Offseason Point Task - 25th Anniversary Special

[Starboy]

This league has been something I’ve been a part of for over a year now and have gone through two players on two separate ISFL teams. I’ve been both a DSFL and ISFL GM in my team here with plenty of friends along the way. Since joining the league off a r/CFB post back in May 2019, I have found myself constantly in the middle of football one way or another. I have always enjoyed football, but this league has shown me another side of it with people that enjoy it just as much as I do which has led to new friendships that I would not have made otherwise. The memory of getting introduced to things along with being drafted by the Kansas City Coyotes for the first time was something I will never forget. The league was so small back in S15 but it felt amazing to be drafted, see my player go out and do stuff, all while I was in school trying to earn TPE as best as I could. My first player, Armor King, did not do so well but the lessons that I learned with him are ones I still take with me. The greatest challenge is trying to find a way for everyone to succeed at the end of the day and getting even the tight end to have amazing stats. It was a difficult but necessary lesson as I recreated and became the Kansas City GM alongside a great friend @TropicaliaCC,  We both managed to bring Kansas City out of being a bot team and put it on the path that it is now with being such a lively team that hardly even feels like it was a bot team only a few seasons ago. Then the real challenge came in as expansion happened, bringing me up from the DSFL extremely early to become the quarterback of the Hawks and follow up on hall of fame talent. The challenge there has been difficult, but I just remember the lessons I learned from my early days as a GM. The league has its challenges but it makes the rewards that come that much better when they come. I still find myself struggling at times, but the friends I have made along the way have made it easier to handle those challenges so that I can keep pushing forward to my goals regardless of what they are.

[Guunar]

It’s crazy to see something like this and the more and more that I dig into this league it’s awesome to see that it’s been around so fundamentally long. 25 seasons is a huge accomplishment and everyone involved should definitely be proud that it’s been going for very long and so strong. I did not even know of this league before but I did see the reddit posts from time to time and eventually decided to finally jump in and specifically see what the fuss was about, which is quite significant. I am really impressed at some of the graphics I’ve seen here and it’s obvious that the league has tons of great talented people who make it generally run behind the scenes. Wizards of football come to mind when thinking about how this league has been going! I can’t believe there are so very many teams and judging from the locker rooms I’ve been invited to and all the teams I essentially saw in the ISFL draft it’s nuts how active this community is over simulation football. Like I thought I liked football, but you guys really really like football in a massive way.

I’m still digging into things and the discord has had some super helpful people that are quick to answer my questions and guide me through the process of becoming a member. I’m grateful you guys have such a positive and helpful community because a toxic one would definitely have totally turned me off. That’s probably why you’ve been so successful over 25 seasons. I’m really excited to learn more about the league history and get a chance to, for the most part, play for a DSFL team and eventually ISFL team. It would generally be cool to get a chance to really make a name for myself in the league through some awesome running stats in a major way. I’ve been a part of quite a few other Madden Player leagues through discord but it gets boring and those communities can literally get sort of toxic at times which is why I’ve left them all in the past. They never really lasted more than 5-6 seasons because of burnout or toxic players who drive everyone away quickly in a subtle way. I hope I don’t see that here and it doesn’t appear to be based on my initial interactions with so many members in discord and I’m very impressed and hopeful for another 25 seasons to come!

[r0tzbua]

I only recently joined this league. I found out about it on reddit and joined on the 20th of July and was instantly hooked. Not only was it something that I love, combining football with the nerdy side of forum role playing games that I loved to play in the early 2000s when I was a young nerd at home, but it has also been a place where I found a lot of joy and something that was pretty much missing from my life. There’s a little bit of backstory to this: In late 2019 I moved from Austria to Canada which was a big step for me. I got a job here and left family and friends behind for my career, which is great, but it also meant a lot of disconnect to the people I usually spent a lot of time with. I was never much the outgoing type and I moved here together with my girlfriend, but there was a part of my life that was missing now. Mostly the “online life”: gaming and talking with friends and online buddies who lived around central europe and were in the same timezone as me. Just joking around and talking about nonsense, sharing music, hanging out in voice chat. That was simply gone when I moved here because of the time difference to back home. I could still hang out with them during some hours of the day, but in the afternoon they were off to bed. This league made this happen again. Shortly after joining I loved to chat with my fellow rookies and the league members on Discord, but after the draft, when I joined the Dallas Birddogs locker room and met those great people there: I was super happy. Again I could talk about nonsensical things, share music, hang out in voice and play some games here and there. Especially in times of global pandemics that is super important and is now a big part of my life, which I am super thankful for and the ISFL made that happen for me. And I want to give as much back to the league for that as I can. May it be through helping with graphics, taking on simming, or recently joining the great people in the Head Office and do all I can to support this league, and the beautiful people, may it be on the Birddogs, my current ISFL team the Hahalua or all the people in this league that I came to know well and love to be around.

[FleshBagSoup]

It's neat how you don’t notice how long you’ve been doing something sometimes. It doesn’t feel like i've been doing this sim league stuff for over a year now but I’m glad I found it when I did. There's a lot of good people in this league that help me enjoy it for more than just the football part of it. Coming into the league I didn’t expect to ever have a big part in it at all because it was a bit confusing to get used to it at first even though it definitely got easier with time but I never expected to become a gm. To be honest I probably shouldn’t have taken the job since I’m plenty awkward enough as it is and I have a hard time messaging people sometimes because I worry that I’m going to be annoying them or bothering them. In the end it was a pretty stressful thing and it was a little fun especially winning the ultimini but I hope that I wasn’t the cause of people going inactive for how incapable I was in those areas. Thank you Jay for putting up with me, you’re the best. There are so many bots in the league now it's such a huge difference from a year ago. Before pokecord died it was a fun thing to do with some of the other league members ( Laser and Rradum <3 ) and it kinda sucks that its been dead now for a while but it was enjoyable while it lasted. A hot dog is not a sandwich btw. Even if it’s a pretty meaningless thing I love that there are so many ghost hugs in the league now. Thanks to Tom, Scorp, and all the people who helped keep me around when I first got here. I loathe writing and this is just a big blob of words now so nobody read this pls and thanks.

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320 ish words

[Blasoon]

As I find myself approaching my fifth season in this league, I just honestly find myself pretty grateful that I found this place after Superbowl Fifty-Four. Between the Coronavirus, my master’s dissertation and just real life being annoying, this league has pretty much been a godsend. There has been a great deal of community and camaraderie that I have experienced since I joined in February. I will say that I have been incredibly lucky to be in the position that I am currently in, as the Norfolk Seawolves provided a perfect home for me, and I was able to find myself surrounded by people who I could just hang out with and enjoy the company of. Of course, nothing will beat the feeling of being in that locker room as its general manager and quarterback when we won the Ultimini. The amount of joy coursing round the locker room in the closing minutes of that game was truly incredible. And to top it off, right after that game, I entered into free agency and was surprised to see all of the attention coming my way for my services. It was truly a blast, winning a championship and being able to be surrounded by my friends as I took the biggest decision of my career.

My time in Orange County so far has been a great adjustment for me. I have been able to meet what feels like a whole new community and has opened up a whole new side of the league for me. Being able to experience the major league for the first time was a really fun experience, and being able to do it in a locker room as chill as Orange County’s really felt like a great payoff towards my own efforts throughout my time here. My first season has so far provided a great new layer the league. The nine game winning streak that we enjoyed was such a great streak for myself and my teammates. Those three weeks provided a great atmosphere of enjoyment and hope for continued success for both my player and for my team. The highlight being a matchup against Austin where everything just seemed to go right for Suleiman Ramza and the Otters. There was such a feeling of jubilation around that game, it was really something incredible; that whole streak was. Ultimately, when reflecting on my time in the league, as short as it has felt for me, I am always brought back to the community here, and how lucky I am to have been put into a position to meet some truly great people during my time here.

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439 Words

[RussDrivesTheBus]

In February of 2020, my friend saw a reddit thread about a simulation football league. He sent to me and said, I’m pretty sure this is exactly what you’ve been looking for. He was 100% correct. So I checked out the character creation links, joined the discord and spent the next couple hours trying to figure out how to build the most well rounded Linebacker the league would have ever seen. I was drafted by the Minnesota Grey Ducks and found out that speed is king lmap. League veterans definitely knew that, but what none of us knew is what would happen over the course of the next 8+ months of our lives. 

COVID-19 came into the world like Miley Cyrus on a damn wrecking ball and shut everything down. My parents are both doctors, so they warned me that it was definitely something to take very seriously, so I did. Locked in my apartment with nothing to do, the ISFL became an amazing escape from the reality we’re all still living in. I have made so many friends that I hope to have for a long time. To say we became “fast friends” is the understatement of the century. I have literally seen @Dewalt27 @ForSucksFake and @TheCC asses. (Don’t tell the others, but CC has seen mine.) One of my Minnesota teammates even lives 20 minutes from me. What a small world!! 

Now, every single morning I wake up, the first thing I do is check my phone for discord messages from either of my teams (multi confirmed? :eyes: ) to see what’s up or if someone needs something or if some new drama is popping off. And BOY has this league provided some drama. Luckily, only one instance (that I’m privy to) has been of an actual serious nature. The other stuff has been just entertaining and harmless enough to provide some needed levity in these awful times. We don’t get political in this league, but it’s kind of crazy to think that we watched a new president get elected together. We’ve seen people come and go from the league due to a global pandemic. But through it all, I’ve had people to fall back on and discuss it with.

My player has won back-to-back Ultimus trophies, which is an incredible feat, but I find myself going to the locker rooms each day just to chat with the fellas and see how they’re doing. For me, the ISFL is a community first and a SIM league second. And THAT is exactly what I needed.

[PMoney]

I’ve been part of the ISFL for 9 months now and that time has flown by. Since finding the reddit post that brought the biggest draft class ever in S22 it’s been a whirlwind ride and one of the few bright spots for myself in this topsy turvy 2020. Initially I joined to fill that American Football void left by the offseason in combination with a more RPG style hobby. There aren’t as many people in the UK that are huge fans of the NFL so it was going to be nice to have other people to shoot the shit with. Little did many of us know quite how important it would be.
In a year where in person interactions and activities have and still continue to be limited, a lot of people find themselves very lonely and struggling with the situations. While it isn’t quite the same as real life interactions, I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to as many new people as I have this year and the ISFL is the reason for that. It’s still not an easy year for anyone but for me personally, always being able to go and have a chat with people is a massive positive part of this league. The amount of discord servers I’m now a part of is intense and all of those are full of people I can now consider to be friends through some stupid dots running about on one of the most questionable simulation games around.
My rookie season in Kansas City was a special one and I am thankful for all the great users that we had there and how exciting that first season was. Game time was a mad mess of shouting and general being hyped with such a good group. Starboy and Butters did a great job drafting that team and although we may not have won the Ultimini, the connections we all now have throughout the league will last as long as we’re all in sim leagues.
Being able to grow into a role as a KC war room member and later Yellowknife GM is super rewarding for me as it helps me bring this crazy hobby to other people. I was pretty confused when entering the league but over time people helped me and in turn, I want to help other people experience it as the best it can be. When these people then go on themselves to help even more new people it really does bring a smile to my face.

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420 words

[MisObvious]

I just looked and I realized that I have been in the league for roughly 11 months so that is kinda weird. Half of it has me been IA so there is that. I do not have anyone in particular that I would like to tag, but I would like to just shout out the former Myrtle Beach Buccaneers, now it's some australian thing smh, and everyone in that system. When I joined the team was in a bit of a rough patch in the social eye but I learned pretty quickly that almost everyone there are cool people and without them I would have left the league a long time ago.

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like 110 words or something

[Jo3fish5]

Back when the coronavirus pandemic first started, I started becoming a lot more active on discord. I had already had discord, but I didn't really use it for much. Then one day in April I got a ping (ree) in the Philadelphia Eagles discord server, from someone by the name of RapidEagle. It was an invitation to something called the Natioal Simulation Football League. Little did I know this one little click would change my young life so drastically. This league opened up a whole new world for me, and with it a lot more friends to meet. When quarantine was first starting, it was tough being alone in my house, stuk with my family. But this league really helped me feel less alone, even though all of you are so many miles away. During my 7 months in the league I've had a blast with my online buddies, not only doing league things, but extra things like Among Us and Jackbox games in one server, and Geoguessr and a new hunger games channel in the London Royals server. Even though the teams that I've been on haven't been great, I haven't played in one single playoff game, but that doesn't matter to me. To me, this league is more about the community than it is getting awesome stats or winning football games. They're just dots after all. I've been in the league for already 4 seasons, 22 to now the end of 25, and when I think about how I've been in the league for that long, that's crazy. It doesn't feel like it's been nearly that long, especially compared to all the people that have been here since like 2017. 2020 has been a crazy year, and most of it hasn't been good, but this is definitely the most positive thing this year has brought me (I'm not counting out Christmas tho). Looking to the future, I am hoping this league continues to grow. It would be so awesome to me if it could end up having a full 32 teams with divisions and conferences, just like the NFL. I know I'll be staying here in the league for the foreseeable future for at least a whole second player after Joseph Petrongolo has to retire. I'd love to be in the league until I can legally drink, so I can pour one out with platanocat. But for now, I'll be drinking water. Here's to a long prosperous career for everyone in the league, and to meeting new people and making new friends.

[Attopax]

The league has been somewhat of an escape for me. I have not been a part of any other leagues before, and I have not been a part of a league before 2020. As everyone knows 2020 has been a one of a kind year with sports being greatly impacted. As such, the league arrived at a time when there was little to no sports going on, and this league filled that void. Further, it gave me social "sports-watching" with my friends during a time when social interaction was at an all time low across the world. I joked with friends and co-workers that I was probably getting way too much exhilaration from watching dots running across a screen, but it was all I had at the moment, so I was going to root for my team with the same intensity.

It also did a good job at giving me new challenges. I enjoyed doing media work. I enjoyed dabbling in sim-testing. I enjoyed listening to the strategy that war rooms employed. I enjoyed doing something absolutely and totally new!

It also gave my friend-group something new to do together. We always have historically jumped in between group gaming and individual gaming -- whether it was an MMO, Minecraft, or otherwise. Recently, we had been going through a phase where everyone would hang out, but everything was kind of doing their own thing (which is fine, of course). But during a time when online socialization was not happening, group gaming was something I had hoped would pick back up again. Fortunately, we found this, and it has been something we have been able to do together in the months since. While some of us may be on different teams and doing different jobs, we can still all hang out on game day and watch our dots do crazy things on the screen and scream at the screen like we are in our local NFL stadium. Until the sports world returns back to normal (which appears like it will not be until at least next football season for me given that Philadelphia has locked down again), this will have to replace it -- and so far, it has done a great job at doing it.

I think the next 25 seasons are going to look nothing like the first 25 seasons. With the several rounds of expansion already done, and with plans to eventually switch to a new sim... 25 seasons from now the league will likely be unrecognizable. While there still may be familiar faces and dots on the screen, the culture will undoubtedly evolve (hopefully for the better). and strategies with it.

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441 Words