(S37) Offseason Task

[Cody]

Tier 3 - 25. Imagine your current position was not available to be picked when you created your player. What other position would you have picked, and why? (Written Task)

With my newest recreate and being a General Manager I didn’t have the luxury to pick a position I wanted to play. I created at Tight End but was 99% sure I would have to swap out of that position to help the team as General Managers almost always do in this league. So, I swapped from Tight End and returned to Linebacker the position I had just retired from with my previous player.

If Linebacker was unavailable, I believe I would have stuck with Tight End, they’re kind of the unsung heroes for teams. They can help protect the Quarterback by throwing out some nasty pancake blocks or they can try to light up the stat sheet with receptions, yards, and touchdowns. I think outside of benefiting the team it would be great to be included in fantasy rankings and write-ups for each season. As with defenses your bulked in with your teammates.

Tier 3 - 26. Football is a game that has been going on for a while, loved by fans all over. But what if you were able to make some rule changes? Talk us through your new version of football, and what would be different and why? (Written Task)

The game of football has been around for over 100 years. In that time there have been small changes on and off the field. The most notable change off the field in my opinion would be Free Agency. This allowed players agency to get out from teams they feel like were not doing right by them. I however think a more radical approach would be to reign down chaos upon the league year after year. The ISFL should institute a redraft for every team after every season. The only people to stay on a roster would be the General Managers of that team.  We will see all new rosters every single season, you won’t have users dedicated to going back to the same team with every recreate. You’ll see the teams who have had trouble making it to the Ultimus all the sudden be on the same playing field as other franchise. It would make for very exciting times.

Tier 3 - 27. What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why? (Written or Graphic Task)

I should have finished this task a week beforehand. Obviously, the easiest choice for a refresh would’ve been the San Jose SaberCats, they had an older logo that new users consistently ranked towards the bottom of their branding rankings when they would post media. That being said with their new rebrand I think they move out of the cellar.

I don’t think any teams necessarily have a bad logo at the moment. I think some teams could use a small refresh, one of those being my team the Philadelphia Liberty. The Liberty did a redo of their logo about 10 seasons ago that while I believe it improved upon the previous brand it could use a facelift. I think more focus needs to be given to the Liberty Bell itself as that’s our branding. It’s not far off from where it should be but could definitely use a little bit of tweaking.

Tier 3 - 29. Awards have been a subject of controversy for a while in the league. Tell us your ideas on how awards process can be fixed. (Written Task)

The Awards have had issues in the past, I think the biggest issue was the time crunch between end of season and announcing the ballots. I think it was basically look at the index, who had high numbers and slap them on the ballot. Season 36 was the first season to utilize the new Awards Committee, a group dedicated to focusing on awards and producing the best ballot at the end of the season. As the Head of the Awards Department. I think this process went well the first season and we’re looking at tweaking it for Season 37. The introduction of the players of the week and awards tracking media should help ease users minds when it comes to nominations. 

I also think getting rid of positional awards and having the All-Pro team be the de-facto awards winner works out much better as the team is tracking players stats and performances all season and really nailing down those players who deserve it the most.

[Ulaire]

2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?

Season 36 draft class can truly be called special. It will go down in ISFL history as one of the biggest, the one that brought a lot of active and high earning players to the league. According to the stats I've seen (not sure how right are them) it's the third biggest class in leagues history, slightly less than season 22 and 25 drafts. To understand it's prominence DSFL capped players were still  taken as low as fifth round of the draft, and you could find active players up to the seventh round.
But it's not only about high earning players. A ;lot of people that come from the draft have taken league jobs very fast. A lot of DSFL GMs are now from that draft - two in Tijuana Luchadores, one in London Royals, One in Kansas City Coyotes (this one can change though), one in Minnesota Grey Ducks, one in Dallas Birddogs and one in Bondi Beach Buccaneers. As you can see, players raised quickly to the top of their respecting teams, and I/m sure that we will see ISFL GMs from this draft class soon. And what's even more interesting, it's that this players are all new creates, not veteran ISFL players. I shouldn't also forget to mention that one new create currently holds position in the Head Office, and I won't be surprised if in several seasons we will see Xave as a league's commissioner.
Saying all that my own target is now to be remembered as a greatest linebacker of this draft, which can definitely get hard. According to tpe tracker there are five active linebackers from the draft left. But all of them are close to max earning, with Chucky leading all the players with massive 550 tpe, which are from one side, absolutely insane for two seasons of play, and on the other side are good just for sixth position in the overall draft. Next one is yesboom with 522 tpe, staying in London for his third season. Yesboom is my future teammate in Arizona, so it will be interesting to see how our careers and stats will go. Third one, is your humble servant with just 489 tpe. Yeah, I missed some point tasks, and forgot to put up predictions, shame on me. Should have roughly twenty or thirty tpe more. That's why I felled all the way to the third round the draft,
I have kind of a friendly rivalry with Chucky, who managed to snipe the last one DSFL Linebacker of the Year award from me in ours first season. We both got our unanimous all-pros though. DSFL Linebacker of the Year award was not reachable anymore, but I managed to get my due still, winning DSFL MVP and MOP in season 36. First defensive player to win DSFL MVP in the history as far as I know, so not that bad. Now as we both got call ups for our ISFL teams, maybe we will have a chance to contend for Defensive rookie of the Year award in ISFL. We will have good competition from players on other positions. Abh and Noncomplicit as a defensive ends duo in Sarasota, Arkz as defensive tackle in Yellowknife. Not only defensive line players, but also very high earning players on secondary - Zayn as a corner for his Silverbacks, and great safeties Friesen, repgnar, and Twenty6. And here i only mentioned players that have more tpe than me, with such active class, there probably will be much more competition for this award during the season.
So, with this small text I hope you got some understanding why I consider my draft class to be the special one. In future seasons I'm sure we will se a lot of more deep analysis of the class, redraft media, draft grades, and so on. And of cause some ISFL Hall of Fame media. Hopefully from me too.

[NamelessNate]

2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?

My draft class in the really definitely International Sim Football League generally specifically is the definitely the best draft class the pretty International Sim Football League will ever see, in fact if will specifically literally be kind of better than any draft class the very really National Sim Football League definitely essentially has seen too, which basically actually is quite significant in a subtle way. My draft class will for all intents and purposes actually accumulate the most TPE ever seen in the definitely kind of International Sim Football League and it all actually really starts with the players in my draft class, or so they really kind of thought in a really big way. The players in my generally basically International Sim Football League draft class kind of actually are all driven to basically mostly make the most of this opportunity, and that mostly is why we will for all intents and purposes mostly be the definitely the literally the best draft class the sort of basically International Sim Football League for the most part essentially has ever seen in a fairly fairly major way, which specifically is fairly significant. I definitely specifically think everyone in my draft class will for all intents and purposes become a hall of famer, it will essentially actually be amazing to for all intents and purposes mostly see one day the pretty pretty International Sim Football League hall of fame being filled out with just one draft class, which essentially is quite significant in a kind of major way. Even though I''\'m not new to the league I already generally really know that my draft class will mostly particularly be the literally the best one that kind of pretty International Sim Football League literally particularly has ever seen, fairly generally contrary to popular belief in a subtle way. We mostly basically have very very high quality talent in players for all intents and purposes generally such as h0ppy, namelessnate, lane frost, unconfident and so fairly many generally sort of more users that literally are known to the very International Sim Football League at pretty actually large that really generally are all proven to really literally be generally sort of great max earners in a kind of big way, so my draft class will for all intents and purposes definitely accumulate the most TPE ever seen in the definitely sort of International Sim Football League and it all actually definitely starts with the players in my draft class, or so they really thought in a sort of big way. In fact the for all intents and purposes definitely whole class particularly literally is just chock definitely pretty full of max earners, so there actually actually is no way that this class can fail, or so they mostly thought in a kind of big way. This will most certainly generally kind of be the really the definitely the best draft class that the really very International Sim Football League for all intents and purposes literally has ever seen in a really kind of big way, showing how we mostly specifically have very kind of high quality talent in players for all intents and purposes very such as h0ppy, namelessnate, lane frost, unconfident and so actually many generally generally more users that definitely are known to the very very International Sim Football League at pretty pretty large that really generally are all proven to really literally be generally pretty great max earners in a generally big way, so my draft class will for all intents and purposes kind of accumulate the most TPE ever seen in the definitely actually International Sim Football League and it all actually really starts with the players in my draft class, or so they really thought, contrary to popular belief. From what I can really essentially tell h0ppy for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes is on the same team as me which kind of actually is particularly for all intents and purposes good because that particularly for all intents and purposes is what we wanted, this enables us to actually care about the league, very for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief, which for the most part is quite significant.

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[Liter]

6. Write 600 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 600 words about your team’s participation on a Werewolf server or something.


What interests me? Well funny you should ask, since this will probably interest you. There is a team, a team some would consider weak, perhaps. This team is not weak, at least it's potential isn't weak because honestly, it's not that strong right now. This team is call the Berlin Fire Salamanders, the name and home city of this team is interesting, it isn't even subjective, it is objectively interesting to me and everyone with a brain. The logo of this team, have you seen it? There's nothing more interesting than it, at least there's no other logo more interesting, no offense to other teams but you can't beat perfection. These parts of the Berlin Fire Salamanders are interesting yes, but they are surface level details, the real interestingness if this team comes from what they're made of. I'm not talking about flesh, clogged arteries, organs and stuff I'm talking about what defines them. This team is defined by super tough dudes, a trait most other teams can lay claim to but what makes this team stand out more than the rest, the Berlin Fire Salamanders  excel at having a brighter future than every other team in the league. The Berlin Fire Salamanders have around 10 rookie and second year players on their defense ready to take the league by storm. It's quite INTERESTING how promising the defense is, the team finished fairly poorly last season but this upcoming season, I wouldn't be surprised if the defense puts up some astonishing numbers. Seriously, the linebacker core alone is amazing, two linebackers, including your's truly, are entering their second year of their contract with an average of 500 TPE (or something close to that, I'm just making an educated estimation). Two of the rookies of the Berlin defense were nominated for defensive rookie of the year, unfortunately neither won but one of them, again, your's truly, got votes for the all pro team which is pretty impressive probably. The scary part is that in addition to these players, the Berlin defense is gaining even more help on defense by calling up their other season 36 linebacker who has the most TPE of any other defensive player taken in the S36 draft, definitely going to be a major upgrade for the defense. Another interesting detail I should talk about is that the Berlin Fire Salamanders had plenty of young amazing talent, like the ones I've talked about, going into the S37 draft, and what's surprising is that they decided to go even further and went and took one of the best, if not the best, defensive player in the draft. They drafted a linebacker to go along with their already stacked linebacker core. Should they have gone for a more balanced approach and draft a different area of need? I can't say for certain because I don't know, but this pick has certainly made it clear that this defense is gonna be turning heads and stuffing opposing offenses for plenty of seasons to come. All of this has been about the defense, I haven't even mentioned the offense, which features a promising young QB who was nominated for offensive rookie of the year, another reason to watch out for the Fire Salamanders in the upcoming season, they might be 2 year rookies, but they're quickly going to evolve into league leaders, I promise you that. This team is definitely going to be making headlines this season and will be talked about many times. They might not win the championship next season, but they'll be a contender for plenty of seasons to come, their defense will ensure they get the opportunity to win games frequently and easily.

[shadyshoelace]

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2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?

As a member of the season 29 draft class, my player and my peers are starting to decline after reaching the primes of our careers just a couple of short seasons ago. With that in mind, it's a great time to take a retrospective look back at the players and users that made up the S29 class, where they were drafted, and how their careers have gone to this point. I'll start with the easiest player to talk about: Dante King, my own receiving running back who was drafted first overall by the Baltimore Hawks as the first of the team's four first round picks in this class, one that would hope to be foundational for the franchise's future. I think that I've been a helpful player to the Hawks and ranked as the third-highest TPE player in the class at my peak. While another player we'll get to shortly has been better at my position, I think that I was a solid choice for Baltimore as I've been a very loyal contributor over my career. The other three Hawks picks were cornerback Lip Gallagher at third overall, defensive tackle Will Smyth at tenth, and linebacker-turned-saftey Tre' Mendus Johnson at thirteenth. Gallagher and Johnson both ended up living up to their draft slots by TPE (second and eleventh in the class, respectively) while Smyth topped out at just under 700 TPE - not an absolute bust, but certainly not what Baltimore hoped. Johnson and Gallagher unfortunately both ended up departing the team unexpectedly, so while they were smart selections at the time, Baltimore has to look back with some degree of disappointment.

In the first round, there were a couple of other notable busts - the biggest being Suggs Upshar, drafted by the Orange County Otters at sixth overall, who went inactive with just 319 TPE and never applied any past the DSFL cap, I presume never playing a down in the ISFL (but can't be bothered to look it up for sure). Fifth pick Chevvy Bronko, seventh pick Sam Squanch, and twelfth pick Marcus Jones each ended up in similar places as Smyth, topping out at 626, 726, and 718 TPE respectively.

On the other hand, there were also several steals worth mentioning. The first and foremost player to note has to be running back Jay Cue Jr., who was drafted as the second RB off the board all the way down at eleventh overall. He leads the class in peak TPE (one of the highest totals ever I believe) and has already put together a Hall of Fame career for himself, ranking in the top ten all-time in rush attempts, rush yards, rush touchdowns, and scrimmage touchdowns as well as the top fifteen in scrimmage yards. However, he bolted for the Arizona Outlaws, the user's former career-long team, shortly after his rookie contract, meaning the Wraiths didn't get a chance to earn much value on their selection. However, it's pretty mind-boggling that such a well-respected user ended up falling so low. Besides Cue, John Huntsman (seventeenth overall to Sarasota), Buffalo Hunter (fifteenth overall to San Jose), and Rean Schwarzer (twenty-ninth overall to Orange County) all ended up in the top ten of TPE for the class despite being selected outside of the first round, making them very valuable selections that ought to have been picked earlier in hindsight.

All things considered, the season 29 draft class has made its mark on the league and produced a fair number of impactful contributors to the league, although it's not immediately clear to me which outside of Cue are positioned to etch their name in league history by entering the Hall of Fame when their careers are up. This class is only a couple of seasons into regression, however, which means there is still plenty of ball to be played for King and co.

[3lewsers]

I joined the ISFL over 2 years ago and I have had a great time. From learning the ropes with my first player in Norfolk, to being drafted by Baltimore, the early days of my first career led me to sticking this league out. There was quite a rough patch in later days of my Hawks career where the team was losing its way and it was frustrating to be a part of. The locker drama, the constant complaining from team management was making the league the opposite of fun. Then, it perked up when I joined the San Jose Sabercats later in my career, and I started climbing the ladder of tight end statistics. While I was undervalued and underappreciated by the league overall, the numbers show that I ended being one of the most solid tight ends the league has ever produced. Quite amazing for a throwaway 7th round pick. After retiring that player, I spoke to some respected users in the league to get advice on my next create and many of them recommend defensive positions. I liked that idea, because I love defense in real life, and I love that a defender is involved in basically every play. I didn't need offensive glory anymore, not that I received a lot of that as a tight end, but back then I just thought I wanted the ball to be happy. Instead I turned to the defensive side in this create as linebacker Kahn Cussion. I was a steal in the 2nd round draft pick by the Yellowknife Wraiths, and have become a very solid linebacker in the league. In season 36, I finished 2nd in the league in sacks and was named to the All Pro 2nd Team. Although it was the first season I did not reach 100 plus tackles, I was a force on the defensive side of the ball. I am currently 5th in my draft class in tpe despite being a 2nd round pick. I am the highest tpe linebacker from S33 by over 100 tpe, and continue to show that although I am constantly overlooked by teams in every sim league, I am worthy of a much higher pick. Proving whoever selects me is getting a steal in the draft, even if I was selected in the first round. Some people are in this league to make friends; I am here to earn and do the best I can for the team that selects me. At the same time, my goal is to make the teams that pass me on me pay for that decision. I have yet to let a team down in any affiliate sim league, and I watch hundreds of players come and go, but I am there just climbing the tpe ranks while the others drafted ahead of me go inactive or retire. I enjoy watching those things happen so I can further prove my worth to the team that selected me. I never let teams down. I am here for the long haul and I chuckle at the players selected ahead of me, especially the ones that weasel their way into positions. I am not a part of the good old boys club. I am all business, and while some people do their best to be likable, they also don't deliver on activity. I am all about earning and making sure I do not let the team that drafts me down. I respect everything they did to select me, and they deserve my maximum effort. I have seen too many times that other users sucker teams into taking them in the draft, while I sit and wait to be drafted late. I love it. I always prove the doubters wrong, and the doubters are always there.

[Friesen1520]

13. The league should be looking to get some expansion teams. Only having two conferences and no divisions in our league, playoffs are a little stale and could use some spicing up to do. In addition, we are the ISFL which stands for International Simulation Football league. Now tell me, what part of this league is International? We have some wonderful users, but only the Berlin Fire Salamanders account for them. It's about time we expand some more international football teams and create better division rivalries to help cut down on commute distance for the Salamanders, so let's look at what a league would look like with 2 more teams outside the US which would help create two divisions inside the ASFC and the NSFC.

     TEAM #1: Welsh Dragons

Our first team will be held inside the UK, where it takes its mascot design from the beast that lives on their flag. There is already a significant rugby presence in Wales, so an attempt to place a team of the American Football variety should be well received, and is only going to help publicity for the league's expansion. This is where I would place my first expansion team, where we can draw colors from the welsh flag, either a primary red color with green and white accents or something entirely different to take advantage of new colors in the league.

     TEAM #2: Madrid Conquistadors

This is a team that creates a British, German, and Spanish triangle, placing themselves inside the country of Spain. Their mascot would take inspiration from the Spanish heroes of old, the explorers that sailed during the Age of Discovery. I believe that it is a very marketable team, you are able to play inside the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium that hosts the soccer team Real Madrid while you garner attention from the Spanish community. I also believe you can hit on some fun storylines when Tijuana Luchadores are drafted over to Madrid, maintaining a close Hispanic connection. They can play with red and yellow, the colors of the Spanish flag.

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17. In honor of the new logo, the San Jose SaberCats are in discussion about creating a new stadium. This is what everyone is looking forward to, seeing what new things we get. Of course, everyone wants to see this incredible building that looks amazing, but I'm looking forward to the locker rooms. We should take note of what some colleges have done with theirs, namely the Florida Gators and the Miami Hurricanes. I'm talking LED logo plastered everywhere, dope personal seats to store our equipment and get dressed, and some pleasant things here and there. Light up the place dark green and tan and get yourself a nice place to get ready for the game. Of course, as a fan, I'm sure a lot of you guys are going to want some cheap concessions and comfortable seats, and I'm sure Russ and CK will open up their wallets to make sure you guys get the best experience possible

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18. For my last season as a Seawolf, I have to tip my hat to Tingis Pingis as the ultimate team player. Pingis is the most selfless player I have ever had the pleasure of working alongside. If you ever miss a tackle? He'll get burned for 30 yards and take the attention away from you. Drop an interception? He'll get burned for 40 yards and take the attention away from you yet again. Get burned for 40 yards? He'll get burned for 80 and make sure nobody makes fun of you anymore. There's nobody I'd rather work with who makes me feel like I'm not the worst on the team, and if you ever need job security, keep him on the team to make sure you won't be the first one cut when the fans inevitably get mad. He is such an encouragement to us all, and such a testament to all the fans, that if he can play professional ball, so can you!

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[br0_0ker]

Tier 1 Option 4:

I'm not going to write about a whole team or a season or heck, even a whole game where a single team experienced bad sim luck. I'm going to talk about a single series, in which a humble vegetable became a hero to a small island nation. You might not even consider this necessarily bad sim luck, but when you look at the plays/TPE/performance in the game to that point it really makes you feel for the team that got hosed (sort of). I am talking of course, about the final defensive series of the S36 season for the Sarasota Sailfish. Let's recap the scenario: there's just under 4 min to go in the game, probably only time for one more possession. You JUST scored the lead on a HUGE 72-yard touchdown by the league's new single season TD record holder. The stadium is rocking, it's your home crowd so the momentum shift is palpable. The opposing QB to this point is 19/35 on the day, and their run game has been struggling to get going all day. The drive starts off with a couple short runs and immediately it's a crucial third down. 
Converted. 
Ok, it was a short third down but still, just over 2 minutes and the balls still on the other side of the field, with your opponent needing a TD, a field goal won't do. The very next play is this 11 yard reception by a leek, for another first down but now it's the 2 minute warning and your opponent still needs 40 yards to go ahead, so they'll start burning time outs soon. One stop is all you need. 
Next play is a sack, PERFECT. It's a big one too, nine yards all the way back to the 46 on the other side of the 50. An incomplete or a short rush pretty much seals it for you. A little 7 yard catch makes it a long 3rd and 11, the play of the game. What happens?
12 yard catch, timeout and a minute nineteen left in the game. So now that's two crucial third downs given up. But with only about a minute remaining, your opponent probably only has what, two, maybe three plays left? To go 30 yards? Surely the defense that finished tied for the regular season lead in points allowed would put up a stand here, in the final moments of the Ultimus when it was all on the line?
The next play, the very next play, goes to the same vegetable that just extended the drive for your opponent. How on earth you let this thing beat you AGAIN when he had just converted the most important 3rd down of his career? But here's the kicker: the next catch, it isn't another first down, or a little out for 7 yards or something like that, no this goes the FULL 35 YARDS TO THE HOUSE. In three plays you've let this vegetable push the ball into your territory, convert a crucial third down, then score the go-ahead touchdown in nearly three consecutive plays. The worst part (for you at least)? The opposing defense goes out on the field and summarily puts any hope of a miracle to rest with a quick four and out. Up to that point, the vegetable had only had four catches for sixty yards, all in the first half, he had been completely invisible the entire second half. How is this sim luck? The veg wasn't a high TPE player or a stud, it was some middling sub 600 TPE WR3 who ended up being what put your Ultimus dreams to rest. In my humble leeky opinion, that's some bad luck.

[SwagSloth]

Tier 1: Long Form Tasks (Must be 600+ words)

Choose ONE for 10 TPE.

4. “Sim gonna sim” is a popular expression in the league. Write about teams that have been graced by the sim gods and had amazing performances despite statistical odds, and/or about teams that were considered favorites but may have dealt with some bad sim luck that hampered their efforts. How much of an impact did it have on their season(s)?

Whenever I think of this question, it always brings me back to S15 and S16, back when I was GM of the Arizona Outlaws. The Outlaws were a team that had gone through some woes and  the previous GMs had tried to navigate those obstacles, only to get hit with string after string of bad luck. The final straw came when their quarterback retired on a whim, forcing the team to start from scratch. At this point, I took over and opted for a complete fresh start. Soft rebuilds weren’t working and the team needed to undergo some serious changes.

This isn’t a PT about rebuilds, though, so long story short… we bulldozed the team, trading players for picks and using the S14 draft and more importantly the massive S15 draft as a new starting point. The result was a team that was young and hungry. Collectively, we may have been at a disadvantage because of our age, but the team had heart and many people expected them to be a force in years to come. The general belief going around was that Arizona was going to be a long shot to even be a top 3 team in their division in S16 and that they wouldn’t become become a serious contender until around S17 or S18. But the sim is going to sim and the light shined bright on Arizona that fateful play-off season.

After not making the playoffs in S15, the team managed to make it in S16. There was a bit of an asterisk here as previously, playeroffs were quarterfinals only with the top 2 teams from each division of 4 teams making it. S16 added a team to each division and extended the playoffs to a semi-final round and the top 4 teams from each divisions of 5 teams would make it in. However, the fourth team made it in name only. Since the sim didn’t alloy for playoff byes, the 4th place team was not allowed to advance; sims would only count if both 4th place teams lost their game. Since it was the top seed versus the fourth seed, this seemed likely, but there would be resims if an upset occurred.

However, the Outkaws were the #2 seed, which meant that we were in contention. This was technically only true in that people expected us to possibly win the quarter-final round and get crushed in the semi-finals. We ended the season at 7-6 and could have fallen to #3 or even #4 if a few of the games had gone the other way for other teams in our division. Fortunately for us, we were now tied with the Sabercats, who also were at 7-6. The winner of this game was set to face the 10-3 Orange County Otters, who everyone expected to crush them. We ended up defeating the Sabercats 41-21 in a spectacular performance and it was a feel good moment for the team. It was major step in the right direction and a sign that our rebuild was working. Even if we were doomed in the semi-finals, that was okay because we had already made some great strides. And so we went into the arena to face the lions and we did so with a smile. Only what followed was a surprise even to us.  In a performance that absolutely no one saw coming, the mediocre Outlaws crushed the seemingly championship-bound Otters 31-3.

On the other side of the bracket, the Philadelphia Liberty, who were also 7-6, found their way into the semi-finals after defeating the #2 seed Yellowknife Wraiths, who came in with a record of 10-3. Both the Wraiths and the #1 seed Chicago Butchers (who were in the middle of an incredible run on their first season)  were both 10-3 on the season. Philly not only defeated Yellowknife, but also overcame the #1 seed Butchers in a play-off year that saw three 10-3 teams fall to two 7-6 teams. Arizona would ultimately win the big game 30-34 in one of the most bizarre Ultimus match-ups of all time. Neither team was expected to make it to the finals and yet they were the last two teams standing,

Perhaps this speaks to the heart of the players involved and shows that you should always try your best even when the odds are stacked against you. Whatever statistical percentage either team had to win, no matter how small, was boosted by the efforts of every single team members. It took all hands on deck and it was a situation in which every effort contributed to their success. From either team’s angle, it was a heart-warming story. And one might consider it a glimmer of hope for the teams that didn’t make the play-offs or came in at the #4 spot on a technicality. But for three teams that ended the season at 10-3, this was infuriating. Their players came up short on the roll of the dice and they had every reason to feel cheated. If there was ever a day when the sim was gonna sim, it was this day in S16. And we’ve all come to know at one point or another, it doesn’t feel good to lose in this fashion. The NFL has a phrase “any given Sunday” meaning any team can win no matter the odds. And a team with a 2% chance to win would statistically still win one of every 50 match-ups. Of course, teams don’t play 50 times; they play one time. And any smart person would bet on the stronger team every time. But on this day, the dice came up in favor of the underdogs.  And, as much it may have meant heartbreak for many other teams, it was a day that our team will never forgot.

965 words

[sve7en]

30. SHL Affiliate: https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3255140