*My Return to the ISFL and My Thanks to All Who Made Me Want to Recreate

**KC15**

I have a new recreate in the ISFL – Tobias Worthington III. Tobias is a DE out of Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, but more about him in another media piece to come out later. I really enjoyed my time with my first player, Jed Podolak, who retired as a WR for the Honolulu Hahaluas after the S28 season. And now I’m back for another round here at the tail end of S30.

Because I’m back, I need money! Those cold hard ISFL dollars that will allow me coach up my player and dominate opposing O-Lines and punish their precious little QBs that hide behind the hogs in the trenches. Money means media, but what do I actually know to write about? Would it contribute anything to the league? After reflection, I’m not sure I know much, but I do know how appreciative I am of the good people of the ISFL. So, I decided I would spread a little positivity while I wrack up the big bucks for TB3.

This is the story of why I recreated in the ISFL.

I’m going to give a number of shout outs and I’m not going to get everyone. I’m not even going to try as the closer I get to actually succeeding, the worse it is that I left out that one person who actually was the greatest gift of all. But I have to start with one person for sure - @[TomHanks].

I created as a waiver create in S19, I believe, and was picked up by the Tijuana Luchadores, a powerhouse of a team at the time. Jed, an RB at the time, slid in and rode the coattails of much better players all the way to a championship, if I recall correctly. What I remember better was the super positive presence of Mr. Hanks. Always ready to help. Always encouraging and answering questions though I believe @ddrector was the GM. Good moment to stop and shout him out as well. DD was one of the best junior league GMs I’ve seen. Really knew how to engage his players, mentor them into being the best they could be, and simply create a FUN atmosphere in the LR. Man, that Luchadore LR was rockin’!

So, Hanks’ positive impact on my ISFL experience began with the Luchadores of the DSFL, but it certainly did not stop there. I was drafted out of the DSFL by the New Orleans Second Line and guess who was GM of that top notch organization. Yep, Mr. Hanks himself. So, the mentoring and the positivity just kept rolling.

Again, I rode the coattails of some much better players to go on and win an Ultimus with the Second Line in my first year with the team. Winning is fun, f course, but there are two “moments” in my time in New Orleans that stand out in terms of creating a great overall experience for me in my first create in the ISFL. The first was my position change from RB to WR.

I really wanted to be an RB. I came into the league envisioning the yards I would eat up and the tackles I would break to burst into the end zone for a record breaking rushing TD. Named my player Jed Podolak, a completely transparent homage to one of my favorite Chiefs growing up. If you are old enough to have been there, you don’t need me to tell you who. If you aren’t, you probably could care less. If you are super curious, maybe this is a good way to coax you into reading a little about one of the great people to play the game of football.

But there was just a slight hitch with all my dreams. The Second Line had two of the greatest running backs in the entire ISFL. I was never going to get any reps there and if I were to get some PT at RB, I would be just hurting the team with every snap. But NO did not have an active slot receiver and the way looked clear to quickly move into the WR2 and soon after WR1 positions. How to get me to see that what was best for the team was also probably best from me as a user as well? I mean, all those dreams of RB greatness!

In steps Tom with just the right words and just the right demeanor. There was no pressure – no guilt. The obvious facts were laid out and then space was given to allow me to wrap my head around the potential swap. I’m also convinced that some plays were included to dish the ball a little more to the rookie WR to get his head in the game, but I could be wrong there. What could have been a painful change with the dashing of dreams turned into a smooth transition into the fun of filling a needed position and seeing how my one or two receptions a game could actually help the team achieve success.

But my career in New Orleans was destined to be short-lived. Expansion was on the horizon. At this point the GM reigns had been handed over to @JuOSu though Hanks was still involved in the team, of course. Or was it Juosu was co-GM? My old retired brain is not always reliable. In any case, I do remember how deftly Juosu handled my being put on the block. First of all, she never used that language. lol The truth was that we had just won an Ultimus. The team was packed with talent and I was one of the least experienced players – one of the most expendable if you are chasing a back-to-back championship experience.

The other truth is that, though I never stopped earning and updating, I wasn’t always super active in the LR and was probably making noises about waning commitment. I do that from time, but if you are a GM reading this, don’t worry – even during lower energy moments, I continue to earn TPE and update. lol But it can’t help your chances of avoiding exposure to the draft. But here’s the deal – that angle was never dwelled upon. The line was that they would love to keep me and would hope I would not be selected, but they only had so many protection slots. I believe that to this day. It was also lovely to hear that though they wanted to keep me, they were fairly sure I would go quickly in the draft as a young WR with promise. So, expansion actually turned out to be a positive experience in terms of how I was treated by the team who was actually shipping me out the door.

Enter the Honolulu Hahaluas and some special people there. (We’ll get back to Mr. Hanks a little later on.) Expansion is a necessary thing in a growing league and shows that the league is healthy and a good enough experience that people want to stay involved and new people want to join in on the fun. However, in a recent twitch poll the response was 50/50 on player experience on whether it was invigorating (new team, new start, endless possibilities) or just stressful (leaving a comfortable environment filled with good friends).

I find myself very much in the former camp. I get excited about the change and getting to experience something new and the move to Honolulu freshened my experience of the fun of the ISFL. All the more so because of the founding GMs: @Raven and @[ADwyer87]. It felt really good to be drafted in the second round and be told that I was part of the core that they would build around toward future greatness. But it was the seasons to come that proved their mettle. As an expansion team, you tend to lose a lot early on. We followed the pattern, but because of their constant encouragement and positive outlook, we never felt like losers. Hats off to them both for making those first seasons a super fun experience even though we were not seriously contending for a playoff spot.

Then entered @gucci and then @siddhus. Loads more positivity – heaps more being treated with respect and openness. Made the Honolulu LR a great place to hang out. I want to give a special shout out to Sidd though. By the last couple of seasons, I was really busy IRL (job and too many online OOTP leagues) and my interest was really waning. I was honest with Sidd and the way he handled it was exemplary. There was no recrimination and no guilt trip. Sidd – and everyone else – was just as friendly and supportive as ever. Sidd and I worked together to optimize the time/TPE earning as much as possible and he coached me through the best way to regress and remain helpful to the team as long as possible.

When the time finally came to retire an aging Podolak, I felt like I got the gold watch. So much appreciation from the GMs and the LR as a whole. Made my final days in the ISFL with my first player another great experience in a long line of great experiences.

Then I took the time off I really needed at this point – a few months of rest from the weekly grind of the ISFL and a reordering of some IRL things (fewer online OOTP leagues). But I still had no plans to recreate yet. Re-enter Mr. Hanks.

I’m active in several other leagues. PBE is where I am most active as GM of the minor league California Firehawks and last season’s Champions Conference MVP with my player, but I’m also in the VHL and SHL. So, when our PBE commissioner alerted us to the cross-league commissioner twitch stream, I decided to tune in. What a great time that was! Users from the various leagues were given the opportunity to submit questions for the commissioners ahead of time and to make shout outs to league mates announced by the moderatior. There were some cool perspectives on topics such as Covid’s impact on sim leagues and the potential impact of eventual reopening, many interesting stories from all the leagues present (6 in all), some great idea sharing that could make each of the leagues better, and just a lot of laughter.

They mentioned that after the prior commissioner panel stream leagues saw a big uptick in recruitment from the excitement it generated. I found the same happening to me. There is TomHanks representing the ISFL so capably in his capacity as DSFL commissioner and it got me thinking, “is it time for a recreate?” So, I started up a DM and even though he is in the midst of a stream and needs to focus on being an excellent panelist, he graciously carries on a very helpful (to me) back and forth where I pepper him with questions about how the league is operating now. These are questions he could have just told me to go ask in rookie discord. But no. He takes the time to just answer while he multi-tasked as one of the 6 main speakers. Just one more time where I thought that if this is who the ISFL is, I want back in.

So here I am with Tobias Worthington III about to go in the waiver process starting on Thursday night. If you are still reading this, you must be either a) a grader, b) a really patient person honoring me with your time, or c) a glutton for punishment. But if you are still here, my final thought is this. I am here with a second player because of how well so many people treated me all long my first ISFL journey. We all can be those people for someone else. We can all treat people with patience and support. Celebrate others’ achievements with them. Buck them up during the disappointing times. You just never know who’s experience you are going to make so positive, so fun that they can’t see themselves ever leaving the league for good.