I joined the ISFL as a member of the S25 reddit class. I have been in this league a long time. Cape Town is currently one of the best organizations in the ISFL, but when I entered the ISFL, this was not the case. We used to be the Philadelphia Liberty. I was drafted to them in the fifth round to be the answer to the kicker carousel. We went a long time being a bad team. We spent a few seasons one win outside the playoffs. In the offseason before S31, I swapped to WR. In S32, we had finally made the playoffs. That was the second best memory I have had in the ISFL. We went one and done in the playoffs despite having the 1 seed. It would take until S40 to make the playoffs again, where we again went one and done. But the next season, S41, we won the Ultimus. A good chunk of the S25 core was there to win too, on our second players. We had been there for the entire rebuild. Without a doubt, that is the best memory I have in the ISFL.
Oh man I have been in the league for a very long time, albeit with a sizeable break in the middle. There have been some huge highs and brutal lows throughout that time, and it's really hard to pick a few specific memories as favourites. Tijuana was where I started and was my first real home in the league, plus back in S14 the league was so small pretty much everyone talked to everyone. Loved hanging out in rookie chat and the Tijuana locker room. One of the highlights of that first season was a 96 yard touchdown in the playoffs which lead to Tijuana beating the 13-1 San Antonio Marshals. After that I became GM of Tijuana which was a ton of fun leading a great locker room. The following season was an incredible draft where I had the privilege of drafting some of the most fun users in league history with Scorp at GM. After that I GMd NOLA and was a part of an incredible rebuild with an amazing war room, culminating in a championship. After that I went on to re-establish DSFL HO and act as DSFL Commissioner which was an absolute honour. Overall it has been an incredible time and I can't ever pick just a few moments.
Starting with my first player in S31, I can now say I've been around a while (over two IRL years). No matter how hard you try, you can never really top the early days as a new create. Going through the scouting process, getting hype for the draft, bonding with your classmates...it's all top notch. I was so fortunate to be drafted to Norfolk, and that rookie season was so much fun. We were absolutely terrible, the worst team in the league, but we had such a great draft class in the locker room we were still hype for every game, hanging in VC...all that. The league got me hooked early on, which led to me GMing in Norfolk and Colorado, which led me to GMing in SMJHL, MilPBE, and SSL as well. I'm now a sim league addict, and it's all thanks to that introductory experience in this, my first league. Playing in the DSFL again is super fun, and I'm reminded of why I feel in love with this league in the first place, but there's nothing quite like those first create early days!
This is easy. My favorite memory so far in the Internation Simulation Football League was being on Baltimore and getting to live through the acquisition of Swoosh to be our GM. Quite literally the most fun I've personally had because some people got super salty and dramatic and for some reason, I love that. I guess I'm a soap opera guy. I love seeing dramatic shit and seeing people react to it. Like keeping up with the Kardashins except in the ISFL. I'm fun like that. My other favorite part of being in this league was screwing up my update page like ten straight times then finally getting a singular update correct. How fun is that? What good memories we all get to have. The thing is, I don't have many memories, nor do I have good stories yet about the league. I've been a pretty hidden user really only putting out a few podcasts and interacting with a few of the users in my locker room. So, I guess that is probably actually my favorite memory.
While I haven't been in the league very long (2nd season), it's been a fun ride so far. The drafts are particularly fun, especially when making the jump to the big leagues. It was cool talking to the different GMs and players about their team needs, goals, and how Marty Crane might fit in. Being drafted by Chicago was awesome and having my boy Dewey Greenbeans on the squad also is the icing on the cake. Looking forward to getting called up in the next year or two and helping to build up that franchise together throughout the rest of our careers.
I also really enjoyed the rivalry with the Pythons last year. They smashed us at home and were the clear team to beat, but we had our revenge when they came to Dallas, which increased the bad blood. The playoffs were of course a let down when the dogs dropped the first game and did not get to play out the rubber match in the championship with Portland. Still super fun to have a rival you're itching to face. Regardless of our records and rosters, I'll always love to hate the Pythons from that first year.