Confidence was sky high throughout the Rebels Organization in early 2016. The team was coming off of back-to-back championships, with its latest championship (2015) coming dominantly. The Rebels entered the 2016 season with a goal similar to years past. However, the thought of winning the Yuma Bowl for the Rebels was no longer just a thought. It was a belief and it was an expectation. The team was by far the early favorite to win the Yuma Bowl and because of this, the team adopted the slogan “Empire Rising” as their 2016 season slogan. Empire Rising stood for the goal and expectation that the Rebels were going to not only win the Yuma Bowl for the third consecutive season but also etch their name in history as a fantasy football dynasty. Expectations were high, but Coach Nevers, General Manager Dan Thompson, and I knew what it was going to take to once again repeat as champions.

The celebration of the team’s second championship lasted nearly two months, but the focus quickly shifted towards the 2016 season at the Yuma Scorpions’ annual owner’s meeting in late March 2016. The 2016 league owner’s meeting had several things on its agenda this year, with the biggest issue being whether or not to uphold and allow the Cuban Reds and the Oregon Express to acquire the draft picks that they traded for the previous season. Many argued that the Reds and Express blatantly tanked throughout the 2015 season to ensure they had a winning team in 2016. Because the two teams tanked for the right to acquire a top draft pick, owners felt as if they were already having an unfair advantage heading into 2016 and therefore, should not be allowed to keep the draft picks that they traded for last season, on the basis of obvious tanking.

Since 2014, the Yuma Scorpions has adopted a structured draft format that allows teams and owners to know where they are drafting ahead of the scheduled draft date. In 2015 the league first used a lottery format where the teams with the worst record the previous season would have a better chance at the number one overall pick than the two teams that competed in the Yuma Bowl. Both the Reds and the Express held the worst record in 2015 and thus entered 2016 with the best odds at the lottery.

Arguments went back and forth with the Reds and Express both saying that they did not tank and that there was no rule for trading future draft picks in-season. While they were correct in the fact that there was no rule for draft pick trading, the Yuma Scorpions, however, did have a rule against tanking. As commissioner, it was my job to determine whether or not the Reds and Express tanked throughout 2015 and if they did, what would their punishment be. I heard arguments from both sides, but in the end, I determined that both the Reds and Express tanked in 2016 and as a punishment for tanking, the two teams would not be allowed to keep the draft picks in which they traded for during the 2015 season. The teams would, however, keep their draft position in the upcoming lottery.

Both Peyton Raymond and Dayton Ross were pissed at the ruling, but they were at least relieved that they kept their #1 and #2 draft lottery positioning. Shortly after this ruling, the league held the 2016 Yuma Scorpions’ Draft Lottery. The picks were announced in descending order with pick #12 being read first. Having won the Yuma Bowl the past two seasons, the Rebels entered both the 2015 and 2016 Draft Lottery with the worst odds of any team. The Rebels beat the odds in 2015, moving from #12 to #8, but in 2016 I did not expect the team to move up as high as that. I went into the lottery believing that the team was going to get the last or second to last pick in the lottery.

But as the lottery picks were announced the Rebels’ name did appear in picks #12, #11, #10, #9, or even #8. The team continued to rise and nearly everyone in attendance could not believe what was happening. What was even more shocking was the fact that both the Cuban Reds and the Oregon Express were awarded picks #8 and #6, both unprecedented spots for the two teams with the highest odds. Raymond and Ross were screaming with an objection, but the lottery continued. As the lottery entered the top five, the California Rebels were awarded the fourth overall pick in the 2016 Yuma Draft. The Carson City Razorbacks, Seattle Leathernecks, and GMEN rounded out the top three.

Following the lottery, more outcry came from the Reds and Express franchises, but I used my authority as commissioner of the league to shut down any league revolts. A few days following the league’s annual owner’s meeting, I stated that a new investigation would be opened into whether or not the Reds and Express should be awarded their traded draft picks, one of which was the Rebels’ 2016 third-round draft choice. I felt as if the Reds and Express were not given a fair chance at the owner’s meeting and thus, a second investigation was needed. I even told Payton and Dayton that there was a good chance that they would be awarded these picks after all. But as my investigation closed, I stood by the owner’s meeting verdict and told the Reds and Express that they would not be awarded their traded draft picks. Case closed.

The draft lottery was the biggest highlight of the 2016 offseason for the Rebels and the Yuma Scorpions. However, there were additional franchise relocations and new owners added into the league. Both the Iowa Rebel Killers and New York Rebel Destroyers franchises saw their teams go up for sale as both Addison Ross and Zach Riddle declined to rejoin the league for the 2016 campaign. With two openings now announced, the league saw a plethora of interest from numerous people. The league ultimately decided to charge a $50 buy-in for any newcomer coming into the league. When people heard about this, interest began to dwindle and only two people remained interested. Kolby Molinsky and Soren Jensen, friends of Peyton Raymond and Dayton Ross, agreed to join the Yuma Scorpions for the 2016 season. Molinsky would take over the Rebel Killers, while Jensen would take over the Rebel Destroyers.

In August 2016, the California Rebels hosted a private party for the members of the 2015 championship squad. At this party, the team handed out their 2015 championship rings to players and coaches. The team’s second ring was more of a statement ring, as this ring was bigger, flashier, and brighter than the modest ring the team chose to hand out to their 2014 championship team. I remember smiling big and bright when I saw the ring for the very first time. This celebration once again solidified the team as back-to-back champions.

As the offseason continued, the California Rebels once again opened their scouting season on June 1, 2016. The team had many options at 4th overall, but the team knew that they would not be able to acquire WR Antonio Brown, WR Odell Beckham Jr., and WR Julio Jones. Those three picks were locked in by three teams picking ahead of the Rebels. The team was very interested in Steelers’ RB Le’Veon Bell, even though Bell was coming off of an ACL injury. The interest in Bell quickly went away when it was announced that Bell would begin the 2016 season suspended. With Bell now out of the picture, the team tried to regroup and find their first-round draft pick. Many in the Rebels’ Scouting Department argued for Cardinals’ RB David Johnson, but others, including myself, believed that Johnson was going to be a bust in 2016 and that his 2015 playoff run for the Rebels was nothing more than a fluke.

With Johnson now ruled out, the team turned its focus to Cincinnati Bengals’ WR A.J. Green. Green was with the Rebels in 2014, but not in 2015. However, the Bengals had just lost WR Marvin Jones in free agency, making Green the only viable pass-catcher in Cincinnati. With this news, Green began drawing the attention of the Rebels based on the potential that he could become the leagues’ best WR in 2016. With several potential options at fourth overall, the Rebels decided the Friday before draft day that the team was going to reach on A.J. Green and take him fourth overall.

With the draft just a few days away, I received several text messages from Dayton Ross, Peyton Raymond, Kolby Molinsky, and Soren Jensen. All four of these owners informed me that they would be dropping out of the Yuma Scorpions league to pursue a league of their own. This was shocking news as it was just before the draft. I quickly contacted Nathan Simmons and told him the news. He responded by telling me that he may have a person interested in joining the league. A few minutes later, Nathan told me that Reese Snyder would join the league as the Cincinnati Harambes. My Dad found another team in father-son duo Scott and Nathan Middlebrook. The Middlebrooks would relocate their team to Denver and become team OAB. The Yuma Scorpions now had 10 teams for the 2016 season and while I would have preferred 12 teams, I was more than willing to play with 10 teams. The league was now official set with only a day to go before the 2016 Yuma Scorpions Draft.

The 2016 Yuma Scorpions Draft kicked off on Sunday, August 28th, at 7:30 P.M. Central Time. Now unlike the previous two years when the league held an official draft party at Carroll First Assembly Church, the 2016 Yuma Draft did not have such a party. The reason for this was that I moved to Colorado during the summer of 2016, away from nearly every member of the league. The league could no longer hold an official draft party, resulting in us to rely on FaceTime to communicate during the draft. We have used this method ever since.

As the league’s draft kicked off, the GMEN were put on the clock with the number one overall pick for the second time since 2010. The GMEN, after making four straight playoff appearances from 2010-2013, including three Yuma Bowl appearances, had now missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. As a result of their misfortunes, the GMEN were awarded Pittsburgh Steelers’ WR and Rebels’ 2015 Team MVP, Antonio Brown. The number one overall pick was no surprise to anyone. Antonio Brown was the consensus number one overall pick in 2016.

The second overall pick, held by the Seattle Leathernecks was also not a surprise, as Seattle had been publicizing their pick since the minute, they knew they had the second overall pick. Odell Beckham Jr. was going to be sporting a Leathernecks jersey for the second consecutive season. Nathan Simmons and Ben Pauli believed that OBJ would deliver Seattle a championship; continuing to claim that they did not make a mistake in drafting him over Antonio Brown the previous season.

The Carson City Razorbacks held the third overall pick in the 2016 Draft and once again, this pick was not a surprise. Owner Cole Kautzky drafted fellow Rebel’s favorite, Julio Jones with the third overall pick, bypassing the likes of DeAndre Hopkins, David Johnson, and many others. Now while the first three picks in this draft were not a surprise by any means, when it came time for the Rebels to pick at #4, many people were surprised as to who the Rebels were going to pick. As previously stated, the team decided to draft WR A.J. Green with the team’s first-round pick just a few days earlier. However, GM Dan Thompson made sure he kept the league guessing on his pick. Many people believed that it was going to be WR DeAndre Hopkins, so when WR A.J. Green was finally announced as the team’s pick, some around the league were scratching their heads.

The rest of the first round went without any surprises. WR DeAndre Hopkins was selected fifth overall, making it five straight wide receiver selections to start the draft, a league record. RB David Johnson, the Rebels playoff hero from a year ago, was selected by Team OAB. And lastly, the Cincinnati Harambes took a risk and selected Dallas Cowboys’ Rookie RB Ezekiel Elliot with their first-round selection.

The second round was interesting for the Rebels as their targeted first-round pick, Le’Veon Bell, kept falling in the draft. It looked as if the Rebels were going to get Bell after all as only one team stood in the team’s way of drafting Bell. However, it was that one team that took Bell away from the Rebels. Team Netsch drafted Bell with the pick right before the Rebels in the second round. What made matters even worse was that Netsch auto-drafted Bell. If Netsch was living drafting it would have been pretty unlikely that he took Bell right there, and if he didn’t, the 2016 California Rebels season would have been drastically changed.

The Rebels’ consolation prize for not acquiring Le’Veon Bell was New York Jets’ WR Brandon Marshall. Marshall, despite his 32 years of age, was coming off one of the best seasons in his career in 2015, making him a very sought-after player in 2016. With the team drafting Marshall in the second round, the Rebels were trying to mirror their 2015 roster-building formula of drafting two of the league’s best pass catchers.

The third round consisted of the Rebels drafting Denver Broncos’ Running Back C.J. Anderson. Anderson, who was a first-round pick in 2015, fell to the Rebels this year in the third. By the fifth round, the Rebels reunited with TE Greg Olsen. Olsen became a Rebel for the fourth consecutive season, a current team record. The Rebels 2016 drafted continued with the team alternating between running backs and wide receivers up until the tenth round when the Rebels drafted signal-caller Derek Carr of the Oakland Raiders. Carr was scouted as a sleeper quarterback in 2016 and while I am a fan of the Raiders, I can assure that this pick was more fantasy-related than a bias towards my favorite NFL team. The Rebels believed that Carr was going to be a top quarterback in 2016, therefore, they made him their franchise quarterback.

With the 2016 Yuma Scorpions draft concluding, the Rebels entered the 2016 regular season with high hopes and a lot of confidence. The team knew how to win and while the 2016 team was not as star-studded as the year prior, the team still believed that they could win it all in 2016. Even more so, the league’s media felt that the Rebels were a top team in 2016, following the results of the 2016 draft.

In the days leading up to the Rebels’ Week 1 matchup with the newly formed OAB, news around the NFL surfaced outside of Kansas City where sources confirmed that Kansas City Chiefs’ Running Back Jamaal Charles would indeed not be ready for the beginning of the 2016 season following an ACL injury he suffered last season. With Charles out for the beginning of the season, Running Back Spencer Ware became the next man up for the Chiefs. More importantly, Spencer Ware was a starting running back and he was available on waivers in the Yuma Scorpions. Seeing Ware’s potential, the Rebels quickly signed the twenty-five-year-old running back and made him a starter.

In Week 12 the Rebels traveled to Carson City to take on the Razorbacks. The Razorbacks were in the midst of a losing season, despite having WR Julio Jones and NFL MVP-Front runner Matt Ryan at quarterback. Despite their struggles, the Rebels did not overlook the Razorbacks in this pivotal Week 12 matchup, especially with A.J. Green out of the starting lineup. If the Rebels were able to defeat the Razorbacks, they would all but have locked up the number one seed in the playoffs, as well as, the Commissioners Trophy (league’s best record trophy), and the Western Division title for the first time since 2013. Several things were at stake for the Rebels this week and the entire team knew it.

With their mindset on several playoff scenarios, the Rebels went into Carson City and took care of business. The Rebels defeated the Razorbacks 128-93 to move to 9-3 on the season. With their victory, the Rebels secured the number one seed in the playoffs, as well as, the Commissioners Trophy and the Western Division title. The team did its job. What was next for the Rebels, was the chance to become the first Rebels’ team to win 10 games in the Yuma Scorpion era, and just the second Yuma Scorpion team to win 10 games. Despite wrapping up their playoff position, this was enough of an incentive to keep the Rebels fighting in Week 13.

The final week of the regular season of the 2016 campaign was the second “Battle of the House” matchup in 2016. Team USMC was having a successful 2016 campaign and came into Week 13 with an 8-4 record. They were battling with Detroit for the number three seed in the playoffs. A win would get them the three seed, a loss would give them the fourth seed. USMC had a lot to play for, while the Rebels had only pride and historic recognition to play for. When the game began, it immediately felt as if it was going to be a classic “Battle of the House” matchup. Derek Carr got the start for the Rebels this week and he shined with a two-touchdown performance. Unfortunately, though, Carr’s performance would be one of the lone highlights of this “Battle of the House” matchup. Rebels’ WR Davante Adams put up a fantasy stinker, posting one reception for seventeen yards stat line. Emmanuel Sanders also posted a stinker, giving the Rebels only five fantasy points. With all these stinkers it seemed as if it was a no- brainer that the Rebels were going to lose this week.

However, the team still had Brandon Marshall left to play on Monday Night, with a chance to steal the game from division rival USMC. Marshall just needed to score nine fantasy points for the Rebels to win. But as luck would have it, the New York Jets got blown out by the visiting Indianapolis Colts 41-10. The Jets had two quarterbacks play in this game, Quarterback Bryce Petty and Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, and both these quarterbacks could not find a way to get Marshall the ball. Marshall ended the ball game with four receptions for forty-three yards, an equivalent of eight fantasy points.

Now, the Rebels needed nine points to win and with Marshall coming up one-point shy in his effort, the California Rebels and USMC tied at 120 each. This was the first tie in Rebels’ history, but neither Coach Nevers nor myself were happy with a tie. A tie meant that the matchup would be decided by the tiebreaker and back in 2016, the tiebreaker was most bench points. The Rebels had fewer bench points than USMC in Week 13 and according to the rules, USMC was declared the winner of the tie. Both the Rebels and USMC would finish the 2016 regular season with a 9-4 record. USMC would be awarded the third seed in the playoffs, while the Rebels would remain locked into the league’s number one seed.

As a reward for winning the number one seed in the playoffs, the California Rebels were given a first-round bye for the opening round of the playoffs. The team took this time off to heal up, get healthy, and prepare themselves for their second-round opponent, either the Detroit Titans or the Cincinnati Harambes. While the Titans and Harambes were getting ready to face off against one another, the other side of the bracket had USMC hosting the 6-7 Seattle Leathernecks. The Leathernecks made key Week 14 additions and because of this, the Leathernecks were able to upset the heavily favored Marines to move on to the second round. As for Detroit, the Titans once again failed to deliver in the postseason, losing in the opening round for the third consecutive year. With their win against Detroit, the Cincinnati Harambes were set to travel to Los Angeles for a date with the California Rebels.

Despite the struggles, the team faced over the second half of the season, Coach Nevers, Dan Thompson, and me felt as if the Rebels had a solid chance to defeat Cincinnati and move on to the Yuma Bowl for the third straight year. Leathernecks’ Owner Nathan Simmons was even encouraging the Rebels in their Semifinal matchup, wishing our two franchises met in the championship game. However, when the Semi-Final matchup began, it was quite obvious that the Rebels could not compete with the Harambes or their star WR Jordy Nelson. Cincinnati handed Coach Nevers the worst loss of his coaching career; defeating the Rebels 143-85.

With the Rebels semifinal loss to Cincinnati, a magical two-year run came to an end. The Rebels won six straight postseason games prior to the 2016 Semifinals, with two of these wins ending in Yuma Bowl titles. It looked as if the team was destined to win a third straight title during the first half of the season, but injuries and bad player movement derailed the Rebels’ chances at a third championship. While I was disappointed in how the 2016 California Rebel season ended, I immediately started looking to the future and the 2017 Season. I began telling people within the Rebels Organization that 2017 was the year that the Rebels would become a dynasty. Winning three out of four championships was the Rebels number one goal as the 2017 Season got underway.