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Asked Madden · 01-29-2021, 06:10 AM

So tomorrow is the SHL draft and I thought there would be no better time than now to tank my draft stock! Here's some garbage media that hopefully no one reads.

It's been a long season and a half since joining this league and I've enjoyed every second of it.
The point of this very small media is just an overall commentary from me on how I feel about the shl draft and scouting process so far.

Before I get too deep into this though the main point I want to bring up is this: if you are an SHL GM or scout reading this. PLEASE DON'T DRAFT ME UNLESS YOU SCOUT ME BEFORE THE DRAFT. I'll go into more detail later but that's the main thing to take from this article.

1. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when the scouting process starts. I got my first scouting message (from manhattan) over a month ago now. And to date I've been scouted by about 50% of the teams, with the most recent contacting me today for the first time.
I can't tell whether I'm enjoying this or not. On one hand I'm not having to answer the same questions over and over all at once. On the other hand I can't tell whether it's just a case that some teams aren't interested in me.
Compare this to the one other league I've got experience in, where everyone seems to scout at once, and the one team who don't do any get slated and it feels worlds apart.

2. There seems to be a number of teams who don't seem to do any scouting. This doesn't sit too well with me. If I'm being drafted to a team I'd like to have had at least a small conversation with them - this way it shows they're wedding out players who don't fit the bill. Showing more competence. I don't want to come across as a diva at all but I feel its the least a team could do. Teams if you're reading this (unlikely) and yet to scout me - feel free to fire me a message here or on discord - I'd love a chat.

3. I still have 0 clue of which teams are interested in me (well, except one who made it abundantly clear). Comparing that to ISFL again where I was positive I was going to one of 3 places, it has made the upcoming draft feel rather exciting but also a bit daunting. I'll happily go anywhere, I don't need to know someone on the team but I would've expected to have a small inkling by now.

4. It's nice to see the majority of teams not go for the usual copy and paste 10 questions technique. It feels a lot more personable when the scouting is just part of a conversation. This isn't me casting shade on those who use the copy paste formula, it's completely legit and I get it, but I always feel like those teams with the personal touch feel a little higher up my own rankings.

5. Teams seem to play fast and loose with their draft capital. Seriously there seems to have been a lot of trading around, with even more in the pipeline in the coming days it seems! If there's one thing I love about sim leagues it's got to be the lead up to the draft - it's super exciting, and the amount of trading going on makes it even more so.

6. There appears to be an underground group of people working together to try and work out the first round to max out TPE in the mock. Seriously there's some proper CSI shit on the go here and I love it. It makes sense that people work together in the mocks. Everyone wants to get more TPE so why not put your heads together and work this shit out. It looks like they're hoping enough Rookies spill the beans on their draft conversations so they can put them on the correct team. This has definitely heightened my enjoyment of draft season 10 fold.

7. The live draft format is fantastic. Look I don't care that there are no flashy graphics with perfect Jersey swaps during the draft, who gives a shit. The live draft feels a lot more gritty and exciting. You know the war room is there having to make
on the spot quick decisions and I love it. The person you were going to take gets sniped just ahead of you? Sorry pall you'll have to go to your backup. This is great fun and surely separates the good from the great GMs.

To finish off the media piece I wanted to highlight my ideal locker room:
1. Preferably it would skew a bit older: I'm a stones throw from 30 and in a point in my life where I'm no longer getting to game & watch sports 24/7. Hopefully there would be a few like minded people in the team. I'd prefer not to be the old foggey in the group not understanding half of what people are talking about.
2. A couple of other Europeans? I'm Scottish and miss quite a lot of the chat due to time zone differences. An ideal locker room would have 1 or two others from around the same time zone.
3. Ideally have people I've spoken to or shared a locker room with before, whether that's in isfl, dsfl or smjhl - it's always nice to know a friendly face. This obviously isn't a deal breaker by any means.

So there you have it thats me. I don't mind what round I'm drafted in, if I enjoy the LR environment I'll join in even if I'm Mr Irrelevant, I'll earn either way.

So this is about the douchiest media I've put out in any league with no exceptions. But the last thing I want to do is waste somebodies pick because we aren't a fit.

And whatever happens I hope you all get someone you want and good luck to my fellow draftees, I look forward to skating against you for seasons to come.

*Scarecrow Noises*