Coach Of the Year for Season XIII goes to...

Even with four teams losing two games or less in Season XIII, the selection for Best Coach was an obvious one. Trusion came into the season looking to do some damage with the hapless Detroit Lions and if you ask anyone but the man himself, that goal was achieved. Trusion claims that the record could mislead some into exaggerating his success because many of the wins were close but you know what they say--a win's a win, especially when they come by way of the Detroit Kittens. Boasting a regular-season high eleven wins and making it all the way to the MPL Bowl before succumbing to an equally great coach with a significantly better team, Trusion is the obvious selection for Season XIII's Best Coach.

It has been said that the true measure of a team is how it responds to adversity. With two losses through the first five weeks of the season while residing in the colossal division that was the Atlantic West, the Colts had an opportunity to measure themselves with more than half a season remaining of what were, essentially, must-win games. The Colts and coach Cowboy responded to the challenge in dramatic fashion by winning their next seven regular season games; earning a division crown and the number one seed in the Atlantic Conference before winning out in the playoffs. If there is anyone who doubts that the Colts are Season XIII's Best Team, see Cowboy--he has a title to prove it.

How is it possible that a former quarterback gone cocaine addict could serve as the primary receiver for the third best passing offense in the league? Coach Enan had a certifiable man-crush on Matt Jones and it certainly paid off as the receiver caught 34.7% of the team's passes while accounting 50.7% of its receiving yards and 42.9% of its receiving touchdowns with 42, 787, and 6, respectively. Defenses could key in on the receiver, but that would leave the front seven vulnerable to the league's second best rushing offense, headed by Mighty Mouse Maurice Jones-Drew. To top it all off, the Jaguars lead the league in scoring with nearly 30 points per game in the regular season, with the St. Louis Rams a distant second with 23.5.

Season XIII’s Best Defense has to be considered a bit of a surprise. For a while now, Houtz has heralded himself as one of the MPL’s elite players despite, entering the season, having secured only a single playoff victory. That changed this season when Houtz took his Dolphins and rode their defense to 3 shutouts and 6 games where his opponents scored 7 points or less while allowing, on average, less than 9 points per game. Most importantly, however, Houtz rode his stingy defense to a second playoff victory; a 14-0 victory over Chnkr’s Eagles.

Anyone who played Chnkr with his Cowboys in Season XII knew that he was a steadily ascending player. This season, the man took it to a whole new level by winning 9 games in the regular season against some quality opponents with only 3 losses coming to top dogs like Trusion, Houtz, and Cmac. All it took was the Dallas fan selecting a REAL team and making good use of the Brian Westbrook show for Chnkr to catapult himself into the upper tier of the league’s top ballers.

What do you get when you give a cocky, sarcastic, pasty-white boy from Central Pennsylvania a PC with internet access and easily measurable Madden skills? One could concoct plenty of answers I’m sure, but there is one in particular that we’re looking for here: Houtz. Watching someone who, in real life, is a genuinely kind and caring person manage to come across as an absolute bleepity bleep bleep in a Madden community is quite the experience. The members of the MPL have spoken, however, and have once again anointed Houtz the league’s Best Trash Talker. Houtz had come under a bit of fire during Season XIII for the way he handles himself on the forums, but apparently taunting the MPL’s resident Asian with a picture of William Hung enthralled the community. Knowing that the jabbering will not cease regardless of success or failure may be the best thing about Houtz’s particular brand of smacktalking. Or worst, depending on your perspective.

Upon entering Season XIII, Gatorsin09 had only won 2 games since joining the league midway through Season XI. Many of the guys who perennially struggle to win games are major fixtures on the message boards, but Gators has posted only 206 times since joining the boards on December 22 of 2007, and many of those were part of the scheduling thread. When a player isn’t an active part of the community and struggles to win games, they define flying under the radar. When Gators won six games with the Titans this past season, many members wondered where, exactly, he’d come from. Perhaps the surge this past season is a foreshadowing of future success but, for the time being, Gators .500 record in Season XIII earns him the MPL’s Most Surprising award.

Dedication is faithfully drafting one’s favorite team, despite their annual failure being appropriately reflected in Madden. Dedication is assuming responsibility for one of the league’s more time-consuming features and sticking with it through a season’s entirety. Dedication is maintaining a passionate support of the game in spite of all of its detractors. Logic would denote, then, that dedication is our very own Sully907. So dedicated is this man that, should any of us ever be trapped on a bus rigged to explode by Dennis Hopper, there is no doubt in my mind that Keanu would swiftly come to the rescue.

The MPL is a league full of classy individuals. Truth be told, however, the number of members can be counted on one hand who have never had confrontational words with another member and have never publicly complained over gameplay issues, while at the same time treating each and every one of the league’s 32 owners with an utmost level of respect. After revealing his impressive Chicago Bears man cave to the rest of the league earlier this season, it would certainly have been easy for Remo to lose some humility but instead it is he who ultimately takes home Season XIII’s Most Classy award.

As the Lions continued their path to being the first 0-16 team in NFL history, Season XII’s MPL Champion, Trusion, got stuck with the team from Detroit with the last pick in the draft. There have been times throughout MPL history when great coaches have done good things with terrible teams, but none of them garnered the interest that Trusion did with his Lions thanks, in part, to the real team’s epic path to eternal failure. Could the Lions make some noise under a new coach, or would Dan Orlovsky continue running out of the back of the endzone with the ball in hand? MPL members tuned in every week to see what the Lions would accomplish and how they would do it and, after months of vested interest, have voted Trusion’s Lions Season XIII’s Most Exciting Team.

And now, for the most vague award of this end-season showcase - The Old School Award. Should this award go to the MPL's eldest AARP member, or the member who plays old school, smash mouth football? The qualifications for the reward could be debated but two things are certain: having an appreciation for pounding the rock and maintaining a solid defense are a plus, while having some gray hair (or no hair) could never hurt one's chances at taking home this reward. Whatever the case may be, now that Oldnslofly is on a sabbatical, this award is Remo's to lose.

If you enjoy quick-witted sarcasm, opinionated diatribes, and an eye for satirical opportunities, then you enjoy what Superpunk brings to the forums. Whether it is promoting his own "UBER GOTW," comparing Shady to Matthew McConaughey, or just blasting anyone and everyone who opposes him, this Carroll County Cannon has been voted the MPL's Most Creative Poster for the second consecutive season.

The Best Newcomer for Season XIII in the MPL was yet another obvious selection. Bubba came into the league taking over a Madden team that is not terrible, but that is certainly not one of the best either. Even still, the newbie made a nice run this season and, even in spite of the accumulation of a few sim losses toward the beginning of the season when his PS3 was on the fritz, Bubba missed the playoffs only by virtue of a tiebreaker. If there is any doubt that this guy is Season XIII’s Best Newcomer just ask Superpunk, who apparently nearly lost to Bubba while the rookie’s wife was getting all freaky deaky and whatnot.

In a move that should not come as a surprise to anyone, the MPL Community voted Shady and his Panthers as Season XIII’s Biggest Disappointment. You simply cannot guarantee an MPL title and then fail as miserably as Shady did this past season and NOT come away with this award. The infamous “guarantee” gave the league something of a story to follow for the first few weeks of the season but, once it became clear that Shady was all bark and no bite, the community quickly lost interest and the Panthers became a running week-to-week joke. Such are the dangers of public self-motivation tactics.

The Bucs (and 08 Lions) award goes hand in hand with The Biggest Disappointment this season, though that is not always how it works. The Bucs Award, typically, goes to the team who had the absolute worst season. Did Shady’s Panthers have the worst season in the MPL? Perhaps so, in relation to the preseason hype, but there were certainly other candidates for this award. The MPL Community, however, provides Shady with a double helping of “thanks” for the entertainment of horribly failed guarantees by awarding him The Bucs award. Wear it with pride, Shady.

The award for Most Exciting Team and Best Post Game Writeups go hand in hand this season. By winning the MPL Bowl one season and getting stuck with the game’s worst team the next, Trusion had already peaked the interest of the league’s members. By writing his recaps filled with as much detail and occasional highlights as he did, Trusion continued to feed the hungry. For the second season in a row, Trusion takes home the well-deserved award for Best Post Game Writeups.

It is no surprise who was voted as Season XIII's Most Talkative member. Kevmack has always been fairly active on the forums but as the league's general population began posting less and less late in the season, Kev's polls and numerous topics became more prominent and even irritated some other MPL members. Kev continued doing things his way, however, in spite of the detractors and much to the appreciation of many others. As the MPL's habitually slower summer season looms, the community will look to Kevmack for the insight and information that lead to him being voted Season XIII's Most Talkative member.

There was not much change or excitement in the way of sigs for Season XIII, but a winner for the Best Sigs award must be crowned and that winner is Superpunk. Coming in midway through Season XIII to take over the then-winless Jets, Superpunk quickly tacked on a humorous and appropriate signature showing his affiliation to the New York Bretts: Milking it for All It’s Worth. Were I a gambling man, however, I would wager that this award is based more on the Superwoman avatar SP sported throughout the season than any kind of sig. She has such lovely…eyes.

Much like the Best Sigs award, there was not much happening this season in the way of sigmaking. With that being the case, it only seems appropriate for this award to go to the man who has become a fixture at this section of the award show—Jimbo. Besides, our humble leader disqualified himself from contention for the MPL’s Most Dedicated award, so the man has to come away with some sort of emblem from the Season XIII awards show, even if it is he who is actually throwing the jewels of success (or failure) together in Photoshop.

• By Popular demand, Draft Talk was voted as the Best Topic of Season XIII.
  
  

• By Popular demand, Houtz and Chnkr's battle with Houtz coming out on top twice, BluPun's return to the MPL, were voted as the Fondest Memories of Season XIII.
  
  

• By Popular demand, Trusion's run with the Lions, MPL Radio were voted as the Best of MPL Season XIII.
  
  

• The worst of MPL Season XIII was voted as Cowboy's Dawkins Sig, very few scouting reports, Shady's guarantee, league activity.
  
  

Conference Championship: Colts(Cowboy925) - 13 vs Patriots(Takethat) - 10