USFFL Season XXIII Kickoff Week

USFFL – The SEASON IS HERE!

The HOT Summer is starting to wind down and Fall is on the horizon.  Our favorite time of year has returned.  Football is BACK, my friends.  And that means, for the first time officially, it is my esteemed honor to say these words:  Let the pursuit of the Harlan McLain Trophy begin!

Our Defending Champs this year are the Los Angeles Chargers, as Coach Anthony Tangorra overcame a horribly carded defense on his way to a 13-4 record and ultimately a Superbowl victory.  The target is on your back this year, Mr. Tangorra.  Good luck on your title defense!  The season begins officially on MONDAY!

OWLS TOURNAMENT

Per our Constitution, the USFFL offers to administer the OWLS Tournament annually for our wait list members.  OWLS = Optional Wait List Showdown.  For the first time since the inception, there will NOT be an OWLS Tournament this season.  This is nothing to be concerned about.  Our wait list has shrunk a bit to just 3 members, and the group decision was to not do the tournament this season.  The same tournament will be offered again next season to our wait list members.

MY BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Guys, I’m getting married on 12/28/23.  For any Tim Ervin fans….  This is amazing news, because she’s an amazing woman.  I share this with you because I don’t want you to be surprised when this comes up again late in our season as we are looking at holiday scheduling.  And I also share this with you because by this time next year, I expect to have MUCH more free time on my hands as my kids will have moved out and I will no longer need to work 2 jobs.  For the past several years, I simply could not have held this league together without the selfless support of many others.  As you enjoy our 23rd season, please remember the amazing contributions of our USFFL Staff…

Assistant to the Commissioner:  TONY TELLERIA assists the day-to-day operations of the league by providing support to the commissioner in helping to shape the league image and by providing assistance in some of the tracking required by the league.

Software Admin:  SCOTT MUELLER oversees the Strat-o-Matic software, including setting up the league and managing the import/export of all league files. 

Website Admin:  SCOTT SCHUMACHER oversees the USFFL Website to include development and design.

Tech Admin:  DENNIS CROWLEY provides tech support whenever possible for USFFL issues.

BROADCAST ADMIN

Some of you may have noticed that our 5-member staff has shrunk to just four.  ANTHONY TANGORRA has been our Broadcast Administrator for the past several years but has decided to step down, as part of the normal shuffling of life priorities that we all go through.  Anthony was the point man on the Broadcast Initiative that helped to take the USFFL from a league with the occasional broadcast, mostly at playoff time…  to a league with weekly broadcasts throughout the season.  He provided direction, training, and oversight so that your Commissioner could also become comfortable making contributions to our broadcast footprint.  He also helped to improve the broadcast quality with some visual enhancements.  And most significantly, Anthony delivered for the USFFL a large commitment of time to the regular broadcasting of games the past couple years.  Anthony….  Your broadcasts were so researched, informed, entertaining and EDUCATIONAL.  THANK YOU for your help to get us to this point!  I’m not sure when we will see Anthony on a broadcast again, but he has certainly been informed he is encouraged to pick up the mic again for us whenever it tickles his fancy!

BROADCAST INITIATIVE

As Anthony takes a step back here, you may wonder:  Where does that leave us on our Broadcast Initiative?  It’s a fair question.  Ultimately, YOU are the market for the broadcasts and play a role in that answer.  For my part, I can tell you unequivocally that as long as even a small handful of you are watching the broadcasts for any reason, either live or recorded…  it is my intention to keep broadcasting.  Not only do I enjoy it, but I still believe in the mission:

The league is better when it is stronger.  It is stronger when retention is improved.  Retention is improved when bonds are strengthened.  Bonds are strengthened by finding opportunities to HEAR each other and SEE each other.  Broadcast Media strengthens the USFFL in ways that cannot be duplicated by other means.

It’s fair to expect the number of broadcasts to go down in frequency this season.  But I expect to be broadcasting weekly as normal, trying to cover as many teams as possible throughout the season.  You can help me by being educated on the process and doing YOUR part as outlined in the League Constitution.  It is difficult to be available to broadcast games without notice, so it remains important that everyone provides as much notice as possible when their game is scheduled.  Yes, sometimes games flare up without notice… that’s fine.  As soon as your game is scheduled, however, please make the notification timely to the league in Slack. 

One final note regarding the USFFL Broadcasts.  My ultimate vision/dream …  would be a handful of guys (coaches) that broadcast games periodically.  We don’t pressure our coaches to participate in broadcasts, so I certainly wouldn’t pressure you to become a member of the Broadcast Team.  However, what I would ask is that you keep an open mind and consider it.  It is my hope that another member or two might be willing to deliver some broadcasts down the road.  So let me just put this OUT THERE:  It’s easier than you think to quickly train and setup to do a broadcast.  EVERYONE is welcome to try it, and I’m happy to help with the process.  I can even set up a private test environment where you can try it out just for fun and see if you like it.  All I’m saying is….   Think about it. 

LET’S HAVE A FUN SEASON—

I’ve been looking forward to our season launch for awhile and I suspect I’m not the only one.  Let’s work together as a community and have fun again this year.  Let’s all try and be patient and understanding with our peers if they are struggling at all, technical or otherwise.  Thanks to you all for helping to make this a fun journey yet again.  GOOD LUCK TO ALL!