against the London Royals and Minnesota Gray Ducks. In the preseason, Portland brushed London aside by a score of 35-19. Sam did not have a big night, only attempting 16 passes, but he did throw two TDs. If he can learn from the preseason and have a good showing tonight versus London, and capitalize on a Grey Ducks defense that gave up 334 passing yards and 3 TDs last week, Howitzer can catapult himself into being a top 5 QB in the DSFL. 

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209 Words