Offseason Point Task - 25th Anniversary Special

[PigSnout]

I first joined the NSFL during its inaugural season, which was just over 3 1/2 years ago as I created my account on May 24, 2017. I had never head of sim leagues before until I saw the recruitment post in /r/ravens during the NSFL's original recruiting drive. I thought the concept sounded pretty cool, so I decided to give it a try and created my first ever sim league player: running back Boss Tweed. Entering the Season 1 draft was exciting, though it became less exciting as round after round went by and I wasn't picked. Finally, I was selected in the 17th round with the #99 overall pick by the Colorado Yeti. I knew not much was expected of me after the draft, but I was excited to have a sim league home and I knew if I stayed active and kept earning I could grow into a good player and make a positive contribution to my team. We had a successful first season as we won our conference and made it to the Ultimus game, but ultimately fell short. In Season 2 we had a better team on paper, but caught some unlucky breaks and fell short of the playoffs. Season 3 began a rebuild and I would not make it back to the playoffs with the Yeti as the first rebuild was not successful and the Yeti had to start a new rebuild after Season 6 and with Tweed getting older it was unlikely he would still be around by the time the Yeti were ready to contend. When the general managers approached me and said that they thought the best move would be a trade and asked for my thoughts, I was sad about leaving my original team but knew it would ultimately be the right move both for the Yeti to get assets to help with the rebuild and for Tweed to have a shot at a championship. The GMs kept me in the loop throughout the trade process and were ultimately able to find a mutually beneficial deal that would give the Yeti some good assets and send Tweed to the Yellowknife Wraiths where he would be able to contend for a championship. Tweed would later be honored with a selection to the Colorado Yeti Hall of Fame after his retirement. Though I wish we could have had more success on the field and won a championship, I still enjoyed my time with the Yeti as they were my first ever sim league home and I had some great teammates during my time there.

The next chapter of my NSFL career brought me to the Yellowknife Wraiths. With Tweed switching teams, he also switched positions and became a linebacker. Tweed found more success at his new position as he would win two Linebacker of the Year awards and two Defensive Player of the Year awards during his four years as a linebacker. The team had instant success during Tweed's first season as the Wraiths dominated the regular season with a 13-1 record and Tweed made his first playoff appearance since Season 1. Then, in what is still the most crushing loss of my sim league career, the Wraiths lost at home in their first playoff game. However, we were able to rebound in the following season and finally win the Ultimus. Tweed did not make the playoffs again after that, but that one championship win was all I needed to consider Tweed's career a success. Though my time with the Wraiths was short, Tweed saw a lot of success in terms of individual awards in that span and I was able to win my first Ultimus there, so the team will always hold a special place in my heart. After his retirement, Tweed was ultimately named to the NSFL Hall of Fame, which was a big accomplishment for a player who began his career as a 17th round pick. I was torn when asked what team I wanted to be inducted with, but knew what choice to make when I heard that I could be inducted as a member of both teams. Tweed's time with both teams was special and I knew I couldn't summarize his story without including both of them.

After Boss Tweed, my next player was wide receiver Errol Maddox. Maddox ended up getting drafted much earlier as he would be picked by the Baltimore Hawks with the #2 overall pick. This was an exciting moment for me, both to be drafted highly and also to be drafted by the Hawks. As a Baltimore Ravens fan in real life, the Hawks had always appealed to me as they are the only Baltimore team I have seen in any of the sim leagues I have been in so I was excited to get the chance to play for them. Maddox would end up spending all 11 years of his career as a member of the Baltimore Hawks. It was a successful career as the Hawks were a perennial playoff team during Maddox's time there and we were able to win an Ultimus in Season 15. Individually, Maddox had many Pro Bowl selections and two Wide Receiver of the Year awards and also finished #3 all time on the career receiving touchdowns leaderboard. After the conclusion of his career, Maddox was honored with a selection to the Baltimore Hawks Wing of Honor. And I also hope to see Maddox join Tweed in the Hall of Fame when it is time for his vote. With Maddox it was fun to get to play on one team during his entire career, especially for it to be a team with some personal significance to me. 

Now I am on to my third player: quarterback Mattathias Caliban. Creating a quarterback was something I wanted to do since the early seasons. After seeing the Yeti's quarterback struggles during my early years there, I had wanted to give quarterback a try myself. Errol Maddox was originally going to be a quarterback, but I backed out as I was unsure how many quarterback spots would be open and I liked wide receiver too. But I decided then that my next player would be a quarterback no matter what. And as destiny would have it, I ended up getting drafted back to the Colorado Yeti after all this time. I was unable to get a championship during my time there with Tweed, but now I have the chance to set things right with Caliban. I plan to remain a max earner throughout Caliban's career, but with my schedule getting tighter, he will probably be my final player here as I don't think I will have the time for another one afterward. I hope to go all out with Caliban to leave a good final chapter of my legacy here. Getting to return to the Yeti after all this time seems like a great way to bring my time in this league full circle, and I'm hoping my second stint here will be a good one.

Overall, sim leagues have been a big part of my life the last few years. In addition to my time in the NSFL, I also had a full career in the PBE and I also recently created my 3rd player in the SBA and will be creating my 3rd generation of players in the EFL soon as well. Just looking at this league, I've already written over 3x the required word count for this point task and I still feel like I didn't go in to as much detail as I would have liked to. It's been a fun ride and none of it would have been possible if I hadn't read that NSFL recruitment post on /r/ravens 3 1/2 years ago.

[katarn22]

It's hard to believe I've already been here for several months. It really feels like I've been here for at least a year now. This league is many different things for many different people I imagine. For me, however, this league has served as a nice distraction from the craziness that has been this year. I imagine I am not alone in this sentiment. I first came across the league a few months ago through a post on the r/NFL subreddit and the concept sounded very interesting. Almost like fantasy football but on an individual player basis. Upon joining the league, I was immediately impressed with the organization of everything and the level of content created for the league. This thing was legit, not something that one person was trying to do on their own.

What impressed me even more, though, was the community. As a member of the large S25 class, I instantly connected with my fellow rookies. People from all walks of life, connecting online over a shared interest was awesome to me. I bonded with a lot of them in what would be my future DSFL team's locker room, the London Royals server. Guys like Slate, zEagle, Jimi, Zayn, and others made logging on to Discord exciting to see what they were talking about. Expanding further on this, I had a great time in the Royals locker room and was even more thrilled when they drafted me. Continuing with the community aspect, my Royals teammates are some of my best friends in the league. Guys like Crunk, Swanty, Mag, Abh, Z-Whiz, Deadly, and Duke are the dudes who I know I can talk to about almost anything, league related or not. The relationship I've formed with them has transcended the league, and for that I am grateful, especially in times like these.

This league has also been a great learning opportunity for me in several different areas. I learned the basics of graphic design and using Photoshop to create signatures or images for the league. I learned the basics of editing Wikipedia pages and how each page is structured as a member of the wiki team. I learned all about the beautiful program that is DDPSF 16 and about AutoHotKey and how to write scripts for it. Had I not joined this league, I could not imagine myself learning any of these skills normally. It is both the social aspects and learning opportunities that drew me in and likely will keep me here for 25 seasons to come.

[DatSmolBoi]

I don't know if I should thank quarantine for giving me the time to actually visit the site or if I should thank everyone here for making me comfortable here. So why not thank both? This sim league has been absolutely outstanding to me. Even with having to do the boring PTs and media it is still shockingly fun. Now for the past month or so I haven't really been active in this league. Actually, I haven't been active at all. Basically, its kind of hard to do stuff in this league now with school, my phone breaking, me using my laptop without a mouse now. They have all been pretty hard to adapt to and especially hard to do stuff in this league anymore. Something just made me not want to try and be active in this league anymore. The only time I was active last month or so was when I signed up for fantasy because i needed money and tpe. Then my brain just totally forgets all about it and now im like 7 rounds late which I am about to do after this PT. Although I haven't done much in the last month or so, this league still means a lot do more PTs, Predictions, and all those other stuff for TPE. I am going to try and actually get a job here because im dead broke even though ive never really applied for one. I am going to try and do all of this stuff because well...I care about this league. This league is probably the best and only league I will ever be to me. Making friends, watching my character play live (kinda), and hecking the sim and ho. And knowing that im starting to not like this league anymore kind of scares me because if I just grow out of this then what else am I going to do? Im not really a console games type of guy, Im not going to just watch youtube for the rest of my days. So in conclusion, I am going to try my best to be more active then I am right now. I am going to try and be more active in here because this league is fun. And trust me I have tried to do 2 leagues at once with the SHL but it just does not connect well. In that league ive had to retire my old character just to try my best to be active in that league. Ive got two inactive characters in there now, but only 1 active character here in the ISFL. And plus, I love football more than I do hockey.

[Kyle]

Four hundred words is ludicrous, and on top of that it is four hundred words on my feelings toward this league? What is this, nerd therapy? I have spent entirely too much of the last real life year of my life on this damn site and discord messing around with what should only be a mild, small consumption of my time. I clearly have a strange, honest, and possibly unhealthy relationship with the National Simulation Football League. I have started a team and a locker room with the Dallas Birddogs and it has grown to something I never imagined it could be. It has a unique little micro culture of its own with some of, no, the best friends I have made over this regretful invention we call the internet. I love these goofy nerds and I'm glad I get to share my time in the league with them. Please do not tell them I said that. I can not have them knowing that I think they are like okay or maybe even cool or whatever. I have even met one of these weirdos in real life and have lived to tell the tale with only some minor scaring to show for it.

Now, of course I am no longer General manager of the Dallas Bird Dogs. I am General Manager of my first and only big league, National Simulation Football Team, The Austin Copperheads. I have also made friends on this team as well as bringing in some of the friends I mentioned earlier on The Dallas Birddogs. Since about my second or third season with the copperheads I have been pushing for a soft rebrand to add a splash of color in the logo and have slowly gained support from within the team. I have been a proponent of teal or turquoise since that seemed to have worked for the ancient Egyptians and turns out the team agreed with me! yay! We know have a beautiful and dynamic new logo with a color more than shades of dirt and unlike most new brands, this one received a mostly positive reception. (shoutout my boy R0tzbua for his great work there.)

Too sum it all up I think this league has been incredibly rewarding for me personally and I hope that I have given back as much as it has given me in return. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way and I hope we see an even better next 25 season, peace y'all.

[Colabear]

I have a tendency to get involved in things. I really struggle to sit back and watch or participate when I feel I could get stuck in and make things better. It's a real problem. It gets me into trouble.

So within a few weeks of joining the league I was helping get the season 22 prospect bowl sheet ready and was given the DSFL streamer job. I like to think during that season and the following one when I stepped up to the ISFL streamer role, I took the quality of stream production up to a new level. I've been delighted to see that in the last season since taking on some dedicated graphics people, that quality had gone up and up again (shoutout to R0tzbua and TMosura who do all that work behind the scenes).

But of course I couldn't just leave at that could I? So I stepped into the HO role first as an intern and then as a full member. That was a slightly different transition where there was less an opportunity to make a step change but instead needed steady hands on the rudder of ISFL aircraft carrier steaming full speed ahead along with a cool head to make decisions. I think I've managed that much at least. It certainly isn't an easy job and at times becomes incredibly stressful. But it's been a delight to get to know and work with such a great group of people during that time: Bex, Infinite, Terriblehippo. Exilizer, Mis, SD, Steg, r0tz and jPach.

I've also been very lucky to be a part of a couple of great locker rooms, which have been very stable, friendly and accepting places. Myrtle Beach was a joy in S22, not because of the ultimini success but because of the great group of rookies there and the leadership of Corey and Frost. Yellowknife was a different atmosphere but has been a great place, benefitting from stability not just from the GMs Fly, Shady, and PMoney, but also a senior core of users who were always around and so many still hang out there. League veterans like Mav, Big Red, TC were always there to talk about topics as diverse as sim builds, beer and fatherhood.

It's approaching a real life year since I saw a post about reddit about a weird imaginary football league and I though 'sure why not give it a try...'

[NicholasTheGreat]

The league is now twenty give years old and as I have only been here for 4 of them, it is hard to say how much the league has grown over this time period. I cans ay there has been tremendous growth since I have been here with the inclusion of 4 brand new team in the main league and 2 teams in the developmental league. The introduction of the London Royals, the Dallas Birddogs, the Sarasota Sailfish, the Honolulu Hahalua, the Berlin Fire Salamanders and the New York silverbacks have shown this growth. Growth is one of the most important things anything or anybody can have and for this reason, it is why I love this league. The constant growth and changing.

One of the greatest things about this league is the people. The vast majority of members in this league are great people who are willing to assist if required or listen to you vent if that’s what is required. During my time in Myrtle Beach, Arizona and Yellowknife I have interacted with hundreds of people and only hated a few of them. Meeting all of these great new people is easily the best part of the league and I hope to meet further greater people during the rest of my career.

[DarknessRising]

When first joining the league, I had no intention of being really intended to it. It appeared like this weird little fun thing where I can make a player and see them do cool things and so I joined up. Realising its was just dots on a screen and the sim having the same amount of intelligence as a blade of grass, I was already on the outer before being drafted and really starting my player. In the end, it was the people that I interacted with that kept me around and allowed myself to become re-engaged with the workings of the league, and it’s the people in the league that have allowed it to last 25 seasons and it will be the reason why the league can survive 25 more. 

The memory that most sticks with me about this league that goes to exemplify just how much the people in this league matter to its existence, comes from those early days. Prior to being drafted into the DSFL I was in 3-4 Locker rooms but had no real interest in talking and interacting with my fellow prospects or the team’s management. That was, until at 4am in the morning as I’m trying to sleep, I get a ping in the Minnesota LR. Anyone that has been there in the last little while probably know they were ping happy, so I finally decided to respond and what followed was an exchange of really bad and stupid duck puns. From that one interaction though, I started to talk more and more with more and more different ducks and eventually, through that one team, I was hooked back into the folds of the league and have been 110% committed ever since.  I’ve earnt TPE like crazy, I’ve talked way too much in the Ducks LR, and am probably way too invested on how my little dot does.

This league, with the randomness of the sim and by its very nature as a sim league, relies heavily on its user base. Whilst there are times there is drama and beef between individuals or teams, we can also come together united when there is maybe some less than desirable people roaming around the servers before our name changed to the ISFL. Without the charismatic people that are an abundance around the league, without the dedicated workers that makes the games possible at such a high production value, without the people willing to sacrifice their time in order to make others enjoy their time within the league, the league would not exist. The league is nothing without its people and after 25 seasons, it’s the people that need to be celebrated and continue to be celebrated as we strive for another 25.

Code:

457 words

[TheSparkyDee]

This league has been fantastic so far, I have been able to ask questions and everyone answers them and helps me along the way if I have any other questions. I love football so joining this league was a no brainer, I have meet a lot of familiar faces because of being the in the SHL, so that is nice to see people I know and can get familiar with this league. It was easier to get into the league and do my thread page. It definitely went better then the time in the SHL. It took me forever to get the thread page down. I do my thread page in a weird way, but I got all the help for it. And that’s the way I feel the ISFL is, if you need help anyone I mean ANYONE will help. The draft experience was really fun! The DSFL GMs talked about why they drafted that person. And what they are gonna bring to the table. I know when I was being drafted a friend from the SHL, the GM of the Buccaneers Thor he said some amazing words and I was happy to be mentioned like that. I was drafted in the second round, a lot better than I was in the SHL. I was drafted in the 6th round so I wanted to prove people while why I am better than a Six round, but the second round draft pick, I need to show people why I am worth a second round pick. I can not wait to get into the DSFL games and breaks some records. I have been waiting to join the ISFL for some time and the time has come to get TheSparkyDees name out there. I have loved the way the ISFL does the tasks it is very easy to do. I have been loving the way people do the tasks and the things they say it has been a great time and I cannot wait for seasons to come.

[supertardis101]

participation TPE pls

[snazzlepuss22]

This league has been an extremely fun experience for me. 

From the first day I saw simulation football mentioned on Reddit I was immediately hooked on the idea that I could develop a football player and watch him succeed. So of course I clicked on the link and dove into the forums hoping that I could stick with it. Surprisingly I did stick with it, Thanks to a community that really just wanted to help me at every turn. Its been so wonderful to have people who just want to help me succeed in this league. This league has meant a lot to me, especially since its been a weird year with sports in general, its meant a lot to have the ISFL and DSFL games to watch every single week without fail. From the first time I got to watch my player play with the Tiburan landsharks in the prospect bowl its been super exciting to watch stats pop up next to my silly name that I gave my player. 

Every draft day and game has seemed like a huge event for me and even though nobody I know in real life cares about it, they know I do so they are cheering on my little simulated football player too and its just been so cool to have an extension of me live out one of my dreams. I remember drinking and cheering as I got drafted by the Minnesota Grey Ducks and My girlfriend being excited cause I'd be player for my home team. (although reluctantly). But by the time I was drafted by the New york silverbacks she was legitimately cheering for Brick as I went earlier than I expected. 

Every member of my locker rooms has been so cool and fun to talk to, its nice to have a little community of complete strangers become people you are excited to talk to every week. 
This league is really a place where dreams come true and you can take a step back from reality and enjoy a little fantasy, its like being in the early days of the internet again and going on forums that let you pretend to be a werewolf or a vampire except way cooler and definitely more adult lol. 

I definitely don't know what the future holds for me in this league once I retire Brick. I feel like I'll be itching to try a different position with experience in the league, and I feel like I'll just want to be better, get drafted higher and aim for higher goals. But even if I can't do that, I know I'll never regret joining the International Simulation Football League.