*The_Kidd's One Year Recap

The_Kidd · (This post was last modified: 06-03-2021, 04:55 AM by Asked Madden.)

My One Year Biopic

A Look at My ISFL Life After One Year
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Welcome all those that choose to take time to read this piece I penned together. Let me first state that technically April marked my one year anniversary, but I needed a media bonus to take advantage so here we are. I appreciate those that take interest in reading this. For those that have read me before, you know my quality. For my new people, one thing you need to know is that I do not do filler. I give one-hundred percent effort. I just have to state, I am glad to have some time to earn money again, and I cannot believe I am here a year later writing this up.

The story begins in mid-March 2020, the world is turned on its’ head after the coronavirus shuts down the globe. Prior to the pandemic, I had spent the last two and half years working nearly eighty hours per week saving up to purchase my own car and finish my schooling. I primarily work in education; I work in my local school district as a Teacher’s Assistant and at my local community college as a tutor. I also worked at the Parks and Recreation department on certain nights and on weekends so I could have access to their gyms. However, once the country went into a nationwide shutdown, I lost access to everything as my life went fully remote. So naturally, my free time exploded exponentially which included my time on the internet.

Pandemic or not, I naturally drift to the nerdier side of the web: Reddit, Real GM, SB Nation, Youtube longplays, GameFAQs, abridged animes, Crunchyroll, Tubi ---- if there was ever an archetype for a nerd with street savant --- then I’m that fitted to a T. The ironic part about this story is that I discovered this league on accident. A lot of you all know about the Simulation Football League, which is actually televised. After routinely watching that league grow, my newfound boredom made me decide to join THAT league just so I can brag that I had a player on television. In the midst of my search, I see-sawed on the premise of actually joining and committing until I stumbled upon a then NSFL Reddit recruitment post. Do not ask me who posted the thread because my life was in a euphoric blur during this time. All I know is that I saw a simulation league post after the thought of joining sat on my mind and my impulse kicked in to join.

That’s where my impulse died, because once I followed the links, I started doing my research. Also, having to join and learn how to use discord also slowed me down. I ultimately realized that the league I tried to join was not the same league I initially planned to join. The ultimate deciding factor came down to wanting to pay to have a limited player on television or play for the passion and let my full nerd come out. Of course, my cheap behind decided to stick with the free league (a great deciding factor if I may add). Throughout this debate, I missed being a part of the biggest draft class in history. In hindsight, this delay dramatically improved my chances of sticking around in the league. Instead of fighting the lions of S22 in a meat bikini, I got to ease into the league as a S23 draftee.

When I first joined, I joined in the middle of S21, getting to learn the environment and how to operate both discord and jcink. I immediately went to Wikipedia and put my player bio together. I already had my mind set on creating Tupac Shakur as my player avatar and went all out with Lesean Paris Crooks’(A play on his real name: Lesane Parish Crooks, because I hypothesized we are not allowed to use real names of people, whether alive or deceased) character profile. I remember a member of the Yeti or Minnesota helping me out with my updates, I cannot remember who, but all the suggestions, advice, and help from everyone was dearly needed as the information overload when you first start brand new is immense. I recall enough people pushing me to just join waivers and get on a team while I inquired about how to maximize this illustrious TPE. The civil debate came down to wanting to play more or earn more TPE. I myself wanted to go the most natural full-fledged route I could, so I decided to wait until after the trade deadline to create --- the extra TPE I would gain was a bonus.

A bonus ONLY if I knew how expensive earning TPE would be as a new person, and how much work I needed to put in to earn money to actually get that extra TPE. In my naïve mind, I figured it was illegal to participate in anything until I was drafted. Therefore, I lost about 3-5 weeks of AC and trainings, which likely would not have been earned because I did not know how to find them and had no money. My first fond memory came from watching the ASFC Championship game between Orange County and Austin that saw Austin escape California in a wild overtime thriller with big points and big yards in a 48-45 win. Soon afterwards, I started getting messages about scouting. I’m positive that me asking a bunch of questions on discord and being passionate about being a cornerback drew extra attention to me and my player. I believe every DSFL team contacted me. Some of the names I remember were Sakrosankt, Memento Mori, The Voiceless Creator, Blassoon, and Exilizer. Unfortunately, I did not know how to work discord that well, so people who kept sending me personal messages on discord were unintentionally ghosted. The other issue that plagued me was not understanding the inner workings of the league. I decided that I would essentially wait until the night before the draft to message everyone back, until I found out that the draft occurred over multiple days prior to the actual draft date.

All of these factors likely led to my draft stock sinking to the ocean floor. I turned on the draft stream and did not have many expectations, I just did not want to be taken last. In a 9 round S22 DSFL Draft, I went in the 7th round, I was not mad, I was not overly excited, only because I had to go overseas. A big factor that kept me positive came from the fact that in the prospect bowl, I played with Sylphreni, who ended being drafted 1st overall. On the other hand, the fact that we were teammates and my numbers rivaled his had me slightly miffed that I did not get drafted as high as he did. Again due to my ignorance of not knowing what scouts look for in recruits. Joining the Royals was number one reason I’m still here today. Aside from Syl, the Royals locker room contained several captivating personalities like Modern Duke, Deadly Player, HighHasch, and several others that created a positive, booming atmosphere. One could not tell this was a second year expansion team that just got raided in the offseason(again, another intricacy I did not know about yet which actually had a positive effect on my outlook of joining the team).

Between the rookie chat and the Royals locker room, I had so much fun engaging with all the different people that shared similar interests as me without actually having to “hang out” with them(if you’re someone that keeps to yourself, you understand this). The best part of the Royals locker room was how open-minded and friendly they all were, as evidenced by the numerous guests that ventured into their public locker room. I made many acquaintances thanks to my teammates being awesome personalities. My S22 Royals crew helped make me the best me I could be in the future. Another intricacy I did not know about is the sim engine, sim luck, and the different aspects of each position. I’m thinking every position has a clean translation to its’ NFL counterpoint --- I was so wrong on that. I told HighHasch I was willing to play where he needed me, and as the season winded on, I got nervous we would miss the playoffs so I asked why I couldn’t play on the outside to help our pass defense since I had the highest overall rating of our corners. Duke and Hasch explained the concept of SIM TESTING and how our team performed better with me in the slot. So I obliged, plus I loved all the tackles I racked up there. We struggled against Minnesota’s loaded offense all season which prompted me to ask the aforementioned question. The trio of Sakura, Hood, and Lackson gave us problems all season, including a week 14 beatdown that almost knocked us out the playoffs. However, we made it and I felt so happy. My first year and we made the playoffs, not even realizing the full context of the team’s situation. We had a rematch with Minnesota, we took them to overtime, and my player made a crucial 4th down TFL in OT on Lackson to set the Royals up for the winning score. I felt like apart of the team finally, like one of those plays that will be played in a greatest moments highlight recap for this game. Despite losing the Ultimini in a defensive struggle with Tijuana(who had an even stronger offense), my jubiliation shot through the roof.

The one thing that irked me was the pro bowl, mainly because I thought my numbers were worthy to make it as a reserve and I lost out to a person that went permanently inactive in the middle of the season. I channeled my inner Richard Sherman and let my emotion ring out briefly, but I had a draft to look forward to. I had learned my lesson for the S23 NSFL draft, I talked to everyone except three teams, I studied depth charts, budget sheets, everything I could to show I was ready to be a winning contributor. I had figured 4 teams for sure would have drafted me: Sarasota because they were young, had extra picks, and would not get Ray-Ray Jackson; Arizona because they had holes on their secondary and had extra picks; Orange County because they were losing a corner soon and didn’t have a replacement yet; Philly because they needed to fill a ton of holes and had traded up in the second round. When I was drafted in the second round to Baltimore, I was more surprised than upset since Baltimore never officially scouted me. I did not know that HighHasch was on Baltimore already, noticed my locker room activity, and pitched to Dewalt to draft me with the extra pick they had. The Hawks made the playoffs the prior season so I was excited to get to it, especially with several ex-Royals players in the fold. I did not know this was the start of the ending of the Hawks being a competitive team.

I had unfinished business in London though. I wanted to return to London and see if we could continue our success, moreover, I realized my player was not ready to compete at the NSFL level. There were some good moments in S22, including us picking up Attopax on waivers and watching the sibling rivalry blossom in our locker room between Amidships(Dallas players had a penchant for chilling in our locker room). In S23, we picked up some cool users such as Mag, Stenny, Z-Whiz, Crunk, Abh, and Swanty. We became one of the most active teams in the DSFL, my activity levels were at a peak, pumping out articles left and right mainly to get my teammates paid so they didn’t have to struggle like me. Syl and Duke allowed all us casuals to learn about the sim and how to play fake war room member. We cruised to the regular season conference championship, but KC and their top pick, Atto, upset us in the postseason. I had already decided I was leaving before the season ended no matter how the season ended, I mainly wanted to see how my player performed on the outside. I did well enough to earn a real pro-bowl bid. My stomach turned watching Norfolk crush KC knowing that we had Norfolk’s number the past two seasons. But, knowing how developed the team was made it easy to leave the team.

In S24, I spent my rookie year in Baltimore. We had a lot of promise --- our quarterback was in season 5, we had a solid WR core, solid LB and CB group. We seemed poised to transition enough to offset the low earners and aging vets on the team. I still remember my debut against Sararsota: 8 TCK, SCK, FF, FR, INT. That game set the tone for my Rookie of the Year and Pro-Bowl campaign. However, my individual success would not translate to team success as we struggled with management changes(a recurring theme with Baltimore for the foreseeable future) and internal conflict. By the end of the season, Tyler Montain, Captain Rogers, and Maverick Bowie were out the door. My contract was set to expire but I wanted to test free agency and give Baltimore a chance to pitch to me. All of this was thrown off course when I learned about another part of the now ISFL: expansion. The pending expansion preceding S25 ruined my free agency plans. I either had to stay with Baltimore as an unprotected player or leave altogether. I felt like my career got shafted, as I could not build a proper story arc with the team that took a chance on me in the second round two seasons ago. To add insult to injury, both of our current GM’s won an expansion bid and the league STILL forced us to give up a third player in the expansion draft.

The Hawks I quickly bonded with were no more. My energy started to dissipate, I had to leave to keep my passion. Free agency did nothing to help my sanity. Easily one of the most stressful parts of the league, free agency is set up to cause heartache and migraines. Again, I had to learn another intricacy the hard way that free agency occurs BEFORE the draft which is the reverse process of the NFL. Ergo, teams are on a pressed deadline to get their players signed and clean up their draft boards. Add in the expansion draft too and we’re talking sipping gasoline in a steel melting furnace type of heat on these teams. I had may suitors which was both fun and heartbreaking because of all the bonds I had built in London. Highhasch took over Berlin, Z-Whiz had rank in Arizona, Syl was the GM successor in Colorado, Abh had just touched down in Sarasota, Mag was in Chicago. If I recall right, after turning down Baltimore for free agency I received offers from Sarasota, Austin, Colorado, New York, Berlin, Orange County, Arizona, and Philly. The decision was so stressful because I didn’t want any of my former teammates to feel like I was playing favorites. It was so bad that I couldn’t narrow it down to less than 4 teams when I had to make my decision. Thankfully, everyone handled the rejection with class. The ironic thing about joining Austin was that Steg and I had got I some heated debates in the DSFL, but those debates helped me grow and learn more about the behind the scenes of the league and the sim. Thanks to Mori and Amid, I was able to start tinkering with the sim in S24 as I tried my best to help Chika and Baltimore. But it was the passion Steg had that drew me to Austin, along with several of my ex-Hawks teammates being there.

Getting a chance to play with legends like Easton Cole and Dermot Lavelle Jr. is something I can be proud to say. However, it became soon apparent in my first season that the old guys in Austin were OLD. I tried my best to not get stuck in a rebuild, but some unexpected roster changes forced the issue and I couldn’t hightail it when the chips were low. Austin has a knack for picking up some great users who are highly active, helpful, and passionate about making the experience enjoyable for everyone involved. Amid, Kyle, Jkort, Mooty, Quirky, Valor, Tonzy, Troen, Dermot, so many great users on one team. We did our best 2015 Broncos impression but could not get in the playoffs in Cole’s twilight. My arrival in Austin coincided with me returning back to work, so it looked like I was disinterested with the team when they started losing, but it was simply that I got so wrapped up in discord convos that I needed to ween myself off so I could be productive at work and at home. This relationship would continue throughout the next three seasons as all I could do was earn my TPE and follow everything as a lurker to keep my real life productivity to its fullest ability. The main attraction of playing in Austin was playing next to another elite corner, that was always my dream to form an ISFL version of the legion of boom. However, around Christmas, when my contract was due to expire, I found time to return to discord to figure out why Mendoza had been traded? Austin was on the upswing after a down season, but that trade set the team back a bit and took a lot of wind out my sail. Our elite secondary had been fractured. Then life hit me hard, I had been able to talk to Amid and I found out Tonzy and Amid were both position switching to shore up the defense, while Amid and Kyle continued to add awesome talent like Glims, Rufio, Kya, Gumpa, and Ithica. I decided to stay and see things out, but that would be the last time I would be around for awhile. I ended up in the hospital(not for COVID), and as soon as I got out we had a terrible ice storm that left most of my city without power and water for about 8 days. I had to push sim football to the backburner.

When I finally got situated, I returned to discord to touch base with my team. I felt a great warmth being able to talk with my people even though it had been months since I was seen, I felt like I only hadn’t talked to them in a week. Alas, I had more drama waiting in my life thanks to a newfound romance and the jealously of those who like to play games instead of expressing their true feelings. So long story short, the whole process of trying to gain a best best best friend or significant other is really draining, especially when baggage is involved. But after my hospital stint, I started becoming more self-reflective on other voids in my life and vowed to change them. As I finally got over all of that drama, the Copperheads had their best season in my tenure. We nearly missed the playoff on the last game of the season again, but we won the tiebreak this time. After 2 lackluster seasons, my player finally started clicking with the emergence of Tonzy on the other side and Dex, Brach, and Tyler in the middle. I had more interceptions last season than I did in the previous three seasons combined. I had a big forced fumble against New York at the goal line that helped push us into the ASFC Championship game and then a crucial interception against Arizona(3 games against AZ, 3 interceptions) that helped us upset the Outlaws and make the Ultimus. Not only was this my first major league playoff appearance, but we made it all the way to the title game!

Even though we lost, the progress we made from S26 to S28 was remarkable. And now with the summer approaching, on the onset of my next free agency exposition, I hope everything in my life continues to trend upwards, including my sim football player who now sits in the top 10-15 total TPE for active players in his last season before dreaded regression starts to kick in. What the future holds, who knows? But my script always writes itself as the story develops. Thank you to all who have helped me, all of those who impacted me and allowed me to share these memories, and those who took time to read any of this. Hopefully a year two edition comes along.

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