I'm a little curious about the rapid decay of LCS player 'status'

I do agree but during the Fly/TL game they did give Hai, Lemon alot of props throughout the series.

The problem is that all of the players you mentioned had careers that lasted well into their 30s (while if I'm gonna be honest, the "average" LoL career lasts about 2-3 years barring extreme outliers like faker), which makes the whole idea of an "lcs career" rather awkward. Since skill drastically fades over time (mostly because rito completely murders the game every year with "fun new patches"), the smart decision is often to try and build income/a fanbase in the lcs for a little bit before either using that $ on post-secondary or becoming a quality streamer.

The casters for this game just suck in general, they over-hype average plays, and miss the most subtle ones, I assume is just because they suck at the game.

I have to agree

The casters in general try to create this gap when comparing things. It might not be intentional but it becomes so contradictory and annoying at times. Especially in today's game where they try to make this huge gap between Doublelift and WildTurtle. Did they forget WT took them to every worlds but one?

Oh god. I know exactly what you mean. I've been watching most of the games, and it's just a circle jerk of, "Who can we BM the most this game?" Envy vs FlyQuest (as you mentioned) was a super good example of this. "It sure sucks to play with a sub." "That might not have happened, but they have a sub." "They're getting dumpstered and it's because of the sub." "Envy is garbage because sub." I exaggerate a little bit, obviously, but it was mentioned a few times. Like, ever think maybe they just got outplayed? That's what was happening in the games I watched. FlyQuest played better. It had nothing to do with a "sub". I kind of hope they have to apologize for that, but they won't.

There have been quite a few examples of this though during this split. "Caught out, what the hell was he thinking with that bonehead move." "That miss was phenomenal. I think he needs to check his glasses." I just have to ask. Are you serious? There has to be better ways to go about commentating than to shit all over someone because they did something wrong. I'm not a caster though, so maybe I'm wrong, but it still isn't cool.

Balls, Hai, and Lemonation, once the backbone of a team that dethroned TSM and had record setting seasons, are immediately considered to be a bottom tier team.

This really stands out to me as not making sense. Balls was considered one of the best top laners when he was in the LCS before, and with Hai and Lemon's strategic abilities, they should come out strong. Not to mention these 3 have played together for a long time, so their synergy will reflect that. Not a team of strangers here.

Maybe it's just because the casters are too lazy to remember names properly, so they just go "oh yeah that guy, you know the mid-lane-sub guy we call him. You know who I mean don't you? Yeah that guy".

i dont see whats the problem

you have to hold players accountable for their performance otherwise NA will never be taken seriously and the rest of the world will be like 'wtf are these trash players being encouraged to continue sucking'

Didn't feel that with the EU casters

Game has been boring to watch for a few seasons. I last watched when Dyrus was still pro - maybe even when Turtle was initially on TSM.

Out of the new pros over the years, the only one I care about (and watch on YouTube/twitch) is Sven. He's funny. But really there's nothing amazing to watch, as I'm sure the players are told by coaches to play certain ways. Seriously, getting first blood after 20-30 minutes was silly.

On a side note not to talk about something else but I think it also goes hand in hand with what you're talking about as far as mentioning the players as far as their history, accomplishments etc is also their all time stats and leaders in certain areas such as Kills, cs etc.
Now I know it could be annoying to keep mentioning that stuff like a Kill leader if 5-6 players are so close to each other in total kills and seeing a screen constantly popping on the screen but not having that type of information hurts the LCS in the long run of things. Nothing says the casters need to mention it every game or week but not showing that information again hurts them because like how you talked about " (I mean my friends still argue about whether Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, or Thurman Thomas was the best running back" alot of that also dives into stats, how many times they carried the ball, their total yards, yards per attempt etc and no mention of that sort of thing.

Yeah I'm not entirely sure why Flyquest was considered to be so bad. Hai's shotcalling and Lemon's drafting alone give the team a good chance to me. At least they're taking the disrespect and showing they can still do it fine.

LCS has caused league so many problems...not only is it a money-grab but in an effort to make the game more balanced for the competitive scene, they destroy champion gameplay for no less than challenger players

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post, but isn't it just stating their abilities as of this very season? It seems strange to keep praising people for their past glory since it really has nothing to do with how well or badly they are playing their games in the current season.

Humans. Pfft.