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American Throwball Association: Cleveland Update


jmoe12

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Hi again, CCSLC!

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I'm back at it again with another throwball series, this time with the United States' premier league, the ATA. The league was originally founded in 1979 as the North American Throwball Association, featuring teams from the US and Canada. But after the two nations parted ways in 1991, the league rebranded as the ATA which we see today. The league is divided into 4 regional divisions of 7 teams each. At the end of the season, each division has their own separate four team playoff, and the winner is taken to the Union Cup, a round-robin between the four division champs. The 40 game season runs from June to December, with two games being played a week. If you have any other questions about the league, feel free to ask!

 

For rules, history, and other information, visit my Club Cup Thread or the Throwball Universe Website

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Now, the first team, Baltimore!

 

Baltimore Calverts

Founded: 1983

Division: East

Union Cups: 0

Moelduer Shields: 2 (2005, 2006)

Baltimore has always been good, never great, and relies on a powerful offense to win them games. Their finest years came in the first decade of the new millenium, as they won two shields for the best record in the regular season, reached the Union Cup three times, and finished fourth at the 2010 Club Cup. But as their stars aged, the era of success waned, and the Calverts are now just fighting for a  playoff spot in a tough East Division. 

 

3JncOZ8.png

 

Pretty modern design, with Maryland flags everywhere. The crest comes from the coat of arms of Cecil Calvert, which I love, and features two leopards next to the now flag of Maryland. The home kit features a gradient diamond pattern like on the flag, and the clash has sublimated flag on the shirt. 

 

C&C greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

 

 

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Guest darkpiranha

Okay.  Visited the website for the first time today.  Outside of the fact that you need to start populating it with all the designs you do here, I love the thoroughness and commitment.  As someone currently hunkering down on fully designing my decades-old fictional league, I really appreciate the amount of work you've already put into this and can't wait to see how it builds out from a graphic design standpoint.  

 

From a nuts-and-bolts perspective, how are you simulating your results, if you are? (I assume you are.)  Is it just you, or do you have other people contributing to pumping out the data?   And if there's a handy-dandy post or document you've created where you lay out your creation of the game, just point me to it.  

 

Cool stuff.  

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Guest darkpiranha

Okay, I went back in time to see the original Throwball stuff, and was surprised to discover that I was one of the first commentors back in the day, suggesting some gear styles and template suggestions.  But none of the original graphics you posted were still available, so I couldn't remember what it originally looked like.  Finally, a few pages in, there was one of your second or third round of jersey/template designs.  

 

Let me just say, WOW, you have come a long way.  You're one of the great test-cases of what someone can do if they just commit to getting better.  Great job.  I'd even request that you create an independent thread kind of giving your 'testimonial', and showing the stuff you first started doing here back in 2011, and what you're doing now.  I think it's important for newbies who come here to see it IS possible to get exponentially better.  

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5 hours ago, darkpiranha said:

Okay.  Visited the website for the first time today.  Outside of the fact that you need to start populating it with all the designs you do here, I love the thoroughness and commitment.  As someone currently hunkering down on fully designing my decades-old fictional league, I really appreciate the amount of work you've already put into this and can't wait to see how it builds out from a graphic design standpoint.  

 

From a nuts-and-bolts perspective, how are you simulating your results, if you are? (I assume you are.)  Is it just you, or do you have other people contributing to pumping out the data?   And if there's a handy-dandy post or document you've created where you lay out your creation of the game, just point me to it.  

 

Cool stuff.  

I'll start adding the uniforms to the website as I post them here. I guess simulating was something that came along too late in the process. In the older and more primitive days, throwball was confined to crude logos drawn in crayons on paper and me throwing the ball against a backstop in my backyard. These early days set the tone as to who was good, who was bad, as well as some results, particularly the mid 2000s. Then I started to expand the sport across the globe, simplify my American league (which at one point boasted 200+ teams) and made it more "realistic". Over the past year or two I've been hard at work on the history of major tournaments like the Club Cup (I just finished the World Cup history last week) and constantly expanding my player database. So, unfortunately, there's no real simulator engine, just me picking winners through random numbers or occasionally throwing the ball around in the backyard to decide some of the bigger games. 

 

5 hours ago, darkpiranha said:

Okay, I went back in time to see the original Throwball stuff, and was surprised to discover that I was one of the first commentors back in the day, suggesting some gear styles and template suggestions.  But none of the original graphics you posted were still available, so I couldn't remember what it originally looked like.  Finally, a few pages in, there was one of your second or third round of jersey/template designs.  

 

Let me just say, WOW, you have come a long way.  You're one of the great test-cases of what someone can do if they just commit to getting better.  Great job.  I'd even request that you create an independent thread kind of giving your 'testimonial', and showing the stuff you first started doing here back in 2011, and what you're doing now.  I think it's important for newbies who come here to see it IS possible to get exponentially better.  

I remember that first NATA thread, and was just looking through some of my old artwork on my computer today. They were horribly rough, and probably didn't deserve much praise. But there were plenty of people their to help me improve through their C&C, you included, and that really started the process of me improving. I guess a brief testimonial of what helped me improve was C&C from fellow members and designers like I mentioned before, as well as studying the works of some of the more prolific artists on this board. Raysox, Mcrosby, dgnmrwww, and jaha32 come to mind as just a few of those artists who I was constantly admiring and looking up to. Most importantly was just practicing and always pushing myself to improve. 

 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Jvhn177 said:

I think Baltimore looks a little to close to Maryland, maybe just use a sublimated Baltimore flag unless the team is going to be called the Maryland Calverts, also the logo should be smaller imo 

I can see where you are coming from. but the Maryland flag was based on the Calvert Coat of Arms and the Baltimore flag does feature the yellow and black diamond pattern like on the flag. I think I may tone down the flag on the clash, though. I wasn't totally satisfied with the way that came out.

 

 

 

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Guest darkpiranha
2 minutes ago, jmoe12 said:

 So, unfortunately, there's no real simulator engine, just me picking winners through random numbers or occasionally throwing the ball around in the backyard to decide some of the bigger games. 

 

lol.   This is hilarious in a very cool way.  WAY back in the day (40 years now), my first every "simulation" was me sitting on dining room floor in front of a big glass window and flinging a ping-pong ball against the window and attempting to make a "save" when it came back.  At the time, I had a table/rod hockey game that had these cardboard city names you'd slide on the marquee to indicate who was playing.  I remember being frustrated that there were only six teams included in the game, so I had my mom find me some cardboard of equal thickness (the back of a pad of paper, I think) and I made a whole league of cities and teams that I'd then randomly pull out of a hat to see who was playing in my floor/door/ping-pong hockey games.  

 

Sometimes it's just throwing a ball against a wall that can lead to an obsession, lol.   

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Just now, darkpiranha said:

 

lol.   This is hilarious in a very cool way.  WAY back in the day (40 years now), my first every "simulation" was me sitting on dining room floor in front of a big glass window and flinging a ping-pong ball against the window and attempting to make a "save" when it came back.  At the time, I had a table/rod hockey game that had these cardboard city names you'd slide on the marquee to indicate who was playing.  I remember being frustrated that there were only six teams included in the game, so I had my mom find me some cardboard of equal thickness (the back of a pad of paper, I think) and I made a whole league of cities and teams that I'd then randomly pull out of a hat to see who was playing in my floor/door/ping-pong hockey games.  

 

Sometimes it's just throwing a ball against a wall that can lead to an obsession, lol.   

Oh, I know all about that. Some of the world's most prolific throwball goalies were born when I began throwing a mini soccer ball against the basement wall and then lunging out to stop it from hitting the couch. Afterwards, my knees were covered in bruises, and my mother was driven nearly insane from the constant noise. 

 

 

 

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Guest darkpiranha
Just now, jmoe12 said:

Oh, I know all about that. Some of the world's most prolific throwball goalies were born when I began throwing a mini soccer ball against the basement wall and then lunging out to stop it from hitting the couch. Afterwards, my knees were covered in bruises, and my mother was driven nearly insane from the constant noise. 

Yes.  A couch was my net as well... which makes me think that it probably wasn't the dining room where I was playing my game...  But I was very definitely bouncing it off a glass window, as I can still hear it in my head and hear my family yelling at me to stop making so much noise.  

 

 

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1 hour ago, Jvhn177 said:

You could switch the primary color to yellow

I did consider this, but black and yellow is the color scheme of the Calverts' biggest rivals, Pittsburgh, and no self-respecting Baltimoreons would be caught dead in those colors. 

 

@Darknes should be pumped about this one

 

Boston Rebellion

Founded: 1975

Division: East

Union Cups: 0

Moelduer Shields: 0

 

A historically downtrodden club, Boston is one of only two of the original NATA teams to have never won a trophy (Milwaukee is the other). The team is famous for constantly starting over with a young roster filled with academy graduates, falling on their faces, and then selling their young players to other clubs to buy more young players. Boston has been waiting for four decades to finally find the stud core of players that can lead them to their first silverware.

 

TLbxBhC.png

 

Kits are fairly similar to the ones I designed in my original NATA thread, with the only major change being the addition of "New England Green". New ownership revamped the Rebellion's tired look in 2006, adding the bright green and the trees as an homage to the New England flag in an attempt to appeal to fans from further north. 

 

C&C this one away, and Buffalo will be up tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, XenonDesigns said:

Boston is very solid. I love the hint of green. Only having one star one the flag kinda reminds me of Texas but that's just a small nitpick.

Thanks for the reply! The star was something added in the 2006 rebrand, before that there was an interlocking BR in the blue field. The Rebellion received mass ridicule for adding the star to their badge because they've never won a trophy. A change may be in the cards for next season.

 

 

 

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You continue to amaze me. Love the sleeves of the Boston home(plus that's my name!). Wouldn't be a bad USA soccer kit, without green of course.

Speaking of USA, I know you did a world cup of clubs, but maybe when you complete this you can do a national teams world cup.

I really like Baltimore. Great logo.

IxkieML.png

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, JosiahWVU said:

You continue to amaze me. Love the sleeves of the Boston home(plus that's my name!). Wouldn't be a bad USA soccer kit, without green of course.

Speaking of USA, I know you did a world cup of clubs, but maybe when you complete this you can do a national teams world cup.

I really like Baltimore. Great logo.

The last world cup was in 2015, so the next one will come in 2019. There are continental champions next winter, so I'll probably post some national team concepts after this series to get ready for that.

 

 

 

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