In just a couple of weeks, I will be eclipsing the one-year mark of joining this sim league. During that time, a lot of things have come and gone. Of all the amazing things that this has had to offer, though, the DSFL has been my absolute favorite. There are a lot of things that have gone into that equation for me personally. I’ve said it in other PTs before, but there is nothing like the draft. Having various teams reach out and actually scout you is probably the single coolest thing in any sim league. Getting a chance to know the GMs and learn about their team/the league was an awesome experience. I’m excluding the teams that do stupid google forms and don’t follow up though. Let’s be honest for a second and all agree that it’s about as impersonal as can be. Some teams at least follow up after the google form and have a conversation, so this isn’t directed at them. Outside of the scouting, there is a ton of media the week leading up to the draft. Players trying to make their case on when they will be the next great. People trying to predict who will go where and when with mock drafts. In real life, the draft is my favorite thing, so it was an awesome experience to get that same feel here.
The day of the draft, the nerves are real. I’m sure most players are just excited to get on their new team, but most of us tend to have that team or two that we want to be on more than others. When the draft stream gets rolling, it feels like everything happens so fast. One minute you are waiting to hear where you will be getting drafted to and the next you see your player name and card up on the stream. People are giving their congratulations in the chat and the announcers are hopefully saying something other than you being an absolute steal at your pick. To be fair, I do not think I was labeled as a steal in any of my three drafts (I’m including the contraction draft as my third draft). Bex had nothing but nice things to say about me as a user though which was way better than be the 8th steal in a row.
Shortly after you are picked to your team, the locker room discord invite from your new GM comes in. Of course, they are stoked to have you and welcome you to your new squad. Once you enter the locker room, all your new teammates are hyped to have you and start making predictions of how your team will easily win the next three championships. I’ve become more and more inactive these past couple of months truth be told, but I still love the feeling of draft day for both the DSFL and the ISFL. All the memories of my own draft come flooding back and I get those jitters again. I also think that the draft and the following few days tend to be the peak of locker room activity outside of big game days or those lucky few who are part of a championship.
The last element of the draft that I truly love is getting be on the other side of things. Between my 3 seasons as GM for the Luchadores and the season prior when I became a team captain, I played a large role in our team’s scouting. Above everything else, my goal was to be welcoming to all the new players. I remember how many questions I had when I first joined and can honestly say I wouldn’t be here today without the help of the community. Any time I got the chance to pay that forward, I took it. Outside of answering league questions, I geared my scouting mostly towards personal side of things. Some people would be short in conversation, so those tended to be brief and only sim related. For those who could keep a conversation, I found that the conversation could lead to anything. Those were always my favorite. Just start a conversation and see where things would end up. In a perfect world, the players you wanted to draft were max earners who fit your locker room culture. While I was fortunate to grab the miths and tonzy’s of the league, the ultimate goal was to get good people. If you were easy-going and could keep a conversation going, that was way more valuable than the abrasive general chat guy who was clearly a max earner but a dick. Then there are always those picks that turned out to be complete gems. Sometimes you get a tirtwidjajajajaja well into the 200s who ends up being a great earner and an even better user. For as much as people like to complain about everything (and I do mean literally everything), we have a really solid community here. Events like the draft (hopefully) bring out the best in us and keep those good times rolling.
The day of the draft, the nerves are real. I’m sure most players are just excited to get on their new team, but most of us tend to have that team or two that we want to be on more than others. When the draft stream gets rolling, it feels like everything happens so fast. One minute you are waiting to hear where you will be getting drafted to and the next you see your player name and card up on the stream. People are giving their congratulations in the chat and the announcers are hopefully saying something other than you being an absolute steal at your pick. To be fair, I do not think I was labeled as a steal in any of my three drafts (I’m including the contraction draft as my third draft). Bex had nothing but nice things to say about me as a user though which was way better than be the 8th steal in a row.
Shortly after you are picked to your team, the locker room discord invite from your new GM comes in. Of course, they are stoked to have you and welcome you to your new squad. Once you enter the locker room, all your new teammates are hyped to have you and start making predictions of how your team will easily win the next three championships. I’ve become more and more inactive these past couple of months truth be told, but I still love the feeling of draft day for both the DSFL and the ISFL. All the memories of my own draft come flooding back and I get those jitters again. I also think that the draft and the following few days tend to be the peak of locker room activity outside of big game days or those lucky few who are part of a championship.
The last element of the draft that I truly love is getting be on the other side of things. Between my 3 seasons as GM for the Luchadores and the season prior when I became a team captain, I played a large role in our team’s scouting. Above everything else, my goal was to be welcoming to all the new players. I remember how many questions I had when I first joined and can honestly say I wouldn’t be here today without the help of the community. Any time I got the chance to pay that forward, I took it. Outside of answering league questions, I geared my scouting mostly towards personal side of things. Some people would be short in conversation, so those tended to be brief and only sim related. For those who could keep a conversation, I found that the conversation could lead to anything. Those were always my favorite. Just start a conversation and see where things would end up. In a perfect world, the players you wanted to draft were max earners who fit your locker room culture. While I was fortunate to grab the miths and tonzy’s of the league, the ultimate goal was to get good people. If you were easy-going and could keep a conversation going, that was way more valuable than the abrasive general chat guy who was clearly a max earner but a dick. Then there are always those picks that turned out to be complete gems. Sometimes you get a tirtwidjajajajaja well into the 200s who ends up being a great earner and an even better user. For as much as people like to complain about everything (and I do mean literally everything), we have a really solid community here. Events like the draft (hopefully) bring out the best in us and keep those good times rolling.
![[Image: rqph9tT.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/rqph9tT.jpg)
![[Image: 6HEXEeb.png]](https://i.imgur.com/6HEXEeb.png)
