Spotlight on the Deuce and Commissioner DrifterBub
I am spotlighting premier dynasty ‘The Deuce’ and TSO staff member and commissioner DrifterBub. The Deuce is currently in season 10 and is about to head to the conference championship games. The Deuce is split up into the ACC and SEC after switching from a 3 conference set up mid dynasty. OMLawdog and his Ole Miss squad has dominated the dynasty while going on a huge win streak and winning the last several National Championships.
I sat down with DrifterBub for a Q&A interview session. Here is a quick bio:
Name: Ronnie Hurst
age: 24
About me: I am a Texan, born and raised and my love for football was definitely bred into me. My father grew up in a small town that shuts down on Friday nights, so the camaraderie I’ve had with my cousins (all 9 of them) on his side of the family all but meant that we were playing a game of football at every family gathering. I played QB in high school until I decided to cut in quits in lieu of my third concussion and my then pending academic scholarship. I attended Texas A&M where I received my engineering degree and was very active in intramural sports and the Texas A&M Paintball team. I played on the paintball team for three years and it has given me memories and made me friends I’ll have forever. My senior year, we entered the National Championships in Lakeland, FL as a relatively unknown and we fought all the way to the championship match only to drop 2 out of 3 to finish as the runner up. Upon graduation less than a month later, I moved to Houston after accepting a job. I bought a house that I share with my girlfriend of nine years, Carol. We have two Boxers Murcielago (“Murcie”, 5) and Enzo (3). In order to explain my dog’s namesakes, now is probably a good time to tell you that I grew up building engines and working on cars. Home theater systems, car audio systems, computers, playing the guitar and keyboard, flag football, coaching youth football and lifting weights are a few of my other active hobbies.
Drifter was kind enough to give a few photos…
What is the history of the Deuce and how did it become a part of Tradition Sports Online?
The Deuce actually started in a weird way. I approached RynoAid on MaddenMania about a month before the launch of NCAA 2009 inquiring about a possible spot in his league, The Tradition. He got back to me that they already had 12 members and I believe he added me to his waiting list for the league. After a few days I struck up a conversation with him about starting a second league modeled exactly after The Tradition that would provide a place for members on his waiting list as well as a feeder league in case someone dropped from his league. A bit apprehensive at first to get into it, he finally agreed after having explaining that he had a soft spot in his heart for Aggies (and probably men in general, but I digress).
How did you become a part of TSO and a staff member?
I was the commissioner of the second league under the Tradition banner, The Deuce. Ryno and I realized the potential experience we could offer others if we were to create other leagues modeled after our successful leagues. Ryno had a lot of experience in running leagues from his Madden PC days, even at the inception of Online Dynasty mode in NCAA, and I was eager to help and grow our family of leagues. We partnered up to create a safe-haven for sim-style gamers who shared our philosophy on sports league gaming that came to be known as TraditionFootball.com. With the help of some other key personnel, we have grown into something that is much larger than Ryno and I could have ever imagined. TraditionSportsOnline.com is now the mecca for sim-style sports gaming. It’s been a wild ride to say the very least.
The Deuce is already on Season 10 and is one of if not the fastest moving and most active NCAA dynasties on the site. What is its secret to success?
Hands down it has to be the guys I’ve got. I went through a lot of turnover when we first started the game. Getting rid of guys that didn’t quite fit and bringing in quality members. Most of the guys in The Deuce have been playing in that league since NCAA 2009. Everyone makes the league a priority and that is why the league moves fast. The cohesiveness of the group builds hype around the rivalries and generated content is just a byproduct of all of that. We added some new guys for NCAA 11 and they fit right in with the old blood. I wouldn’t trade any of my guys for anyone else.
There was a realignment of teams and conferences in the middle of the dynasty for NCAA 11. Could you elaborate on that situation and do you think it was a good move?
I am usually not a big advocate of such a drastic change in the middle of a dynasty, but it seems that cutting down from three to two conferences was the right move. I was a huge supporter of the two conference setup before we started our online dynasty in NCAA 11, but after a vote, the consensus was to utilize the original three conference setup. This created some balance issues and confirmed a lot of my original issues with the setup. Moving some guys around also brought some rivalries closer together and allows guys to play other users they might not have played a lot or at all. When you can bang out as many seasons as we have that sort of thing starts to matter.
What is your most memorable moment in the Deuce in NCAA 11 and what is your overall most memorable while in the Deuce since it began?
Ummm, wow. So many. Everyone offseason night is pretty memorable. I remember the one night that we found out that Flo’s wife was disgusted with his performance on the sticks and would call him an idiot for doing things such as throwing into double coverage. He told us that she also told him that he sucks at recruiting. So then on the running joke was that if something good happened with Flo’s team, his wife must have been involved. Most of the guys still refer to her as the first coordinator in the Deuce and “Flo’s wife” is a common recommendation for a replacement when a spot opens up in the league.
How does the Deuce look finishing out NCAA 11 and heading into 12? How many seasons do you project to be completed?
We’ll probably finish out NCAA 11 just like we did NCAA 10. We will keep pushing through till a few weeks before the launch of NCAA 12. I would imagine that we could easily get another 4 seasons done during that time, with a 5th being a definite possibility.
How has the power balance in the dynasty been with user championships? Who is doing well?
We have had a lot of power balance issues in all three iterations of our dynasty. OMlawdog has been putting on a clinic since NCAA 2009 on how to run a program. His combination of recruiting guys to fit a system and then beating you senseless with said system for multiple years has become an expected event each dynasty. JrRawlins is the probably the only guy who can consistently challenge him. JR typically starts with a lower tier team and after seasons 4 or 5, he always has them sniffing championships. Bringbackjimmy, JMustang1968 and GoGators are also very good players. The rest of us are mediocre or good at certain facets of the game and lack the well-roundedness to compete consistently.
Do you see any future challenge or potential to dethrone OMlawdog from his string of championships with Ole Miss? Do you think he will win the rest of the National Championships?
Thankfully for the rest of the league, OMLawdog just had his third child (congrats again buddy). This means that he can’t spend all of his time whipping the snot off of all of us and has decided to take a few weeks paternity leave from the league. JMustang’s Mississisppi State team is on the rise and JRrawlin’s Georgia squad is finally coming around. Who knows how it would have played out if he had been able to keep playing with his Ole Miss team, but I’ll tell you this, I wouldn’t bet against him.
Could you give me a few things you would really like to see changed or added for NCAA 12?
I actually like the new recruiting system and the randomness involved. It needs some tweaks. I love breaking down features and offering feedback to EA, but I’ll spare you the novel I come up with every year. My biggest gripe this year is the pipeline limitations for larger states like Texas, Florida, California, etc. Having four kids earns you a pipeline in a state, but it doesn’t take into account the population or size of the state. Having four kids from Iowa is a lot different than having four kids from Texas. I would love to see the bigger states broken down into regions. For instance, having a bunch of kids from south or east Texas would earn you pipeline bonuses for those regions. In fact, this mirrors real life as most colleges in Texas break up the state into 5 or 6 regions and have coaches that recruit each of the regions.
My second biggest wish is to have full control of the slider set. I want at least double the amount of sliders so that I can control things like the effects of fatigue, likeliness of fumbles, punt return blocking, etc. I feel it is important for commissioners to be able to customize the gameplay in order to dial in the slider set for their particular league.
Big thanks to DrifterBub for taking his time to answer these questions and shed a bit more light on him and the Deuce. Stay tuned for the next episode! I am also taking recommendations for who or what to spotlight next!
