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TFFL – Totally Fantastic Football League History and Records |
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All-Star Teams TFFL
Bowl/Playoff Results and Records |
History ( a work in progress….have not gotten to
much of it yet) The
Totally Fantastic Football League was founded as an eight-team league in
Mobile, Alabama in 1989. Fifteen
years later the league is still going strong, now consisting of 12
franchises. The
eight original franchises (Owners) of the TFFL were the Arkham Starspawn
(Roger Walker), Demons (???), Death Star Stormtroopers (Jim Dees),
Slammers/N-Crowd (Scott ?? Cory), Gladiators (Chad Marcum???), Destroyers
(????), Rockville Wrecking Crew (Todd Bond), and the McLeaders
(????Lundy??). Todd Bond and the
Rockville Wrecking Crew won the first TFFL Bowl. (Fred Nusbaum – What team did he have?? Margaritaville?? Heatwave Lizards???) In
1991 Ted Greenspan took over the Demons/Sleepless Knights franchise and
renamed it Armageddon. Bubba
Tew and Steve Jess took over the Heatwave Franchise in 1993 and the team became
the Jurassic Park Raptors. The N-Crowd became the Hades Hellraisers. The
league also saw a major change with the introduction of the “franchise rate”
system where players would have to be given an average of the top 8 players
at their position in order to be retained after their option year. 1994
saw the first round of league expansion as the TFFL grew to 10 teams with the
addition of the Golgotha Crusaders under the direction of Todd Smith and the
Sector J-25 Borg led by the tandem of Joe Purvis and Steve Donald. Beau Doolittle, a junior partner with the
Stormtroopers in 1993, took over the Gunslingers after the Lundys left and
renamed the team the Devils Tower Accelerators while Thomas Luker took over
the Hellraisers. The
1997 season saw the league expand to 12 teams and also added several other
major changes. The Tartarus Titans
under Mike Rose and Gotham Dark Knights owned by Denny Mescko joined the
TFFL. By expanding to 12 teams, the league was able to move to a four
division, two-conference set up for the regular season with the playoffs now
done within each conference and the champions meeting in the TFFL Bowl. The league created the three-wide
formation and added a rookie draft to be implemented in the 1998 season. Joe Purvis left the Borg when Chad Marcum
resigned, and renamed the team the ‘Fourth World Dog Soldiers” and won the
TFFL Bowl. Curtis
Enis was taken first overall by the Rockville Wrecking Crew using a pick
acquired from Jurassic Park via the newly renamed Springfield Atoms (formerly
Devils Tower). Following Enis was RB
Fred Taylor, RB Robert Edwards and the player that Jim Dees declared to be
the best of the bunch, RB Robert Holcombe.
Of course, the Troopers salvaged the day by dealing with Drunkenheim
for a WR that fell to the second round named Randy Moss. Springfield grabbed QB Peyton Manning with
one of the picks it acquired from the Wrecking Crew for the top overall pick. Prior
to the 1998 season, the league also voted to change the structure of the
contract rules from two years plus an option year that the player had to be
renewed prior to, to having the renewal decision follow the third year. 1998 saw the return of George Lundy to the
league along with partners David Richards and Dean Sklopan as the Drunkenheim
Dragon Lords. Taking over the Hades
franchise, the Dragon Lords went from worst to first in winning Lundy’s third
TFFL Bowl Title. Daryl Atchison took over the Fourth World franchise when Joe Purvis left in 1999, and returned the team to Asgard for one season. In 2000, Daryl’s brother Derek joined the program and the team was relocated to Shire to become the Hobbits. Lance Robinson also joined the league in 2000, taking over the Golgotha Crusaders from Todd Smith and renaming the franchise the South Park Lynch Mob. Robinson was only in the league for one season, but was an exemplary owner. Already eliminated from the playoffs heading into week 13, Robinson’s Lynch Mob pulled off an upset over a heavily favored Rockville club that kept his friend the Wrecking Crew out of the playoffs. In 2001, the TFFL suffered a great loss as Robinson
passed away prior to the season. Gary
Mehrer took over the Borg franchise that was given up by Steve Donald and the
team became the Qeynos Questers.
David Toifel took over South Park and the team became the Riders of
Rohan. Following
the 2001 season, founding member Todd Bond decided that the commute from
Mississippi was too great and left the league with two TFFL Bowl titles to
his name. In addition, Mike Rose
decided to give up the Titans. David
Richards and Dean Sklopan, partners with the Dragon Lords, took over the
franchises in 2002 and named them the Highland Immortals and Weekend
Warriors, respectively. Jim
Dees moved and resigned from the league after the 2002 season, ending one of
the most successful tenures in league history and leaving Roger Walker as the
only remaining founder in the TFFL.
Dees led the Stormtroopers to four TFFL Bowl titles during his tenure
and left with the most wins of any owner in the history of the league. Mike Abernathy replaced Dees, and finished
off a successful first season by advancing to the TFFL Bowl. Following
the 2003 season the three former Dragon Lord partners decided to call it
quits. Andrew McMillian joined the
league as the Freeport Militia, taking over the Warriors. Jonathan Danzer took over the Immortals
and the franchise is now known as the Station 17 Backdraft and Cevin Cormier
moved the Dragon Lords to Faber to become the Mongols. The
league has completed 15 seasons. In
that time, much has changed. There
are now 12 franchises, different rules for player contracts and acquisitions,
new owners, and the league is a year-round enterprise. But one thing has remained the same. The game is still about fun. It is still about managing a roster and
putting out the best starting lineup over the course of the season. It is about creating a franchise identity
and building that franchise around players. It has been a great 15 years, and 2004 looks to be the start
of another great 15. |