Sevsdast wrote:

Rugrat wrote:

Hell of a game, congrats to the Whales. Fun Fact: This is the first time a team west of Chicago has won a Champions Bowl. 

The Los Angeles Tigers would like to know your location

 Last time I checked, the Tigers have yet to win it all.

Sevsdast wrote:

Rugrat wrote:

Sevsdast wrote:

The Los Angeles Tigers would like to know your location

 Last time I checked, the Tigers have yet to win it all.

? The tigers won once in Buffalo.

Yes but Buffalo is not west of Chicago.

Glad to see all the excitement for the Whales first Championship! The excitement doesn't stop there though, this offseason we'll be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the league! It'll get its own post after the proper offseason below.
(And for the record, Rugrat's correct, the Whales are the first team to win a championship while playing in a west coast city.)

1971 Offseason
This year’s draft class was one of the shallowest in recent memory. The top prospect was far and away Jack Hoffman. Quarterback out of Virginia State. His college resume is pretty lackluster outside of a pretty good senior year. But that was probably aided by the emergence of WR Ed Heinrich, who would probably be the top prospect if not for a nasty ankle injury he suffered in the Captains final game of the season. After those two there's a handful of decent talent, but after the top ten the talent drops significantly. Others to note are defensive end Gus Baldwin out of Louisiana who was arguably the best defender coming into the season until he injured his back 2 weeks into the season that knocked him out for the most part of the next 6 games. He would also sit out the last 2 games of the season after the death of both of his parents from a freak car accident. 
Coming into draft day, Hoffman was the clear favorite, with some mix of WR Ed Heinrich (Virginia State), OL Fred Scott (Payne State), DE Gus Baldwin (Louisiana), and RB Cyrus Duffy (Ohio) following in the next spots. This would seem to be pretty accurate, as the Kings would take Hoffman off the board at 1, and his teammate, Heinrich would be off the board at 2, to Colorado. But at 3 the Gaels seemed unhappy with the names still on the board. They would end up taking DE Earl Jones, out of Tennessee State. Jones wasn’t bad, but it was thought that he overperformed his senior year for the 7-5 Bobcats. He was slated to be taken later in the first round, but Boston must’ve seen something they liked. He was off the board at 3. Scott would fall to 4, and arguably the best defensive prospect fell all the way to 5, with Detroit lucking out with DE Gus Baldwin. Other notable picks was the best RB prospect, Cyrus Duffy, being selected by Seattle at 6, a notably better pick then last years for the Jacks. Also worth noting was B.B. Oxford jumping from a second round prospect at best all the way to number 8. Atlanta needed a safety and Oxford was certainly a good choice, but they could’ve easily gotten him with their second round pick if they so desired.  

19th Annual NFA Draft:
1.QB Jack Hoffman - Virginia State - St. Louis Kings
2. WR Ed Heinrich - Virginia State - Colorado Cougars
3. DE Earl Jones - Tennessee State - Boston Gaels
4. OL Fred Scott - Payne State - Texas Roughriders
5. DE Gus Baldwin - Louisiana - Detroit Bombers

Other Notable Picks: 
6.RB Cyrus Duffy - Ohio - Seattle Lumberjacks
8.S B.B. Oxford - George A&M - Atlanta Bulldogs

Roster Changes
-A big news story this offseason, was the retirement of both WR James Audrey and DE Monty Jones. Both were the best in their positions at their prime, with Jones being a probable hof-er and one of the best to ever play his position. Audrey was a journeyman, while Jones played all of his career with Washington.

Other notable moves this offseason.
-The Tigers trade RBs with Atlanta, swapping Bob Briscoe for Edgar Hamm and then swing a first and third round pick for QB Patrick James from Seattle. This brings in a new young offense to keep LA competitive.
-The Lumberjacks, after trading James, pick up QB Micheal Bauer in a triumphant return to the Emerald City.
-The Hornets make a big defensive pick up in LB Jack Barkley.

Coaching Changes
-Boston let’s go of Bill Montague after a long 14 year tenure. His replacement is Ryan Campbell, former Georgia A&M head coach.
-The Cougars fire head coach Micah Hinton, they make a big hire and sign Bill Montague.

League News
-Andrew Cassel narrowly wins election among the owners to become the new commissioner. He was the President of the Players Association and is acclaimed for the fairly good relations between the players and owners. He was formerly a QB for the New York Cannons and Buffalo Tigers.
-Scott Hogg is unanimously voted into the Hall of Fame.
-Cincinnati extends its lease for Richard J Bledsoe stadium but starts talking with the city to build a brand new stadium by the time the lease expires in 1975. 
-Houston also extends its lease for Holgate Stadium.
-Commissioner Cassel announces that he’s looking at expanding the league by 2-4 teams by the year 1975. A premature list of cities that the league would be interested in expanding into includes 22 cities with newer markets such as Portland, Sacramento, and Tampa Bay and older markets such as Kansas City, Hartford, or New York and Newark.

Preseason Power Rankings
1.San Francisco Whales
2.Cincinnati Sabres
3.Washington Pirates
4.Houston Explorers
5.Miami Stingrays
6.Pittsburgh Ironmen
7.Philadelphia Hornets
8.Chicago Zephyrs
9.Milwaukee Barbarians
10.Minneapolis Blue Ox
11.Los Angeles Tigers
12.Cleveland Rangers
13.Colorado Cougars
14.Atlanta Bulldogs
15.Detroit Bombers
16.New York Cannons
17.Texas Roughriders
18.Boston Gaels
19.St. Louis Kings
20.Seattle Lumberjacks

Let me know what you think!

Last edited by MyTeamIsDr.Pepper (3/26/2021 9:26 pm)

Rugrat wrote:

Interesting to see a new commissioner for the league. The rumored expansion also has me interested, that will be interesting, hopefully Phoenix makes a bid. Seems like this could be anyone’s year, going with Miami over Washington in the Champions Bowl as my preseason pick. And by Baltimore, do you mean Atlanta?

Yes, thanks for the catch. And yes, Phoenix is one of the 22 cities Cassel and the rest of the league is looking at.

MyTeamIsDr.Pepper wrote:

Rugrat wrote:

Interesting to see a new commissioner for the league. The rumored expansion also has me interested, that will be interesting, hopefully Phoenix makes a bid. Seems like this could be anyone’s year, going with Miami over Washington in the Champions Bowl as my preseason pick. And by Baltimore, do you mean Atlanta?

Yes, thanks for the catch. And yes, Phoenix is one of the 22 cities Cassel and the rest of the league is looking at.

What are the 22 cities?