14. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season? (5 TPE)
The Orange County Otters have had an amazing underdog run this season, making it all the way to the Ultimus with a chance to win it. We were last in our conference last season as we were only able to collect 3 wins, putting up a 3-13 record. Before the season started, the team made lots of moves in the draft, drafting 8 players in the first two rounds. 3 of those players started as rookies this season and made huge impacts for the otters. As the season began, the Otters jumped out to a 3 game losing streak instantly. It was looking as grim as last season, however, that changed when we quickly answered it with a 3 game winning streak. Our QB, Carter, played much better those weeks and was safer with the ball. After we got back to even at .500, we went on to go on another 3 game losing streak. The rest is history after that, we answered with a 6 game win streak to close the season, just losing to the Arizona Outlaws at the end. We finished second in our conference for the regular season, grabbing dominant wins over good teams in our conference giving ourselves plenty of momentum going into the postseason. I don’t think many on the team, including myself, saw a breakout season like this coming after we hadn’t made the playoffs in a few seasons. The low points of the season were the two losing streaks, but honestly we quickly answered both of them. I wouldn’t have had this season go any other way, we overcame our low expectations and flipped the script from last season. Maybe I would have trained more, but that’s it. My expectations for next season honestly aren’t super high even though we’re in the Ultimus tomorrow. I understand the team is very young, so nothing is guaranteed as there might be growing pains. However, I’d love to see us make it to the playoffs again as we did this season as we’re only going to improve.
342 Words
22. You’re in charge of entertainment for the Ultimus or Ultimini half-time show. What would you do? (2.5 TPE)
The first thing I’m doing is calling Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons and trying to set up the venue for him to be the star of the half-time show. I’d do everything in my power to get their band to play at the half-time show since I know they have some hype songs that would really get the fans and players engaged. Now that I’ve got my band, I need to work on the lighting. I’m putting as many bright neon lights in the rafters as possible, as many as I can afford. The most important thing though, is the stage. That’s why I’m hiring a gold company to plate our wooden stage with gold designs. It has to be the best for our standards, this is going to be the best halftime show of all time so it needs to look like it. Lastly, I’m hiring restaurants and food trucks to give out free food during the halftime show so that the fans can enjoy the show without being hungry.
171 Words
27. What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why? (2.5 TPE)
The team with the best branding in the league is the Sarasota Sailfish. I love their name first of all, the Sailfish name goes perfectly with Sarasota and forms a nice alliteration. The logo, Sailfish, is perfect for Sarasota as well. I love seeing the big swordfish as the cover for the brand. I also love the colors, the blue and green combination is perfect for an aquatic setting, they really nailed it. The team that could use a refresh for their brand is the Portland Pythons. I can tell you as someone from the PNW (WA), that there are no pythons anywhere close to Portland and it makes absolutely zero sense that they chose that as their team name. Also, there are better cities in the pacific northwest to use rather than Portland including Seattle, Vancouver, and Tacoma. But first you definitely need to find a better team name, the green and brown colors also don’t go very well together either. The whole brand needs to be scrapped, respectfully.
170 Words
The Orange County Otters have had an amazing underdog run this season, making it all the way to the Ultimus with a chance to win it. We were last in our conference last season as we were only able to collect 3 wins, putting up a 3-13 record. Before the season started, the team made lots of moves in the draft, drafting 8 players in the first two rounds. 3 of those players started as rookies this season and made huge impacts for the otters. As the season began, the Otters jumped out to a 3 game losing streak instantly. It was looking as grim as last season, however, that changed when we quickly answered it with a 3 game winning streak. Our QB, Carter, played much better those weeks and was safer with the ball. After we got back to even at .500, we went on to go on another 3 game losing streak. The rest is history after that, we answered with a 6 game win streak to close the season, just losing to the Arizona Outlaws at the end. We finished second in our conference for the regular season, grabbing dominant wins over good teams in our conference giving ourselves plenty of momentum going into the postseason. I don’t think many on the team, including myself, saw a breakout season like this coming after we hadn’t made the playoffs in a few seasons. The low points of the season were the two losing streaks, but honestly we quickly answered both of them. I wouldn’t have had this season go any other way, we overcame our low expectations and flipped the script from last season. Maybe I would have trained more, but that’s it. My expectations for next season honestly aren’t super high even though we’re in the Ultimus tomorrow. I understand the team is very young, so nothing is guaranteed as there might be growing pains. However, I’d love to see us make it to the playoffs again as we did this season as we’re only going to improve.
342 Words
22. You’re in charge of entertainment for the Ultimus or Ultimini half-time show. What would you do? (2.5 TPE)
The first thing I’m doing is calling Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons and trying to set up the venue for him to be the star of the half-time show. I’d do everything in my power to get their band to play at the half-time show since I know they have some hype songs that would really get the fans and players engaged. Now that I’ve got my band, I need to work on the lighting. I’m putting as many bright neon lights in the rafters as possible, as many as I can afford. The most important thing though, is the stage. That’s why I’m hiring a gold company to plate our wooden stage with gold designs. It has to be the best for our standards, this is going to be the best halftime show of all time so it needs to look like it. Lastly, I’m hiring restaurants and food trucks to give out free food during the halftime show so that the fans can enjoy the show without being hungry.
171 Words
27. What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why? (2.5 TPE)
The team with the best branding in the league is the Sarasota Sailfish. I love their name first of all, the Sailfish name goes perfectly with Sarasota and forms a nice alliteration. The logo, Sailfish, is perfect for Sarasota as well. I love seeing the big swordfish as the cover for the brand. I also love the colors, the blue and green combination is perfect for an aquatic setting, they really nailed it. The team that could use a refresh for their brand is the Portland Pythons. I can tell you as someone from the PNW (WA), that there are no pythons anywhere close to Portland and it makes absolutely zero sense that they chose that as their team name. Also, there are better cities in the pacific northwest to use rather than Portland including Seattle, Vancouver, and Tacoma. But first you definitely need to find a better team name, the green and brown colors also don’t go very well together either. The whole brand needs to be scrapped, respectfully.
170 Words