The Dream Team Hall of Fame Nomination

Nominee: Robert Griffin III, 9th round draft pick number 83 overall in 2012

Coach Nathwani joined the league in 2011. It was a tough first season, as is usually the case for newcomers to the LOC, but The Dream Team came through it quite well, going 6-8 in their first year. 2012 would be the sophomore leap for Coach Nathwani though, as he lead The Dream Team to a 10-4 record, a division title and a playoff appearance. A large part of that is their hall of fame nominee.

Robert Griffin III was a rookie in 2012. The dynamic dual threat QB was drafted second overall in the NFL draft behind Andrew Luck. In the LOC, he was a 9th round draft pick, 83rd overall. He didn’t start Week 1 for The Dream Team, as there was another dynamic QB by the name of Mike Vick who was the starter for Coach Nathwani, who scored 20 points. They would lose their first game against Touchdown Syndrome 102-126. Robert Griffin III would not have changed this result, but he did have a great game, netting 29 points.

This was enough to start a QB controversy for The Dream Team, as in Week 2 RGIII got the nod over Mike Vick, and it was the right call. Mike Vick got 24, but RGIII put up a terrific 32. Sadly it was not enough to bring home the W, as The Dream Team fell 140-130 against Bear Necessities, starting the year 0-2. The Dream Team would only lose 2 more games across the rest of the regular season.

In Week 3 RGIII started again, leading Coach Nathwani to their first win of the season over Forge Flyers. He got 27, and they won 120-82. The next week he scored 23 and brought home a close win against ADRZ, 117-116. Week 5 RGIII did not play well, only scoring 4 points, but The Dream Team still won against Burdettinators, 78-71. He would bounce back the next week with 37, helping down IKNAN 125-95.

Entering week 7 Coach Nathwani pulled the team back to 4-2. They’d lose that week 94-90, despite RGIII getting 27. After that week, RGIII headed back to the bench in a coaching decision for none other than Andrew Luck, who was added in Week 6. He helped lead them to a 117-69 victory over Gridiron Gang with 19 points, but RGIII still got 14 on the bench. The next week he would reclaim his starting role, again scoring 14 points and leading The Dream Team to a 121-114 victory over Touchdown Syndrome. The next week he was on a bye, The Dream Team won.

RGIII would not return to the bench for the rest of the regular season. Coming off his bye in Week 11 he posted a terrific 40 points en route to a 129-103 victory over The Tuckfards. He had an equally good outing in Week 12, scoring 37 and helping The Dream Team to a 142-96 victory over ADRZ. in Week 13 he scored 20 and again aided Coach Nathwani in a win over Burdettinators, 121-104, and in the final week of the season scored 19 in a 118-79 loss to Forge Flyers.

An injury sustained in Week 14 would cause him to miss the playoff match up against The Tuckfards, in which Colin Kaepernick started in his stead. He posted 34 points in a 107-90 loss for Coach Nathwani.

Overall, RGIII had an 8-3 record as a starter for The Dream Team, and scored 358 points for The Dream Team that season. Not bad for a 9th round draft pick. Unfortunately for RGIII, not only did an injury keep him out of The Dream Team’s playoff game, but an injury in a playoff game for the Redskins also knocked him out of the game and changed his career forever. He was never the same after that. The Dream Team has also since not been able to win a Corona Bowl, though they have made 3 playoff appearances since, including one Corona Bowl appearance in Corona Bowl VI.

RGIII will likely never have a shot at entering the NFL hall of fame, but he does have a chance of making the LOC Hall of fame. 2012 was a great season for him, in which he lead The Dream Team to the playoffs and a division title.

Forge Flyers Hall of Fame nomination

Nominee: 2017 11-3 title season

Coach Leach is one of the 7 founding coaches of the league. His career got off to a good start, going 6-8 and 8-6 in his first two seasons. 2011 would be some what of a third year leap for the coach, going 10-4 winning a regular season title, and appearing in the playoffs for the first time. They’d lose in the first round, but each year Forge Flyers had improved.

The next 2 seasons were ok. In 2012 they went 6-8, by no means a bad season, and in 2013 they went 8-6, again narrowly missing out on playoffs. But this is where the good seasons stopped, for a while. In 2014 Forge Flyers would post a 2-12 record, the tied worst in a season in LOC history. In 2015 it wouldn’t get much better. They went 3-11, a combined 5-23 over 2 seasons. 2016 was much improved (by comparison), going 6-8, more wins than they had combined over the previous 2 seasons. However this season was really a tale of what could have been.

2017 would make all that pain and angst well worth it though. It started off with a strong draft. Coach Leach was picking from the 4th spot. They selected LeSean McCoy in the first round, Todd Gurley in the second, and Leonard Fournette in the third. These 3 would form a strong foundation for the team all season long. They also added contributors in Larry Fitzgerald, Marcus Mariota and Ben Roethlisberger.

Week 1 got off with a bang. Facing Gridiron Gang, they won 105-79 on the backs of their 3 running backs. Through weeks 1-9, they would only lose 1 game, going 8-1. From weeks 10-12 they would have a bit of a blip, going 1-2, but would then precede to win out, going 11-3, good for a regular season title.

In the first round of the playoffs Forge Flyers faced Gridiron Gang. Coach Leach made some bold decisions, and some crucial additions. He was starting Blake Bortles, Marquise Goodwin, Rick Seals-Jones, and Kenyan Drake. 3 of those players would prove crucial in Forge Flyers first ever playoff victory, to the tune of 157-106. Bortles got 31, Goodwin 12.4, and Drake 17.3. Combined this with the 21.6 points from McCoy and a whopping 42 from Gurley, Forge Flyers was going to their first ever Corona Bowl.

When you get to the title game, it’s easy to shy away and play it safe. You want to win the game, but at the same time you don’t want to lose it. Perhaps those years of pain served Coach Leach well, as he was coaching like a coach that had nothing to lose. He doubled down with his starting of Blake Bortles and Kenyan Drake, as well as bringing Mike Wallace and Antonio Gates in. Once again, these paid off. Bortles got 26, Wallace 6, Drake 6 and Gates 14. McCoy chipped in another 15, Fitzgerald got 19 too. But once again, Gurley stepped up with another 40 points. Forge Flyers won their first title 136-77.

After all the agony of the years before, being a middling LOC team for so long, Coach Leach finally broke the barrier and won the title in impressive fashion, leaving 2 founding teams left without a title. In this magical year, Coach Leach lead his side to 11-3, a regular season championship, a Corona Bowl IX victory, and posted the highest scoring week of the season with 157. A large part of this success was due to the second round pick Todd Gurley, who had those 2 incredible playoff weeks, but was also the RB1 in scoring in 2017. A truly great season worthy of a hall of fame nomination.

Cash4Gould Hall of Fame nomination

Nominee: first draft pick in team history, Ezekiel Elliott, number 2 overall, 2016

The league got its newest member in 2016, Coach Gardner. A new, avid NFL fan, Coach Gardner decided to take on the task of being a fantasy coach, and became the head coach of Cash4Gould. Many of the other teams in the LOC had been there for years, and joining this experienced group and having success straight away would be a tough ask.

One way to aid in that task would be by having a good draft. And they wouldn’t have to wait long before they faced that task, as they owned the 2nd overall pick in the draft. The Brady Bunch had just selected Antonio Brown, so Coach Gardner had a lot to choose from. Rather surprisingly, Coach Gardner opted to take Ezekiel Elliott, the dynamic rookie out of Ohio Stats who now played for the Cowboys, ahead of other players such as Davis Johnson, Todd Gurley, Adrian Peterson, and Odell Beckham Jr.

On draft day, this was viewed as a slight reach. Not a big one, he was certainly expected to go no later than pick 8 in the first round, but you never quite know what you’re going to get when you take a rookie, so there was some risk with this pick. The risk dissipated quickly, though. What Elliott had on his side is that, apart from being a talented running back, he got to run behind one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, and there was a competent rookie QB in Dak Prescott running the show in Dallas.

In Week 1, Coach Gardner won their very first career game, facing experienced coach Phil Merritt. They won 108-93, with a solid if unspectacular 11.2 points from Elliott. In Week 2 they’d lose, but Elliott still had a solid showing with 12.7. Week 3 they’d pick up a win 116-88 over Forge Flyers, with a good 16 point performance from Elliott. But Week 4 was the coming out party. Cash4Gould squeaked our a narrow 75-72 victory over Bear Necessities, but this was lead by Elliott with a 21.7 point performance.

The next week, he scored 29. Cash4Gould would lose this game, but it was clear Coach Gardner had smashed the Elliott pick. In Week 10 Elliott would score a stunning 38.9 points, leading Cash4Gould to another narrow victory over a Bear Necessities. 127-125. At this point they were 4-6, they had a chance at playoffs in their very first season, largely due to Ezekiel Elliott.

Week 12 Elliott showed up big once more, delivering 24 points en route to a 89-74 point victory over The Tuckfards. This left Cash4Gould at 6-6, with a chance at playoffs. They’d win again in Week 13, 86-84 over Burdettinators, with 16.5 points coming from Elliott. They would win again in Week 14, in a low scoring affair, 67-62, with 10.7 points coming from Elliott.

Cash4Gould would finish as the 5th seed, narrowly missing out on playoffs due to slightly less points than its counterparts. But for a rookie coach in the LOC, this goes down as an unqualified success. A large part of that was Ezekiel Elliott, that risky 2nd overall pick that went on to post 293.4 points over the course of the season. As far as the first pick of your career goes, I’d say this is a pretty good one.

Tom's Tyrants Hall of Fame nomination

Nominee: Weeks 13 & 14 in their 2014 season - the two highest scoring weeks in history to date

Without delving too much into the context around these 2 games (because really, these 2 games are part of a stretch of games that are hall of fame worthy also), some context needs to be defined to understand the importance and impressiveness of these two weeks.

It was the 2014 season. A few years removed from Coach Barnes’s 2011 title season. In 2012 Tom’s Tyrant became only the second team to have a 13-1 regular season, only to go out in the first round of the playoffs. 2013 saw a bit of a dip, with an ok 6-8 season that ended without playoffs. Despite that, Coach Barnes had really come into his own as a head coach.

But at the start of 2014, you would have been forgiven for thinking the coach has lost his touch. Despite starting 2-1, come week 8 the coach would be staring 2-5 in the face, and the likely prospect of missing playoffs. But the coach got the teams act together, and they would win all but one game from weeks 8 to 12, putting them firmly back in the playoff race.

However, sitting at 6-6, their bid for playoffs was far from over. They were the 6th seed, behind 8-4 Gridiron Gang and 7-5 Burdettinators. They would need a miracle to make the playoffs. What happened next, is just that.

In Week 13 they faced the 9-3 Tuckfards, who had already won the NFC division. This would be a tough test, and Tom’s Tyrants could not afford to lose. But Tom’s Tyrants more than rose to the occasion. In what is still a record today, Coach Barnes lead the side to 205.88 points, not only the highest weekly score in LOC history, but the ONLY score to ever top 200 points. What got them there was Drew Brees (40.28), Le’Veon Bell (31.4), C.J. Anderson (24.5), T.Y. Hilton (12.2), Tre Mason (34.4), and the Rams defence (36). It’s safe to say Tom’s Tyrants won the game, despite their opponent scoring over 120, and their hopes were still alive.

In Week 14, Tom’s Tyrants were still the 6th seed with a 7-5 record. Burdettinators had won and moved to 8-5, but Gridiron Gang lost and fell to 8-5. The 4th seed was still up for grabs, but IKNAN was also in the hunt at 7-5. The advantage Coach Barnes had was a superior point total, due to that timely 200 point game. All he needed was a win, a Gridiron Gang loss and a Burdettinators loss, and the 4th seed was theirs.

For the second week in a row, it would not be easy. Tom’s Tyrants faced The Dream Team, who had already locked up the third seed with a 9-4 record - but they lost their last 2, so there was a good chance. As it would happen, The Dream Team did have a very good week with 116 points. But Coach Barnes produced another stroke of magic for the second week in a row. Not quite 200, but 198.8 points secured a W,  and due to Gridiron Gang and Burdettinators losses, the final playoff spot. What got them there this time? Drew Brees (14), Le’Veon Bell (41.5), C.J. Anderson (23.8), T.Y. Hilton (25), Rob Gronkowski (14.7), Julio Jones (31.9), Matt Prater (10) and the Rams D (31).

Tom’s Tyrants would go on to win their second title, the only team to win two titles. But it is these 2 weeks, these 2 crucial weeks, which were the epitome of that last gasp playoff run. These two weeks generated the two highest weekly scores in LOC  history, the only game over 200 points, and the only 2 week stretch ever to generate over 400 points. If that’s not hall of fame worthy, I don’t know what is.