Thoughts from the 3 commissioners of the SFL (Strategy Football League)

My Thoughts the SFL by Lon Anderson (1^st commissioner, Seasons 1-7)—courtesy Encyclopedia of SFL by Lon Anderson (written 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 F.F. copy machine, which cranked out thousands of copies. Special thanks to Pete Bergum & 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 SFL. Thanks to the coin vending machine @ Alco-Estherville, which provided the 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 & 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 FFB. Both the SFL & FFB rely on one thing-the greatness of the NFL.

The NFL is by far the powerful, 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 & 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 & have watched the game with a great passion ever since. And I follow it religiously every season, regardless if my favorite team is 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 & experience the joy of winning & agony of defeat. Like Doug, I ‘m also the commissioner of a fantasy football league & I have to believe that the experience of running the SFL made it all possible.

My Thoughts about the SFL by Doug Clymer (2^nd commissioner, Seasons 8-9)

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 an update for S8-10, but Lon did the bulk of the work originally-lots of good stuff there). I might even have a copy of it scanned around somewhere yet.

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 FFB leagues I would start & run over the years I’ve been involved in FFB. And like SFL, I’m still waiting for that elusive 1^st FFB title (I waited until SFL S10 to win my 1^st SFL crown).

Being the commissioner after Lon was a tough act to follow. I think my first thing on my plate upon becoming commissioner was to expand the league. When I took over after S7, the league was 6 teams & was a good possibility of being done 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 that fell out for S9. We added more owners for the 9^th season: Tim Fagre (FF), Rob Stine (StS) & Sean Stepanek (SS), bringing the league to 14 total teams. But the expansion came too quickly as I began to burn out after only 2 seasons @ the helm. Little did anyone know that I would be dropping the bombshell of resigning as commissioner before S9 was over (especially to my ass’t commish, Dave Johnson).

S10 was a memorable one for me despite being only an owner (Dave was the commissioner). The DAS has an undefeated season, joining only the S4 RR as the only SFL teams of all time to go undefeated in a season. And capping the season by defeating the 4 time champion RR in CB X capped off what was my SFL dream season.

Unfortunately, time was not on our sides. Most of our senior owners were either college students or close to it. It was too hard to run the league during just holiday & 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 Lon’s work for the first 7 seasons & the update added by myself after S10. I still have & will forever have fond memories of competing against my friends on the old SFL fields. And I think we should thank the parents who were willing to let us play in their homes: the Andersons, the Spaldings, the Clymers & 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 the 3 still exist today—my present league is 40 teams). Without SFL, my fantasy FB days have never existed. Thanks for the memories SFL!

My SFL Experience by 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 & how much fun it was (but I was interested in other things at the time like music, girls & computers). But once I joined the league as an 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 as passionate about their teams as I was & the chance to be a part of something great in its time, was nothing short of phenomenal.

My first two seasons in the league as an owner were marked with losing seasons & much frustration. I coined many key phrases like “I got ripped!” when I would lose a play & “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 in S7, when my team, the Daring Rebels (DR), won the SFL championship. The win over Lon’s RR was sweet. The student beating the teacher who happened to also be one of the league’s founders was satisfying. Beyond the games, there were friendships founded & strengthened through the time when the league existed. Just when it seemed the league would fold, it would rebound & get stronger.

Thanks to all the commissioners for presiding over the SFL, for keeping it going & refusing to not take the easy choice in folding the league. Without Lon presiding over the first 7 seasons & Doug having the passion to bring in new owner while he was commissioner, my job as 3^rd commissioner of the league would have been much more difficult. I enjoyed by time as commissioner & presided over the league when it had its most teams. Luckily, we had league tranquility during my time & I didn’t need to step in very often. Thanks to all the team owners for competing & their parents for allowing them to participate in the games.