Going slightly out of order from the old thread here, but I think it makes more sense to have offseason news come before new team concepts, so here's the 2018-2019 offseason:

Coaching Changes:
With a 7-73 record over the first two years, the Toronto Hogs fired head coach Nicolas Stroke. In a move that would be controversial both within the organization and without, general manager Billie Arsenault moved to take on the coaching role as well. This was partially due to Arsenault’s ego and perfectionism, and partially because nobody wanted to come coach the perennial pink bottom-feeder that Toronto seems to be becoming. The team’s success this season will be a large determining factor in whether Arsenault, and potentially even the team itself, sticks around.

Roster Changes:
Free Agents - 
CAL F/ZB Erik Franz to LA - Franz jumps from a starting spot on the national champion Sea Lions to their biggest rival thus far, the Tooths, where he will likely have a backup role. This looks to be a money-driven move, as LA clearly wanted him more than California did. CAL B/C Roosevelt Hall to TOR - The Hogs gain championship experience from the big man, who spent 2017 with the pink and brown before winning it all last year with the Lions. Hall will also see an increase in playing time after being the fourth center on Cali’s roster last year.

TOR B/ZB James Terry to CHI - Terry was one of the Hogs’ best players last year, but was clearly unhappy with the situation there. He will sign with the Frost, who hope that he will put them over the top in what looks to be a very competitive Central Division.

Trades -
PHX receives W/K Zechariah Bailey, F/ZB Ernie Roberts
CAL receives F/K Jim Burns, F/ZB Elenio Field, W/ZB Gary Ceja
California was looking to shop one of its keepers, and Phoenix gave them the best offer for Bailey. The trade enabled the Palms to solve their keeper problem and the Sea Lions to add depth at forward.

PHI receives B/ZB McAllister Pleasant
PHX receives F/ZB Zoilo Estrada
In a straight-up star-for-star trade, the Palms pick up another forward to replace Field and Burns, while the Row get an excellent two-way player in Pleasant who can take some pressure off their younger, less-experienced starters.

New York Expansion Draft -
1. B/ZB Brandon Walter (LA)
2. B/ZB Scott Rose (LA)
3. B/K David Jones (SEA)
4. B/K Joel Drain (CHI)
5. F/C Billy Moses (TOR)
6. F/ZB Alexander Burkhardt (PHI)
7. B/C Ralph Rashke (TEX)
8. W/ZB Terry Rothgeb (CHI)
9. B/ZB Freddie Hayley (CAL)
10. W/ZB Charles Lee (CAL)
11. W/C Kyle Simpson (PHX)
12. B/ZB Kristian Wagner (PHX)
13. W/ZB Jay Moth (SEA)
14. W/K Will Orleans (TEX)
15. F/ZB Steve Owens Jr. (PHI)
16. B/ZB Joel Moth (TOR)

The newly-minted New York team (whose identity will be revealed soon) was allowed to pick two players from each team’s list of eight unprotected players. Notable picks include: Walter and Rose, both of whom started for the Sabertooths last season; Burkhardt, who started the season for Philadelphia but didn’t live up to expectations and wound up on the bench; Hayley, who, despite being the oldest on the team, is also one of its best players, and has said that he wants to play into his 40s; and two of the Moth brothers (their older brother Charlie was released by Philly, where both he and Jay started their careers, and joined Jay in Seattle just two weeks before Jay left for Manhattan).

Draft - 
1. NY - W/ZB Tom Gross - Portland State
2. TOR - B/ZB Charley Parker - LSU
3. SEA - F/K Chris Gray - MD-Eastern Shore
4. PHI (from TEX) - B/ZB Curt Rouge - New Brunswick
5. PHX - W/ZB Gary Ceja - UC-Santa Barbara
6. CHI - B/ZB Mitch Beetle - North Florida
7. LA - B/ZB Willy Tipton - Sacramento State
8. PHI - W/ZB Lawrence Davis - Cal State Northridge
9. CAL - F/ZB Dale Maxwell - New Orleans

Unlike last year’s draft, there was no consensus #1 pick. Ultimately, New York decided on Tom Gross, whom they will look to for speed at the wing position, over bigger, more powerful back Charley Parker, who went to Toronto at #2. Seattle looked a little further down the draft board for Chris Gray, the only non-zone back drafted in the first round, and the second UMES player Seattle has drafted in the first round in three years (they took Tom Reyes-Moore in 2017). The rest of the draft was highlighted by smaller schools in California, who have picked up the sport relatively quickly, possibly due to the success of the Sea Lions and Sabertooths.

I really like those third jerseys. The whole set looks good, but I'd try defining the nose a bit more on the sculpture logo. On the sculpture itself, the nose is big and noticeable, but it's completely absent here. It doesn't have to be much to keep with the minimalistic style, but I think it would help the logo look better. Excellent work so far!

I've got a few other things to drop before we move on. First off, now that we have three divisions, we need three division logos, so I've adjusted them accordingly. I tried to keep roughly the same color scheme and balance for the East and West, which meant that the Central Division gets stuck with white, but oh well.



I've also got one uniform update to show you guys. The Frost noticed that their second and third uniforms were pretty much redundant, and have effectively combined the two into one uniform, which will become the new secondary. The primary and blackout have not changed.



C&C appreciated!

Last edited by ItDoesntMatter (6/30/2019 9:34 pm)

The 2019 season was a bit of a mess. Let's jump right in:

We’ll start with the East Division, which was supposed to be a cakewalk, and it was - just for the wrong team. Of course, the expansion New York Chargers weakened the division considerably; they were about the only thing that made sense this year, finishing 2-38. Philadelphia was supposed to run away with the division and was looking to make a playoff run on the backs of their NDLCS appearance the previous year, but were so ravaged by injuries that they had trouble fielding a team at times. This allowed Toronto, who had only won three divisional games in their entire history, to run the table in the East, going 16-0 against their two divisional opponents and winning the division by 14 games. However, they went 7-17 in intradivisional matches, finishing 23-17, and nobody is giving them any chance in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the newly-formed Central Division was expected to be hotly contested. It featured three teams that, while all mediocre at best the season prior, finished within two games of each other, and there wasn’t really a consensus pick as to which team would come out on top this year. As it turns out, Phoenix and Texas were both bit by the injury bug, though neither case was as bad as Philly, while Chicago seemed almost totally immune. F/C Michel Blanchard looked better than ever, winning his first Offensive Player of the Year award and his second MVP, and B/ZB Ed Maxwell, W/C Jaroslav Zahradník, and B/K Gregg Larkin continued to produce on defense, allowing a league-best 121.5 points per game. They would go on to finish 34-6 and will have the top seed in the playoffs, hosting former division rival Toronto in the first round.

In contrast, the West wasn’t really all that surprising; the Sea Lions won the division, the Sabertooths finished a few games behind them, and the Sawyers came in last (I swear I didn’t intend for all of the West Coast teams to start with the same letter). What was surprising about it is how close all the teams were. Seattle, very much planning for the future (as one should be with both California and LA in one’s division), finished 21-19; this will still give them the fourth pick in the upcoming draft, but was a much better season than anyone would have reasonably expected. The success of the West Division was partially due to the relative lack of success of the other six teams (the division combined for a 54-18 record when they didn’t have to play each other), and partially due to the teams themselves just being really good. Lions B/C Thomas Notz had the best season of his career at age 35; Tooths W/ZB Dwight McCann was still excellent despite being hampered with an ankle injury, and W/ZB Perham Jahanpour stepped up to help fill the hole at both positions; and young B/ZBs Horace Yazzie and Keith Grice came out of relative obscurity, having huge years for the Sawyers. In the end, when all things were said and done, we were given a Sea Lions-Sabertooths semifinal, so maybe all is well in the universe after all.

For the first time in Finals history, Game 1 would not be played in San Jose. California still held a 6-point lead as late as the seventh inning, but simply could not seem to hold it together down the stretch. They couldn’t seem to find an answer for B/ZB Ed Maxwell in the seventh or F/C Michel Blanchard in the eighth, as the two would combine for 29 points in the final quarter to lead the Frost to a 9-point win. Game 2 was the opposite, as the Frost defense looked sloppy in the late stages of the game, turning the ball over and leading to big scores for the Sea Lions. The Lions looked much more like themselves and would steal home-field advantage with a 14-point win.

Game 3 started out well for California, but quickly turned sour, as W/K Josué Flores was hit hard from behind by Chicago B/ZB Mitch Beetle. While many in attendance thought it looked intentional and excessive, no fouls were handed down and ultimately no action was taken by the league. Helping Beetle’s case was that he, like Flores, was removed from the game with concussion-like symptoms, and neither would return to the series. However, this provided much more impact to the Sea Lions, as they would have to play young, unproven B/K Mark Williams. Chicago went after Williams all game; nearly half of the points they scored while he was on defense came via the goal. Additionally, things would get testy later in the game, and Sea Lions W/ZB Bakhtiar Zarabadi would be ejected and later suspended for one game for elbowing B/K Gregg Larkin.

Not having Zarabadi certainly hurt the Sea Lions, as they now only had three eligible wings on their roster and had to turn to F/ZB Elenio Field to fill in at the position, but it wasn’t the only thing that affected them in Game 4. They mainly just got outplayed; Blanchard turned in one of the best performances of his career, with 47 points and 22 points assisted, and the Frost defense continued to lock down the vaunted California offense. Mark Williams continued to be a liability on defense, so much so that with the game out of reach in the seventh inning, head coach Sacha Ponce pulled him and replaced him with Sora Matsuѕhita, who normally played back and center. Game 5 was less of a disaster for the Sea Lions, but the matchup of Blanchard against Williams was simply too much. For the third straight game, the Frost would win on the road by more than 30 points, and would take their first NDLCS trophy home to Chicago.

Last edited by ItDoesntMatter (7/19/2021 2:52 pm)