Quote:6. Write 800 words or more on something about anything in the league that interests you. It could be related to statistics, a league issue that you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s participation on a Werewolf server or something.
So here's the deal, I have a couple of things that I just don't understand when it comes to sim leagues at times. The way I'll start it out, possibly the most frustrating part of any league is the obsession with parity. That is because ultimately there just isn't a way to enforce it.
What I'll give to those who are supporters of parity, and who seek out parity, is that the ISFL really has it together it seems. I mean, it's a two win difference between second place and sixth place in the NSFC this sason. It's similarly a three win difference between the same spots in the ASFC. While it can make for a more exciting time watching the sims go down live, as realistically anything can happen, all it does is lead to a frustrating time with weekly prediction tasks and a situation where ultimately the top tier is untouchable and everyone else is just at a level of poor that makes them all about the same.
Just look at it in this league, Colorado is probably more touchable in the NSFC, as between Sarasota and Chicago, they have competitors who are close to them in record. Colorado should honestly be a bit nervous, as they have a slightly worse home record and now are stuck playing in their home stadium entirely. Sarasota has a great home team and a rough road team, and Chicago is opposite as an amazing road team that really struggled at home somehow. Colorado needs to be hoping for Sarasota to make it through.
However, on the ASFC side, there really isn't anything to wait for. Arizona and Honolulu are basically identical teams in a lot of ways. They both do slightly better on the road, but are just nothing worthwhile. Austin is a dominant team who has only lost to the New York Silverbacks in the ASFC, which is a team that didn't even make it to the playoffs. That's the thing, while the ASFC looks like a league with a ton of parity, it's that there's a lot of bad teams in the middle ground and one team that is at the absolute top. It doesn't make for that much excitement. You have some frustration, but the excitement wears off when you look at it more in depth and understand that there is one actually superior team above the rest and just no other way to put it.
I love the idea of parity, it just doesn't show you the same as you hope for. The NSFC is probably what you hope for the most out of it, as teams like Berlin and Chicago can be great depending on where they play. However, there still just isn't much of a hope there for the middle teams and the ASFC is just set up to watch Austin cruise to an Ultimus victory.
Beyond that, I'm going to toot my own horn a bit and highlight something a bit odd to me based on something that I've done a lot here. Scouting. I do a ton of scouting, never for my team or anything, but just to complete media basically. I am always searching through and trying to get things together for a massive media piece every off-season. And what I've come to understand is that I just see things differently than others.
To give an idea of what I see as differences here is partially a big gut feeling thing. I don't like to take people at face value much. I know that isn't the nicest way to be, and isn't the right way to view things, but I think of that as a part of why you could see that parity that has developed in this league. People are more likely to accept people, and with the requirement that everbody must be drafted, you see teams kind of having to work around more difficult personalities and potentially struggle with that.
When I say I don't take things at face value, I mean that as things like TPE earning. I keep an eye on people getting online, on the site, and being involved in things. If you're not on the site, you're not able to earn TPE, and it doesn't take a lot of time on the site to be able to do that. However, people get an eye on people who are currently earning and don't look to how often they're actually online and working for that TPE. Is this somebody that is around often? Are they completing tasks the day before they're due, or are they getting done with time to spare?
Here's why I focus more intently on that, as well as some other obvious parts. Everybody has a bad day, or a bad week. Everybody has life come up at some point. Careers last for years potentially -- this is where my lack of ISFL knowledge lands me in a bit of an awkward spot -- and in those years, you're never going to have a situation that just makes everything perfect. You're going to land in spots where life just isn't cohesive with sim leagues. If somebody is in multiple leagues, is working in major roles, and isn't really consistent in money earning and getting things done early on, this is somebody that you have a lot of risk on that looks really good. There's a lot of fool's gold in these leagues, and all it takes is one bad weekend for some of these people to fall off the wagon and suddenly land well behind the pack.
This is unfortunate, but it's a fact of life in these kinds of leagues. This is a difficult world, and there is a lot that you can sell yourself on. It's important that you understand that you aren't selling yourself and are instead being sold by the true value of the individual. I see a lot of people jumping on that fool's gold, and that can be a big factor in the parity of the league. I know it's difficult to know when drafting someone what they give you, but this is what a general manager signs up for and they have to be able to know that this is the best possible option.