Prompt Wrote:The league has recently finished its 25th season. Please take the time to celebrate this anniversary by writing about what the league means to you. Whether you've been here for a day or for the last three years, we'd love to hear about your favorite parts and any special memories you'd like to share.
I joined the ISFL (well, NSFL at the time) as part of the jumbo S22 from-reddit class. I saw the post about it right after watching the Eagle's season of All or Nothing and was really wanting some more football. Getting a glimpse into the whole universe of 20 seasons of history and its own records, economy, and rivalries was a really interesting thought. I'd also seen posts about the PBE in the year before on the OOTP forums and thought about joining, but it seemed like too much of a commitment. I figured in the post-superbowl period of time I'd have sundays free, though, so it could be at least worth checking out.
Little did I know that with the whole "well society is shut down now" that the ISFL would be pretty much the only sports in my life for the next 3 months. I spent my time creating early media doing a lot of analysis on the draft class and comparing it to the S21 class and its TPE earning/draft selections and collectively it was a huge set of activities that kept my spirirs up. So, from that perspective of giving me a great outlet when I couldn't go outside at all, I have to love what the ISFL did.
So, while I can't hope that the newer players in the league get a similar experience, I think that for me the ISFL will forever have this strong association with the lockdown and then the sea change in activity after that.
My activity has slowed down - it takes a lot of effort to write good analysis articles - but being part of a team was also a fun experience. I've participated in team sports before, but none that were as indirect or involved as much hoping for good outcomes with so little direct ability to interact. The sim leagues in general are interesting in that you as an individual can do everything optimally and right but yet still have your team lose games because of poor luck or the wrong strategy or the sim just hating you this week. Most competitive things I've done before joining the ISFL had some amount of personal ability or execution of strategy so that even if I'd made a wrong decision or built the wrong strategy I had a chance. ISFL games feel removed from my personal effort in a sense, since with the way that you build your player over time and how team performance requires a lot of high-earning players, your team seems to win or lose in a way that's not always because of your player, exactly. I think there's actually a bit of a life lesson there - you can make the right decisions and yet have poor outcomes. Obviously I'd prefer to make the right decisions and then have good outcomes, but it's still an interesting result of this group activity we're all participating in.
So, taken together, I'm quite happy that I joined the ISFL rather than closing the browser tab like I almost did back in February. And I'd like to thank you all for not actually reading this post helping make the league what it is. Remember - the best sim league framework is nothing without players participating.
Draft Steal (retired S35 CB) - Profile/Update | Wiki
Troen Egghands (retired S22 DE) - Profile | Update | Wiki