My Thoughts about the SFL---Lon Anderson (1st commissioner, S1-5, 7)

NOTE: This section comes courtesy of the Encyclopedia of SFL by Lon Anderson (after 7^th season)

A special thanks…to everyone who helped put this colossal work together. Thanks to Doug Clymer, whose help in starting the league was instrumental. Thanks to the 1^st Federal copy machine, which cranked out thousands of copies. Special thanks to Pete Bergum and Mike Kroenke for urging me to keep the league going at times it seemed to collapse. If it wasn’t for Lane Anderson & Rob Spalding, we wouldn’t even have had a Strategy Football League. Thanks to the coin machine @ Alco in Estherville which provided the equipment (helmets) for SFL. Also, thanks to Dave Johnson for his assistant commissioner & treasurer roles for seasons 6 & 7. I don’t nearly have enough space to mention everyone’s name, but again thanks to everyone that helped me when I needed it the most.

ADDENDUM – 20 YEARS LATER…

After reading Doug’s well-written comments, I have to concur that it should come as no surprise that he and I love fantasy football. While the SFL was not based on real-life statistics, it used all-star teams of real NFL players, just like fantasy football. Both the SFL and fantasy football rely on one thing – the greatness of the National Football League.

The NFL is by far the powerful, the most popular, best-managed professional sports franchise. While it is not perfect, the NFL has not made the mistakes that other sports leagues have like overexpansion (NHL) or making its regular season meaningless (NBA and MLB).

I fell in love with NFL football (and more specifically the Denver Broncos, but that’s a story for another day) back in 1977 and have watched the game with a great passion ever since. And I follow it religiously every season, regardless of my favorite team being 6-10 or 13-3.

And the main reason for that is fantasy football. Fantasy football allows us “Monday Morning General Managers” to draft players, spend money in free agency, set lineups, and experience the joy of winning and the agony of defeat. Like Doug, I’m also the Commissioner of a fantasy football league and I have believe that the experience of running the SFL made it all possible.

My Thoughts about the SFL---Doug Clymer (2^nd commissioner, S8-9)

Wow, it is hard to believe that the SFL happened nearly 20 years ago. I have been using Lon’s encyclopedia of SFL to do research on this project (I did update it for S8-10, but Lon did the bulk of the work originally). Lots of good stuff in there. In case you are reading this & no longer have your copy, I have it electronically scanned for whoever would like it sent out (email me (semfflcommish@yahoo.com) if you want a copy).

Lon came to me when SFL was but an idea prior to S1 to join the league. One of the best moves I made; it was a fun game & required a little more skill than present day fantasy football. I can say that this league likely prepared me for the fantasy football leagues I would start & run over these past 10+ seasons I have been involved with FFB. And like SFL, I’m still waiting for that elusive championship in FFB (I waited until S10 to finally get my first SFL title).

Being the commissioner after Lon was a tough act to follow. I think my 1^st thing on my plate upon becoming commish was to expand the base that was in the league. When I took over after S7, the league was at 6 teams & was a good possibility of being a done thing then. I took the reigns & started recruiting new blood for the league. S8 saw the return of Dave Spalding (SA) & Dave Clymer (RoR) as well as newcomers Eric Petersen (HH), Brad Trosin (DD), Rick Lytle (LE) & Matt Rembold (MM). Matt was the only team we lost for S9. We added more owners for the 9^th season, Tim Fagre (FF), Rob Stine (StS), & Sean Stepanek (SS), bringing us up to 14 total. But the expansion came too quickly as I began to burn out after only 2 seasons at the helm. Little did anyone know that I would be dropping the bombshell of resigning as commish before the 9^th season was over (especially my AC, Dave Johnson).

S10 was a memorable one for me despite not being the commissioner any longer (Dave Johnson was running the show). The DAS had an undefeated season, joining only the S4 RR as the only SFL teams of all time to make it through a season without a loss. And capping the season by defeating the 4 time champions, the RR, in CB X capped off what was my SFL dream season.

Unfortunately, time was not on our side. Most of our senior owners were either college students or very close to it. It was too hard to run the league during just holiday breaks & summer breaks. And the interest level was even dropping off for the junior owners still in the Estherville area. So we decided it was time to let the league go & disband.

Lots of good memories still exist today of the SFL, especially rekindled by reading the encyclopedia that Lon made after 7 seasons & the addendums that were added by me after the 10^th season. I still have & will forever have fond memories of competing against my friends on the old SFL fields. And I think we should thanks those parents who were willing to let us host games in their homes: the Andersons, the Clymers, the Spaldings, the Johnsons. Without their patience with the noise levels, these games would not have happened.

I thank the SFL for the opportunities & proving grounds it gave me to eventually want to pursue having my own fantasy leagues (the ones I’ve started—2 of those 3 leagues still exist today—I run the present one of 40 teams). Without SFL, my fantasy FB days may have never existed. Thanks for the memories SFL!

My SFL Experience---Dave Johnson (3^rd commissioner, S10)

We were sports pioneers twenty years ago. Who would have known that 20 years after the SFL started up that fantasy sports would be so huge? Many of the components in the fantasy sports world of today were part of the SFL.

For the first few SFL seasons, I had heard my friends Lon & Doug talk about the league and how much fun it was, but I was interested in other things (like music, girls & computers). But once I joined the league as a team owner, announcer & later official, I was hooked. For me, the SFL turned out to be my sports fantasies come true. The chance to compete, the chance to win, the chance to be around guys who were just as passionate about their teams as I was and the chance to be a part of something great in its time was nothing short of phenomenal.

My first two years in the league as a team owner were marked with losing records & much frustration. I coined many key phrases like “I got ripped!” when I would lose a play and “I’m going to pop it” when I was going to pass the ball. The “I got ripped” line was the source of one of my assistant coach’s names. It took me a while to grasp the strategy of the games and while I hated to lose, I didn’t give up. My resolve to stay in the league until I won some games paid off in Season 7, when my team, the Daring Rebels (aka DR) won the SFL championship. That win over Lon’s Ruthless Radicals was sweet. The student beating the teacher who happened to also be one of the league founders was very satisfying. Beyond the games, there were the friendships founded & strengthened through the time when the league existed. Just when it seemed that the league would fold, it would rebound & get stronger.

Thanks to all the commissioners for presiding over the SFL, for keeping it going and refusing to not take the easy choice folding the league. Without Lon presiding over the first seasons and without Doug having the passion to bring in new owners while he was commissioner, my job as 3^rd league commissioner of the SFL would have been much more difficult. I enjoyed my time as commissioner, and presided over the league when it had the most teams. Luckily, we had league tranquility during my time and I didn’t need to step in very often. Thanks to all the team owners for competing and their parents for allowing them to participate in the games.