[MIJB#19]

General Manager notes: Hello, 2080.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. What a disappointing way to see the 2079 season end. Granted, I never felt like we were an elite team like we were in 2078, but we had only one game in the regular season where we lost by more than a single score, getting crushed purely on an extraordinary number of picks is, well, baffling.

For those keeping score and not checking scores, Toronto lost the AOC Championship game at the Tucker Tigers 35-23. The Tigers in turn got Barged in IHOF Bowl LXXVI, the Moontown Darksiders repeated as IHOF champions with a 44-20 score. Derek Barge and his Darksiders have ended the '70s with four IHOF Bowls in their trophy case.

We went one and done 5 times in that decade, our only two victories in the playoffs came in the 2078 season...

Things didn't get better after the game. J.R. Mills has retired from the game. Mills finished his career with 839 receptions (franchise 5th), 14,944 receiving yards (franchise 2nd, just 57 short of the record), 85 receiving touchdowns (franchise 5th), with a spectacular 17.89 yards per reception average (3rd in the league all-time). In my mind, this guy joins the big two Gabe Springer and Terry Haskell, to become the big three of Merchantmen receivers. Yeah, Riddick Stanley got into the Hall with a ring, but, y'know, the other guys all felt special. Stanley was, solid, always, week in, week out. Mills had to get through the cycles of no less than eight different starting quarterbacks (Hickman, Rhoades, Buckner, Howe, Loera, Erickson, Morris and McAlister). God speed, J.R.

With Mills, long time sidekick tight end Markell Ellison and one-year backup kickoff returner and special teamer Nicholas Tucker decided that they don't want to go into the '80s as a football player. Ellison played in 112 regular season games and 5 (all lost) playoffs games with us. He was mostly our third or fourth tight end in all those years, with the exception of the 2071 season, when he caught 41 passes for 453 yards. His 2070 season was the special one with 8 receiving touchdowns on just 17 catches for 117 yards. Tucker had 3 kickoff returns for us. He did see a lot of action as a special teamer though in his only season with us.

Okay, now something neat: Edward Ross, Daquan Strugielski and Peter Tucker all got elected into the Hall Of Fame. The Class of 2064 got the ultimate individual accolades, albeit Gabe Hamilton came short and the other foursome that we drafted are nowhere to be found. They join Shaun Hartman into the hall, that's four guys from that awesome defense. Riddick Stanley is the fifth guy from our IHOF Bowl winning roster in there, no doubt Tom Anaya will join these guys soon...

So, 2080. We're $116 million over the cap, with 46 players on roster, 2 restricted and 2 unrestricted free agents. And 13 draft picks... Business as usual, except that we've got 4 second round picks once again. Maybe we'll actually use some of them this time around? First order of business will be a truckload of renegotiations. We should be able to find at least $100 million there. Right?