[MIJB#19]

General Manager Notes: Welcome to the Hall of Fame to Theo and Humphrey
And welcome to the 2101 season!

Two all-time greats of the Maassluis Merchantmen have received one of the highest honors a player individually can get. They never won an IHOF Bowl, but the second best thing in a football career could be enshrinement into the Solecismic Hall of Fame. Their election was inevitable, welcome to the hall: Theodore Bondy and Howard Humphrey.

Howard Humphrey, right tackle. The Dallas native graduated from Iowa State and with his big framework (6'7" 333 pounds) was surprisingly fast. In the 2085 draft, he made himself eligible and was selected by the Maassluis Merchantmen with the #9 overall pick. Curiously, he wasn't their player of choice, but the time was ticking away for them and they ended up with a so called "best player available" choice. The verdict isn't out yet, since the #1 overall of his class (quarterback Marty Forland) is still playing football (in Paris, of all places), but Humphrey's ability as a run blocking phenomenon. Already as a rookie he proved his skills with 44 key run blocks and earning all-IHOF First team honors, starting a streak of five straight seasons earning those accolades. Humphrey remained the Merchantmen's starting right tackle through the 2096 season, his 12th and last in the IHOF. He was a starter on the last Merchantmen team to reach a conference championship game (in 2085) and to make the playoffs (in 2092). He played in 178 regular season games and 11 playoffs games for the Merchantmen. He recorded 422 key run blocks in the regular season games, ranking him 2nd all-time for the Merchantmen and 5th overall in the IHOF amongst players registered as offensive tackles.

Theodore "Theo" Bondy is the undisputed best wide receiver in Maassluis Merchantmen history. In the 2082 draft, the Merchantmen traded up from the #20 overall slot to the #8 overall slot held by the Chesapeake Chitterlings, giving up their 2083 first round pick in the process. A hefty price, but it turned out to be a wise decision. Little could the Merchantmen know that, despite their belief that Bondy could be their next star receiver, he would become their most productive and decorated receiver.

There was no doubt about making Bondy their WR1 out of the gates. Bondy's 2082 campaign was fine, but his true greatness came to the horizon in his second season. Bondy made 153 receptions for 2,030 yards and 13 touchdowns, earning him All-IHOF first team honors. He struggled a bit in his third season, but on an improving offense, his best stretch was in 2085 through 2087, as he had phenomenal seasons of 166, 167 and 171 receptions for 2,183, 2,449 and 2,139 yards with 17, 19 and 16 touchdowns. He was an All-IHOF first teamer in all three seasons, while the Merchantmen reached the playoffs in all three, even dodging the dreaded one-and-done at thrice, as Bondy had a 100-yard game in 6 of 7 playoffs games those seasons. In 2088 defenses in general learned to tone down the passing performances many IHOF teams were showing and Bondy's production also reduced consequently. six more 1,000-yard seasons was normal, but he failed to get north of 1,474 yards from there on.

Bondy still enjoyed football in what was thought to be the twilight of his career and stayed with the Merchantmen for 15 seasons until his retirement. His track record, clearly, phenomenal, not just in Merchantmen history but also on a league wide all-time scale. He retired with 1,728 receptions (3rd in IHOF history) for 21,524 yards (3rd in IHOF) and 150 touchdowns (7th in IHOF), with 89 100-yard games (7th in IHOF) in 233 regular season games. All these numbers are franchise records. He played in 13 playoffs games, catching 111 passes for 1,606 yards and 9 touchdowns with 9 100-yard games. His 2,449 yards in 2086 presumably* rank him 4th all-time on the single-season list.

* League data has been corrupted, at minimum the data for 2079 through 2085 are missing in several categories. Notably Christian James' 2,926 receiving yards in 2085 are curiously not recognized as the league's single-season record.



But enough about those heroes of a long lost time period when the Merchantmen were actually still serious contenders. Bondy and Humphrey were the faces of the offense that was still capable of carrying the team into the post-season and actually winning games there.

We decided to pick Camden Rives as our new head coach, a 45-year old who debuted at the age of 35 as an assistent coach for the Tucker Tigers with an IHOF Bowl victory. He worked with our current offensive coordinator Clarence Byrd there and then, reuniting them, although with Rives in a different role. Rives was previously the head coach of the Brooklyn Fightin' Bums, coaching them into the playoffs twice in four seasons there. It means we fired Troy Lynch after just 1 season with us. He found a new job already, becoming defensive coordinator for the Fightin' Bums.

The 2101 off-season also started with the news that none of the 53 players on roster in 2100 have retired. A surprise as we had officially the oldest team in the league. There's no guarantee all 53 will return though, we're going into the off-season $110M over the cap with 41 players signed, with half of the free agents available to other teams on the open market. We're without a first round pick, but as a result of our dreadful 2100 season, we're picking between picks 5 and 9 overall in the 2nd through 7th rounds, with no bonus picks. A tough cap situation, which I'm sure we'll manage to get out of.