1959-60 NFA Season:
NFA East:  

• Washington Pirates: This Pirates season was one to remember. Remember that team that made the Champions Bowl 2 years ago? The one that lost in historical fashion? Well their back. Doug “Dougie Emmonds and a revamped defense led by Parker Romeo and MOR winner Monty Jones stormed their way to the top of the East, seizing their chance while the rest of the league was down. “Dougie” had his best season yet, leading Washington to 9 wins. A big statement win coming out of Minneapolis in week 3 after he connected on a hail-mary, 56 yard pass to a receiver deep with under a minute left that led to a game winning touchdown. Their 3 losses came to at Chicago, Detroit, and at Cleveland. 
• Boston Gaels: Boston has risen from the dead! After sifting in the basement for almost a decade, Boston has reared its head to the rest of the NFA. Led by the most promising young core in the league, made up of QB Donald McCloud, RB Stevie Parks, DB Stan Hunter, WR Joe Winslow and TE Percy Quintero. The team surprised many and started off 3-0. While they may have fallen off a bit as the season went on, they looked unbeatable to start. Big, obliterating wins over Philadelphia and New York in weeks 1-2 we're proof of that. Big injuries to the defense mid way through the season started to hurt the team however. Dropping close games to Washington, St. Louis and New York set them up at .500 6 games in. But the most important game came in this second half of the season when in week 10, trailing Cleveland for the second NFA East Championship spot, they walked into The Coliseum and upset the Rangers by 10 on a big night from McCloud which sent them to the postseason for the first time since 1948.
• Cleveland Rangers: The biggest story for the Rangers this year was the lack of offense. Losing Pearson in the offseason was killer to this team. Proven by the amount of games their offense was just outrun, leaving their defense to have to do all the work. While still a menacing threat and the best out east, this Cleveland defense ended the season worn down and injured, with season ending blows in the last two weeks of the season, both losses at home,  to the Gaels and lowly Hornets. Star CB John Walker missed a lot of the season with a knee injury, and the losses of MLBs Roger Clark and Steve Kessler in the offseason weakened their line. Filling the gap for Pearson was third year Ryle Hanson who played decent his rookie year, but that's about it. He's taken a couple steps back from that season and at points fought with management over the offense and his touches. He was pulled for the backup after week 7, but put back in just 2 weeks later. If there was a word to describe this team this season. It's “messy”. 
• New York Cannons: The first year under new coach Roy Lynch the team took an expected step back. Jim Sandusky ran into some sophomore troubles but more or less played up to his expectations. The defense stuttered because of age and injuries. And rookie RB Carl Horner, who took over starting position after RB Travis Tidwell stunk up the rush offense, played mediocrely. 3 wins is meek, but the Cannons faced a rough first half of the season which could in part be to blame for it. If there's anything to say for Cannons fans it's that they split games with Boston and were ahead of Philadelphia in the standings for the second year in a row. 
• Philadelphia Hornets: Well they've just about hit rock bottom now. Trading away your talent in the offseason is only gonna sink you in the standings, In what could be Eugene Addams last season in the City of Brotherly Love, the Hornets win the award for worst team in the East. In what may be the worst Hornets season in 2 decades, Addams still starred, without him Philadelphia wouldn't have gotten their 3 wins. 1 against Pittsburgh, (they split the season series at a game a piece however) another against St. Louis, and another against Cleveland. Outside of Addams, there wasn't much to withhold, the parts that made the Hornets so fun to watch, that took them to 4 straight Champions Bowls, have moved on, and are gone. Towels is still in as the head coach however, and there doesn't seem to be any rumblings that this would change if these losing ways continued as well. 

• Chicago Zephyrs: Once again at the top of the standings are the Zephyrs. Both former MVPs had good years and the team was as good as always is. Their rivals in the rest were slightly better than in previous years. With Detroit and Minneapolis fighting it out for 2nd place. Chicago has 2 losses on the season, one coming to Minneapolis and one coming to New York during the last game of the year. They rested most of the starters that game and genuinely didn't try, they had already clinched the NFA West regular season. Their one tie of the season came to one of many over their rivaled history, at Detroit in week 4, a great battle between QB Houston Henderson of Detroit and Hogg left both teams at 31 points as the dust settled. Hogg came close to winning another MVP but just lost out to Doug Edmonds of the Pirates. 
• Minneapolis Blue Ox: In second place we have a surprise, the Blue Ox. Minneapolis had their best season yet as a franchise, garnering 9 wins in route to their first postseason appearance. QB Burt O’Conner exploded under a new head coach. The defense found life, especially in the red zone, stopping teams at the goal line and crushing the hearts of their opponents' fans. Both sides of the team got rocky at points, which is expected when the team is young. They scraped together some big wins, most notably beating Chicago and Detroit at home and coming home with wins from Boston and Cleveland, two of them hardest places to play. But on the flip side suffered embarrassing losses where it seemed as though the team was completely different. 
• Detroit Bombers: Oh the pain of Bombers fans. Much to the dismay of many Detroit natives and fans, the Bombers fall and miss the postseason for the first time since 1956. Injuries to the defense forced an offense to step up who wasn't ready to carry more of the load. This resulted in the team going winless until week 3, and them coming up short at the end of the season, primarily thanks to losses to Chicago and at Philadelphia. Henderson played well, but young RB Mark Jackson, who was acquired from the Hornets in the offseason, underperformed and had his worst season in his career. DE Greg Portson, a former Champions Bowl MVP, was sidelined due to injuries for the first 4 and last 2 games, missing half the season. Coach Joe Taylor has taken heat for the under performance of the whole team. With some of the top defenders in the league, as in his words “the best QB in the league” his job has come into question. 
• St. Louis Tigers: Replacing Boston as the laughing stock of the league are the Tigers. Their roster is forgettable, they lost every home game this year, the last 6 games in St. Louis they had were all losses, in fact, they've been 1-12 in their last 12 home games over the past 2 seasons, 3-18 at home in the lost 3 seasons. In fact since their Champions Bowl appearance only 6 years ago, they've been 15-58. Which is second worse over that span, next to Boston who went 13-58. The Tigers have been last in both offensive and defensive ratings the last 3 years, and have failed to draft anyone noticeable. They've also bottomed out in attendance. Attendance was also a reason in Buffalo, which is why they relocated to St. Louis, and also a reason why they're now headed to Los Angeles. 
• Pittsburgh Ironmen: The Tigers aren't alone at the bottom of the NFA West this year, tied with them are the Ironmen. The Ironmen actually tied St. Louis, when a game-winning field goal shanked left for Pittsburgh. Meaning the two teams were legitimately tied for 5th place. Outside of a win over state rival Philadelphia and the measly New York Cannons, Pittsburgh suffered another long season of misery. 

MyTeamIsDr.Pepper wrote:

H-Town1141 wrote:

for something that detailed, I'd scale it back on the shadows, decrease the amount of colors, utilize black to your advantage, and change up the line-weights depending on what you want to be emphasized.. My suggestion would be to draw it out and then try to vectorize it if you want, or just scan it and leave it at that. It'll be more work, sure, but era-appropriate styling and historical techniques help add all the more realism to the project.

(for reference, think these)

I tried to recreate it using some of your tips. This look a little better? Was aiming toward the Oilers and Texans logo.
(deleted for space)

I like it! I would say maybe make the jaw more pronounced, like having his face look more up and closer to a 3/4 profile than just a straight profile shot. But I like it!

I'm excited for these playoffs too. Hope Boston pulls some dumb sh-t for max chaos, but my bets are all-in on Chicago.

Tough loss for Minne, but hopefully the young core keeps growing and they improve next year.

Wallflower wrote:

Tough loss for Minne, but hopefully the young core keeps growing and they improve next year.

They're definitely on the rise, I think it's a bit early now, but a few years down the line, they might get a chance at a Champions Bowl, who knows.

Rugrat wrote:

Cheering for The Pirates in this one. Go end the Zephyr dynasty!

I like the spirit!

1959-60 NFA Champions Bowl - Chicago Zephyrs vs Washington Pirates 

The Zephyrs opened the game off with an impressive 40 yard return that set them up around midfield. They got straight to work pounding the rock with RB Alfie Raschall, trying to wear down the impressive Pirates defense. They eventually got stopped up, in part due to rookie DE Monty Jones coming up with a 11 yard sack against QB Scott Hogg. They attempted but missed a field goal. Their first missed field goal in 4 weeks. Pirates retaliated with an impressive drive that ended with them taking a 7-0 lead. Emmonds connected with WR Dale English in the front of the endzone to make the score. As the kickoff kicked off the second quarter, the air in the stadium was tense, Chicago were the favorites, and for only the second time in their history, were they trailing in a Champions Bowl game. The handed the keys of the offense to Raschall once again, trying to grind down the Pirates defense. It didn’t take long for Raschall to find his stride. On three straight handoffs he managed to gain almost 30 yards, leading to Hogg only having to make a 15 yard toss to TE Robert Wilson to tie the game. Both teams would hit dead ends on short drives, Hogg tossing a hail mary that wouldn’t make it to the endzone and would fall incomplete, as the half ended.Coming into the second half, a sleet had picked up in Cleveland, making the ball and field a bit slick and visibility a bit harder. This seemed to not have much of an affect, as both Hogg and Emmonds led their teams on successful drives, exchanging field goals and tying the game at 10-10 as the third quarter came to an end. Chicago especially mixed up their attack after Raschall twisted his ankle on the first drive of the half after a hard tackle. It seemed to be effective, Hogg slinging like expected.The fourth quarter is when the sleet started to become more of a factor. Due to the ball being more slick, on what would be a routine carry for Pirates RB Carson King, a Zephyrs defender managed to sneak an arm in there and punch the ball out. Nobody could get control of the ball until, 12 yards away from where the fumble occured, Zephyrs DT James Carpenter managed to fall on the ball and secure crucial possession for Chicago. They would take advantage and make it back down the field as the clock clicked away. Hogg would eventually connect with TE Wilson once again to take a 17-10 lead. Emmonds attempted to make it down the field with the time left but a deflected pass that was intercepted sealed the game for the now 4 time Champions Bowl losers. Chicago wins 17-10, Their third straight Champions Bowl win and their 4th in 5 years. That makes them the owners of the Most Champions Bowl Victories title. Washington on the other hand have the most losses in Champions Bowl history, with 4. 



C&C Appreciated, how'd your team do?

ThisIsFine wrote:

Don’t call SF the Whales, Veras used that name for the AFA.

Try “Seals” instead.

I know Veras had the Whales, and while they were one of my favorite identities in his league, I made sure to try and not have much similarities between the two teams. So, I'm going to stick with the Whales, I really like what I've gotten cooked up for them, I think y'all will too. Expect the off season post to be up soon!