03-22-2024, 03:33 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-23-2024, 09:26 AM by wetwilleh. Edited 2 times in total.)
No team is more than a decade away from a Super Bowl.
I know this because I lived through it; as a Rams fan who could not see his team reach 8-8 for over a decade of straight seasons, bottoming out at a combined 6 wins over 3 seasons (then a record low) and 15 wins over 5 seasons (still tied for the lowest win total in NFL history), in 2011 the Rams might have been farther from a Super Bowl than any other team in the league. They had just tied themselves to a QB who would be paid handsomely on his rookie deal due to the old rules for payment, who would be often injured and never reach his potential as a result. They were in an awful stadium, with an owner who appeared not to care, an incompetent coach, in a city that had better things to do than go to the games of the worst football team in the entire country.
10 years later they were Super Bowl Champions, lifting the Lombardi in their own stadium. Everything had changed; as expected with roster turnover, every player was different, every coach had been replaced, the stadium was now state of the art, they had moved cities, made massive gambles, some of which worked and some of which didn't. Big draft trades to move up, big draft trades to move down, buying as many star players as possible. About the only thing that didn't change was the identity of the owner, and the name of the team.
No team is more than a decade away from the Super Bowl; you just need to be unafraid to make moves, have those moves work out, and you'll at the very least have a shot. But the team will need to change almost everything in the process.
The ISFL is not the NFL; there's no coaching, no team owner, the sim is stupid, superstars will not remain superstars year after year unless the user is named Moonlight, QBs can't play at peak level for even a decade, and as a result, there's more randomness and less consistency possible for teams. Add that to the existence of less teams, and you might be able to cut the time period almost in half. The Austin Copperheads spent their entire maiden season tanking for the future; they won the Ultimus 4 seasons later. After a successful period in which the Hahalua were the class of the league, they sold everything off in S38, went winless, and were back at the top of the conference in 3 years. In 6 years they had a title. Baltimore spiraled downhill as the league entered the new sim, going winless, topping off the single worst decade of play the ISFL has ever seen...and 6 seasons after they went winless, they won the Ultimus.
But going winless, or tanking in general, is not a surefire strategy to success. The S6 and 7 Yeti lost 28 straight games, but their sum total of success afterwards was a single playoff win and an Ultimus berth as heavy underdogs, without a single record better than 9-5. They had to go through another lean cycle before they ended up winning the Ultimus. The Liberty went winless in S10, and managed to get to two Ultimus in the next 6 seasons, but won neither and then would miss the Ultimus for 25 seasons, more than half the history of the ISFL at the time they ended up making it. The Butchers didn't go winless, but they bottomed out in S22 with the worst offense in league history, their only win coming against a bad expansion Honolulu team. They'd make the playoffs 4 straight times in the next 5 seasons, but they topped out at a single playoff win and wouldn't even manage to make the Ultimus until S34.
So now we come to New Orleans.
NOLA's story does not begin in S41, their first one win season. It instead starts in their most recent period of contention. S36 saw New Orleans finish 7-9, technically the 2nd worst team in the conference, but with the 2nd best point differential at +50. A lot of this came down to an abysmal 1-7 record in single possession games, which would hopefully course correct next season. They made the playoffs in S37 with a 9-7 record, albeit with a -10 point differential. They were only 3-3 in single possession games, mostly playing in blowouts one way or the other. As you might expect, they ended up losing in the first round of the playoffs to a similarly mediocre Honolulu squad, losing by 3 possessions in a game where they were unable to run or pass the ball effectively. In S38 they managed to put together a point differential north of +80, the 2nd highest in the entire league. Unfortunately, 50 of that came in 2 games against the Hahalua, and New Orleans ended up with a 2-8 record in single possession games, going 8-8 and ending up 2nd to last in the conference again. They managed to barely scrape a playoff berth in S39, with a slightly negative point differential and an 8-8 record. They were 3-4 in single possession games, but managed to win a playoff game against the Copperheads when they ran the ball in from 4 yards out with no timeouts and under 30 seconds to go.
But in S40, the team seemed to age out a year in advance. Ending with a 6-10 record, a -90 point differential, this season saw the first part of the sell off that NOLA would begin in the years to come. Starting with Armor Queen, a well earning RB in their 3rd season attached to a storied user, New Orleans was able to pick up a 1st in the S41 draft as a result. And due to Berlin also being well below average that season, they were able to pick twice in the first half of the draft as a result.
New Orleans by TPE should have been a really competitive team from S38-S40. After significantly overperforming their TPE in S37, they took a massive leap forward and started S38 as the team with the 4th highest TPE in the league. They started S39 and S40 as the team with the 5th highest, but the entire time the only team in their conference with more TPE was Arizona. I wasn't here, so I can't say exactly why this team with a QB that should have been at the peak of his power and a team who (at least by TPE) seemed good enough around him didn't perform up to snuff. By season predictions, they were supposed to finish 3rd/4th in S37, 2nd in S38, 2nd in S39, and either 2nd or 3rd in S40. By Over/Under, they were projected even higher, with a 10.5 win O/U in S38 and S40.
There was no question what New Orleans would need to do now. They had already started the process last season, but it was time to build through the draft for the future. At the same time, New Orleans' long serving GM, GuitarMaster, would step down, along with his Co-GM a couple days later, Somesay. Replacing them would be MobiausGrander and Jaywe88. Or, at least eventually.
The user FuriousPanda was the first person to claim the job of GM. From the time his hiring was set in stone to the time he committed tampering to make him ineligible for the job was less than a month. Technically, FuriousPanda never was GM, but he sent New Orleans scrambling for a 3rd GM in under a month.
New Orleans had an extra first round pick, and made good use of it by picking Ezra Azazel and Bruce White back to back. Both defenders would earn enough to easily crest 1000 TPE by the time that NOLA was competitive again. The rest of New Orleans' draft included Kyle Crane and Malik Brooks, a pair of close to max earning RBs. The rest of the draft was inactives or soon to be inactives in Rodney Rosadino, William Barkley, and Nwoye Musa. Brooks was almost immediately traded away to Colorado for a 4th that could become a 3rd in next season's draft.
This was all only the prelude for the events to follow.
NOLA entered S41 as a below average team, with a regressing QB and a lot of players who were in the twilight of their careers. They were overwhelmingly picked to finish outside of the playoff spots by the season prediction task, although generally in 5th and 6th, not last. The casino on the other hand saw things very differently, giving them a 4.5 over/under for the season, lowest in the entire league. Things changed 4 weeks into the season, having started out 1-3. New Orleans was in a downturn, but they had pieces left at this point. It was time for a firesale the likes of which the league has seldom seen. First, Berlin decided to swap a significant part of their team with NOLA, trading away Lukas Van Ness, a decently earning S41 LB, Johnny Delusional, a CB who was peaking at 700 TPE, Forozka Duanei, a S41 WR with over 300 TPE already, and their 2nd rounder for next season. In exchange, NOLA gave away a bunch of players; Beniri T'Chawama (400 TPE S31 OL), Ttollem Mada (950 TPE S35 WR, Guitarmaster's player), The Stig (over 1000 TPE S33 CB, Somesay's player), and Ganyu (an IA, just under 800 TPE S34 OL). All of these players were nowhere near NOLA's timeframe, and they got 2 players and a nice pick out of it for their future prospects. The only complaint about this trade is that Lukas Van Ness' user, Ajax, was apparently widely known as a toxic personality.
The next couple of trades were more piecemeal. Austin bought JR Frankenstero, a DT with over 1000 TPE and a 2nd rounder for a 1st, a 3rd, and an inactive DE with just under 600 TPE. Then, Baltimore came to buy Charles Chapman for a 1st and a 4th. Chapman, an S36 max earning CB with nearly 1200 TPE at the time of the trade, immediately helped shore up Baltimore's Cornerback position for the next 4 or so seasons, helping them become a powerhouse in the NSFC.
Then there's the big one. Arizona was in desperate need to keep pace with other teams in the league, with a 2-2 record entering Week 5. They saw a chance to shore up their linebacker corps with Carissa van Campen, an S35 player similarly cresting 1200 TPE at the time of the trade. New Orleans drove a hard bargain, and managed to get a boatload of picks in the process, along with an inactive LB at just under 700 TPE. In total they got Arizona's 1st rounder, their 2nd rounder, and their 4th rounder in the upcoming draft. There was just one problem: New Orleans also gave up their own 1st rounder in the draft the season afterwards. Still, this could have been quite the haul. It seemed to be working out swimmingly through Week 7, with the Outlaws in a 2-5 hole, 2nd to last in the conference, and multiple games out of the playoffs.
Then Arizona won every game for the rest of the regular season and won their first 2 playoff games to reach the Ultimus. While the Outlaws lost the Ultimus, they ruined the pick compensation; every single one of those picks was now near the end of the round. And New Orleans' tank was definitely not going to be over before next season.
During S41, NOLA made one more trade that garnered less infamy. They sold off a low earning (455 for an S37 player) though not inactive CB for HON's 4th rounder. Finally, there was one more piece that was going to leave New Orleans. But this wasn't a player, it was a user. The user behind Elessar Jones, the Second Line Quarterback, Mithrandir, was leaving the league. He left behind his legacy in a number of ways; one of the main people behind the creation of the SFWG, a former GM in both the DSFL and ISFL, left the league for at least a year.
New Orleans now had one of the worst QB situations in a long time. They didn't have anyone stashed in the DSFL, their QB was going to be just over 800 TPE and entering his 3rd season of regression, and was also inactive. Elessar Jones was the perfect tank commander for this situation; he had never lived up to his potential, and ended the S41 season with more interceptions than touchdowns, a 70.3 Passer Rating, and barely over 6 yards per attempt. It was the nadir of a career that was never truly great but was, at least until that point, never truly terrible. In this season, NOLA smashed records for its worst performing season that had been in place since the team's time in Las Vegas; it had not had a 1 win team since then, and this team gave up more points per game than any teams in that horrendous stretch, along with a worse point differential.
The S42 draft would almost have to lay the groundwork for future NOLA success; it would have been by far the worst drafting in modern history for NOLA not to be able to take advantage of 5 picks out of the first 15 players. New Orleans wasn't content with merely firing blind darts, they were sharpshooters in this draft. Entering the S47 season, 4 out of those 5 players are over 1100 TPE. Their first pick was Dino Nuggets, a player whose user Swoosh managed to amass hundreds of millions of fake ISFL dollars through graphics before draft day, but they also picked up Hank Mardukas at 1.3, Octavion Speedings at 1.13, and Keanu Calhoun at 2.15; their only miss was at 1.14, Honey Humphries. The rest of the draft was more laid back; Sonny Johnson at 2.27 was okay as a currently 768 player who is still active, though not outstanding, Eldroh Cove at 3.29 turned into a mediocre OL with 350 TPE, and both Shucks McShuckle and Thomas Ferguson never earned TPE after being drafted. McShuckle is most notable for actually playing in the ISFL as a 106 TPE OL, which is probably one of the lowest TPE players in history past the early days. I wouldn't be completely surprised if it was 2nd place to only Icebear's brother and his mighty 54 TPE.
NOLA also did some trading in the meantime; they picked up fringe talent by using their massive amount of capspace (James Batista from NYS, Roma-Amir-Kani from AUS, Mike Scott from SJS), all of whom were inactive players that were just there to fill roster slots. NOLA also traded away one of its final players from the previous generation of NOLA; Chim Rickles, a former Max earning safety who was now 870 TPE and inactive.
Entering the season, New Orleans was heavily discounted. They had an Over/Under of 1.5, 6 less than anyone else in the ASFC and 4 less than the lowest NSFC team, and were almost uniformly picked to finish 7th in the conference. By my count, exactly 14 people who input season predictions did not have them last, out of over 250 entries. Despite being yet again the worst team, on the field, NOLA was more notable for what didn't happen than what did. Not that a team with an outside chance at going winless got a win, but how well they performed in the process. Despite being a team starting a bunch of rookies and inactives, despite losing their only defensive player over 550 TPE halfway through the season via trade, despite a significantly worse QB than last season, they managed to be in the realm of just "the average worst team in the league", only losing games by 12.3 points per game, and managed to keep 6 of their losses to single possession, something they only achieved 3 times throughout all of S41.
Speaking of trades, it was time for NOLA to trade away a current GM player: they sent Solace Avenger, MobiausGrander's retiring player, to Honolulu for a 3rd round pick in the S43 and S44 draft. New Orleans had one problem that had arisen from being too good at drafting: too many people wanted a WR1 role. Keanu Calhoun was traded away to San Jose, a team that could fulfill that promise, and in return the Second Line got Berlin's 1st and 2nd round picks in next season's draft.
Before the S43 draft, there were two more things that happened in the offseason that are important to cover. One was quiet, happens often, and leaves no trace as a result of its action. Forozka Duanei stopped updating suddenly. He was still around, accepted a new contract even, but never got far past 700 TPE. BWIII, his user, last visited the site last November. A couple weeks earlier, the more loud and noticeable event happened, which was even more directly a loss of a good player for NOLA.
Ajax - Conduct Detrimental to the League
The toxic user being banned was met with a chorus of #PackWatch and in general, a lack of surprise or defense. Ajax was gone for a year at minimum, Lukas van Ness was forcibly retired, and one of the trades that had started the tank job off went from a bit of a win-lose trade with NOLA winning to a complete fleecing of NOLA in less than a month. That's the power of hindsight.
The other big trade from S41 was only fully coming home to roost...now.
New Orleans' draft capital was minimal compared to last season; having traded away what became the 1st overall pick to Arizona, NOLA decided to trade their 15th and 20th overall picks to move up to 12th in the first round. They did at the very least hit on the pick, with Josh Gibson turning into a nearly 1000 TPE linebacker by the start of S47. They also picked Bubba Hog 13th, who was also active and earning for a while, but seems to have gone IA in February at 722 TPE. New Orleans was also able to take advantage of the freebie GM pick; Allister Adebam, MobiausGrander's new create, only needed to be picked at 23rd after the earlier trade, and as expected he went on to max earn. NOLA's final 2nd rounder, 2.27, was used to draft Kelijah Verwae, a still active, decent OL just under 700 TPE currently. The Second Line also had 3 of the final 6 picks of the draft, which they used on Tatum Washington III, who topped out at 250 TPE, Midwest Emo, a still active player who is at 400 TPE, but has not updated since November, and Kane Erikkson, who never got called up. NOLA also signed longtime journeyman QB Adrien St Christmas to replace the now regressed to near oblivion Elessar Jones.
New Orleans was projected better than last season, though still considered by far the worst team in the league. Their Over/Under was bumped up to 2.5, and was now only 2 wins away from their closest competition. They also were still overwhelmingly picked to finish 7th, but not by as near unanimous a margin. Early on during the season, NOLA would send one more player out for the end of their career: PeePee Poop Eater Sr was traded for the Crash's 4th round pick in the upcoming S44 draft. At this point, almost everyone from the old guard of NOLA was gone, either retiring or being traded away. New Orleans actually slightly regressed from last season in terms of play in the sim; losing by 15 points per game and only losing 3 games by a single possession. From S41 through S43, New Orleans won 3 games by a combined 8 points. Not since the S5-7 Yeti had a team been as bad in 3 consecutive seasons. But in TPE and in terms of the near future, it seemed like New Orleans would finally be out of the worst of the worst.
Finally, Jaywe left the position of Co-GM and was replaced by Baz, the user behind Ezra Angel, one of the two first round picks from S41.
But New Orleans wasn't done making moves just yet. Or rather, there was a move that they were about to be forced to make.
New Orleans hadn't made an extreme amount of trades, but still had a decent amount of draft capital for S44, including the 1st overall pick again. This time they picked Thomas Passarelli, who has over 900 TPE entering S47. He switched from TE to WR, making for a powerful pair of WRs in the future with Hank Mardukas from a couple drafts prior. NOLA picked up Scott Junior, currently a Safety with over 800 TPE, at the start of Round 2. Round 3 was more bare bones, leading to a couple of depth pieces more than anything: Biggie Fast, an OL with 420 TPE, at 3.29, and Dan Sevin, a 300 TPE RB who hasn't updated since January and hasn't posted on the site since February. The rest of the draft was pretty empty, with NOLA picking two inactives at the end of the draft in Justin Time and Logan Johnson. Overall, while not a landmark draft for NOLA the way S42 was, they managed to pick up a couple of key contributors who will be important to the team in the future.
On the field, things had significantly changed for New Orleans. They'd amassed a large number of well earning users in the previous drafts, and while a lot of them were still before their peak, they were good players and pieces. By point differential, NOLA actually regressed slightly from the previous one win year, with a -15.6 point differential to last year's -15.0, but the Second Line managed to get 3 wins over the course of the season, including their first multi-possession win in 4 seasons. This actually beat their Season Over/Under of 2.5, and they tied the other worst team in the league by record. They still finished last in the conference, although they were tied this time, were still picked to finish last in the conference by a landslide, but managed to avoid being last in the league for the first time in 3 seasons.
There was one thing that happened this season, however, that put a damper on NOLA's hope for the future. The Trade.
There's one problem with amassing a ton of high earning, powerful users: more of them might want some position of power in the league. Dino Nuggets signed his new contract in the offseason before S44, with a pair of stipulations attached: "Tamperable to discuss possible GM opportunities", and "Player Option". Baltimore came around and saw an opportunity to pick up an amazingly earning user basically for free in the offseason. Eventually, it turned into a trade, a technically 3 way trade when I wanted out and the Crash picked me up. The Crash sent over a 2nd rounder in exchange for me, a near max earner but not quite as max as Swoosh, and Baltimore sent along that 2nd rounder in exchange for Swoosh.
Nobody was happy about this with the possible exception of Baltimore. People around the league were incensed with the trade, NOLA players were upset, even the Crash got upset, if only due to being dragged into the controversy. I decided to talk with some of the big players in the trade to get some more details.
(Do not pay for any of this part)
First, I contacted Swoosh to ask him a couple questions.
(Bolded is me, everyone else attributed)
When did you first decide you wanted to GM?
Swoosh: "Not sure there's a specific moment or anything like that. There's definitely a certain level of progression there. Coming into the league, being a GM was something that interested me. Got a great opportunity in Tijuana and then it progressed from there."
When the trade happened, what was your reaction?
Swoosh:"When is the ztartwarz media dropping?"
Hah! Fair enough.
Then Swoosh gave the idea to bring current NOLA GM, Toofpete, into the discord DM. Eventually we also got Baz, the Co-GM at the time, in the DM as well.
Basically, I wanted to get an idea of how the trade looked from NOLA's perspective
Toofpete: What aspect do you want to know about the trade from NOLA's perspective?
Also, all of the info I'm gonna give you will be from my perspective personally. I can't truly speak on everyone's perspective on the team, but mostly my own personal perspective
Well, I kind of know some of the background details due to being in Baltimore's war room at the time; Swoosh wanted to be GM, Baltimore was able to promise a GM spot before NOLA could/did...
Toofpete: I can start there
I can say that the pretty prominent emotion when we all found out about what was happening was disappointment. I love Swoosh and we had such an amazing core that he was a big part of, so losing him was a bummer and pretty disappointing
That being said I've never blamed him for making the move. From the moment I found out, all I wanted was to find a way to make it happen in NOLA. The universe I wish I could live in is one where Swoosh and TMoney are the GMs in NOLA. I was a part of the contingent in NOLA that wanted to make it possible for Swoosh to take over a GM spot, but not everyone was on board with that plan and so Swoosh had to go and do what was best for him. I don't begrudge him that at all and I've been rooting for him since he left. I always will.
I think a lot of the reaction to the trade, from my perspective, was a combination of a series of decisions that were made up to that point that had already been questioned pretty heavily that had frustrations high and the disappointment of losing someone we knew was going to be a huge part of the core that we were building.
I assume you mean the reaction from NOLA players there?
Toofpete: Correct
I feel like a lot of the reaction from outside NOLA was more from people who couldn't know that Baltimore kind of had NOLA in a bind
Toofpete: I do think there was some not so kosher gamesmanship that was played in the acquisition, not on Swoosh's end at all, and it wasn't handled particularly well on NOLA's end with the person who was heading up those negotiations.
I don't think the reaction from those outside of BAL and NOLA were wrong to feel that way. That'd the honesty of the situation. My biggest regret was that some of that ire went towards Swoosh and that was completely unfair.
Swoosh: That is the one piece in particular which I wish I could have changed. I should have been more involved in trade conversations to ensure NOLA was getting appropriate compensation from the beginning.
I could have easily said this deal doesn't happen until that is met
Toofpete: I will say, the most frustrating thing for me in the entire thing was Swoosh drawing some of the ire. I don't disagree with what he said above, but I also don't think it should be up to him to police other GMs doing or not doing "the right thing" and I think he got a lot of unnecessary heat that went his way.
To Swoosh directly... I'll be more upfront with it with this...
I think you were put in a tough spot by two GMs who were unwilling to bend away from their nature. One who wanted to maximize value at all costs without any thought for the precedent it set in the league and another who just as stubbornly was unwilling to maybe make a decision to accommodate your wish to become a GM in the first place.
That created the perfect storm for a situation like this. So that's why I say it's unfair for heat to go on Swoosh. Those GMs at every facet of the situation needed to self evaluate, police themselves, and do what was best for Swoosh, for their team, but also for the league.
In my honest opinion, all of it could've been avoided if the room would've been able to be made for Swoosh in NOLA.
Swoosh: That's absolutely fair and I agree. I still feel I played the role of a failed checks and balances so to speak. Maybe I shouldn't have been responsible for it, but I still could have (and should have) played a role in preventing something like from happening
Thank you very much. I really appreciate both of you for doing this.
I had a few questions, but you kind of covered everything I could have possibly asked
(Baz joins the DM)
Baz, Swoosh and Toof suggested I get your perspective on the big trade, and I think that's a good idea. You were Co-GM at the time, right?
Baz: Yes i was let me read up and see what i can add!
So from reading up the idea was in my opinion in my ideal was to GM with Swoosh because we had actually talked about him GMing one day I had drafted him into TIJ and then into NOLA as one of my favorite prospects. We were put in a bind with the BAL position opening when it did as Mobi had no interest in stepping down and I had just stepped up this season I believe. Mobi had no interest in stepping down and things wouldnt have worked out if I stepped down was the belief. So we were pushed into a funnel to make rhis trade and then from there
Stuff devolved
So yeah swoosh didnt deserve any heat in this the situation was shitty as we have one team who was trying to maximize value and one that was trying to do right by user but still get value back because swoosh knew how much he meant to the team and it definitely had hurt us having to let him go. I do think I am part to blame for swoosh not being able to step up into NOLA as i couldve stepped down but like I said that complicated things as there were some problems with that. With NOLA having a bad image already because of the full reset and some bone head trades we really wanted to make it out with something rather than nothing
Swoosh: You're not to blame one bit, no way should you have stepped down
A huge thank you to @swoosh, @toofpete, and @baz1757 for the interview.
(Please restart payment)
Baltimore ended up giving their S46 1st to New Orleans on top of the Crash's 2nd rounder in a follow up trade about 15 hours later. This turned the trade from a drastic underpayment to almost an overpayment for a single player; Charlie Chapman a couple seasons earlier went for a significant amount less. But this was still damaging to the future prospects of NOLA. Not just on the team, where they would have a significant hole in an otherwise amazing CB pair with Ezra Angel, but in how NOLA was viewed around the league. It is one of the longest trade threads on this entire site, and might have even taken the top spot if not for its closure.
Even with the loss of Swoosh, New Orleans had a core to be proud of. They just needed to suffer through one or two more lean seasons first.
NOLA entered the S45 draft with less draft capital than usual in this series of seasons; no 1st rounder outside of their own, the only extra 2nd rounder was at the very end, and this was a very small draft anyways. As such, they packaged their 3rd and the late 2nd to move up earlier into the 2nd round. In total, they picked Paul Edgecomb at 1.2, a Safety with just over 550 TPE, Dawelle Wevis at 2.16, a CB with just over 600 TPE, and Andre Benn at 2.20, a WR just under 400. Overall, a decent gain from a weak class.
New Orleans was still predicted to finish last in the Conference, but now there were a large number of people who had them off of that bottom spot. They were still predicted to finish last by the Casino, but yet again they were a game better on Over/Under at 3.5; this still had them 2 wins less than everyone else in the league, however.
While their predicted turnaround was somewhat small, this season felt like a massive leap forward for the beleaguered franchise. While they once again posted the worst point differential in the league, this was a weird season where you could get that title by only having a -5.0 margin per game. While they were once again last in their conference, not even tied for last this time, they had a full win over the team who actually finished last overall. They weren't the worst team in the league, or even in the conference, in either points for or points against. They won 5 full games, and even won a game by 3 possessions. This was helped by finally being in the same ballpark by TPE as other bottom teams in the league, as well as signing a Max CB in free agency, Apollo Program. Program wasn't hanging around for long, though; he wasn't on the same timeframe as the rest of the team as an S39 player and was off to Orange-r pastures for S46.
There weren't any massive trades this season, but there was one development. MobiausGrander, the GM of the team, stepped down. Baz took over the top spot, and joining him was Toofpete, the player behind Bruce White. The pair of S41 First Rounders that started this rebuild all that time ago would now be in charge of it.
There was one more draft that might make a significant difference for New Orleans and their soon to open Window. S46 saw them hold multiple First Rounders again, but this time around they weren't quite as great at maintaining their batting average. Picking Oxford Comma 2nd overall, a LB with just under 500 TPE at the time of writing, was a great hit. He makes for a good LB4 at current time and should eventually surpass Bubba Hog for a strong top 3 LBs. Their 9th overall pick, Octavio Volarus, was not as much of a hit. He's active, but stands at barely over 250 TPE. NOLA's 2nd round pick was much better, picking up Jack Sloth from longtime NOLA user Slothfacekilla, a currently 425 TPE Kicker. The draft ended for New Orleans with pick 3:30, Aaron Ford, a fullback that's currently also just over 250 TPE.
New Orleans wasn't considered truly ready to compete just yet. They were still widely picked to finish 7th in the Conference, but this had more to do with the strength of every other team than it did New Orleans' weakness. The ASFC overwhelmingly made up the top stretch of teams by both TPE and average, and included multiple Ultimus favorites compared to an NSFC lacking by comparison. NOLA's Over/Under was set at 5.5 wins, the exact same as the lowest team in the NSFC. Again, this was more due to the strength of the ASFC than anything else.
The season did not start out very well for New Orleans, beginning with 6 straight losses, including an agonizing 1 point loss to Austin, a 2 point loss to Arizona, and generally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory over and over again. This wasn't that big a deal, though. New Orleans wasn't competing for S46, they were competing for S47 and beyond. Not every team was NOLA, though. The Honolulu Hahalua were in a similar boat in terms of on field performance, starting out 0-5 before winning their Week 6 game, losing by slim margins multiple times. But there was a key difference; while NOLA was the odds on favorite to finish last in the conference, HON was the odds on favorite to finish 1st, with a very low number of people picking them to finish outside the playoff spots. Their 10.5 win Over/Under was both tied for the highest in the entire league, and almost guaranteed Under by Week 4 when the Casino actually closed the bet. They were also very much built to win now, and would regress heavily the following season.
It was time for another team to follow in the footsteps of tanks past, and blow up in glorious, catastrophic fashion. And this time, the Second Line were in position to benefit.
This trade is more than it looks at first glance. First off, the players New Orleans was giving up truly do not matter; Inspector Gadget was an already retired Safety with minuscule TPE, and James Batista was a DE with just over 300 TPE that had been IA for nearly a year. The assets NOLA was truly giving up were their 1st rounders in both the S47 and S48 draft. In exchange, New Orleans got a gem, and also got fool's gold. The gem was Liv Elsathelookout, a max earning S40 DE, near the top of the entire league in TPE. While a year removed from the rest of the Second Line's core, they'll still be more than a good enough player for the time that NOLA will be competing; indeed, right now they're at nearly 1250 TPE even after their first bout with regression. They should still be a great player even next season, and still good the season or two after that. Most people didn't have qualms with NOLA adding Liv to the team via trade.
The controversy came from the next player, the fool's gold. At first glance, Billy Jor-El looks like a sidegrade to Swoosh; he's currently just over 1400 TPE, an S41 player instead of an S42 player, is still active, earning well enough to be a key piece to the team for NOLA's entire window of opportunity. The problem is something that couldn't be seen on that trade post; Lt. Hudz, Billy Jor-El's user, was going to be Honolulu's new GM, and thus was going to retire right after the S46 Ultimus to create a new player. In effect, Billy was a 1.5 season rental for New Orleans, and with NOLA already 0-6 in a tough ASFC, it seemed unlikely that NOLA would make the playoffs in S46. Indeed, after winning 4 straight, the Second Line proceeded to lose each of their final 6 games, ending with a 4-12 record and actually missing their Over/Under by multiple games. Jor-El was now a single season rental for the cost of New Orleans' 1st round pick for S48.
NOLA's 4-12 record covered up a much better team; by TPE they were near the top of the league, their average result was only losing by 3.4 points per game, and while their defense was still bad their offense was in the middle of the pack. But it did make them 2nd to last in both the league and Conference. The only worse team was Honolulu, who had their first round pick.
New Orleans entered the draft with their least draft capital in a long time, with only a single 2nd round pick and no 1st rounder to their name. They picked up McDripson McDropson at 2.16, an OL with just over 300 TPE at time of writing, and Will Nuck at 3.30, an RB with just under 300 TPE. Matt Wilkins, their 3.30 pick, was more of a depth piece for the future, an LB with 225 TPE at this time but still active, while their last couple of picks appear to have already gone inactive. Lloyd Boernstein, a pick NOLA traded their 3rd rounder in S48 to get, seems salvageable. Their pick at 4.55 last visited the site 2 weeks ago and has 141 TPE. Their 5.58 pick, Kiwi Flapjacks, is probably IA for good, having last visited the site in February.
For the first time in over half a decade of seasons, NOLA enters the S47 season with positive expectations. They have the single highest TPE in the league and are 5th in average. They boast the 3rd best offense and the single best defense by TPE. The only thing holding them back is that the entire top 4 by TPE and 4 of the top 5 by average are all in the ASFC. They have a max QB, RB, the 2nd highest TPE pair of wideouts in the league behind Arizona, and that's just their offense. New Orleans has gone to the lowest depths an ISFL team has gone in over half a decade of real time, lower depths than any NFL team in league history, and has come out of it with the distinct chance of being a winner.
Any NFL team is only a decade away from the Super Bowl. Any ISFL team is only half a decade away from the Ultimus. New Orleans has gone through that half decade, and it's time to see what will come out of it.
(5646 words, minus the interview)
I know this because I lived through it; as a Rams fan who could not see his team reach 8-8 for over a decade of straight seasons, bottoming out at a combined 6 wins over 3 seasons (then a record low) and 15 wins over 5 seasons (still tied for the lowest win total in NFL history), in 2011 the Rams might have been farther from a Super Bowl than any other team in the league. They had just tied themselves to a QB who would be paid handsomely on his rookie deal due to the old rules for payment, who would be often injured and never reach his potential as a result. They were in an awful stadium, with an owner who appeared not to care, an incompetent coach, in a city that had better things to do than go to the games of the worst football team in the entire country.
10 years later they were Super Bowl Champions, lifting the Lombardi in their own stadium. Everything had changed; as expected with roster turnover, every player was different, every coach had been replaced, the stadium was now state of the art, they had moved cities, made massive gambles, some of which worked and some of which didn't. Big draft trades to move up, big draft trades to move down, buying as many star players as possible. About the only thing that didn't change was the identity of the owner, and the name of the team.
No team is more than a decade away from the Super Bowl; you just need to be unafraid to make moves, have those moves work out, and you'll at the very least have a shot. But the team will need to change almost everything in the process.
The ISFL is not the NFL; there's no coaching, no team owner, the sim is stupid, superstars will not remain superstars year after year unless the user is named Moonlight, QBs can't play at peak level for even a decade, and as a result, there's more randomness and less consistency possible for teams. Add that to the existence of less teams, and you might be able to cut the time period almost in half. The Austin Copperheads spent their entire maiden season tanking for the future; they won the Ultimus 4 seasons later. After a successful period in which the Hahalua were the class of the league, they sold everything off in S38, went winless, and were back at the top of the conference in 3 years. In 6 years they had a title. Baltimore spiraled downhill as the league entered the new sim, going winless, topping off the single worst decade of play the ISFL has ever seen...and 6 seasons after they went winless, they won the Ultimus.
But going winless, or tanking in general, is not a surefire strategy to success. The S6 and 7 Yeti lost 28 straight games, but their sum total of success afterwards was a single playoff win and an Ultimus berth as heavy underdogs, without a single record better than 9-5. They had to go through another lean cycle before they ended up winning the Ultimus. The Liberty went winless in S10, and managed to get to two Ultimus in the next 6 seasons, but won neither and then would miss the Ultimus for 25 seasons, more than half the history of the ISFL at the time they ended up making it. The Butchers didn't go winless, but they bottomed out in S22 with the worst offense in league history, their only win coming against a bad expansion Honolulu team. They'd make the playoffs 4 straight times in the next 5 seasons, but they topped out at a single playoff win and wouldn't even manage to make the Ultimus until S34.
So now we come to New Orleans.
NOLA's story does not begin in S41, their first one win season. It instead starts in their most recent period of contention. S36 saw New Orleans finish 7-9, technically the 2nd worst team in the conference, but with the 2nd best point differential at +50. A lot of this came down to an abysmal 1-7 record in single possession games, which would hopefully course correct next season. They made the playoffs in S37 with a 9-7 record, albeit with a -10 point differential. They were only 3-3 in single possession games, mostly playing in blowouts one way or the other. As you might expect, they ended up losing in the first round of the playoffs to a similarly mediocre Honolulu squad, losing by 3 possessions in a game where they were unable to run or pass the ball effectively. In S38 they managed to put together a point differential north of +80, the 2nd highest in the entire league. Unfortunately, 50 of that came in 2 games against the Hahalua, and New Orleans ended up with a 2-8 record in single possession games, going 8-8 and ending up 2nd to last in the conference again. They managed to barely scrape a playoff berth in S39, with a slightly negative point differential and an 8-8 record. They were 3-4 in single possession games, but managed to win a playoff game against the Copperheads when they ran the ball in from 4 yards out with no timeouts and under 30 seconds to go.
But in S40, the team seemed to age out a year in advance. Ending with a 6-10 record, a -90 point differential, this season saw the first part of the sell off that NOLA would begin in the years to come. Starting with Armor Queen, a well earning RB in their 3rd season attached to a storied user, New Orleans was able to pick up a 1st in the S41 draft as a result. And due to Berlin also being well below average that season, they were able to pick twice in the first half of the draft as a result.
New Orleans by TPE should have been a really competitive team from S38-S40. After significantly overperforming their TPE in S37, they took a massive leap forward and started S38 as the team with the 4th highest TPE in the league. They started S39 and S40 as the team with the 5th highest, but the entire time the only team in their conference with more TPE was Arizona. I wasn't here, so I can't say exactly why this team with a QB that should have been at the peak of his power and a team who (at least by TPE) seemed good enough around him didn't perform up to snuff. By season predictions, they were supposed to finish 3rd/4th in S37, 2nd in S38, 2nd in S39, and either 2nd or 3rd in S40. By Over/Under, they were projected even higher, with a 10.5 win O/U in S38 and S40.
There was no question what New Orleans would need to do now. They had already started the process last season, but it was time to build through the draft for the future. At the same time, New Orleans' long serving GM, GuitarMaster, would step down, along with his Co-GM a couple days later, Somesay. Replacing them would be MobiausGrander and Jaywe88. Or, at least eventually.
The user FuriousPanda was the first person to claim the job of GM. From the time his hiring was set in stone to the time he committed tampering to make him ineligible for the job was less than a month. Technically, FuriousPanda never was GM, but he sent New Orleans scrambling for a 3rd GM in under a month.
New Orleans had an extra first round pick, and made good use of it by picking Ezra Azazel and Bruce White back to back. Both defenders would earn enough to easily crest 1000 TPE by the time that NOLA was competitive again. The rest of New Orleans' draft included Kyle Crane and Malik Brooks, a pair of close to max earning RBs. The rest of the draft was inactives or soon to be inactives in Rodney Rosadino, William Barkley, and Nwoye Musa. Brooks was almost immediately traded away to Colorado for a 4th that could become a 3rd in next season's draft.
This was all only the prelude for the events to follow.
S41
The Rebirth of the Legion
NOLA entered S41 as a below average team, with a regressing QB and a lot of players who were in the twilight of their careers. They were overwhelmingly picked to finish outside of the playoff spots by the season prediction task, although generally in 5th and 6th, not last. The casino on the other hand saw things very differently, giving them a 4.5 over/under for the season, lowest in the entire league. Things changed 4 weeks into the season, having started out 1-3. New Orleans was in a downturn, but they had pieces left at this point. It was time for a firesale the likes of which the league has seldom seen. First, Berlin decided to swap a significant part of their team with NOLA, trading away Lukas Van Ness, a decently earning S41 LB, Johnny Delusional, a CB who was peaking at 700 TPE, Forozka Duanei, a S41 WR with over 300 TPE already, and their 2nd rounder for next season. In exchange, NOLA gave away a bunch of players; Beniri T'Chawama (400 TPE S31 OL), Ttollem Mada (950 TPE S35 WR, Guitarmaster's player), The Stig (over 1000 TPE S33 CB, Somesay's player), and Ganyu (an IA, just under 800 TPE S34 OL). All of these players were nowhere near NOLA's timeframe, and they got 2 players and a nice pick out of it for their future prospects. The only complaint about this trade is that Lukas Van Ness' user, Ajax, was apparently widely known as a toxic personality.
The next couple of trades were more piecemeal. Austin bought JR Frankenstero, a DT with over 1000 TPE and a 2nd rounder for a 1st, a 3rd, and an inactive DE with just under 600 TPE. Then, Baltimore came to buy Charles Chapman for a 1st and a 4th. Chapman, an S36 max earning CB with nearly 1200 TPE at the time of the trade, immediately helped shore up Baltimore's Cornerback position for the next 4 or so seasons, helping them become a powerhouse in the NSFC.
Then there's the big one. Arizona was in desperate need to keep pace with other teams in the league, with a 2-2 record entering Week 5. They saw a chance to shore up their linebacker corps with Carissa van Campen, an S35 player similarly cresting 1200 TPE at the time of the trade. New Orleans drove a hard bargain, and managed to get a boatload of picks in the process, along with an inactive LB at just under 700 TPE. In total they got Arizona's 1st rounder, their 2nd rounder, and their 4th rounder in the upcoming draft. There was just one problem: New Orleans also gave up their own 1st rounder in the draft the season afterwards. Still, this could have been quite the haul. It seemed to be working out swimmingly through Week 7, with the Outlaws in a 2-5 hole, 2nd to last in the conference, and multiple games out of the playoffs.
Then Arizona won every game for the rest of the regular season and won their first 2 playoff games to reach the Ultimus. While the Outlaws lost the Ultimus, they ruined the pick compensation; every single one of those picks was now near the end of the round. And New Orleans' tank was definitely not going to be over before next season.
During S41, NOLA made one more trade that garnered less infamy. They sold off a low earning (455 for an S37 player) though not inactive CB for HON's 4th rounder. Finally, there was one more piece that was going to leave New Orleans. But this wasn't a player, it was a user. The user behind Elessar Jones, the Second Line Quarterback, Mithrandir, was leaving the league. He left behind his legacy in a number of ways; one of the main people behind the creation of the SFWG, a former GM in both the DSFL and ISFL, left the league for at least a year.
New Orleans now had one of the worst QB situations in a long time. They didn't have anyone stashed in the DSFL, their QB was going to be just over 800 TPE and entering his 3rd season of regression, and was also inactive. Elessar Jones was the perfect tank commander for this situation; he had never lived up to his potential, and ended the S41 season with more interceptions than touchdowns, a 70.3 Passer Rating, and barely over 6 yards per attempt. It was the nadir of a career that was never truly great but was, at least until that point, never truly terrible. In this season, NOLA smashed records for its worst performing season that had been in place since the team's time in Las Vegas; it had not had a 1 win team since then, and this team gave up more points per game than any teams in that horrendous stretch, along with a worse point differential.
S42
Rebuilding in Stops and Starts
Rebuilding in Stops and Starts
The S42 draft would almost have to lay the groundwork for future NOLA success; it would have been by far the worst drafting in modern history for NOLA not to be able to take advantage of 5 picks out of the first 15 players. New Orleans wasn't content with merely firing blind darts, they were sharpshooters in this draft. Entering the S47 season, 4 out of those 5 players are over 1100 TPE. Their first pick was Dino Nuggets, a player whose user Swoosh managed to amass hundreds of millions of fake ISFL dollars through graphics before draft day, but they also picked up Hank Mardukas at 1.3, Octavion Speedings at 1.13, and Keanu Calhoun at 2.15; their only miss was at 1.14, Honey Humphries. The rest of the draft was more laid back; Sonny Johnson at 2.27 was okay as a currently 768 player who is still active, though not outstanding, Eldroh Cove at 3.29 turned into a mediocre OL with 350 TPE, and both Shucks McShuckle and Thomas Ferguson never earned TPE after being drafted. McShuckle is most notable for actually playing in the ISFL as a 106 TPE OL, which is probably one of the lowest TPE players in history past the early days. I wouldn't be completely surprised if it was 2nd place to only Icebear's brother and his mighty 54 TPE.
NOLA also did some trading in the meantime; they picked up fringe talent by using their massive amount of capspace (James Batista from NYS, Roma-Amir-Kani from AUS, Mike Scott from SJS), all of whom were inactive players that were just there to fill roster slots. NOLA also traded away one of its final players from the previous generation of NOLA; Chim Rickles, a former Max earning safety who was now 870 TPE and inactive.
Entering the season, New Orleans was heavily discounted. They had an Over/Under of 1.5, 6 less than anyone else in the ASFC and 4 less than the lowest NSFC team, and were almost uniformly picked to finish 7th in the conference. By my count, exactly 14 people who input season predictions did not have them last, out of over 250 entries. Despite being yet again the worst team, on the field, NOLA was more notable for what didn't happen than what did. Not that a team with an outside chance at going winless got a win, but how well they performed in the process. Despite being a team starting a bunch of rookies and inactives, despite losing their only defensive player over 550 TPE halfway through the season via trade, despite a significantly worse QB than last season, they managed to be in the realm of just "the average worst team in the league", only losing games by 12.3 points per game, and managed to keep 6 of their losses to single possession, something they only achieved 3 times throughout all of S41.
Speaking of trades, it was time for NOLA to trade away a current GM player: they sent Solace Avenger, MobiausGrander's retiring player, to Honolulu for a 3rd round pick in the S43 and S44 draft. New Orleans had one problem that had arisen from being too good at drafting: too many people wanted a WR1 role. Keanu Calhoun was traded away to San Jose, a team that could fulfill that promise, and in return the Second Line got Berlin's 1st and 2nd round picks in next season's draft.
Before the S43 draft, there were two more things that happened in the offseason that are important to cover. One was quiet, happens often, and leaves no trace as a result of its action. Forozka Duanei stopped updating suddenly. He was still around, accepted a new contract even, but never got far past 700 TPE. BWIII, his user, last visited the site last November. A couple weeks earlier, the more loud and noticeable event happened, which was even more directly a loss of a good player for NOLA.
Ajax - Conduct Detrimental to the League
The toxic user being banned was met with a chorus of #PackWatch and in general, a lack of surprise or defense. Ajax was gone for a year at minimum, Lukas van Ness was forcibly retired, and one of the trades that had started the tank job off went from a bit of a win-lose trade with NOLA winning to a complete fleecing of NOLA in less than a month. That's the power of hindsight.
The other big trade from S41 was only fully coming home to roost...now.
S43
The End of the Darkest Days
The End of the Darkest Days
New Orleans' draft capital was minimal compared to last season; having traded away what became the 1st overall pick to Arizona, NOLA decided to trade their 15th and 20th overall picks to move up to 12th in the first round. They did at the very least hit on the pick, with Josh Gibson turning into a nearly 1000 TPE linebacker by the start of S47. They also picked Bubba Hog 13th, who was also active and earning for a while, but seems to have gone IA in February at 722 TPE. New Orleans was also able to take advantage of the freebie GM pick; Allister Adebam, MobiausGrander's new create, only needed to be picked at 23rd after the earlier trade, and as expected he went on to max earn. NOLA's final 2nd rounder, 2.27, was used to draft Kelijah Verwae, a still active, decent OL just under 700 TPE currently. The Second Line also had 3 of the final 6 picks of the draft, which they used on Tatum Washington III, who topped out at 250 TPE, Midwest Emo, a still active player who is at 400 TPE, but has not updated since November, and Kane Erikkson, who never got called up. NOLA also signed longtime journeyman QB Adrien St Christmas to replace the now regressed to near oblivion Elessar Jones.
New Orleans was projected better than last season, though still considered by far the worst team in the league. Their Over/Under was bumped up to 2.5, and was now only 2 wins away from their closest competition. They also were still overwhelmingly picked to finish 7th, but not by as near unanimous a margin. Early on during the season, NOLA would send one more player out for the end of their career: PeePee Poop Eater Sr was traded for the Crash's 4th round pick in the upcoming S44 draft. At this point, almost everyone from the old guard of NOLA was gone, either retiring or being traded away. New Orleans actually slightly regressed from last season in terms of play in the sim; losing by 15 points per game and only losing 3 games by a single possession. From S41 through S43, New Orleans won 3 games by a combined 8 points. Not since the S5-7 Yeti had a team been as bad in 3 consecutive seasons. But in TPE and in terms of the near future, it seemed like New Orleans would finally be out of the worst of the worst.
Finally, Jaywe left the position of Co-GM and was replaced by Baz, the user behind Ezra Angel, one of the two first round picks from S41.
But New Orleans wasn't done making moves just yet. Or rather, there was a move that they were about to be forced to make.
S44
More than One Win, but One Big Loss
New Orleans hadn't made an extreme amount of trades, but still had a decent amount of draft capital for S44, including the 1st overall pick again. This time they picked Thomas Passarelli, who has over 900 TPE entering S47. He switched from TE to WR, making for a powerful pair of WRs in the future with Hank Mardukas from a couple drafts prior. NOLA picked up Scott Junior, currently a Safety with over 800 TPE, at the start of Round 2. Round 3 was more bare bones, leading to a couple of depth pieces more than anything: Biggie Fast, an OL with 420 TPE, at 3.29, and Dan Sevin, a 300 TPE RB who hasn't updated since January and hasn't posted on the site since February. The rest of the draft was pretty empty, with NOLA picking two inactives at the end of the draft in Justin Time and Logan Johnson. Overall, while not a landmark draft for NOLA the way S42 was, they managed to pick up a couple of key contributors who will be important to the team in the future.
On the field, things had significantly changed for New Orleans. They'd amassed a large number of well earning users in the previous drafts, and while a lot of them were still before their peak, they were good players and pieces. By point differential, NOLA actually regressed slightly from the previous one win year, with a -15.6 point differential to last year's -15.0, but the Second Line managed to get 3 wins over the course of the season, including their first multi-possession win in 4 seasons. This actually beat their Season Over/Under of 2.5, and they tied the other worst team in the league by record. They still finished last in the conference, although they were tied this time, were still picked to finish last in the conference by a landslide, but managed to avoid being last in the league for the first time in 3 seasons.
There was one thing that happened this season, however, that put a damper on NOLA's hope for the future. The Trade.
There's one problem with amassing a ton of high earning, powerful users: more of them might want some position of power in the league. Dino Nuggets signed his new contract in the offseason before S44, with a pair of stipulations attached: "Tamperable to discuss possible GM opportunities", and "Player Option". Baltimore came around and saw an opportunity to pick up an amazingly earning user basically for free in the offseason. Eventually, it turned into a trade, a technically 3 way trade when I wanted out and the Crash picked me up. The Crash sent over a 2nd rounder in exchange for me, a near max earner but not quite as max as Swoosh, and Baltimore sent along that 2nd rounder in exchange for Swoosh.
Nobody was happy about this with the possible exception of Baltimore. People around the league were incensed with the trade, NOLA players were upset, even the Crash got upset, if only due to being dragged into the controversy. I decided to talk with some of the big players in the trade to get some more details.
(Do not pay for any of this part)
First, I contacted Swoosh to ask him a couple questions.
(Bolded is me, everyone else attributed)
When did you first decide you wanted to GM?
Swoosh: "Not sure there's a specific moment or anything like that. There's definitely a certain level of progression there. Coming into the league, being a GM was something that interested me. Got a great opportunity in Tijuana and then it progressed from there."
When the trade happened, what was your reaction?
Swoosh:"When is the ztartwarz media dropping?"
Hah! Fair enough.
Then Swoosh gave the idea to bring current NOLA GM, Toofpete, into the discord DM. Eventually we also got Baz, the Co-GM at the time, in the DM as well.
Basically, I wanted to get an idea of how the trade looked from NOLA's perspective
Toofpete: What aspect do you want to know about the trade from NOLA's perspective?
Also, all of the info I'm gonna give you will be from my perspective personally. I can't truly speak on everyone's perspective on the team, but mostly my own personal perspective
Well, I kind of know some of the background details due to being in Baltimore's war room at the time; Swoosh wanted to be GM, Baltimore was able to promise a GM spot before NOLA could/did...
Toofpete: I can start there
I can say that the pretty prominent emotion when we all found out about what was happening was disappointment. I love Swoosh and we had such an amazing core that he was a big part of, so losing him was a bummer and pretty disappointing
That being said I've never blamed him for making the move. From the moment I found out, all I wanted was to find a way to make it happen in NOLA. The universe I wish I could live in is one where Swoosh and TMoney are the GMs in NOLA. I was a part of the contingent in NOLA that wanted to make it possible for Swoosh to take over a GM spot, but not everyone was on board with that plan and so Swoosh had to go and do what was best for him. I don't begrudge him that at all and I've been rooting for him since he left. I always will.
I think a lot of the reaction to the trade, from my perspective, was a combination of a series of decisions that were made up to that point that had already been questioned pretty heavily that had frustrations high and the disappointment of losing someone we knew was going to be a huge part of the core that we were building.
I assume you mean the reaction from NOLA players there?
Toofpete: Correct
I feel like a lot of the reaction from outside NOLA was more from people who couldn't know that Baltimore kind of had NOLA in a bind
Toofpete: I do think there was some not so kosher gamesmanship that was played in the acquisition, not on Swoosh's end at all, and it wasn't handled particularly well on NOLA's end with the person who was heading up those negotiations.
I don't think the reaction from those outside of BAL and NOLA were wrong to feel that way. That'd the honesty of the situation. My biggest regret was that some of that ire went towards Swoosh and that was completely unfair.
Swoosh: That is the one piece in particular which I wish I could have changed. I should have been more involved in trade conversations to ensure NOLA was getting appropriate compensation from the beginning.
I could have easily said this deal doesn't happen until that is met
Toofpete: I will say, the most frustrating thing for me in the entire thing was Swoosh drawing some of the ire. I don't disagree with what he said above, but I also don't think it should be up to him to police other GMs doing or not doing "the right thing" and I think he got a lot of unnecessary heat that went his way.
To Swoosh directly... I'll be more upfront with it with this...
I think you were put in a tough spot by two GMs who were unwilling to bend away from their nature. One who wanted to maximize value at all costs without any thought for the precedent it set in the league and another who just as stubbornly was unwilling to maybe make a decision to accommodate your wish to become a GM in the first place.
That created the perfect storm for a situation like this. So that's why I say it's unfair for heat to go on Swoosh. Those GMs at every facet of the situation needed to self evaluate, police themselves, and do what was best for Swoosh, for their team, but also for the league.
In my honest opinion, all of it could've been avoided if the room would've been able to be made for Swoosh in NOLA.
Swoosh: That's absolutely fair and I agree. I still feel I played the role of a failed checks and balances so to speak. Maybe I shouldn't have been responsible for it, but I still could have (and should have) played a role in preventing something like from happening
Thank you very much. I really appreciate both of you for doing this.
I had a few questions, but you kind of covered everything I could have possibly asked
(Baz joins the DM)
Baz, Swoosh and Toof suggested I get your perspective on the big trade, and I think that's a good idea. You were Co-GM at the time, right?
Baz: Yes i was let me read up and see what i can add!
So from reading up the idea was in my opinion in my ideal was to GM with Swoosh because we had actually talked about him GMing one day I had drafted him into TIJ and then into NOLA as one of my favorite prospects. We were put in a bind with the BAL position opening when it did as Mobi had no interest in stepping down and I had just stepped up this season I believe. Mobi had no interest in stepping down and things wouldnt have worked out if I stepped down was the belief. So we were pushed into a funnel to make rhis trade and then from there
Stuff devolved
So yeah swoosh didnt deserve any heat in this the situation was shitty as we have one team who was trying to maximize value and one that was trying to do right by user but still get value back because swoosh knew how much he meant to the team and it definitely had hurt us having to let him go. I do think I am part to blame for swoosh not being able to step up into NOLA as i couldve stepped down but like I said that complicated things as there were some problems with that. With NOLA having a bad image already because of the full reset and some bone head trades we really wanted to make it out with something rather than nothing
Swoosh: You're not to blame one bit, no way should you have stepped down
A huge thank you to @swoosh, @toofpete, and @baz1757 for the interview.
(Please restart payment)
Baltimore ended up giving their S46 1st to New Orleans on top of the Crash's 2nd rounder in a follow up trade about 15 hours later. This turned the trade from a drastic underpayment to almost an overpayment for a single player; Charlie Chapman a couple seasons earlier went for a significant amount less. But this was still damaging to the future prospects of NOLA. Not just on the team, where they would have a significant hole in an otherwise amazing CB pair with Ezra Angel, but in how NOLA was viewed around the league. It is one of the longest trade threads on this entire site, and might have even taken the top spot if not for its closure.
Even with the loss of Swoosh, New Orleans had a core to be proud of. They just needed to suffer through one or two more lean seasons first.
S45
One More Round in the Tank
NOLA entered the S45 draft with less draft capital than usual in this series of seasons; no 1st rounder outside of their own, the only extra 2nd rounder was at the very end, and this was a very small draft anyways. As such, they packaged their 3rd and the late 2nd to move up earlier into the 2nd round. In total, they picked Paul Edgecomb at 1.2, a Safety with just over 550 TPE, Dawelle Wevis at 2.16, a CB with just over 600 TPE, and Andre Benn at 2.20, a WR just under 400. Overall, a decent gain from a weak class.
New Orleans was still predicted to finish last in the Conference, but now there were a large number of people who had them off of that bottom spot. They were still predicted to finish last by the Casino, but yet again they were a game better on Over/Under at 3.5; this still had them 2 wins less than everyone else in the league, however.
While their predicted turnaround was somewhat small, this season felt like a massive leap forward for the beleaguered franchise. While they once again posted the worst point differential in the league, this was a weird season where you could get that title by only having a -5.0 margin per game. While they were once again last in their conference, not even tied for last this time, they had a full win over the team who actually finished last overall. They weren't the worst team in the league, or even in the conference, in either points for or points against. They won 5 full games, and even won a game by 3 possessions. This was helped by finally being in the same ballpark by TPE as other bottom teams in the league, as well as signing a Max CB in free agency, Apollo Program. Program wasn't hanging around for long, though; he wasn't on the same timeframe as the rest of the team as an S39 player and was off to Orange-r pastures for S46.
There weren't any massive trades this season, but there was one development. MobiausGrander, the GM of the team, stepped down. Baz took over the top spot, and joining him was Toofpete, the player behind Bruce White. The pair of S41 First Rounders that started this rebuild all that time ago would now be in charge of it.
S46
One Team's Loss is a Sign to Go All In
There was one more draft that might make a significant difference for New Orleans and their soon to open Window. S46 saw them hold multiple First Rounders again, but this time around they weren't quite as great at maintaining their batting average. Picking Oxford Comma 2nd overall, a LB with just under 500 TPE at the time of writing, was a great hit. He makes for a good LB4 at current time and should eventually surpass Bubba Hog for a strong top 3 LBs. Their 9th overall pick, Octavio Volarus, was not as much of a hit. He's active, but stands at barely over 250 TPE. NOLA's 2nd round pick was much better, picking up Jack Sloth from longtime NOLA user Slothfacekilla, a currently 425 TPE Kicker. The draft ended for New Orleans with pick 3:30, Aaron Ford, a fullback that's currently also just over 250 TPE.
New Orleans wasn't considered truly ready to compete just yet. They were still widely picked to finish 7th in the Conference, but this had more to do with the strength of every other team than it did New Orleans' weakness. The ASFC overwhelmingly made up the top stretch of teams by both TPE and average, and included multiple Ultimus favorites compared to an NSFC lacking by comparison. NOLA's Over/Under was set at 5.5 wins, the exact same as the lowest team in the NSFC. Again, this was more due to the strength of the ASFC than anything else.
The season did not start out very well for New Orleans, beginning with 6 straight losses, including an agonizing 1 point loss to Austin, a 2 point loss to Arizona, and generally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory over and over again. This wasn't that big a deal, though. New Orleans wasn't competing for S46, they were competing for S47 and beyond. Not every team was NOLA, though. The Honolulu Hahalua were in a similar boat in terms of on field performance, starting out 0-5 before winning their Week 6 game, losing by slim margins multiple times. But there was a key difference; while NOLA was the odds on favorite to finish last in the conference, HON was the odds on favorite to finish 1st, with a very low number of people picking them to finish outside the playoff spots. Their 10.5 win Over/Under was both tied for the highest in the entire league, and almost guaranteed Under by Week 4 when the Casino actually closed the bet. They were also very much built to win now, and would regress heavily the following season.
It was time for another team to follow in the footsteps of tanks past, and blow up in glorious, catastrophic fashion. And this time, the Second Line were in position to benefit.
This trade is more than it looks at first glance. First off, the players New Orleans was giving up truly do not matter; Inspector Gadget was an already retired Safety with minuscule TPE, and James Batista was a DE with just over 300 TPE that had been IA for nearly a year. The assets NOLA was truly giving up were their 1st rounders in both the S47 and S48 draft. In exchange, New Orleans got a gem, and also got fool's gold. The gem was Liv Elsathelookout, a max earning S40 DE, near the top of the entire league in TPE. While a year removed from the rest of the Second Line's core, they'll still be more than a good enough player for the time that NOLA will be competing; indeed, right now they're at nearly 1250 TPE even after their first bout with regression. They should still be a great player even next season, and still good the season or two after that. Most people didn't have qualms with NOLA adding Liv to the team via trade.
The controversy came from the next player, the fool's gold. At first glance, Billy Jor-El looks like a sidegrade to Swoosh; he's currently just over 1400 TPE, an S41 player instead of an S42 player, is still active, earning well enough to be a key piece to the team for NOLA's entire window of opportunity. The problem is something that couldn't be seen on that trade post; Lt. Hudz, Billy Jor-El's user, was going to be Honolulu's new GM, and thus was going to retire right after the S46 Ultimus to create a new player. In effect, Billy was a 1.5 season rental for New Orleans, and with NOLA already 0-6 in a tough ASFC, it seemed unlikely that NOLA would make the playoffs in S46. Indeed, after winning 4 straight, the Second Line proceeded to lose each of their final 6 games, ending with a 4-12 record and actually missing their Over/Under by multiple games. Jor-El was now a single season rental for the cost of New Orleans' 1st round pick for S48.
NOLA's 4-12 record covered up a much better team; by TPE they were near the top of the league, their average result was only losing by 3.4 points per game, and while their defense was still bad their offense was in the middle of the pack. But it did make them 2nd to last in both the league and Conference. The only worse team was Honolulu, who had their first round pick.
S47
The Window Opens
New Orleans entered the draft with their least draft capital in a long time, with only a single 2nd round pick and no 1st rounder to their name. They picked up McDripson McDropson at 2.16, an OL with just over 300 TPE at time of writing, and Will Nuck at 3.30, an RB with just under 300 TPE. Matt Wilkins, their 3.30 pick, was more of a depth piece for the future, an LB with 225 TPE at this time but still active, while their last couple of picks appear to have already gone inactive. Lloyd Boernstein, a pick NOLA traded their 3rd rounder in S48 to get, seems salvageable. Their pick at 4.55 last visited the site 2 weeks ago and has 141 TPE. Their 5.58 pick, Kiwi Flapjacks, is probably IA for good, having last visited the site in February.
For the first time in over half a decade of seasons, NOLA enters the S47 season with positive expectations. They have the single highest TPE in the league and are 5th in average. They boast the 3rd best offense and the single best defense by TPE. The only thing holding them back is that the entire top 4 by TPE and 4 of the top 5 by average are all in the ASFC. They have a max QB, RB, the 2nd highest TPE pair of wideouts in the league behind Arizona, and that's just their offense. New Orleans has gone to the lowest depths an ISFL team has gone in over half a decade of real time, lower depths than any NFL team in league history, and has come out of it with the distinct chance of being a winner.
Any NFL team is only a decade away from the Super Bowl. Any ISFL team is only half a decade away from the Ultimus. New Orleans has gone through that half decade, and it's time to see what will come out of it.
(5646 words, minus the interview)