Getting This Back Up and Running...

Alright, so with the NFL Draft concluding today, we should be able to have a draft list together by the middle of this upcoming week, we can start to think about next season's draft, which I think we can maybe tentatively schedule for... next Monday night, the 9th? I'll see what I've got... and meanwhile, here's the draft order (I think)

1. Orlando

2. Las Vegas

3. Connecticut

4. Boise

5. Québec

6. Hawai'i

7. San Antonio

8. Alabama

9. Louisville

10. Lincoln

So, comment on this with when a draft could work well for you, and let's try to get Season 4 underway Friday, May 20th with the Globe Game from Johannesburg, South Africa!

Upcoming Season

Hey guys, it has been a loooong time since there has been any activity on the site. I have really been busy with the social life, so I haven't been checking here or even on the boards alot lately and I'm sure it has been the same for most of you. However, I think we can still give season 4 a shot just as long as it is over the summer. I don't know if I will be able to sim as much but I think we can at least give it a try. We really can't have a draft and everything till the NFL gets done with theirs. But until then I just wanted to kind of check in on everyone and just make sure that everyone is still on board, I don't know how possible Season 4 is but we will see. Way back in January I pm'ed CJworks about the Aviators and he sent me this tweaked logo full of color options. Personally I think the logo looks great but it is really up to droozer, and the same with the colors. I kind of like Option 4, and 11 the best, but thats my opinion.

Here are the logo options.

So just let me know what you guys think about the future of the league and the logos.

Thanks, Mike.

Holiday Classic Begins Tommorow!

Okay so I am back from vacation and I will go ahead and start the tournament tommorow, I may only get done with 2 games but I will try and get most of the 1st round knocked out tommorow. If I don't I may have time Sunday or Monday, I go back to school Tuesday so I want to try and get it done by then. I will sim them live and do a scoring recap along with a Game Summary on each game, and I may do a Broadcast of the Championship game. Here is the bracket, I changed some of the match-ups to get some more inter-league play, each game also has the order of games being played.

Looks like the Kings will be playing a couple more games as the Kings since we haven't heard where they are moving to, I seeded them ahead of Las Vegas because the Aces were eliminated from the playoffs first so I guess that means they will get the #1 pick. Wish you guys would comment some more, hopefully the tournament will get this place jumping some because I don't want to sim a bunch of games if no one even cares.

Johnson is coming back to the Gladiators!

Rudi Johnson introduced as a Alabama Gladiator.

PRESS CONFERENCE 8:00 PM HOOVER, ALABAMA - "Good Evening everyone, today is a big day for the Alabama Gladiator Franchise and Gladiator Nation. We have been in talks with Connecticut and we have reached an agreement that will send the Season 2 MVP back to Alabama." The deal sends 2 players and Alabama's 1st Round Draft pick for the Navy's star running back. Connecticut had 2 running backs that were possibly up for sale after Ahman Green had a breakout All-Star season while Johnson was injured. Green will be bumped up to a 87 overall this season and will be the new starter. Rudi drops 1 point from his 90 overall to 89 after sitting out most of the season, he still finished in the top 3 rushing. Michael Harbison also had this to say, "We are very excited to make this deal because we have gained a offensive Superstar, we needed one since Michael Vick is now leaving for the NFL. We are going to try and play Marcus Vick at Quarterback and move Roy Upchurch over to Wide Receiver for the tournament, if they play well, we will likely trade our replacement signing for Michael Vick, if not we will sign a new QB and possibly shop Upchurch or one of our big 3 Receivers." Okay so enough talk, here is the deal broken down.

Alabama gets:
RB Rudi Johnson - 89

Connecticut gets:

RB Michael Smith - 84

DT Grady Jackson - 84

1st Round Draft Pick (8th Overall)

The Navy gain an advantage to their Defensive Line, now Aleric Mullins (84) will slide over to Left Defensive End to make room for Jackson. This is an upgrade because their starter before him was Angelo Craig who is a 74 overall. Smith will likely be a backup and could move to Receiver or Return for the Navy. This is also Rudi Johnson's 2nd turn with the Gladiators, he was a vital part to their East Champion team in Season 1 and almost helped lead them to a Championship.

1st Annual MLF Holiday Classic?

Okay so I think TC came up with this idea a while back, he thought it would be cool to have a Winter Tournament. So I told Mykl about it today and he made a logo for it.

Basically what I was thinking was to have either a 10 team Single or Double Elimination Bracket, I don't know really how to seed everyone. I was kind of wanting to split everyone up in regions but I don't know how that would work. For the rosters we would just have to use last season's because I'd be pushed too much to take out most of the players and try to replace them, the Gladiators may try Marcus Vick out at QB too see how that works, if I decide not too though Michael Vick will play for this tourney. Also, we don't have a identity for droozer's team, now if we know the name and colors we can just use practice styled uniforms like Lincoln did last season but droozer hasn't really said anything about his team in a couple weeks so I guess we will wait to find out. I'd like to start this in the next day or two, I'm leaving for a trip on the 26th and I'll be gone 3 or 4 days so I'd like to get about half of the tournament done by then.

Championship & All-Star Game Locations

The results are in! Looks like the 2011 All-Star game will be played in Boise, Idaho, so that means the all-star game will be played on the smurf turf. And Pasadena, California has been selected as the host for the 2011 Championship game, so that means we will have a rose bowl themed Championship. Out of 3 comments, sounds like South Africa is the favorite for the Globe Game so I'll just go ahead and announce South Africa as the coach, I'm assuming Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg would be the stadium used for this game. If you were thinking a different place, let me know. Mykl I don't know if you want to do the logos or not, but you like doing them so if you wanna make logos for all these go for it, obviously Roses should be in the logo for the Champ. And blue and orange would fit the All-Star game best since that's the true color of the field.

Pioneers Unveil New Uniforms

The Lincoln Pioneers have unveiled their uniforms for Season 4. The uniforms are pretty much the same as last season, however there are several differences with the switch to Nike. An alternate uniform is introduced, a gold jersey in the same design as the home and road. An alternate white helmet and white pants are to be worn with. The Nike Pro Combat uniform is retro-based.

Alabama Gladiators Unveil 2011 Uniforms

New Uniforms with piping and and sword stripes on the shoulders. Red Helmet has a black facemask now too. The Pro Combat features a Gray helmet with a black finish around the edges of the helmet (to blend into the eye on the helmet). It is based off of Gladiator Armor, it will be worn in Week 5 @ Louisville. Season 2 Throwbacks will be worn for the Season Opener against the Quebec Polaires.

Home and Away

Alternate and Pro Combat

Season 2 Throwbacks (Click to see Action Shot)

Yeah we know Michael Vick won't be back next season but we are confident in our "replacement" plans, the new uniforms kind of represent a new era, since Vick was the Starting QB the past two seasons. We are also interested in acquiring a big name runningback this off-season. I edited the uniforms some to make all the sword stripes consistent, TC pointed out to me that they weren't.

Hawaii Pro Combat Concept

Well with the schedule announced and everything, I decided I would do a concept for the Tropics. Since sizemore wanted the helmets he made I tried basing the whole concept off of that and using something similar to Mykl's Japan concept. I used a Orange jersey since they don't have a regular orange alternate. I also put Hawaii on the chest which would be the first time the Tropics have ever put Hawaii on their uniforms. I kind of did 2 options here because I couldn't decide which one looked better, I did one with the Logos blown up on the sleeves and one without the logos on the sleeves. So sizemore if you like it you can decided which option you want to use or if you want me to make some changes just let me know. I also did new set for your regular season uniforms but I want TC to help me finish them so whenever he finds some time to do that we will post them (not rushing you at all TC).

Edit- Made an update, the sleeve logos aren't blown up as much. I also used a block font to match the "Hawaii" text, I added Hawaii to the pants too.

I still have a option without the Sleeve logos so if you rather have that sizemore let me know.

Season 4 Schedule

Okay guys, I worked on this for a couple of hours. I've always seen the Helmet Schedules for College Football teams and thought that would be a cool thing to do. So I have completed the Schedule for Season 4. Hopefully I didn't make any errors because I spent a lot of time working on it but I need everyone to check and make sure I didn't. Every team should have 5 Home games, 5 Away games, 2 Interleague (1 Home, 1 Away). I'll probably update the Excell sheet after new helmets come out and Droozer names his team so until then I'll wait to email the Excell sheet.

To View the Schedule Click Here

The only teams that I updated helmets for were Alabama and San Antonio, but like I said, when all the new uniforms come out I will edit it. The red text indicates Away games, while the black text indicates Home games. Lincoln-Louisville has a star by it because it will be the Globe Game this season making it a neutral site.

Pro Combat Week will be Week 5!!!

So that means.......

Home teams are Boise, Hawaii, Lincoln, Louisville, and Connecticut

Road teams are Droozer, Las Vegas, San Antonio, Alabama, and Quebec

If for some reason you want to wear light colored uniforms at Home then let me know so we can make sure the Road team for that game wears Dark uniforms.

And then in Week 1, Alabama and Quebec will be wearing Season 2 "Throwbacks". TC's idea to memorize his Championship team and I decided the Gladiators might as well throwback too.

Offseason Discussion!

So as this Season 3's come to a close, I'd say that overall the year was a success, especially compared to last year. What we've learned this year is that it's very hard to sim games when any of us are in school, but that when it's during the summer, we generally can do this well. Some things to think about and some reasoning too.

-Expansion?

Not happening. :P

-Spring Football? Reducing Games?

What we learned this year is that the beginning of the school year is a hectic time for all of us. Which means that we need to be aiming for the season to be over by the middle of August. Which leaves us with two options, starting the season in April or May, or reducing the season to 8 games. If we'd go with April and May games, I'd aim for each week to be a total of 2 weeks, so that we could spread out the simming over two weeks. Alternatively, we could cut back to 8 weeks on the season if we started in June.

-Extra Simmer?

Also, it'd be nice to find someone else who can sim these games for us, as a lot of what holds us up sometimes is my busy sports and travel schedule. I'm out of town a lot, and it shows in how we can miss a week. Additionally, if we get a 3rd simmer, each of us would only have to do 2 games a week, which would be really nice.

-Also, I'll go ahead and make this a check-in. So we know that you're still committed to the MLF, I'd like to hear responses from all 9 other owners with your thoughts on the above things, and with your own "reforms" that you'd do. We'll probably hold a vote on these things in the next coming month, and anyone who doesn't vote on that will be deemed as a "dead owner" and will likely be replaced.