The Offseason Heading into 1972
The league meetings, held in Gilroy at The Table in The Back Room of The Bar of The River Galloway, concluded with some decisions being made, but none as game-changing as last year.

OCS Homecourt - It was decided the team atop the standings at the end of the season would host the OCS Championship. The vote came to a 5-2 vote, with both Murdlock team representatives wanting the game to be played at a neutral site (a.k.a. they wanted it in Murdlock).

Roster Expansion - The McQuelsey debacle of 1971 led all league members to agree that roster expansion was much needed. The decision was unanimous. All rosters now expanded to a maximum of 10 players.

Wonder when The Team will finally drop the mouthful of a name it has lol.

The Offseason Heading into 1973
The league meetings were much more contentious than previously, as the Ensylvan folks were still quite upset about the McQuelsey unraveling of the banner as the buzzer sounded. Things almost went into fisticuffs before representatives from Desherd City and Murdlock had to get in the middle of things. As things settled in, here is how the voting went down.

Expansion - After speaking with representatives from other cities, it was agreed upon that league expansion would take place after the 1973 season. The members of the league hoped there would be at least two teams to add for 1974.

Playoff Restructuring - In a 4-3 vote, the league agreed that, should the league expand to the provisional eight teams, as planned, the playoffs would expand to include the top four teams to play in a single elimination tournament, with the high seed hosting the games. A vote was also placed for the rule to be in effect for the 1973 season with four of the six teams in the tournament, but it was overruled with a 5-2 vote against it.

Championship Banners - The league agreed to offer both The Team of the River Galloway and Desherd City championship banners for their successes over the previous three years.

The 1973 OCS Final
The River Centre was absolutely JUMPING on a Saturday Night as Desherd City traveled to Gilroy to face The Team of The River Galloway! Brian Williams and Mike Beck got things going, banging down low to open the game on a 12-4 run for the Dachshunds, who dominated most the first half. After a roaring locker room speech from The Team captain Andre Oz, the tide turned drastically. Incredibly enough, Oz limited Williams to only 4 second half points. Big Man Reggie Wilson also posted a 15 point, 8 rebound evening while protecting the rim from Williams, Beck, and shooting guard Bubba Ruiz.

Heading into the final minute with a 64-60 lead, it was ultimately too much for the Dachshunds to overcome. Oz closed out the game with six more free throws, adding to what would become a career high of 36 points. As the buzzer sounded, the crowd flooded the court and carried Oz on their shoulders, singing the team's fight song:

We are the Team of The River Galloway
Everything sounding convoluted what we say
Though we have not been blessed with brevity
Pressing forward are we on to victory!
 

Last edited by HWULA (4/09/2021 10:42 pm)

The Offseason Heading into 1974
Offseason meetings were far less tense this year, in many thanks to the longer table that was brought in to meet at. The distance separated the representatives from Ensylvan and McQuelsey by a considerable margin. As such, it was much more productive, as it needed to be what with the upcoming expansion of the league.

Schedule Change - As the league was expanding, the schedule needed adjustment. The group voted on maintaining a home-and-home regular season series against each team and merely starting the season earlier to accommodate the new teams coming in, as well as the new 4-team playoff format. The tiebreaker would be head-to-head record, followed by overall +/-.

Championship Trophy - In certainly one of the more heated exchanges that lasted for at least an hour of meeting time, the league decided to implement a trophy to be awarded to the champion. Whether or not the trophy would be used was decided quickly; the design of the trophy, however, was what caused the ruckus. After some considerable ideas (The Great Owl, The OBA Globe-a) and... some not so much (The Huge Winnable Undisputed Lithium Award, The Rubber Pumpkin), they settled on something representative of the whole country...
THE GOLDEN CARROT!!!! Oneioea is well known for exporting carrots and gold to their neighbors, so why not have the best athletes in the world compete for such a noble and established prize?!

Rebranding Madness in Murdlock - Despite reservations from the players, both the Murdlock townsfolk and the author of this series got really sick of having to identify the teams as simply #1 and #2 like they were Cat in the Hat characters. As such, both teams would undergo extensive rebranding that will come in a later post.

Of course... LEAGUE EXPANSION!!! The league will be expanding to not one, not two... but four teams for the upcoming 1974 season!! Each team will get their own dedicated post for their uniform and branding and court design.