(S31) PT 1 - End of a Decade

[moonlight]

This has been an interesting decade for me in the ISFL. I was finishing up the last few seasons of one of the greatest sim quarterbacks of all-time, Franklin Armstrong. I watched him win another MVP, somehow blow a 21-3 lead in the Ultimus Bowl, and go out with a whimper in his final game in the ISFL. But the best moment of the decade was being voted to the 25th Anniversary Team as well as finally claiming his place among the game's greats in the ISFL Hall of Fame. Talking about my in real life experience of playing through Franklin Armstrong's ISFL career is kinda awkward. Who wants to admit that one of the best things that I got to experience for a couple years was the career of a simulation football player? It's not much of a conversation starter for the normies to be completely honest but Armstrong really did mean a whole lot to me. And thanks to the great users in the ISFL, I actually have some pretty cool memorabilia in terms of art, trading cards etc.

Anyways, another thing that happened this decade was recreating with Big Slammu. His career hasn't gone as great as I hoped but he did give me some more cool memories with a couple more Ultimus wins.

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[ReverendOReily]

I've had a lot of memorable moments in the ISFL over the last 6 seasons. One of the memories that stands out to me the most is ISFL draft night - I had pretty much no idea who was going to draft me, so there was a lot of excitement in that regard, and we had a lil party in the Dallas Birddogs voice chat because so many of us were being drafted that night and we had all bonded and talked so much with each other over the previous ~2 months. I remember how excited I was to finally find out which team drafted me, and seeing the amount of work that went into the draft presentation (shoutout to Amidships for an awesome draft sig) was a great cherry on top of an awesome night. Our great presentations are one of the main reasons I like that we don't do live drafts in this league. Another memory that stands out to me, although not directly an ISFL memory, are the many nights spent in the Dallas Birddogs minecraft server/in voice chat with my Dallas pals around that same S26ish time period. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention Dallas' season 27 ultimini victory, but it should go without saying that that's one of my favorite league memories. 

[iStegosauruz]

As time passes in the league the things you once found enjoyable change. That isn't to say that there is nothing enjoyable or that the league loses its fun, but rather that the things that were originally the things that got you hyped change. At the start of my career - which would have been the S21 DSFL season - the smallest updates mattered. Especially in the DSFL chasing that extra like 7 TPE was a huge deal proportional to the rest of the league. As time passes and you accrue into the thousands, that marginal gain begins to feel less impactful. Getting drafted the first time feels like a huge deal but after more and more draft classes come into the league after yours the luster of where you went in the draft - however high or however low - ceases to be the same. Winning always feels great, and I'll always remember winning the Ultimus with New York, even if I wasn't around to watch the game and had to make do with updates texted to me by Chunt. I'm not sure what another 10 seasons in the league will bring or if I'll still be active to see it, but the changes have been monumental.

[Frostbite]

My favorite memory throughout the last 10 seasons has got to be the moment where HO told me that I would be getting my own expansion team. Me and RainDelay had spent countless hours working on our pitch and logo, and when we finally realized that we got it, we were ecstatic. I had been a DSFL GM for quite a while at that point, and after winning an Ultimini, I was looking forward to winning a few in the ISFL. While that would still take a while to come into fruition, as an expansion team we succeeded fairly well, and I have heavily enjoyed my time as an expansion GM. I think that HO can look back on picking me and be very happy with how it has gone. I remember when it was announced I was watching a movie, so I came back to discord with about 20 DMs from various users, and honestly I was kind of surprised HO decided to give it to me, especially considering that I got the gig over an ISFL GMing legend AdamS. I think that at that moment in the league was one of the happiest for me, as it showed the result of all my hard work for the past few months succeeding to allow for me and RD to get a team, truly a great time for me in this league!