The Doomsday Fantasy Football League (DFFL) was founded in 1999 by Josh Liller. A FFLer since 1995, Josh named the DFFL after a previous online Yahoo FFL he had ran. Josh was able to recruit 6 friends with an interest in fantasy football, albeit with almost not previous experiance amongst them. 2 of the original 7 did not even really follow the NFL.
|
1999 - 2010
|
|
|
1999 - 2010
|
|
|
1999 - 2010
|
|
|
1999 - 2006,
2008 - 2010
|
The first draft was held at the Palm City Library. It featured a pen-smashing incident and many strange and interesting selections due to inexperiance. Most of the records of those first two seasons are lost to time (and a lack of Yahoo records). Josh and Sam, the early favorites due to their football knowledge, were both upset in the 1999 semi-finals by the two players who didn't even follow football! Rob went on to defeat Will in the improbable finals that would set the stage for many strange seasons to come.
6 of the 7 original teams returned for the second season, for which the draft was also held at the Palm City Library. Matt took over the slot vacated by James, but the league was still unable to find an 8th team. No pens were smashed this time and the year of experiance showed in the draft selections. Will would go on to win the championship.
The third year took the draft to the Steak-n-Shake in Jensen Beach. The draft order was selected by pulling names out of a hat (literally) and Sam, Josh, and Will randomly got the top three picks. In a shrewd draft day move, Sam made a major trade with Bill for the first overall pick. Bill took Terrell Davis, who proceeded to miss most of the season with a knee injury and Bill's team was very bad as a result. Sam made good use of his draft, finishing second during the regular season but losing to Will in the semifinals. Will would make his third straight championship game, only to be defeated by Josh's red hot team. Josh delievered the only perfect season to date, scoring the most points that season as well as going undefeated.
|
|
The league finally found its 8th team when Joe joined for season four, but the excitement came when the playoffs rolled around. Bill had a hugely successful regular season, with the best record (12-2) and the most points. But he was upset in the first round of the postseason by Vien, who had finished 5th in points and with the last place record. Mostly on the back of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers defense, Vien would finally overcome his frustrating early years with the league and go on to upset Will in the semifinals and Josh in the championship.
The league looked to bigger and better things in year five. Though Matt did not have a team, Lauren and Brian joined to expand the league to nine teams, and Matt assisted in Lauren's and Joe's drafting. But soon after the draft, things went sour as Rob and Bill seperately decieded to forfeit their seasons, citing disinterest in fantasy football. After the dust settled, Vien had followed his surprise championship last year with a 3rd place finish, along with the most points and best regular season record. Josh tied Will's record of three consecutive championship appearances and beat Brian (who made it to the championship in his first year).
It was back to 8 teams for season six, with the draft being held at Tower Games so Brian Phipps could fill the spot vacated by Brian Bernstein. Joe, Vien, and Josh all put together strong teams and finished in a three way tie for first place heading into the playoffs. Also, 4 teams ended the regular season with over 900 points (Joe, Lauren, Bill, & Vien). But after a season highlighed more by his number of roster moves (29) than his record (7-7, 6th place) or his points (6th place), Brian took a similiar route to Vien's surprise championship with playoff wins over Josh and Will before defeating Bill in the finals.
Season seven featured one of the largest turnovers between seasons: Lauren would miss the draft due to college, Will had lost interest (and his performance in the proceeding few seasons showed it), and Brian Phipps did not return either. Brian Bernstein became the first to come back after having left, and he was joined by newcomers Joey and Pat. Due to a request for drafti munchies, the draft was held at IHOP and highlighted by Vien making early picks for Joey over the phone. Sam rebounded from his horrible 1-13 season to tie for the best record and reach the championship game, only to lose to Brian.
Season eight saw Lauren return to the league while Pat missed the draft due to college. It was a hardfought season, culminating in the improbable championship matchup of Brian and Bill, who finished the season in 7th and 8th place respectively in both points and record. Vien finished with the best record only to be upset by Bill in the first round of the playoffs, essentially a repeat of events during the 2002 season, but with Bill's and Vien's roles reversed.
Season nine had an adjusted points system that lead to higher scores, but proved unpopular. Vien and Joe missed the season, but Pat returned and newcomers Chris, Nick, and Janielle brought the league to an all-time high of 10 teams. Janielle was the second female in the league and proved capable, including a good playoff run to finish 2nd. Chris had the best record and 2nd most points, but was upset in the semi-finals by Brian who went on to win a record 3rd straight championship. Joey had the misfortunate of scoring the most overall points in the league, but only achieving a 7-6 record.
Season ten failed to see the return of any of the three new people from the previous year. Vien did return and Joey was drafted in absentia at his request. The playoff system was changed up: for the first time only 4 teams would make the playoffs instead of 8, bringing an end to the hugely improbable playoff upsets of years past. Bill seemed to make excellent use of his first overall draft spot with a team that appeared great on paper, but it failed to deliver during the season. Josh dominated the entire season, only to be narrowly upset in the playoffs by Sam. Sam made the playoffs despite being in Navy boot camp during the last 1 1/2 months of the season and thus unable to make changes to his team. Lauren defeated Sam to win her first championship. Brian's team ended up with a amazingly cursed QB position: 6 QBs who started at least one game for Brian during the season missed games due to either injuries or being benched by their NFL team.
Seasons eleven and twelve were dominated by league newcomer (but experienced FFLer) Tom Walker. He went 22-5 while leading the league in points both seasons and winning championships both years.
The league disbanded after the 2010 season, mostly because participants kept moving away.