To put it simply, we did not have a good game against Independencia. We're in a bit of a pinch trying to defend our GEO Cup title, so we'll have to play lights out for the remainder of our games and have a little help along the way. We'll attempt to rebound against Federal, who had an even worse game against Sydney. Unfortunately for us, injuries to two of our defenders made us to make some changes, going in a 3-4-3 formation while we figure out their timetables. Featured for this week is goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who (ironically) was lights out defending the goal, getting 5 saves and a clean sheet in a dominant performance.

We missed out on the playoffs the past two years on points, but this time we easily won our way in. After a rocky beginning of the year, we went on a 7 game winning streak to end the regular season and locked up the 3 seed with a final win at Minnesota. Our opponent for this hard effort? Oh, you know, one of the best teams in the modern era in the New York Emperors. They easily defeated us in week 3 when we were still figuring out our identity, but now we're both different teams and we're hoping for a close one. Leading the way for the Cyclones is rookie QB Caleb Williams, who put up a solid first campaign with over 2700 yards and 16 passing TD's, and nearly 400 yards on the ground. We'll be wearing the typical home set of red helmets, red jerseys, and tan pants to kick off the postseason. #BlownAway #WAFC

Slapshot Kirby wrote:

1. What are basketball and hockey like in this universe?

I'm not going to touch on either basketball nor hockey since they're outside of the scope of the world (though if there is something notable I will touch on it). Hockey is slightly larger than it was in OTL, finding opportunities to expand after WWII and is relatively stable in terms of membership. I don't have specifics on the cities, but it does span most of the big cities in the Rust Belt and northeast. Basketball has been struggling as of late, but seems to be rebounding (pun intended). The league has seen a number of teams join and leave, and is just now beginning to stabilize at 8 teams across the northeast and midwest. It's clearly at the bottom of the American sports totem pole, firmly behind hockey, football, and baseball in that order.

Slapshot Kirby wrote:

2. The answer is probably no given gender roles back in the 1950s, but there is chance a woman could potentially own an AFL team down the line?

I actually looked into this because I thought Georgia Frontiere was the first majority female owner in the NFL in the 70's, but actually she was only the second - Violet Bidwell owned the Cardinals from 1947-1962. There isn't anything set up yet regarding that, but I'm never going to rule it out as a possibilty. The closest we can get to a female owner is with the Chicago Hogs, where Donovan Hasenkamp runs it with his family, meaning his wife Gloria is technically a partial owner.


I should have the football world update up soon!

We put Arizona to bed over Thanksgiving thanks to an excellent effort from our offense. We've already got the Central locked up, but our final divisional game against the Voyageurs will determine where we finish on the year. With a mess going on down below us to determine the final few playoff spots, we'll just chill on the road against Minnesota. For the final regular season game, we're featuring K Chase McLaughlin, who hit 4 for 5 field goals and 2 for 2 extra points last week. #BlownAway #WAFC

The match was a close one, but Atlético showed up late to eek out the win against us. Oh well, it doesn't matter, we have one last week ahead of us before the Geo Cup begins. It's a home match (and also our first game against one another) against Bukchon Hanok Stripes. They're doing alright in their first season, but we'll want to close out the first half right. Featured for this week is D Kenny Tete, who filled in nicely in a pinch for an assist and 3 clearances.