Hey everybody.


As it was introduced during the season, I did a write-up recapping every previous season through the eyes of the BL Belt. Welp, now that we have another season in the books, it's time to recap season 5.

If anybody missed the original writeup, check it out here http://daddyleagues.com/bl/blog/news/42540/Better-League-Title-Belt


Without further ado, season 5.

Coming off his nailbiter of a Super Bowl win against CMass, Austin entered this season as the favorite to repeat as Super Bowl Champ. The big question that nobody could stop asking though was whether or not he would carry the belt all the way there with him.

Austin started strong, winning his first four games by an average of 26 points. In week 5 however, he ran into Cody, who was on a mission. A battle of early season undefeateds ended with the belt coming back to Cincinatti for the second time. Cody wasn't done there however, Cody's undefeated season kept plugging along. But more importantly, so did his title belt defense. Challengers kept lining up to take the belt from Cody, and Cody kept knocking em down.

Enter Morty. Wearing nothing but a banana hammock under his robe (we can assume), Morty calmly stepped up to the plate in week 15 and snatched the Belt from Cody after 9 long weeks defending it. Cody's title defense would end tied for the second longest of all time.

After Morty dispatched P the following week, he faced a gigantic test in week 17 in the form of our initial belt holder of the season, Austin. Morty was unable to defend his belt, sending it back to New England, where it would remain throughout the remainder of the playoffs, as Austin dispatched Connor, Big Alex, Little Alex, and Steel to win not only his third super bowl this cycle, but to claim his spot as the second-most winning belt holder of Madden 21.

Start of season: Austin holds the belt

Week 5: Cody beats Austin

Week 15: Morty beats Cody

Week 17: Austin beats Morty

Super Bowl: Austin defends belt

Updated:

Folks, I present to you the Better League Title Belt.

If you haven’t already, check out the pod on the Better League Network where Connor, Morty and I have a little BL discussion and introduce what will hopefully be a long running new source of excitement in the Better League.

I’ve been thinking of pursuing this for a while but didn’t get my act together and do the work for it until now. With a podcast coming up and us looking for a fun way to bring new content to the league, I figured now was as good a time as any to get it up and running.

The idea is simple. The Better League Title Belt is a belt that is up for grabs every time a game is played that includes the current Title Belt holder. Over the course of the Madden 21 cycle, we have had 16 unique Title Belt holders, including both current and past users, as well as both elite and not quite so elite users.

We here in the Better League love our storylines. Whether it’s Cody’s systemic destruction of all things Ben or the meteoric rise of Matthew Davis, the lore of the league is what makes things special. I seek to add another element of that. Over time, I would love to see us add ways to interact with the Title Belt, whether it be rewards or other dumb things, but regardless, what I’m most excited for is to see the league get excited over a random midseason game between Evan and Ryan simply because the belt is up for grabs.

Without further ado, I present the history of the Title Belt during the Madden 21 Better League cycle.

Season 1:

As the final Super Bowl winner of Madden 20, it only felt right to start the cycle off with Dan as the Belt holder. Dan would make it until week 5 before we experienced our first successful Belt challenge, to a little known former user named Chase. This would hardly be Dan’s last time touching the belt, but for now, Chase was in control, and control the belt he did for another six weeks (five games, aided by a bye week).

While Chase fought to overcome his Madden 20 postseason problems, he ran through a tough five game stretch headlined by [redacted] and all-time great Morty unscathed. Unfortunately, in week 11, he ran into a British buzzsaw we will call “Season One Phil.” Though “Season One Phil” was a formidable opponent, he played more like “Rest of Madden 21 Phil” after acquiring the belt, losing just a week later to our initial Title Belt holder, Dan.

With Dan back in possession of the belt, he marched onward and upwards towards the Super Bowl, racking up the longest Title Belt defense in the short history of the mid-body pantswear, winning eight straight games. Unfortunately for Dan, he couldn’t end the season the way he began it, losing the Title Belt in a tough Super Bowl loss to the Bengals user you all know for his late night Truly rants, Mr. CODYyoungSON. As our first season came to a wrap, Cody locked in his spot as the Title Belt holder for the start of the second season.

Start of season: Dan

Week 5: Chase beats Dan

Week 11: Phil beats Chase

Week 12: Dan beats Phil

Super Bowl: Cody beats Dan

Season 2:

If season one was notable for its long runs with the belt, season two was characterized by its exact opposite. With more than twice as many Belt transfers as any other season, season two found six users hold the Title Belt for only one week, and another three users hold it for only two weeks.

Cody won his first game of the season, but the Belt didn’t get a chance to get comfortable in Cincinnati. It was only week 2 when Fern pulled off a big win, stealing the Belt from the Super Bowl Champ. Though a notable win for Fern, the roller coaster was only beginning. A week after taking the Belt, Fern ran into noted BL Lifer Slander. Always the most committed user to the league, it was only a matter of time before Slander received the honor that was rightly his, an injection of league prestige right into his arm in the form of the Title Belt.

After Slander sadly succumbed to a slew of sickly slants and slot receivers against CMass two weeks later, the Title Belt found a new home in Chicago. However, despite Coach Todd O’Connor’s best efforts, the Belt only had a brief stay before moving on to San Francisco after two weeks, as Ben grabbed the belt for the first, but not the last time of this cycle.

Ben went on to put together the longest belt defense of the season, winning his next five games, before kicking off the dumbest stretch of the Better League Title Belt to date. In week 14, Ben ran into madden slider extraordinaire Cloud. However. Cloud sucks. So he lost pretty quickly. To Chap. Who also is just kind of eh. So he then lost to Reece the next week. Who has possibly the worst record in Better League 21. Reece lost the next week. To Steel. In one of his rare late season wins of the cycle, Steel went into the season 2 postseason as the Better League Title Belt holder. Pretty dumb imo but oh well we persevere.

Steel was able to win a postseason game before losing in the divisional round to Kiing, who is simultaneously both the cockiest and most humble user in the league, not really sure how that works. Kiing went into the NFC Championship Game against former Belt owner Ben, who was able to snag a win and go try to not only win his first Super Bowl of the cycle but defend his Belt as well. Sadly for Ben, the team out of the AFC to make the Super Bowl was none other than Better League :goat: Rhode Island Austin. Austin took advantage of his opportunity and dispatched Ben to win his first M21 Super Bowl, but far more importantly, his first Title Belt Championship.

Start of season: Cody

Week 2: Fern beats Cody

Week 3: Slander beats Fern

Week 5: CMass beats Slander

Week 8: Ben beats CMass

Week 14: Cloud beats Ben

Week 15: Chap beats Cloud

Week 16: Reece beats Chap

Week 17: Steel beats Reece

Divisional Round: Kiing beats Steel

NFFCG: Ben beats Kiing

Super Bowl: Austin beats Ben

Season 3:

Unfortunately this season was dominated by Justin, so I find it difficult to find the motivation to write too much about it.

Austin made it to week 3 before losing the Title Belt to Justin. Justin had some great wins, including ones over Alex, Cody and Cam, but honestly I don’t have much else to say about him. His 10 game Belt defense is unfortunately the longest in Better League 21 (for now) and I blame all of you for this.

Hero Austin finally knocked Justin off his perch and took the Belt in week 14, but the damage was done and Justin contributed to the worst season of the belt. After Hero Austin lost to Dan a week later, and Dan subsequently lost to Steel in week 17, the path of the Title Belt unfortunately ended before the playoffs even began, as Steel’s week 17 win wasn’t enough to overcome a 1-5 midseason stretch that saw him miss the playoffs.

For the first time, the Belt does not make it into the Better League playoffs.

Start of season: Austin

Week 3: Justin beats Austin

Week 14: Hero Austin beats Justin

Week 15: Dan beats Hero Austin

Week 17: Steel beats Dan

Season 4:

Season four continued to demonstrate how much of an outlier season two was, as for the third time in four seasons, we had five or less Belt transfers.

Steel started his title defense off strongly, making it all the way to week 6 before losing the Belt to Dan, who won his Better League leading fourth Title Belt Championship as a challenger. After taking the Belt back to New Orleans, Dan went on the second longest run of Title Belt defense, winning nine straight games, before Ben stole the Belt back in week 16 as he geared up for another playoff run.

Unfortunately that playoff run ended the way they always do for Ben, in sadness.

After Ben lost to CMass in the NFC Championship game, CMass went into the Super Bowl determined to win his second career Title Belt defense, he could think of nothing else. Though Austin proved a formidable opponent, ultimately it was CMass who decided the outcome. I don’t really have a catchy way of saying it, CMass just straight up blew it. Like it was tough to watch. I hear he still loses sleep over it to this day. Rough, man.

Anyways.

For the second time in four seasons, Austin finished the season as your Better League Title Belt Champion.

Start of season: Steel

Week 6: Dan beats Steel

Week 16: Ben beats Dan

NFCCG: CMass beats Ben

Super Bowl: Austin beats CMass

Season 5:

There’s not a whole lot to say about this season as we’re still in it. The main story to watch here as we move forward is Cody’s pursuit of the greatest honor anybody could ever want in life, the longest Belt defense in BL history. Cody is currently sitting at 6 consecutive wins. He has a very tough end to the season, with games against a number of former super bowl champs (Morty, Alex, Connor) and even more intimidating, a former Title Belt holder (Hero Austin).

Start of season: Austin

Week 5: Cody beats Austin