Favorite Team: I chose the Knights originally, and I'd say I'm still a Kierport fan, although if another team I really like comes by, I might swap alliances.

Least Favorite Team: I'm not sure if I have one. I'll echo Steel and say Hadley for rivalry reasons.

ThisIsFine wrote:

Favorite Team: The Gatekeepers. They turned out to be my favorite team visually, with their double blue and ingenious logo. Truly timeless.

Least Favorite Team: The Knights. Being our main rival, I never shed a tear when their “dynasty” collapsed the second Gideon Skeates went full gorilla-man at the third championship. Plus, their uniforms are basically Purdue, lol.

Questions:
1. When would the league nest be interested in expansion?
2. What does the name Escalia mean?

1. Stay tuned until the offseason and you'll find out ;)
2. Escalia comes from the corruption of the name of the Esu'kala indigenous peoples, one of the largest indigenous peoples in the nation, with the -ia suffix added on the end that is usually associated with place names

Stickman wrote:

First off, congrats to the Miners!  Always fun to see a new team win (even if it's at the expense of my Lumberjacks....).

Favorite Team: Lumberjacks.  Always loved their color scheme and the jerseys are great!  It's been fun watching them almost always contend, though obviously watching them fail in the playoffs all the time reminds me a little too much of being an Eagles fan in the 00s when they lost 3 straight NFC Championship games and then a Super Bowl right after, (and also to an extent over the last few years too, though at least we got that Super Bowl recently enough for those loses to hurt less).  

Least Favorite Team: I suppose probably the Owls, since it feels like we face off against them in the playoffs quite often, though I feel like the Dragons are another good team to root against!

Question: I know I could look this up myself, but of curiosity, what are the most common playoff/Escalian Cup matchups so far?

First of all, I feel bad that Lumberjacks fans have to go through what the team is doing right now, as they are statistically the best team, but constantly lose in the playoffs and only have 1 Cup to show for their success. 

Secondly, the most common Escalian Cup matchup is Duvall-Hadley, who have faced each other three times for the Cup with Hadley having the better 2-1 record between them. Their 3 matchups are tied with Ellesby-Hadley, Duvall-Norfolk, and Hadley-Kierport for the most common playoff matchups. 

Stayed tuned for tomorrow for a big offseason news-wise!
 

1969-70 Offseason Part 1:  

Sale of the Augusta Bulls:
Following the death of Bulls owner Wilfrid Charles, ownership passed on to his younger brother Louis Charles, who immediately looked to sell the team. He agreed with NTC owner George Curtis to sell the team to him for $10 million and immediately relocate them to his home city of Minola, Pascoa. The second highest bid of $8.5 million was led by local meatpacking magnate Victor Sharman, who would have kept the team in the city along with the promise of building a new, specialized stadium for the Bulls. The league immediately stepped in and prevented the sale of the Bulls to Curtis, not wanting someone “who attempted to swindle his way to a team”, as Commissioner Jack Merril put it, into the league. Merrill instead negotiated at the along with Sharman and the City of Augusta to not lose their team, with both Sharman and the city providing the funding for a new stadium set to be complete by 1976.  

Future Expansion: 
With the success of the Ashonta Miners winning the Escalian Cup, the Owner’s Council reconvened during the Winter Meetings to discuss the possibility of expanding the league once more. In a narrow 7-5 vote, the owners decided that the league will expand to 16 teams by the 1972 season, with the first two teams arriving in the 1971 season and the next in the ‘72 season. The league even went one step further and announced the locations of the next 4 teams: Fort McLeod, Cormarca,, Pattalia, Pattal, Sarnia, New Huron and Wrauport, Arcanora. Many expected that Minola, Pascoa would get a team, as it was a frontrunner according to rumors around the expansion, but was rejected when the owners found out that the ownership for the Minola team, lead by NTC owner George Curtis, were also trying to lure the Augusta Bulls away from Augusta and have them relocate them to Minola when that group bought the team. The owners thus rejected both proposals and instead picked Sarnia as the last team. Fort McLeod and Pattalia will join in the 1971 season, and Sarnia and Wrauport will follow in 1972. 

Realignment: 
As a result of expanding to 16 teams, a 4 division setup was created that will begin in the 1972 season: 

The owners also approved an expanded playoff format that will begin in 1971 that will see the playoff field expand from 4 to 6 teams. For the 1971 season only, the top 3 teams in a division will make the playoffs, with the 2nd place team and 3rd place team playing each other to play against the division winner, who will get a bye week. From the 1972 season onward, all 4 division winners will make the playoff along with 2 “wild cards”. For now, these two wild cards will play the two lowest division winners, depending on if the “flexible seeding” rule will be passed before the 1971 season, as it failed to pass this offseason. The Flexible Seeding rule would allow a team that has a better win percentage than a division winner to replace it in the playoffs. 

Formation of the United Football League: 
Enraged that he had been denied thrice at ownership of a team, a furious George Curtis filed a lawsuit against the league, which was quickly thrown out. In a massive shock to everyone, a few weeks later he and 5 other partners announced the formation of the United Football League, with 6 teams set to start in the 1972 season. No word was given on where the teams would be, besides that Minola was most likely to gain a team led by Curtis, and that the NTC would sign an exclusive contract to broadcast all UFL games. Curtis, who was serving as the de facto commissioner of the breakaway league, announced that all teams would be announced the following year, and revealed the logo for the league, a hexagon with 6 stars in the 6 corners that represent the inaugural 6 teams for the league, with a football in the middle with UFL written in it.


Part 2 up next...  
 

Last edited by DireBear (12/08/2020 11:35 pm)

I think you mixed up the divisions for east and west a little.

200th post!



North Division 
The Miners proved that the last two years were no fluke, as they took home the North for the second straight year in the row, with QB Daniel Baumann having another career year, but wasn’t good enough to take home MVP, bringing home his second straight Offensive Player of the Year award. Also for the second straight year, they will be facing the Mariners in the Playoff game, with their defense quietly putting up great numbers once again and their offense producing when they needed to. Coming in third is the surprise of the season, Saint Blaise. Owner and de facto GM Oscar Hyde has nailed the late rounds of the draft this year, picking up LB Alan Marshall in the 6th round and Rookie of the Year RB Benny Baird in the 5th round to name a few notable ones from this year. Orcaster had an odd .500 year in the middle of a rebuild, and most expect them to return to or near the basement of the new North Division come ‘72. Falling to second to last are the Gatekeepers, severely hindered by QB Jack Retuer being unable to stay healthy throughout the season and RB Clint Atwood being taken down in week 4 against the Racers due to a hip injury. In last again are the Knights, haven fallen from grace and many fans demanding longtime HC Lyall Parsons and GM Logan Molina to be fired, but owner Earl Tozer refusing to budge on their firings. 

South Division 
When Duvall QB Harold Bauer went down to a leg injury last year, many wondered if it would hamper his performance. It turned out to not affect him at all, as he cruised to his third MVP award and helped Duvall soar to a 10 win season, only losing to the Owls in week 2 and tying the Angels in week 6. The Lumberjacks came second once again, with their defense doing slightly better on opponents’ points per game (19.75 this year vs 19.8 last year) and QB Nathan Slezak narrowly missing out on Offensive Player of the Year, while DL Darren Abrahams took home Defensive Player of the year. Adelaide fell to .500 after a slew of injuries to the team in the beginning of the season hampered their production. The rest of the division was nothing really exciting to talk about: Homestead had some growing pains under their new head coach, though they did snag a win from the Owls in week 3 with most of Adelaide’s starters still playing, Augusta had another forgettable season after the drama surrounding their ownership, and the Anchors landed at the bottom again, with their only two wins coming in the last two weeks of the season 

Awards:
Most Valuable Player: QB Harold Bauer (DUV) (x3)
Most Valuable Coach: Artur Acterburg (DUV) (x2)
Most Outstanding Offensive Player: QB Daniel Baumann (ASH) (x2)
Most Outstanding Defensive Player: DL Darren Abrahams (NOR)
Most Outstanding Rookie: RB Benny Baird (STB) 

Playoff Preview: 

Ellesby Mariners @ Ashonta Miners 
These two teams split their series this season, with the Miners grinding out a 10-6 win in week 4 and the Mariners pulled out a 30-16 win in week 11. Reasonably, this could be anyone’s game, but the Miners at home as of recent have been tough to beat, having won 7 straight home games. The rematch of last year’s North Division playoff is sure to be a good watch.
Escalian Sports Magazine Prediction: The Miners being at home will help them out, as they will squeak out a win to move on to their second straight Cup appearance. 17-14 ASH 

Norfolk Lumberjacks @ Duvall Dragons 
Duvall has looked nigh unstoppable all season long, as they have swept their matchups this season and their only non-wins aren’t in the playoffs. However, the Norfolk defense isn’t something to look over, as even though they lost their DC Conrad Logan to the Reapers, their new DC Vincent Rutton has lived up to his old master’s job and taken the defense above what Logan did to the team.
Escalian Sports Magazine Prediction: Though the Lumberjacks defense may seem to be their upper hand, the Dragons will put another tick in the W column as they narrowly defeat the ‘Jacks. 24-20 DUV