When toe hit ball in the 4th Quarter of the Superbowl, with mere 11 seconds to go in the game, the whole stadium was silent, albeit in awe. The Kicker of the Alaskan Fur Trappers had just kicked a 46 yard field goal to tie the game 23:23, but it was a boneheaded play by the HAMBURG SEA LIONS prior that had made the whole stadium go into a state of disbelief, for fans of both sides.

That the HAMBURG SEA LIONS would be on this field to even have this play was the result of a magical run. They had switched to the Dragons League, coming from the Admirals League, just at the beginning of this season, and early on it seemed that their wish of playing more competitive games would backfire when they lost their first league game against Viper 9:21. As it turned out that would be the last league game they would lose this season, curiously. Some of their games were very close, but luck was a constant guardian this season and, together with great coaching and coordinating, helped the SEA LIONS have a (nearly) spotless record in the Regular Season. Entering the playoff tournament as the #1 seed they won their match-up with the Baltic Stars in the Divisional Round as well as a nail biter in the Championship Game against the perineum bandits.

Having folded in the postseason for 2 seasons prior this time the squad stepped up: The Defense stopped both opponents enough to outscore them on the other side of the ball. The passing game with Quarter Back Nicolò Stanzetti at the height of his abilities was almost clean, and especially against the bandits a tough rushing game did a lot of damage. In this game retiring Running Back Enric Montserrat received one final, but well deserved MVP.

For their first Bowl-Game the SEA LIONS then entered the field against the Alaskan Fur Trappers, and it became another nail biter in which the home team lead after a scoreless third quarter 17:13. The SEA LIONS scored another two Fieldgoals and were confident that this 10 Point lead would be enough. But then a touchdown for the Fur Trappers happened, and that seemed to put too much pressure on the Offensive Coordinator of the SEA LIONS and the QB was told to pass on 4th Down on their own 29 Yard line. The failed completion and the ensuing field goal by the Fur Trappers to tie the game was what led to the aforementioned stadium-wide state of disbelief.

While these kind of plays were believed to be extinct in the playbooks of the SEA LIONS, it luckily this time did not go horribly wrong, with luck guarding over the team once more, letting the coin fall on the right side. And once more the strong rushing attack stepped up. In his last game for the SEA LIONS Enric Montserrat contributed 29 of his overall 44 rushing yards in overtime and helped secure the first Superbowl win in the history of the SEA LIONS.

The aforementioned play, though, showed the inexperience of the still young franchise, too. Yes, the SEA LIONS have made remarkable progress in the last two seasons, but errors like this have plagued them from early on. And deviating from their usual attack, like they now did in the Bowl-Game, still shows a lackluster set of options that brings an equal amount of security.

In the next season they’ll have to play opponents like the Fur Trappers on a weekly basis. And it would be highly unusual if the coins keep falling to their advantage. So they have to step up their game and play smart like they did, for the most part, in and leading up to the Superbowl.

For now the mood, though, is ecstatic in Hamburg. Members of the team were seen until very late in and around the franchises’ premises for now three days in a row, celebrating this historical League Championship with the fans. We’re told that the front office is already collecting addresses of jewelers and goldsmiths, and a parade is being planned. Today they will continue to honor the early days of this great sport in playing the Constanta Ravens as part of the LEATHERHEAD SERIES 3, after that there’s going to be a whole weekend of celebrations while the new season is being laid out.

And it will be well deserved celebrations, that’s for sure

The HAMBURG SEA LIONS again shook up the ADMIRALS league today with their announcement that they will not be playing there anymore, instead moving their business to the DRAGONS league.

That move surprised a few since the SEA LIONS would have had a relative easy road to the playoffs in the coming season. Their division-opponents already moved out of the NC West, leaving them a clear path to a home game in the playoffs.

But, as Joe Chrill, the manager of the SEA LIONS, said, "the DRAGONS league is more fan-friendly for our Hamburg-based team, having their kick-off an hour earlier than the ADMIRALS." The management of the SEA LIONS once again shows a lot of love for their fanbase, as it seems. "And", the manager added, "we do love competition, so playing in the league with the highest ELO average has a great appeal for us, too."

Let's hope the move was well calculated, then...

Season 51 is coming to an end these days as the bowl games are happening and the offseason approaches. It’s the time to plan for the future as well as reminisce about the season that’s behind. And what a season that was:

Under the guidance of new Head Coach Vashita Neelam the HAMBURG SEA LIONS bamboozled the league with a record of 15–1, winning not only the division-title in the NC West, but the #1-seed in the whole conference as well. The Offense surrounding QB Nicolò Stanzetti scored 63 TDs through the air and 28 TDs on the ground. Leading Rusher yards-wise was S50-Second-Round-Pick Mohammad Bolen, who ran for 1.053 Yards. Leading Receiver was Simeon Padoyan with 77 Catches for 695 Yards and 14 Touchdowns, with the second best Receiver Süleyman Berger – 61 Catches, 665 Yards and 11 Touchdowns – not far behind. Berger was one of the big surprises this season, and it was obvious that he benefitted a lot from the new HC.

So, after advancing to the playoffs for the first time in S50 they got their first home playoff game. That game, sadly, was nothing to write home about, since the Offense had one of the worst days of the whole season. And the Defense, which again was a staple for success all season long, was totally outmatched by the opponents attack. But after overcoming the shock of seeing their team dominated in this unforeseen fashion, the attending crowd began to celebrate the overall achievements of the SEA LIONS in the last quarter of the game, showing a lot of love and appreciation for the still young teams' progress.

When asked about where he see’s his team standing, the manager of the SEA LIONS, Joe Chrill, wasn’t too critical about the loss, instead pointed to the goals they reached in S51: „Our main objective was to win the division, which we achieved with winning the very last game of the Regular Season. And we were competitive in the Supercup as well, advancing to the second stage of the Playoffs. So the season went pretty well, as we see it.“ He was, too, very adamant when it came to talking about the new HC: „The contribution of Vashita Neelam to our success cannot be underestimated. His positive influence is everything we hoped for when we hired him.“

The second season under his guidance may be harder than the first, though. The SEA LIONS will not be taken lightly anymore in the league, the opponents will invest even more to match the men from Hamburg. And they will be judged way more critical now that they’ve shown what they are capable of. But sight should not be lost of the fact that they still just enter their 4th season in the Admirals I, and the young team still has a lot of room to grow.

So, when Joe Chrill left the podium to return to his duties managing the team, he spoke words that a lot of fans of the SEA LIONS will agree upon: „We’re very optimistically looking forward to the coming season.“

Season 50 of RZA comes to a close these days. It has been the second season for the HAMBURG SEA LIONS in the league Admirals I, and they by far exceeded expectations, finishing with a record of 12–4 and earn themselves a first trip to the postseason. They did not make it very far, yes, losing the Wildcard-Playoff-Game at VenoM 21:31. But sources tell that the front office of the SEA LIONS would have been, at the start of the season, happy with a positive record and a 3-game-win-streak somewhere in between. So everyone is quite pleased with the things that were accomplished.

When the fans were asked to vote for MVP of the season, the results were pretty clear: QB Nicolò Stanzetti ran away with the award, bringing everything the SEA LIONS hoped for when they added him to their roster in S49. He threw 29 Touchdowns and ran for two more while only giving the ball away 5 times (4 INTs, 1 Fumble). He’s been a great role model so far for the young Andrey Baizhanov who’s growing behind him to hopefully become an equally good QB in the future.

„Offensive Player of the Year“ went to Sherman Schmidt, who scored 15 TDs and had 1158 Receiving-Yards this season. He had a great year, leading the overall young WR-Corps of the SEA LIONS.

The results for „Defensive Player of the Year“ were not even close: Antonia Andrews played a dominant season with 14 Sacks and a Pick6, showing times and times again his experience in the game and his game-wrecking abilities on the field.

The awards were handed out on Wednesday when the SEA LIONS welcomed vamosahi to HAMMER SPORTS PARK for the final game of the celebratory „Admirals S50“-Friendly Cup. The game was lost, unsurprisingly, but it was the whole state of the SEA LIONS in a nutshell: a slow start with quickly being behind, having difficulties getting the scoring going, but then rallying and catching up, just to come up short in the last minutes of the game.

So they do not need to look very far to see at what points they have to improve to be competitive with the best of the league. There’s still a lot of work to do, but it seems the front office already built a pretty good foundation over the last two seasons. Now only time will tell what the HAMBURG SEA LIONS will be able to accomplish in the next ones.

What a night that was yesterday in HAMMER SPORTS PARK, home of the HAMBURG SEA LIONS. For the second time in a row, Tovari came to visit in the last week of the Regular Season. Being the only team in the Division by whom they were beat, the SEA LIONS felt a bit tense at the beginning. But the first drive of the opponent came to a halt in midfield, with the pass rush of the SEA LIONS already warming up with two sacks. LB Titas Paksas had one of them which would be his first of 4 in the entire game, earning him a well deserved MVP for the game. The other nominees for MVP were LB Kurt Robertson, with 1 Pick6, a sack and a forced fumble, and QB Nicolo Stanzetti, who again showed a lot of poise and ability, adding 3 more TDs to his resumé.

At the end of the game, Tovari was held to only 3 Fieldgoals while the offense of the SEA LIONS scored 45 points, 21 of them unanswered in the second half. The crowd in attendance was already ecstatic as with this win the SEA LIONS qualified for the Playoffs for the first time, but when the big screens showed the outcome of the game between the Oxford Bulls and vamosahi, the whole stadium exploded: The Bulls had lost by 41 points against their division opponent, and because of their own big home win, the SEA LIONS not only managed to advance to the playoffs, but to conquer Seed 5, too.

The partying crowd surrounding the stadium and later various location in the city was felt until the early morning hours. By then, though, the team was already preparing for the game to come. The first Postseason-game ever will be at the Community Arena, home of VenoM, winner of the NC North. They won 6 of their last 7 games and are not to mess with… but they do not play perfect at home. AND the SEA LIONS had them visiting this season in week 5 and beat them 51:21.

So the dreams of the fans are not without foundation, but the staff of the SEA LIONS knows that it’s a lot of work to do for the game on Tuesday. Joyous work nonetheless, the first postseason appearance of the SEA LIONS being already the cherry on top of a delicious pie that is S50.