Offseason Point Task - 25th Anniversary Special

[Memento Mori]

I’ve only been around for five of our 25 seasons, so I’ll focus on the next 25 seasons (though, to be clear, the last nine months have been amazing and surpassed all expectations I had when I saw a post on reddit at 3am in February when I couldn’t sleep).

I was part of the biggest draft class in league history, and two of the four ISFL expansions (or, four of the eight expansion teams) have come about in the five seasons since I joined. The original expansion teams came into being in S2, the second pair in S16, the third in S22 and the fourth in S25. This puts into context the last five seasons of ever-increasing activity. The league was relatively consistent in size from S1-S15, actually declining in active users towards the end of that period, before seeing a big uptick following the S15 r/NFL class and exploding following the S22 r/NFL class. The league has been changed for the foreseeable future, as due to the steady trickle of friends, siblings, partners, etc. Joining the league in addition to better resourced recruitment efforts, our ‘small’ draft classes number over fifty users when just a few seasons ago our small draft classes were around twenty-five.

Maybe in a few years’ time we’ll see stagnation and then decline, but for the time being I think continual growth and comparatively large draft classes are here to stay. The challenge for the next 25 seasons is to cultivate a userbase that either remains roughly consistent in size or that grows in a manageable and predictable way. I’d rather be positive, so I’ll imagine we’re in a world where the next 25 seasons go well and someone like me is looking back on the previous 50 seasons recognising how far we came in the last 25. I’ll speculate on the steps taken by HO and by everyone else involved in order to make that happen.

In Season 50, the ISFL has expanded several more times. Maybe we have 20 teams, two conferences each with two divisions of five teams. Maybe we have 24 teams, and each conference has three divisions of four. This has been achieved with relatively little drama and without too much controversy. HO so far has taken a very conservative approach to league expansion, but the benefit of this approach is that in Season 50 we’re looking back glad that we’ve never contracted the ISFL. The slow, steady pace of expansion has meant that while rookies have found it harder to make it onto an ISFL roster immediately following draft day, the large pool of talent sent down to the DSFL has allowed expansion teams to draft either young, promising players or mid-level starters in the respective expansion drafts. League parity remains good, winless seasons are still rare while the ISFL has still never had a team go 16-0 (or 14-0, or 13-0).

In the last few seasons, league bureaucracy has grown as the league has. In Season 25 we have a recently established DSFL HO, but in Season 50 both ISFL HO and DSFL HO are much larger bodies. Rather than being a small group of like-minded people, prone to burnout due to the workload, HO has recognised that keeping itself small is what contributes to this burnout. League work is now distributed more evenly across a larger number of people, and the average HO tenure is longer as a result.

Recognising the similar burden on ISFL GMs, team front offices have grown in a similar way. Recognising that having just one or two people bear the majority of scouting, drafting, roster management, contracts, gameplanning, discussions with other GMs and with HO, we see teams take on more people into front office roles rather than just a GM and a co-GM. I know a few teams already operate in a similar way, but now every team has a head scout, a Howie Roseman-style cap wizard overseeing the budget and contracts, a coach in charge of the gameplan from week to week, etc.

Simply put, everything’s a little easier. Workloads are shared more evenly. Burnout is reduced, and people no longer leave GM or HO positions feeling like they want to quit the league. This is an optimistic view, but it’s crucial to ensuring that existing users recreate after they retire their current player and that’s how we build on the success of the last five seasons in the next 25. If they don’t, then one day we won’t be able to replace all the departing members with new members from recruitment drives and if this point task exists in 25 seasons’ time, the answers won’t be quite so rosy. (700+ words, oops)

[CLG Rampage]

Well, I've been in this league for quite a while now. Since August of last year, I've been a part of the ISFL, called NSFL back when I first started. I was a part of the 2nd NFL reddit class, along with the league commissioner and several other notable faces like Laser, Isa and Hallmonitor. Starting off, I didn't think much of this league. It was massively confusing, all the point tasks, training, needing to write media, all of that stuff. It was all too difficult at the start, and I very nearly went IA within the first week or so.

But I didn't. Conversations I had with my GMs in San Antonio at the time, along with other league members helped me get through that confusing initial month or so, and let me grow into the user that I am today. A laundry list of awards as a player, spending time as GM and Awards Committee head as a user, I like to think I've made a positive impact in the league.

So what am I thankful for? Well, the fact that this league even exists at all is a start. Putting aside all of the drama with HO, GMs, whatever. Cause I will admit, there are some problems there that might not be super obvious in the public eye, but it does hurt the league's credibility to both potential new users and other sim league users who might want to move here, at least in my opinion. But I'm going to disregard that for the moment, and talk about how strange it is that a league like this not only exists, but is thriving and growing every single season. This is essentially football Dungeons and Dragons! How the hell do we have hundreds of active users playing a massive ass role playing game, but it's sports instead of a fantasy world? Why do we have people digging extremely deep on the sim, finding new and creative ways to both break it and test more efficicently? Why do we have hundreds of media articles being pumped out by our userbase every month? Why do we have an entire wiki that attempts to document the history of the league? All of it is so strange, looking at it from the outside.

But it does exist, and I am thankful to have happened upon this league while scrolling through reddit on a slow Tuesday during work. I've had the pleasure of collaborating with dozens of incredible people on various projects, I've had a chance to influence league history in my time with the Ducks and the Awards Committee, I've even done well with my first player. Everything here has gone pretty well for me so far, and I'm very thankful for all of it.

[Leafer]

I have been in this league since the beginning. I have been in this league before it even launched. I remember seeing Ballerstorm set everything up like the rulebook, the teams, point tasks, etc. That is how long it has been. I have been in this league for 4 years now and wow, has this league grown. Back then, the ISFL was a pretty meh league and people did not have much interest in joining the league and that was the rough part. But then new management and new owners and this league grew. And the league started to make its pace with the SHL which is huge and now to this day, the ISFL is in a good spot and I am happy for them. I have many memories in this league and some are my favourites for all sim leagues. One of them is the feud with the Philadelphia Liberty. Probably the top in my most heated rivalry and one of the greatest, if not the greatest rivalry in the ISFL. The battle between the hawks and Philly is unbeatable and not going to be surpassed because it was so tense, it was such a wild ride and I wished to experience it again. This rivalry was the reason I had so much interest in the ISFL and my god was it worth it. Another memory I remember is winning the Ultimini. It was a great day and it was a great time with the locker room. We all celebrated our first championship and it was of course against NOLA. So that was a great memory. And lastly, the most honourable is being a unanimous Hall of Fame. That was something I did not expect. I did not expect every voter to vote me into the hall of fame because I did not win any awards and it was tough to not win awards when you were the best linebacker in the league and racking up many tackles and many sacks. It sucks to not win awards and you know how much I love to win awards but getting the hall of fame really made me forget about the awards and seeing unanimous really made not care about the awards. It was a great time and retiring one of the greatest linebackers of all time really makes me very proud and I hope to make more all-time greats in this era of the ISFL. So yeah, give me the 5 TPE.

[gls]

I have not been in this league long and I have not done too much since I have been here. However, in my short time here I have found the overall community here extremely open, warm, and welcoming. For me this is a departure from what I have experienced in other sim leagues in the past and for me it has been a breath of fresh air. First in Minnesota who welcomed me with open arms as a newbie in the ISFL, and then New York taking a chance on me in the draft even though I am not one of the most active users on the website. The general managers, coaches, and roster players have been nothing but nice and cordial towards me and helped me out every step of the way with what I needed help with. I am someone that has a very busy day to day life, and especially recently with some developments in my personal life I have not had a surplus of time to post here. I am hoping in the coming weeks to change that and reward the teams that took a chance on me with an increase in TPE being earned on my end.

(202 words)

[overdoo]

It's really hard for me to write about this considering how long I have been in the league, but I'm lucky enough to have at least some things to write about. I think a pretty big thing with the ISFL, and SHL/PBE in turn, is how many users are in 2-3 of them. You've got things like affiliate PTs, which sure, makes it easier on people to be in all leagues, but each league has its own community even with some of the same people. So far, the league as a whole has been super welcoming, and because of my experience in the SHL, it was been an easy transition. From the very start, this allowed me to really get to meet and talk to some new people, either in my draft class, or elsewhere. Norfolk has been huge for me in the time I have been here, Blasoon was really the first on the site to reach out to me, I believe followed by Southpaw. So, I was sort of hoping I'd land in Norfolk based on that. I knew a few people coming in, like SlothFace, or Kyamprac, or the several members of Kraken management that followed me over as TheDangaZone was recreating. I just didn't exactly want to be on a team with them from waivers. It was an opportunity to meet a few new people, DogwoodMaple has been huge in the Seawolves locker room, SchwarzNarr has been really helpful from the Rookie Discord, and from the Norfolk Seawolves as well, even helping me with some work I was doing tonight before doing this. 

It's a little rough because by Saturday, or I guess Friday night when our pre-draft started, I really wasn't active in any of the Discord Servers. School piled up, and in the SHL, I was scouting for my SHL team, and the SMJHL team I am the Co-GM of. Then, there were both of the drafts that followed. New Orleans picked up Arkz, he and I talked for a little bit. He ended up scouting me for Portland along with Southpaw, and I guess at the same time I was scouting him. He is a real cool dude to talk to, and pretty laid back which is sometimes a little refreshing with scouting. In Carolina, we managed to get Amidships, who I know is huge over in the ISFL, r0tzbua, who has designed logos for Dallas, Austin, and Portland now I believe. Then Dewalt, who I feel like I have seen around here as well. Just another example of that crossover that leagues have. Anyway, back to what I was saying, really missed out on some time in each LR, which I wanted to do I just.. didn't have time for. Made sure to get to scouting stuff quick, but just couldn't budge into anything. I hope it hasn't smeared my image for some teams that don't really know who I am, I don't really care about my position in the draft, I just know I am more active than that and wish I showed it before the draft. 

Once I find out who I am drafted to Wednesday night, or maybe closer to after midnight EST depending on my lab, that'll be cool. New locker room I can really get engaged with, make a few friends, introduce myself, you know. That's when I can really start making memories in the league I think.  In general, I am looking forward to the draft though. I personally live the live drafts as a GM or scout, but that is because I am in the action, and then I don't have to worry about it after that. However, this live presentation thing with the graphics should be entertaining, and I think it allows the hosts to really make some notes and get to know users in time for when they are picked, which adds to the production value. Overall, just excited. Happy to join any team really.

[Big Edd]

I can recall the first time I joined the league back in February. Strolling around through r/steelers sub-reddit and I walked upon the invite link. The thought of having my own player get drafted and play on the field was enticing. Updating at first was not easy, but when I saw my player card get called up on draft night it was something else. I started updating because it became fun. I made a few friends in that DAllas lcokerrom and it was cool to talk about football with people online. I found myself joking and chilling out in the many team lockerooms quite often. When general chat was active, that was my go to place after finishing my homework. This is where I started hearing about other sim leagues, but I never joined any of them except for a Gm-league hosted by Scorp. A bunch of use had our own teams and attempted to rebuild and win the super bowl. IT was funny to see the wacky trades and seasons going on. I slowly found myself updating less and less though. That mojo I once had as a rookie in the DSFL seemed to disappear in the ISFL. I started to forget updating and eventually just stopped updating totally. I tried to go IA but something about the league made me keep coming back. I realized I made so many friendships around the league, so I couldn’t just leave. So I remained active in the lockerroms I was in, but still did not update. I somehow managed to win two Defensive tackle of the year awards during that span of not updating, which gave me even less of a reason to start updating again. A few weeks later, i got invited to the local ISFL among us server; it was mostly a fall guys place but that game has since died. The among us server is where I definitely spent a lot of my time. I got traded to COlorado and have met super cool guys like Rus and Soup in there.The among us server has become a nightly meeting place for a bunch of guys where we chill and play among us, makes Greg Gase jokes, and talk football. I think it was this server brought me that fun mojo I had joining the league a few months ago, so I started updating again. I am looking to win that third DTOTY and my 4th pro bowl nomination.

[rotorwash]

So I haven't been here very long, but in my time of looking at mostly DSFL locker rooms, I've had a pretty good time talking to people. I haven't played a single game yet, but either way the best part of a sim league is the locker rooms, so I have already gotten to the best part, but it will still get better. That sentence does not make logical sense when written down, but I think people will understand what I mean when I say that. Anyways, I'm looking forward to a lot of fun in the future with this league.

101 words

[The_Kidd]

Wow! That is all I can say currently when I think back to seven months ago, in the middle of an "extended" spring break, my confused and hibernating self calming perusing reddit like any other day. But that day was different because I told myself, I said, "Self, the world may end within a year or two, so let's go out on a jubilant bang and not a crestfallen whimper. If not for corona, I would have never joined the then National Simulation Football League, but I had time that day. And I can say that the competitive side of me, the strategical side of me has thoroughly enjoyed ALMOST every minute of participation.

When I first started, I was not sure if this league was something I wanted to make a commitment to. Unaware of the daily routine, I kept to myself, didn't make my presence felt. I answered some scouting questions from just about every team, but naïve and silly me figured I could wait until the day prior to the draft to get all of the pre-draft work done. Needless to say, my draft stock plummeted but watching the S23 DSFL Draft is still one of my most favorite memories in my short time here. That moment, seeing my picture pop up in the 7th round, neutralized all the tedious work to initially set up my player.

Being in London was the most fun I've had so far, seeing my player perform, having a shared community of people with similar interests and passion, and just soaking in all the info I could had me excited to see how far I could go. The best part about being new meant I had no pre-conceived bias about any person, any team, or anything. I believe London being a new team helped me connect better with everyone since the veteran players knew that just being competitive was the main objective. But man, we sure did turn it up and ended up losing a close-fought tilt against Tijuana in the Ultimini. I had so much fun, I had to come back a second year.

I think one of the coolest things, is seeing how people find their way here and how they interact with each other. Seeing friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, co-workers, classmates, family members, and even husband and wives all partake under the unifying lore that is the International Simulation Football League, has been awesome. The best part is when players of yesteryear return after a long hiatus and marvel at how much the league has improved. I hope to one day have a hand in improving this league in some form, no matter how minor it is.

[pauadrian]

So I’ve completed one full season now in Development Football Sim League and I’m actually quite proud to say that I’ve enjoyed it. When I was first told about this league I was intimidated by it. Actually work for TPE? That sounds like more work rather than fun. When I eventually joined I found out it wasn’t as hard as I thought it actually would be. In fact I like to joke that I’ve been “accidentally” max earning since I didn’t really expect to max earn. Just expected to start out for a bit and then fucking dip cause it was too much work. I was really happy when I created because it meant I would be a Tijuana Luchador and I had heard some great things about the team from people around the league. I met some awesome new people and reunited with some great friends I had met from Super Casual Football Sim League. I instantly got a graphic made by tacos which was fucking awesome and instantly made me appreciate graphics people. Seeing Tom Teboat in Lucha colors in a sweet ass graphic made me wanna continue. Draft day came up and I was anxious to see who would pick me up, I would’ve loved to come back to Tijuana especially with me being Mexican and a wrestling fan. Alas my first disappointment in the league came by, well second cause I lost in playoffs with Tijuana as well. Tijuana didn’t pick me up, but the other team I wanted to play for did pick me up. It was Norfolk Seawolves who are basically the New Zealand Wallbies from Super Casual Football Sim League. A lot of the people were familiar like scorp, narr, newly drafted van and isa.

I was overall happy with the draft and how it went. It was a great place I wanted to go to. Overall the season sucked though, the locker room was boppin though so I wasn’t too upset over it. In fact it made me like Norfolk even more, the fact that we sucked and the locker room was insanely active. My favorite memory yet has to be drafted to ISFL though for Arizona Outlaws. It is by far my favorite because of the graphic showing up on stream being a Tim Tebow picture where he is golfing and made me laugh out loud. Especially since I specifically request non football Tebow. I would’ve expected that to be enough to get me baseball but what I got was even better!

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421 words

[Birdman]

I think the ISFL is a great league that is welcoming and approachable to players of all experience and dedication. My main league is the SHL and in that league mediocre earners simply won’t be as strong players as max earners. That is the case because there are really only 3-4 different positions (Goalie, Forward (alternatively, Wing and Center), Defenseman). If you are behind in that league you have lower skills than the highest earners and are more likely to flame out.

In the ISFL, the diversity of positions is much higher when you include the number of positions across both offense and defense (not to mention kickers). My mediocre affiliation earner that only gets 3 TPE during Ultimus week is still able to be an effective contributor at D Tackle. While more TPE will help me as I continue to earn and improve, I played this past season (my rookie season) at around 450 – 485 TPE and had a solid season. My player finished the season 5th in DT tackles with 52, 4th in Tackle For Loss with 6, and T-17th in Sacks with 3. As I continue to slowly march my way up in TPE, I’ll be able to improve my D Tackle to actually being a good player. This means a lot to someone that can’t spend the time to churn out media and max earn (even though I would like to do that, it seems like a fun league to do it in). This league is great because there are so many different positions that players can be useful without being top of their class in earnings.

For me, that means that I can enjoy the league as a secondary league and relax with my earning. It’s a change of pace from my main sim league and is nice to be able to just enjoy the experience of being a player (vs a GM in my other league).

In addition to the in-sim joys of this league, the best part of the league is the community and team specific locker rooms on discord. I really enjoy being on the New Orleans Second Line and with the team in their discord. The locker room is always a positive enjoyable place to be and there is a high degree of comradery during the season regardless of how well the sim gods treat us. Having a locker room to be able to relax in and discuss all things from sim results to life is really great.