2036 Season?

[Rich-League Officer]

Gentleman,

I think the coaches of this league need to have a conversation about the viability of the PNFL going forward.
There has been in my mind a dramatic decrease in participation and interest which has been building the last few seasons.
There are 2 open teams but really there are 6 others that are essentially open too.
I now even see teams who historically have been active, beginning to "mail it in" on a weekly basis.

There is no pool of fresh blood to select new coaches so....

The remaining coaches need to be honest about their situations and life circumstances to determine if we should even play beyond this season.
Because for me, this league feels like its about half a dozen guys keeping it a float.
Trade deadlines pass without a whisper, forum is deathly quiet, no buzz about anything, not one coach has even asked me about the 2036 salaries which I have yet to generate, coaches routinely ignore the weekly lines. It feels like nobody really cares anymore.

I get it, the game is 20+ years old and we have been here a very long time. There are better and new games to play and you only have so many hours to waste on this. So, I am asking for some honestly about your desire to play on in a more active way. Maybe we need to simplify this league by eliminating the contract crap? Changing other rules to make it more fun in some way. Or maybe we need to reduce this league to 12. Or maybe we need to just admit that the tank is empty for too many coaches and we should shut it down.

Because, my desire and interest is linked to the coaches. I am happy to play but only if there is sufficient activity by the coaches.
Otherwise my desire is also zapped. I don't need to pay for a website for something nobody cares about.
And this is not about calling anyone out, pointing the fingers to specific coaches or anything like that.
We all have a life outside of this silliness. I can't tell you the number of changes in my own life since 1999 when this began!
Shit happens and time gets restricted, we have families, jobs and fbpro just becomes unimportant.

So, I ask you to let it fly and tell me what you want to do going forward.
Share it with the other coaches or just me.
Charlie and I have had these conversations in the past and we giggle it off because it seems there is always a rebound after a lull.
This time feels different to me. I look around at the individual coaches, some of whom I talk to and have known on a superficial basis for 5-10+ years!
I have a very good feel for this. I see all the PPPs each week. I know when the coach actually coaches. I know when roster files are not sent.
Trust me, this lull feels different.

The conversation is now open and is necessary.

[Charlie-49ers]

The 49ers are in it until I win it!

[Justin-Chicago]

I am not calling anyone out...I know I am quiet
But I am here, active, and wondering when the week 13 website update will happen
In regard to 2036 salaries, I've learned not to look too far forward because, odds are, there will be changes.
All that said, still having fun after all these years, and much respect and appreciation to the league officers for making it happen.

[Shawn-Giants]

I have had my share of life unexpectantcies and had to fall back for a moment but like most 8+ seasons coaches, the itch doesn't go away and I always find myself wandering back.

It's an excellent league and managed well by the Officers, I respect the effort by the whole league staff and especially Rich.

I also like how it evolves each season and much effort is put towards a great gameplay experience for all.

I'm in, I'd probably participate if it was all CPU coaches and just me. lol

[Dan-Cincinnati]

I really appreciate all the work Rich and Charlie and Jerry do. This game was so fun a long time ago. And then 15 years passed and I played it again, and again it was so much fun.

The problem I’m having now as someone who will call myself out as someone having been formerly active and then mailing it in recently....is that the game just does so much stuff that irritates the shit out of me. Simple things that I can’t control that a real coach would control. This is because the game is 20 years old and it is. It got me earlier in the year when I threw in the towel and it even got me again just this last week. Simple things like having the ball up 21-0, and throwing a pick 6. Things that you could control in a current game. Hell my guy spiked it on 3rd down in my own territory last game to stop the clock (because that’s the only option...not timeout) once the timeouts are gone, ur dummy qb will just spike it on 3rd down. Sure I could mitigate that by not having any timeouts or clock stoppages on 3rd down, but I don’t want to lol. It’s the little stuff like that. It’s just frustrating to spend hours, and watch, and then go “oh shit I didn’t set this, or I didn’t set that”. You can’t adjust anything on the fly

Last year when I was doing well, I was spending huge amounts of hours game planning. That part isn’t very much fun to me. What is fun is of course when the game loads up and rich posts the video and watching it. That makes the hours spent on the other stuff worth it. But watching ur kicker shank 50% of his 30 yard field goals or spiking the ball on 3rd down, some of that fun vanished and ur left with the “job” part...and it’s supposed to be fun (which don’t get me wrong I have had an incredible amount of fun in here with you all)

Anyway that was a very long winded explanation of why some of the fun that I once felt has kind of gone away. Pair that with feel of open teams, and as rich said, sort of a general feeling I have had about the interest level lately (minus Mitch ) it’s just lost a step. I would be really bummed to see it cease to exist. It’s nice feeling like u can take a break and come back and the PNFL will be waiting with a team for you, but that’s also selfish to ask these guys to devote this much of their free time while I have that attitude.

I personally am not quitting. I decided early on to send in old ppps and take the year off. But I also see what rich is talking about here and feel it personally. I’m married with a house now...when I started I was single as could be with a lot of time on my hands, living in a 1 bedroom apartment. Madden hasn’t still proven worth a damn, but I do find myself tinkering around with other video games during time I once spent scouting my coming opponent.

[Matt-Jacksonville]

Personally I've felt a bit drained. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the talent levels of the VPNFL style that we use. I've tried an experiment the last couple of seasons that may not have gone as well as I had hoped. Went from 46 secs from a Super Bowl berth to an early draft pick lol. Still I've always enjoyed the offseason/draft more than the regular season and still would hate to see the game go away completely. One thing that might help what Dan is talking about is if someone could get head to head play working and have games live head to head. If things went well, games could be played in 2 hrs and you could make all the adjustments you want on the fly...(within reason).

[Jerry-Redskins]

I go up and down with how much game planning etc I do, but will be here to the end. Too much fun even with the quirks to not do it.

[Mitch-Oilers]

Yes, I'm in! Honestly, I've seriously considered creating a PNFL Newsletter for each quarter of the season or just doing my version of a Preview/Review post or email. However, I find myself spending most of my free time trying to gameplan so I dont get around to the other stuff as much. I'll admit, it's frustrating to lose after spend hours gameplanning. Especially, to teams I know mailed it in.

2 things that I would like to have in the league:

1) A bye week during the season

2) Learn a more efficient way to gameplan effectively.

[William-Giants]

I am guilty in a reduced participation. In truth, I almost retired after last season.
I thought for me, given my life these days that I could not give the time I would like.
The same thoughts have been on my mind this season too.
Winning helps but it might be that others are also not as prepared so its a mirage.

I can't give any suggestions on what can be done to spur interest.
I have felt for a while that our players are so similar that roster building does not even matter anymore.
Trading is dead because every player is near identical so why bother.
Am I really going to trade a 1st rd pick for a WR when the 50th best WR has 1 less point in 4 attributes?
The death of trading hurts a league like this. The points, contracts, salary cap contributes to this death.
Yes we got more realistic as some wanted but at what price?

As for 2036, I cannot commit to saying yes today.
I hate open teams, I hate teams who I know are not coaching and trying.
It gets boring. And then it becomes hard to even get up for a Justin game.
I miss the days of activity, coaching and trash talk.
But you can't legislate participation.

[Steve-LA Chargers]

As this season has progressed, I have admittedly felt similar frustrations as Dan because of the weird on the field play. I can't count how many times my team has come back from being blown out to win in the end the past few seasons or vice versa. Plus, it gets discouraging when you see others succeed continuously like it is easy for them when it seems so hard for the rest of us. At certain points this season when I was down by 2 or more games, I almost mailed it in but I managed to get some critical wins to keep my season (and my motivation to play) alive.

I have continuously been trying to figure out how to be as successful as Thomas and William who seem to have figured out something the rest of us haven't. I know Jerry was good last season, Justin and Joe are amazing this season and Charlie was a few seasons ago, but Thomas and William have been consistently dominating season after season. I seriously doubt they are running 300 macro games like Rich did when he played. I've come up with new approach after new approach to try to achieve their level of success, but I just can't seem to get there though. In fact, when I think I've finally gotten there, I tend to lose in super ugly fashion almost as if the FBPRO gods are mocking me.

I think what it boils down to is most of us will tend to participate more ONLY when we think we have a chance. Right now I still think I have a chance to make the playoffs and I still have a chance to win my first playoff game … and maybe if the game decides it wants to cause weird stuff to happen in favor of the Chargers, I might even win it all. It's that HOPE that keeps me playing.

As a commish of a nearly empty league, I think the PNFL is in a much better situation. It's almost full. It's commish is able to run multiple game recordings so every game is recorded. It has survived longer than any league ever. Sure at some point, it will die, but I don't think we are there yet. A few more coach departures; Rich getting tired of recording games; William and/or Thomas retiring … Those are the league breakers IMHO. And when the PNFL goes, the XFBS goes too. It won't be a life preserver for FBPRO considering it's already on life support. We have mainly 3-4 fully active coaches in a league of 18 teams. At least the PNFL isn't there yet.