10-20-2023, 11:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-21-2023, 12:45 AM by DL14. Edited 1 time in total.)
I never thought I would have seen so much excitement over something so simple as the words “2.5x Media Week”. It is a spectacle in the same vein as seeing Taylor Swift talking to Donna Kelce during an NFL game, or like seeing the Dallas Cowboys lose to the Arizona Cardinals by double digits for their only win all season. However, to be fair, I have only really been a part of the NSFL for less than a week and now I am already experiencing a seemingly rare occurrence like 2.5x Media Week. From the posts I have seen, whether jokingly or literally, people are talking about recording four-hour podcasts or spending this entire weekend writing a novel all because they can get more bang for their buck so to speak. Yet here I am trying to do the same thing because this league has sucked me in, hook, line, and sinker.
Although, before I get too far, I need to fill in my audience on how I came to be in the NSFL in the first place. A relative of mine, DangWookie, was staring at his phone watching YouTube about two weeks ago. It appeared he was just looking at a video game of football but not one that I had seen before. His wife said something to the effect of, “Oh, it is just some stupid simulation thing that he does.” Much to his defensiveness, I did not judge; quite the opposite in fact, I was intrigued. He went on to give me a broad overview of what the whole league was about, but my first reaction was that this all sounds really complicated and time-consuming. To which he said, “pretty much.”
It was not until about a week later that I texted DangWookie and asked him a few more questions about the NSFL, especially since I pulled up the website through Google and was immediately overwhelmed. First you sign-up, then you follow the Rookie Guide, then you join the Rookie Discord, then you read no less than ten different posts, then hours later you are down the rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland. What is worse, is that for someone who sits at a computer all day AND works remotely, it is a bad combination when you let the phrase, “I wonder…” creep into your head. Something as innocuous as predictions can make you open multiple tabs and weigh the Points For versus Points Against and then follow that up by considering what team is playing at home and which one is on the road. All for what… 0.5 TPE each if you get it correct!?!
And there is the rub. TPE. It sounds like a drug because it can be like one. Did I do my Activity Check? Did I make my Predictions? Did I do my weekly training? I went from being overwhelmed at how much there was to being overwhelmed BECAUSE of how much there was. Basically, that is how my first day in the league felt like.
Day two was slightly different. I dove into the Rookie Discord and reached out to the mentors who were a tremendous help. Shout out to Hydrium, Sconnie, and Triceracop for putting up with all my inane questions. With their help and the step-by-step videos by LtHudz, I felt a little more confident in what I was doing. I mean, I would not say all of this is necessarily intuitive or straightforward, but the structure of the league to onboarding new players is certainly a strength. Actually, I would say being active on Discord is both a necessary step to truly understanding the scope of the league and a large part of what makes the league appealing. It is a community of players who can engage with each other over a “trivial” game but be connected to something bigger; a diversion, a form of entertainment, a locker room, a blog, a casino, and basically limitless amounts of memes, gifs, and trash talk.
Then it happened, Swoosh reached out to me and before I knew it, I was a Tijuana Luchador! End day two. (Shout out to Swoosh and his legendary Dino Nugget-self for giving me the opportunity!)
So, day three was me getting acclimated to actually being part of a team. I was given a nice, warm welcome from the rest of the TEN TIME DSFL CHAMPIONS! Honestly, I think what sold me most on the Luchadores was the camaraderie that has been built on the Discord server. I am sure it is (hopefully) like that for other teams, but I consider myself fortunate to be claimed by the Tijuana Luchadores. Especially since my only regret about this whole process is that I did not start this journey before the season began. I feel like I missed out on the full experience of the offseason and the thrill of being drafted.
What “felt” worse came on day four, when I was playing my first games still being at the initial 50TPE because updates apparently only happen on the weekends. Of course, it was a double-header, and my player was just average and expectedly so. My frustration was that my player could not contribute more for my team but as someone on Discord said, “sim gonna sim”. I have come to know that this saying is almost as ubiquitous as The Mandalorian saying “this is the Way” or Denver Bronco fans saying “Let Russ Cook”. I digress. The Luchadores went 2-0 in those games and I was mesmerized watching these little circles with numbers on them move back and forth for over an hour.
Our first game had me legitimately stressed as we were down 21-20 with just about one minute left in the fourth quarter. Moments later you see a huge catch to set up the game-winning field goal and you audibly cheer out loud only to see your wife looking at you strangely. Then as I am watching other teams playing each other, I open another tab to see how the Luchadores did against them or when we are going to face them next. I honestly did not realize how competitive I would feel about random numbers pumped into a simulation, but it is quite similar to playing Madden or fantasy football. For those of you who want to know what happened in the second game of the doubleheader, it was a double-digit blow out; I essentially feel like Robert Horry just along for the rings.
Needless to say, if you have made it this far, you too understand exactly what I mean when I say that this league is something different than what you would find anywhere else. It is something that is a little difficult to explain to others but to those who know what it is really about, they can truly appreciate the phrase, “sim gonna sim”.
Although, before I get too far, I need to fill in my audience on how I came to be in the NSFL in the first place. A relative of mine, DangWookie, was staring at his phone watching YouTube about two weeks ago. It appeared he was just looking at a video game of football but not one that I had seen before. His wife said something to the effect of, “Oh, it is just some stupid simulation thing that he does.” Much to his defensiveness, I did not judge; quite the opposite in fact, I was intrigued. He went on to give me a broad overview of what the whole league was about, but my first reaction was that this all sounds really complicated and time-consuming. To which he said, “pretty much.”
It was not until about a week later that I texted DangWookie and asked him a few more questions about the NSFL, especially since I pulled up the website through Google and was immediately overwhelmed. First you sign-up, then you follow the Rookie Guide, then you join the Rookie Discord, then you read no less than ten different posts, then hours later you are down the rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland. What is worse, is that for someone who sits at a computer all day AND works remotely, it is a bad combination when you let the phrase, “I wonder…” creep into your head. Something as innocuous as predictions can make you open multiple tabs and weigh the Points For versus Points Against and then follow that up by considering what team is playing at home and which one is on the road. All for what… 0.5 TPE each if you get it correct!?!
And there is the rub. TPE. It sounds like a drug because it can be like one. Did I do my Activity Check? Did I make my Predictions? Did I do my weekly training? I went from being overwhelmed at how much there was to being overwhelmed BECAUSE of how much there was. Basically, that is how my first day in the league felt like.
Day two was slightly different. I dove into the Rookie Discord and reached out to the mentors who were a tremendous help. Shout out to Hydrium, Sconnie, and Triceracop for putting up with all my inane questions. With their help and the step-by-step videos by LtHudz, I felt a little more confident in what I was doing. I mean, I would not say all of this is necessarily intuitive or straightforward, but the structure of the league to onboarding new players is certainly a strength. Actually, I would say being active on Discord is both a necessary step to truly understanding the scope of the league and a large part of what makes the league appealing. It is a community of players who can engage with each other over a “trivial” game but be connected to something bigger; a diversion, a form of entertainment, a locker room, a blog, a casino, and basically limitless amounts of memes, gifs, and trash talk.
Then it happened, Swoosh reached out to me and before I knew it, I was a Tijuana Luchador! End day two. (Shout out to Swoosh and his legendary Dino Nugget-self for giving me the opportunity!)
So, day three was me getting acclimated to actually being part of a team. I was given a nice, warm welcome from the rest of the TEN TIME DSFL CHAMPIONS! Honestly, I think what sold me most on the Luchadores was the camaraderie that has been built on the Discord server. I am sure it is (hopefully) like that for other teams, but I consider myself fortunate to be claimed by the Tijuana Luchadores. Especially since my only regret about this whole process is that I did not start this journey before the season began. I feel like I missed out on the full experience of the offseason and the thrill of being drafted.
What “felt” worse came on day four, when I was playing my first games still being at the initial 50TPE because updates apparently only happen on the weekends. Of course, it was a double-header, and my player was just average and expectedly so. My frustration was that my player could not contribute more for my team but as someone on Discord said, “sim gonna sim”. I have come to know that this saying is almost as ubiquitous as The Mandalorian saying “this is the Way” or Denver Bronco fans saying “Let Russ Cook”. I digress. The Luchadores went 2-0 in those games and I was mesmerized watching these little circles with numbers on them move back and forth for over an hour.
Our first game had me legitimately stressed as we were down 21-20 with just about one minute left in the fourth quarter. Moments later you see a huge catch to set up the game-winning field goal and you audibly cheer out loud only to see your wife looking at you strangely. Then as I am watching other teams playing each other, I open another tab to see how the Luchadores did against them or when we are going to face them next. I honestly did not realize how competitive I would feel about random numbers pumped into a simulation, but it is quite similar to playing Madden or fantasy football. For those of you who want to know what happened in the second game of the doubleheader, it was a double-digit blow out; I essentially feel like Robert Horry just along for the rings.
Needless to say, if you have made it this far, you too understand exactly what I mean when I say that this league is something different than what you would find anywhere else. It is something that is a little difficult to explain to others but to those who know what it is really about, they can truly appreciate the phrase, “sim gonna sim”.
![[Image: UptownCord.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/UptownCord.gif)
