11 years ago...

[Dean-Atlanta]

I join the PNFL this exact day 11 years ago, Sept. 11, 2011. I only remember because it was 9 /11 the day I joined, in 2011 during the three month time from Aug to early Nov that year I was in Arizona. I was thinking about how I finally started to miss being in FBPro leagues after having been retired from them since some time in 2004, so I searched Google and found this league. I joined after 2 weeks of the 2019 season, taking open New England, and James had just rejoined the PNFL right before I did, and I think my first game was NE vs his Oak team.

I went 7-7 (NE was0-2 when I joined) in the 14 games I coached that season. I had a weak defense but a very productive offense with rookie QB Jakes Locker running the offense, who I traded to the Giants in that off-season. You all know Locker for having a HOF career with the Giants coached by William. Maybe trading locker was a curse, I never consistently stuck with one QB until I drafted Justin Fields.

Joshua Dobbs was almost my long term QB except his 66 HA caused him to consistently lead the league in fumbles.

11 years in real life time and 22 seasons.

[Matt-Jacksonville]

Boy time sure does fly when you are having fun. I just looked and it's been nine seasons since I joined. It seems like just yesterday that William scored with :46 left on the clock to beat me in my first Conference title game and rob me of a Super Bowl appearance in my first season. Still haunts me to this day.

[Dean-Atlanta]

The game that does that for me wasn't in the PMFL, but years ago in a league called ECCFL (which was somewhat like PNFL) in the early 2000s that I joined and then become commissioner. I played in the Super Bowl in what was my 3rd or 4th season after going 12-4 with as the Redskins with Tom Brady as my starting QB. I lost the SB 42-14, it seemed that my team just self-destructed in the first quarter and never recovered. The Asst. commish ran the game much the way Rich does them here.

I scouted Pittsburgh and pretty much knew what he would do, he went 14-2 destroying everyone with mostly the same PPP each week. I put together a game plan that beat that PPP 90 percent of the sims and I was confident of winning the SB. This was a league where full PPPs including profiles were uploaded after the games for post-game scouting. I simmed 10 games using his actual PPP and won 9 of the ten. I likely had a 90 percent chance of winning, but the game was one of the ten percent I would lose. It happens, no matter how much we do to increase our odds of winning a game.

But it was demoralizing to lose that way, after what may have been my best season of coaching in this game ever. I played and commished one more season in that league ansd then many involved lost interest and retired from FBPro, including me. The PNFL in 2011 was the next league I would join, coming out of retirement, after retiring at the end of that next ECCFL season.

[Rich-League Officer]

I joined the week of Feb 1st-7th, 1999 which was 23 years, 7 months ago.
Can't believe this league is still playing!

[Matt-Jacksonville]

I feel ya Dean. I didn't mention that my last taste of FBPRO prior to that first season of PNFL was losing to Rob in the XFL AND XFBS championship games by 1 pt!!

[James-Eagles]

Interesting I joined right as that season began. It has been that a long time. I still remember being on the waiting list to get in PNFL when I first joined

[Steve-LA Chargers]

My first league was the CCFL back in the late 90s - Fbpro96. The commish, Steve Bycroft, didn't like that I looked at the film and found a way to recreate his defenses and beat him in the Super Bowl with them. Accused me of cheating when all I did was look at the film and get creative in the play editor. He quit as commish and I ran his league for a few more seasons. Looking back the whole thing is laughable to me now after being in a league with a playpool for so long.

[Dean-Atlanta]

My first league was the CCFL back in the late 90s - Fbpro96. The commish, Steve Bycroft, didn't like that I looked at the film and found a way to recreate his defenses and beat him in the Super Bowl with them. Accused me of cheating when all I did was look at the film and get creative in the play editor. He quit as commish and I ran his league for a few more seasons. Looking back the whole thing is laughable to me now after being in a league with a playpool for so long.

I remember those days and how some accused you of "copying" their plays, like it was cheating, if you created plays that were ven similar to theirs. Overall, the play pool concept works well. I remember it took a while for new coaches to be able to create their own game plans and original plays back then. I remember the name Steve Bycroft, but I wasn't in his league, there were so many leagues running in the FBPro96 days that, even if you played in 4-6 leagues as many of us did, you didn't join many of them that were active.

[Mitch-Oilers]

The 1st league online league I joined wasn't until 2002 I think, maybe 2003. It was the NWFL. I really enjoyed it. It was part of the FBPRO Federation. It was a home sim league. PPPs were posted after the games, so it was easy to gameplan if you took the time. Plus, I got to watch 1/2 the games.

That's why I love the PNFL now. We can watch all the games!

[Dean-Atlanta]

The 1st league online league I joined wasn't until 2002 I think, maybe 2003. It was the NWFL. I really enjoyed it. It was part of the FBPRO Federation. It was a home sim league. PPPs were posted after the games, so it was easy to gameplan if you took the time. Plus, I got to watch 1/2 the games.

That's why I love the PNFL now. We can watch all the games!

NWFL...brings back old memories. I was not in that league but I remember it. NWFL was paired with a sister college league that I think grew to 60 teams at one point when FBPro support 30-league teams. I was involved with a college league called NCFL, that I started and was first commish, and we had a sister NFL league called WNFL and I do not remember what the W stood for, but I do remember the NWFL was a copy of that league, which lead to the creation of their college league, and I do not remember the name of it. WEe had someone named Rich that won a LOT in WBFL, but I do not think it was our Rich from here in PNFL.

But these leagues were home sim, which meant we watched home games. I agree, the watching of the actual games here is one of the best aspects of how this league is run now.