A sit down with Sal: (50/50 @"Gbeck765" / @IceBear32)
Icebear: Sal, your rookie season is over…. How you feeling everything went so far?
But most groundbreaking question right off the bat. How does it fell to be in the presence of a DSFL Champion?
Sal Ami: Hey Ice Bear. Thanks for having me again. Our season hasn’t went as planned.One of the only things that I’ve seen this bad was Minnesota’s color rush field. With that being said, I was rooting for any team to beat you guys. You had been roasting me on Twitter all season long. Now it has only gotten worse. Waking up at 3-4am to random texts of duck gifs has been exhausting. It has reached the point now where I hate ducks in real life.
Let me ask you, take me through what it felt like winning the Ultimini. What was it like on the team side of things and also how did you celebrate the big win? Also What has been the biggest difference between this year and your rookie year?
Icebear: I’m still hurting from it. One to many Moscow Mules in celebration. But it was a super cool experience. THe team just in a voice chat during the stream. With our hot start it was hype for the entire steam. Something I won’t forget. I look forward to doing it again next year when we return!
So I have never done a sim league before, like yourself, so I’d say the biggest difference this season was just knowing my way around the forums and different discord channels. Just knowing where to find the information needed vs bugging some of the big ducks. Makes the weekly commitment a little less stressful when you can pop in and out and have everything done. I’d say the other big thing was not stressing about what I need to do with my TPE. Going into your second season you’ll be capped and will still want to earn your TPE but rather than figuring out how to distribute that, you’ll just bank it until you’re ready for the ISFL.
Scouting! You joined pretty close to the DSFL draft and really didn’t get to experience the scouting process. How things going for you with the ISFL draft right around the corner?
Sal Ami: Scouting is going great! I think this has been my favorite part since joining back in May. I’ve talked with a lot of teams and am getting some good vibes. I am hoping to surprise all of the mock drafters. I think I am going to go earlier than they all have me projected. One thing that did cross my mind is the possibility of us becoming teammates. I always enjoy a good win versus Icebear. Unfortunately this season in the DSFL, we couldn’t compete. But being on a team together may be fun. From rivals to teammates there are many story lines there. The last time we were teammates was intramural basketball in college and as you know, we weren’t too successful to say it in a nice way.
Icebear: That team was trash. I think our center at the time has now become an “expressive male model” so that can sum up our team pretty well for the readers here. Icebear was always meant for the gridiron, not the court.
Are you willing to list some of the teams your potential is excited about? I think elephant in the room has to be the Chicago Butchers and Sal Ami “The butcher” being a possible match made in heaven for the marketing team over there.
Sal Ami:When considering my love for Chicago, meats and my nickname, I think you are right. The media articles would almost write themselves. I do have to say that I’m excited to be drafted anywhere though. After talking with so many teams I’ve realized I’d be a great fit in a lot of places. I’d say there are a handful of teams that have shown the strongest interest, so I’m excited to see how things fall and if there is more of a dark horse team in play. Only time will tell!
Icebear: Positions - How are you feeling about tight end? Love it, hate it? If you could move to any position (not having the teams interested in mind) what position would that be?
I think I would look to consider QB as an alternative to my LB career, but I’m glad I’m on the defense and don’t have to watch the sim and cringe every time I would throw a ball. I was meant to crack QB skulls not to be one. Too pretty boy, sunshine, lifestyle for me. I’m about the getting dirty mindset. And now on Defense I get the opportunity to bash a certain tight end skull as well.
Sal Ami: I love tight end. This year I was TE3 on my team which is the most important position. You have to be ready whenever you name gets called in situations like: TE1 Needs new helmet straps, or in practice carrying all the extra gear on and off the field. Getting water for our other tight ends became a challenge for my cardio sometimes. If I had to move positions, I think RB would be fun, or maybe one of the defensive back spots. Running Back seems to me like it would be the funnest position in the sim. On the flip side,while I’ve grown used to running over linebackers like yourself, so imagine if I got an interception. I think it would be a pick 6 just about everytime.
I think you made the right call not being a qb. I’ve seen you throw a football and baseball before, so trust me, you wouldn’t be the only one cringing with each attempt.
Icebear: You'll lucky we're not in person. I'll throw a damn football right at your head. But moving on.. Twitter - I feel like I do a decent job on twitter and tweet way more than I have to. Where would you rank your twitter game in both the DSFL and in the entire league?
Sal Ami: Twitter is vastly under used in my opinion. It adds so much fun to this. I feel the same way in that I am always tweeting too much. I would say I am top 5 already in terms of ISFL or DSFL. I also reluctantly would place you there as well.
Icebear: I do have to note that @Fronk is pulling out some crazy black market gifs that have been on point lately too! I know you are hoping to hit the media forum pretty hard this offseason. Any sneak peaks of what we might be able to expect?
Sal Ami:You know I have put out a few different media articles this week. I also recently was able to get photoshop for “work”. So hopefully I can put some (bad) graphics out soon. I am hoping to put out a surprise Ultimus Bid some time soon also. I think I will be able to present a pretty strong case for a surprise city.
With this in mind, I have to ask you the same. What are some media pieces that you are thinking about putting together? Last year, there many were disappointed when you and Fronk’s Ultimus Bid was not selected. Do you think you are going to make another run at it this year?
Icebear: We don’t want to talk about that… WE will actually have this year's bid coming out very soon along with the recap of how the Toronto Ultimus turned out (RIP Perth). And of course we will continue the Ultimate Fan Experience. We still have a lot of stadiums to cover and we haven’t even begun to take a look at the DSFL experiences.
Outside of media write up, do you have any offseason training planned out?
Sal Ami: Well Ice Bear, you know me. I train like an animal during the season. But with the extra time off from missing playoffs, I have spent some extra time traveling around sampling some of the fine cuisines offered in the cities where many of our ISFL teams are located. I need to make sure I can hit the ground running wherever I am drafted. I’ve been known to go north of 400lbs in the offseason before cutting down to around 250 or so by camp. So right now I am focused on living my best life.
With a new season approaching quickly, are you going to be in HON, or staying with MIN to help defend your new championship? Your championship win was a top 10 worst day of my life. I don’t think I will ever hear the end of it. Do you have any big offseason plans?
Icebear: You know what, I haven’t actually been told one way or another but with HON in rebuilding mode I imagine I move on up. I do plan on staying in the Minnesota War room and help the team return to the Ultimini that way. But for my time on the field, I think it’s time to move on. But again you never know!
Sal, thanks for sitting down with me. I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t getting paid for it… I actually even think back that I still shouldn’t be doing it because you will also be getting paid.
Good luck to you on your upcoming draft. I’m sure the anticipation is killing you. Let's get something else on the books for a post draft interview. Maybe you can show off one of your “cool” graphics by that point!
Thanks!
Icebear: Sal, your rookie season is over…. How you feeling everything went so far?
But most groundbreaking question right off the bat. How does it fell to be in the presence of a DSFL Champion?
Sal Ami: Hey Ice Bear. Thanks for having me again. Our season hasn’t went as planned.One of the only things that I’ve seen this bad was Minnesota’s color rush field. With that being said, I was rooting for any team to beat you guys. You had been roasting me on Twitter all season long. Now it has only gotten worse. Waking up at 3-4am to random texts of duck gifs has been exhausting. It has reached the point now where I hate ducks in real life.
Let me ask you, take me through what it felt like winning the Ultimini. What was it like on the team side of things and also how did you celebrate the big win? Also What has been the biggest difference between this year and your rookie year?
Icebear: I’m still hurting from it. One to many Moscow Mules in celebration. But it was a super cool experience. THe team just in a voice chat during the stream. With our hot start it was hype for the entire steam. Something I won’t forget. I look forward to doing it again next year when we return!
So I have never done a sim league before, like yourself, so I’d say the biggest difference this season was just knowing my way around the forums and different discord channels. Just knowing where to find the information needed vs bugging some of the big ducks. Makes the weekly commitment a little less stressful when you can pop in and out and have everything done. I’d say the other big thing was not stressing about what I need to do with my TPE. Going into your second season you’ll be capped and will still want to earn your TPE but rather than figuring out how to distribute that, you’ll just bank it until you’re ready for the ISFL.
Scouting! You joined pretty close to the DSFL draft and really didn’t get to experience the scouting process. How things going for you with the ISFL draft right around the corner?
Sal Ami: Scouting is going great! I think this has been my favorite part since joining back in May. I’ve talked with a lot of teams and am getting some good vibes. I am hoping to surprise all of the mock drafters. I think I am going to go earlier than they all have me projected. One thing that did cross my mind is the possibility of us becoming teammates. I always enjoy a good win versus Icebear. Unfortunately this season in the DSFL, we couldn’t compete. But being on a team together may be fun. From rivals to teammates there are many story lines there. The last time we were teammates was intramural basketball in college and as you know, we weren’t too successful to say it in a nice way.
Icebear: That team was trash. I think our center at the time has now become an “expressive male model” so that can sum up our team pretty well for the readers here. Icebear was always meant for the gridiron, not the court.
Are you willing to list some of the teams your potential is excited about? I think elephant in the room has to be the Chicago Butchers and Sal Ami “The butcher” being a possible match made in heaven for the marketing team over there.
Sal Ami:When considering my love for Chicago, meats and my nickname, I think you are right. The media articles would almost write themselves. I do have to say that I’m excited to be drafted anywhere though. After talking with so many teams I’ve realized I’d be a great fit in a lot of places. I’d say there are a handful of teams that have shown the strongest interest, so I’m excited to see how things fall and if there is more of a dark horse team in play. Only time will tell!
Icebear: Positions - How are you feeling about tight end? Love it, hate it? If you could move to any position (not having the teams interested in mind) what position would that be?
I think I would look to consider QB as an alternative to my LB career, but I’m glad I’m on the defense and don’t have to watch the sim and cringe every time I would throw a ball. I was meant to crack QB skulls not to be one. Too pretty boy, sunshine, lifestyle for me. I’m about the getting dirty mindset. And now on Defense I get the opportunity to bash a certain tight end skull as well.
Sal Ami: I love tight end. This year I was TE3 on my team which is the most important position. You have to be ready whenever you name gets called in situations like: TE1 Needs new helmet straps, or in practice carrying all the extra gear on and off the field. Getting water for our other tight ends became a challenge for my cardio sometimes. If I had to move positions, I think RB would be fun, or maybe one of the defensive back spots. Running Back seems to me like it would be the funnest position in the sim. On the flip side,while I’ve grown used to running over linebackers like yourself, so imagine if I got an interception. I think it would be a pick 6 just about everytime.
I think you made the right call not being a qb. I’ve seen you throw a football and baseball before, so trust me, you wouldn’t be the only one cringing with each attempt.
Icebear: You'll lucky we're not in person. I'll throw a damn football right at your head. But moving on.. Twitter - I feel like I do a decent job on twitter and tweet way more than I have to. Where would you rank your twitter game in both the DSFL and in the entire league?
Sal Ami: Twitter is vastly under used in my opinion. It adds so much fun to this. I feel the same way in that I am always tweeting too much. I would say I am top 5 already in terms of ISFL or DSFL. I also reluctantly would place you there as well.
Icebear: I do have to note that @Fronk is pulling out some crazy black market gifs that have been on point lately too! I know you are hoping to hit the media forum pretty hard this offseason. Any sneak peaks of what we might be able to expect?
Sal Ami:You know I have put out a few different media articles this week. I also recently was able to get photoshop for “work”. So hopefully I can put some (bad) graphics out soon. I am hoping to put out a surprise Ultimus Bid some time soon also. I think I will be able to present a pretty strong case for a surprise city.
With this in mind, I have to ask you the same. What are some media pieces that you are thinking about putting together? Last year, there many were disappointed when you and Fronk’s Ultimus Bid was not selected. Do you think you are going to make another run at it this year?
Icebear: We don’t want to talk about that… WE will actually have this year's bid coming out very soon along with the recap of how the Toronto Ultimus turned out (RIP Perth). And of course we will continue the Ultimate Fan Experience. We still have a lot of stadiums to cover and we haven’t even begun to take a look at the DSFL experiences.
Outside of media write up, do you have any offseason training planned out?
Sal Ami: Well Ice Bear, you know me. I train like an animal during the season. But with the extra time off from missing playoffs, I have spent some extra time traveling around sampling some of the fine cuisines offered in the cities where many of our ISFL teams are located. I need to make sure I can hit the ground running wherever I am drafted. I’ve been known to go north of 400lbs in the offseason before cutting down to around 250 or so by camp. So right now I am focused on living my best life.
With a new season approaching quickly, are you going to be in HON, or staying with MIN to help defend your new championship? Your championship win was a top 10 worst day of my life. I don’t think I will ever hear the end of it. Do you have any big offseason plans?
Icebear: You know what, I haven’t actually been told one way or another but with HON in rebuilding mode I imagine I move on up. I do plan on staying in the Minnesota War room and help the team return to the Ultimini that way. But for my time on the field, I think it’s time to move on. But again you never know!
Sal, thanks for sitting down with me. I wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t getting paid for it… I actually even think back that I still shouldn’t be doing it because you will also be getting paid.
Good luck to you on your upcoming draft. I’m sure the anticipation is killing you. Let's get something else on the books for a post draft interview. Maybe you can show off one of your “cool” graphics by that point!
Thanks!
![[Image: icebear32.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/icebear32.gif)
