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Rylan, thanks for the invite to do this. I hope it’s interesting to those in the league, and I hope that others will also share their insight into the league and the teams they run.
Who is your all-time favorite Stampeder?
A guy that comes to mind is one that flies under the radar that I’ve had for all of his eight years in the league, DE Tony Stephens. Stephens isn’t a starter, usually inserted as a respite for starters or as an injury fill-in (as the DF Leader, he occasionally inserts himself in games!). What I treasure about the guy – invariably, near the end of a game when a big defensive play is needed, he makes one. It’s likely the only time he’s mentioned in the game script all day, but there he is with a saving tackle, block, sack, or hurry. I’ve had players before that do this.
Who is your current favorite?
Since Tony is currently on the team, he qualifies as my current favorite. But I’m really tickled to have the two rookie CBs that I got in the 1st and 2nd rounds of last season’s draft. Talk about a position of need; I pretty much cleaned house in the secondary, letting go guys that had been great players, but had gotten way too creaky. Camden Doane was the only CB on the Green Sheet, so I was very fortunate to get him at 1.23.
Do you think you have any non-qb future HOFers on the squad?
Probably not, for a couple of different reasons. The two young WRs that I have, Foley and Simpkins, are the only two offensive skill position players with a remote chance. But, the HOF keys strictly off of stats, and my style of play calls for spreading the ball around among multiple receivers including tight ends. So no one receiver would be like a Darryl Donaldson and have the 150-200 targets over multiple seasons to enable them to get to HOF-level career numbers. Elsewhere on offense, for either of my top two linemen, guard Hanks and tackle Sparkman to make it, they would have to get into the stat territories of the five or six best players at their positions all-time; not impossible, but a real stretch.
On defense, similar to OL players, my top guys that might have an outside chance are disadvantaged by the Hall not nominating a large number at their positions. DT Abel Hines has rolled up impressive numbers over his 10 seasons, and if he can stay healthy and continue to play at a high level, he may have a shot. A couple of other promising guys, notably the previously-mentioned CB Doane and LB Marc “Smells Like” Fish are just two young to make any judgements. In the case of the latter, his nickname could very well hold him back.
How does this Calgary team compare to other teams you run?
Currently, just from a ratings perspective, I wish I could take my Calgary team and plug it into my other league (as you know, the USFL) whose season also just ended. My Atlanta team was largely a bunch of over-achievers, making the playoffs despite having a starting QB hurt, and aside from him, absolutely no quality playmakers. I estimate we won two or three games that we weren’t entitled to. By contrast, my Stampeders, equal or better in talent in all position groups than the Atlanta team, if anything underachieved (not the players’ fault, mine), not drastically but a little. I think we gave a couple away that we should have had. But you always think that, right? And even if so, it would not have changed our final standing relative to the juggernaut that we annually gaze up at in the standings.
Did you join in 2048 and immediately turn the team into a 10 win team every year after?
In asking to pick up a team in the IFL, I wanted to have for the first time the challenge of taking a team badly in need of a rebuild and see what I could do with it. When I was given a list of three or four teams that appeared to be pretty equally weak, I asked tor whichever one had the worst stadium; I wanted to handicap myself to the max! I’m happy about the fact that we’ve made the playoffs each season after my first, and along the way got the one Imperial Bowl win, the first for the Calgary team.
Do you plan to ever miss the playoffs?
LOL, thanks for reminding me; I’ve been meaning to sit down and try to figure out exactly when I do want to miss the playoffs.
Seriously, I hope this little run will continue, but I have no doubt that without planning to do so, sometime I’ll have some down years.
Thanks for considering. If you have anything else you want to get out there about the league or division or what have you, consider this an open ended question.
A couple of quick things, the first of which is an admission that comes out of thinking about the previous two questions. I think my biggest fault in playing this game is that in team building I tend to be too tactical and not strategic enough. By that I mean that I tend to think too much in terms of “what do I need to do to get the max number of wins this season?” as opposed to “what’s the best thing for me to do over the next x seasons?”. I think it comes from the fact that winning the next game, and then the next one after that, and so on, is a lot more fun than losing those games. And to me, it’s more like a real GM. Imagine telling your fan base, “Look, the moves the club is making means we’re going to suck for the next three years; we hope you’ll still buy tickets and come see us.”
The last thing is, at some point I’d like to be a league commissioner. But I would do it only if I was a non-team owner. My goal would be to run the most efficient, fun league there is out there, and thereby maximize the immersion for everybody. I have some ideas about things I would do that are not commonly done that would be possible as a result of not being burdened by the time required to run a team.
Rylan, thanks much again for the opportunity to contribute this.
Who is your all-time favorite Stampeder?
A guy that comes to mind is one that flies under the radar that I’ve had for all of his eight years in the league, DE Tony Stephens. Stephens isn’t a starter, usually inserted as a respite for starters or as an injury fill-in (as the DF Leader, he occasionally inserts himself in games!). What I treasure about the guy – invariably, near the end of a game when a big defensive play is needed, he makes one. It’s likely the only time he’s mentioned in the game script all day, but there he is with a saving tackle, block, sack, or hurry. I’ve had players before that do this.
Who is your current favorite?
Since Tony is currently on the team, he qualifies as my current favorite. But I’m really tickled to have the two rookie CBs that I got in the 1st and 2nd rounds of last season’s draft. Talk about a position of need; I pretty much cleaned house in the secondary, letting go guys that had been great players, but had gotten way too creaky. Camden Doane was the only CB on the Green Sheet, so I was very fortunate to get him at 1.23.
Do you think you have any non-qb future HOFers on the squad?
Probably not, for a couple of different reasons. The two young WRs that I have, Foley and Simpkins, are the only two offensive skill position players with a remote chance. But, the HOF keys strictly off of stats, and my style of play calls for spreading the ball around among multiple receivers including tight ends. So no one receiver would be like a Darryl Donaldson and have the 150-200 targets over multiple seasons to enable them to get to HOF-level career numbers. Elsewhere on offense, for either of my top two linemen, guard Hanks and tackle Sparkman to make it, they would have to get into the stat territories of the five or six best players at their positions all-time; not impossible, but a real stretch.
On defense, similar to OL players, my top guys that might have an outside chance are disadvantaged by the Hall not nominating a large number at their positions. DT Abel Hines has rolled up impressive numbers over his 10 seasons, and if he can stay healthy and continue to play at a high level, he may have a shot. A couple of other promising guys, notably the previously-mentioned CB Doane and LB Marc “Smells Like” Fish are just two young to make any judgements. In the case of the latter, his nickname could very well hold him back.
How does this Calgary team compare to other teams you run?
Currently, just from a ratings perspective, I wish I could take my Calgary team and plug it into my other league (as you know, the USFL) whose season also just ended. My Atlanta team was largely a bunch of over-achievers, making the playoffs despite having a starting QB hurt, and aside from him, absolutely no quality playmakers. I estimate we won two or three games that we weren’t entitled to. By contrast, my Stampeders, equal or better in talent in all position groups than the Atlanta team, if anything underachieved (not the players’ fault, mine), not drastically but a little. I think we gave a couple away that we should have had. But you always think that, right? And even if so, it would not have changed our final standing relative to the juggernaut that we annually gaze up at in the standings.
Did you join in 2048 and immediately turn the team into a 10 win team every year after?
In asking to pick up a team in the IFL, I wanted to have for the first time the challenge of taking a team badly in need of a rebuild and see what I could do with it. When I was given a list of three or four teams that appeared to be pretty equally weak, I asked tor whichever one had the worst stadium; I wanted to handicap myself to the max! I’m happy about the fact that we’ve made the playoffs each season after my first, and along the way got the one Imperial Bowl win, the first for the Calgary team.
Do you plan to ever miss the playoffs?
LOL, thanks for reminding me; I’ve been meaning to sit down and try to figure out exactly when I do want to miss the playoffs.
Seriously, I hope this little run will continue, but I have no doubt that without planning to do so, sometime I’ll have some down years.Thanks for considering. If you have anything else you want to get out there about the league or division or what have you, consider this an open ended question.
A couple of quick things, the first of which is an admission that comes out of thinking about the previous two questions. I think my biggest fault in playing this game is that in team building I tend to be too tactical and not strategic enough. By that I mean that I tend to think too much in terms of “what do I need to do to get the max number of wins this season?” as opposed to “what’s the best thing for me to do over the next x seasons?”. I think it comes from the fact that winning the next game, and then the next one after that, and so on, is a lot more fun than losing those games. And to me, it’s more like a real GM. Imagine telling your fan base, “Look, the moves the club is making means we’re going to suck for the next three years; we hope you’ll still buy tickets and come see us.”
The last thing is, at some point I’d like to be a league commissioner. But I would do it only if I was a non-team owner. My goal would be to run the most efficient, fun league there is out there, and thereby maximize the immersion for everybody. I have some ideas about things I would do that are not commonly done that would be possible as a result of not being burdened by the time required to run a team.
Rylan, thanks much again for the opportunity to contribute this.
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