Well.... this is different... because my wife knows how many years I played the game and she knows my love for football........

As the new preseason prepares to open, here's a breakdown of the first round of the draft and how all the players fared. Team names indicate the drafting team, not necessarily the name of the team currently owning the player...

FIRST ROUND AVERAGE -- +7.2/-2.2

1. Mt. Washington – Fred Coleman, QB +9/-5
2. Aspen – Julian Beard, CB +12/-1
3. Tacoma -- Willard Jules, MLB +6/-3
4. Brooklyn – Jeremy Parrish, FS +1/-1
5. Milwaukee – Elmer Montgomery, RB +6/0
6. Santa Fe – James Cervantes, QB +16/+3
7. Reno – George Williams, MLB +4/-3
8. Fort Drum – Omar Mattos, WR +11/0
9. Maine – Raymond Maya, TE +15/+1
10. Milwaukee – David Frazier, WR +9/0
11. Arkansas – Jeremy Harris, MLB +4/+1
12. Boise – Craig Hauge, DT +10/0
13. St. Louis – Bruce Nettles, RT +11/-5
14. Mt. Washington – Daniel Olmos +4/0
15. Rancho Cucamonga – Paul Perez, WLB +2/-4
16. Perth – Scott Wheeler, RDE +3/-1
17. Star City – Christopher Straub, WLB +8/-9
18. San Diego – John Sletten, MLB +3/-7
19. Mt. Washington – Ricardo Martinez, DT +11/+3
20. Natchitoches – Rick Stowell, WR +8/+1
21. Salem – Anthony Bryd, C +8/-2
22. Lyon – Al Hill, MLB +6/0
23. Canton – Kelvin Jones, SLB +5/-6
24. Columbus City – Duane Hilton, WR +10/+2
25. Mt. Washington – Thomas Wise, WLB +10/+4
26. Milwaukee – Michael Poling, WLB +2/-7
27. Bennington – Douglas Dundas, MLB +5/+4
28. Toronto – Freddie Nobles, C +6/-2
29. Charleston – Donnell Levine, DT +13/+6
30. Tallahassee – Francis Jimerson, RB +9/0
31. California – Michael Howell, QB +2/-31
32. Milwaukee – Harvey Campbell, C +1/-7

Interesting...I always thought the gains/losses in season were indexed off the default values, but I see by looking at what a few people reported in the training camp thread that it must be indexed off each owner's player weightings formulas instead.

Yeah, I'm showing +16/0 for my pick.

Def based on individual ratings.

My QB bombed no matter how it's looked at,lol.

KNOW YOUR FOE -- Phaldun

The excitement of a first championship trophy around Parlor City kept him hopping and herbing in the off-season, with rumors of Courvoisier flowing throughout the GM’s suite, off-season trips to the Playboy Mansion in lieu of the traditional Disneyworld visit and Busta and his crew putting in an appearance with live music as this bit of post-championship video demonstrates: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o4ZUaxyPoZ8
But with preseason camps in full swing, Headline Sports was able to sit down with head coach Phaldun and grab a few words with this Deep Route Sim transplant who hoisted the trophy during his first year on the site.

So what is it about football that got you hooked on this Sim?
“I played the game for 16 years until I graduated college. I love football and this sim makes a great feel real appeal”

How’d it feel winning the EFL title? Has the excitement worn off yet?
“Pretty amazing actually. I did not expect to win the LC on the Elite League so soon. The excitement has not worn off because we had an excellent free agent pool pull for this year. This team is actually much stronger than the Cinderella team from last season, but that definitely does not guarantee a repeat.”

As the league target now, did that change your off-season approach at all going from the hunters to the hunted?
“No, my goal in the off-season was to upgrade the team. It would be the same if I didn’t win the championship. Just try and take advantage and sign quality players. The free agency offseason is like another mini season itself.”

I’ve heard championship coaches can make a killing on the speaking circuit, so what advice are you offering to MFN newbies about the game?
“Sometimes it is worth it to study the games of opponents. Not just the film, but the play by play reel. Each team has a few bread and butter plays, find them and use them. He ones that work will not necessarily require a high familiarity. Most of the playoff candidates will know about your bread and butter plays so do not live by them in the playoffs.”

Two non-football things you want people to know about you…?
“I passed my earth and space sciences PRAXIS and should be a fully certified secondary teacher in a year [Editor’s note: Welcome to the ranks of those who have taken a vow of poverty for life, brother] and I have a small custom apparel business, ShadowCat designs on Facebook, because I have a B.A. in graphic design.”

Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
‘I have three kids, there isn’t much spare time! But I suppose lifting weaights, cardio, cagle exercises…for a good reason. Very high quality marijuana and hot juicy passionate intense *** with my wife.” (Rumors that Parlor City has been suggested as the location of the league’s next meeting cannot be confirmed nor denied at the time of publication…).

An evil scientist shrunk you to the size of a pencil eraser and trapped you inside a blender, how are you making your escape to freedom?
“Not sure how to answer that one. Guess just wait until someone turns it on.”

Thanks for your time, anything else you want the EFL masses to know?
“Assume nothing. Utilize pleasure in moderation. Always try to stay cool, calm and mellow. Positie energy is abundant if you are patient.”

THREE BLIND SQUIRRELS AND A NUT (aka preseason predictions)


The preseason is done. The real season starts tonight. But there are 16 long weeks until the playoffs -- what will happen during those weeks? Well, courtesy of a bored afternoon at work when I could be doing a gajillion more productive things with my life, I ran the numbers through a computer formula and cranked out the following results to the year ahead.

A few caveats since I've never posted predictions here before...1. this is for fun and I go strictly off the math, so no personal slights are intended, 2. with only 3 preseason games, the math is prone to even wilder disconnects from reality than it is with 4 games (where I'm hitting about 75% accuracy for the worlds I've run this in), 3. If your preseason strategy involved hiding a starting QB, playing a backup QB heavily in the first half to get reps, or anything non-standard from your regular season lineup, then the math probably hates you and loves your opponents...thank you for injecting that little bit of random into matters :) and 4. I do not override the math, even when it is clearly wrong, just like CBS' "Bottom 25" during College Football season, it is what it is.

Okay, with the disclaimer out of the way, lets see how the predictions look:

Halas Division -- 1. Spartans, 2. Kings, 3. Wampas, 4. Marauders
Brown Division -- 1. Americans, 2. Event, 3. Snappers, 4. Islanders
Shula Division -- 1. Phantoms, 2. Witches, 3. Bulldogs, 4. Twisters
Walsh Division -- 1. Talons, 2. Burn, 3. Pterodactyls, 4. Tennessee
Wildcard teams....Kings, Event

Knoll Division -- 1. Dragons, 2. Bandits, 3. Wallabies, 4. Bombers
Landry Division -- 1. Red Rocks, 2. Crusaders, 3. Cobras, 4. Thunder
Parcells Division -- 1. Wild, 2. Crush, 3. Hefty Buffalo, 4. Stampede
Gibbs Division -- 1. Assassins, 2. Geechee, 3. Coyotes, 4. Riptide
Wildcard teams...Crusaders, Geechee

ELITE BOWL XII PARTICIPANTS...Spartans vs. Dragons

AND YOUR CHAMPION IS....the Spartans hoisting their first trophy!

You may now freely smack talk your divisional rivals and disagree as you wish :)

many times i wish i knew how the guy does the Bottom 25 does it because i think if i knew how he does it then i would appreciate his rankings a little more.

same for the bottom 10 for espn

Well, I appreciate the prognostications made by RedNU and for the most part agree. However,if I may add just two cents...
In the Stars conference, it would be difficult to discount the Witches with CrazyRazor at the helm. I know he has been having a bit of rebuild, but I would not bet against him in the latter stages of the season.
And over in the Stripes conference, there are a multitude of spoiler teams lurking in the weeds,including the Wallabies,Cobras,Crush and Assassins! The Cobras are always in the mix with the talent they have built over prior seasons. And with the plasteredpickle calling the shots, I am rather dubious about the Wild's chances to maintain extending another Division title from the Crush!
And I can see that EFL Championship game pretty easy. The Spartans have been steadily growing an up and comer squad under bronco7nuggets, so there is no surprise if the title moves North this year!
Anyways,good luck to everybody and may the Pigskin Gods shine fortune upon ya'll!

I tried to backward engineer his methodology a number of years ago since you have access to all the same data and can see how things changed from week to week on his results, but I don't remember everything that I had. I know he relies heavily on scoring margin, yardage margin and strength of schedule. I think I also figured out that turnover margin had a role as did time of possession, the latter likely being a modifier for yardage rather than a category unto itself.