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History of the ENC Fantasy Football Organization
Twenty-Five Seasons and Counting

During the summer of 1997, the concept of an easy, low-maintenance fantasy football league for beginners was devised.  With guidance from experienced players, other intricate leagues and some basic rules, the outline for a beginner fantasy football league was drawn.  The hand-written, scripted outline led to an elaborate Excel model that would tabulate schedules, game summaries, rankings and playoffs.  Game starters would be submitted via email to the commissioner each week by Friday afternoon.  Starters, scheduled games and previous weeks' results would be distributed in the Excel spreadsheet via email to inform all owners of league status and starters for the weekend's games.  Following completion of weekend games, owners would tabulate their own statistics (yardage and score) and their opponent's statistics and confirm via email that their statistics agreed.  The home team was then in charge of submitting the final agreed upon statistics to the Commissioner who would update the official Excel spreadsheet model containing all statistics for the league.  This procedure was the basis for the ENC Fantasy Football Organization.

The league would contain 16 teams: 8 teams local to northern Virginia and 8 teams from the family forming the Virginia Football Conference (VFC) and the Family Football Conference (FFC).  The VFC would include local friends in the Virginia area and FFC would include family from New York, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia, all of which had never played fantasy football before.  Each conference would hold its own draft consisting of 13 rounds, drafting 2 QBs, 3 RBs, 4 WRs, 2 kickers and 2 team defenses.  With these two conferences of 16 teams and amidst the educated ruckus at 2811 Evelyn Court, founder David Szczesniak developed the ENC Fantasy Football Organization.

The first season began in the fall of 1997.  The Charter League was formed containing 8 teams split into two divisions, the Men and the Women, comprising the Virginia Football Conference.  The Family League was also formed containing 8 teams split into two divisions, the North and the South.  The North eventually became the Szczesniak division while the South later became the Nagowski division.  Both league schedules included a 10 game regular season and a three week long post season.  The regular season consisted of 6 divisional games and 4 intra-conference games.  The divisional games pinned a home and away game against every other team in the division.  The intra-conference games consisted of a game against each team in the other division.  At the conclusion of the 10 game regular season, the three top teams from each division entered the playoffs.  The two division winners received byes for the first round.  At the conclusion of the week 13 games, a Charter League Champion and Family League Champion were crowned.  This was the first successful season of the ENC Fantasy Football Organization.

The second season began the fall of 1998.  The two major changes from the previous season were the combining of the two leagues into one Charter League and the increase to a 12 week regular season.  The two conferences still held their own respective drafts but cross-conference games were introduced to better tie the entire league together.  The extra two games were out-of-conference games pinning the VFC against the FFC.  The playoff structure was also elongated by one game with the addition of the Charter League Superbowl in week 16 where the VFC Conference Champion engaged the FFC Conference Champion to begin the first cross-conference rivalry.

The third season began the fall of 1999.  There were many changes from the previous season.  The first and most major change was the transformation from an email/Excel based system to a web-based system.  With the help of Mark Szczesniak, Cisco Corporation and Hughes Technologies, the ENC Fantasy Football Organization migrated to the internet.  An application developed in Perl using an mSQL database was housed on a Cisco server to provide access to an additional 14 teams from anywhere at any time.  These additional 14 teams created the need for another conference.  Thus, the Dixon Line Conference (DLC) was born.  The DLC took over the North and South divisions making way for the emergence of the Szczesniak and Katz divisions in the FFC.  The new Charter League structure included three conferences, each with two divisions containing 5 teams in each division totaling a league of 30 teams.

The schedule was slightly altered for both the regular season and the playoffs.  The regular season remained 12 games long but the opponents were different.  With 5 teams in each division, each team played 8 divisional games, 3 intra-conference games and 1 out-of-conference game.  The playoffs moved from 12 teams to a 24 team, 4 bracket structure lasting 5 weeks.  The 6 division winners and the two top wildcards in the league received byes in the first round.  The remaining 22 teams fought for 16 wildcard spots.  In week 17, Charter League Superbowl III was played utilizing the full 17 week NFL regular season.

The fourth season began the fall of 2000.  The web-based Charter League expanded to 4 conferences of 40 teams.  The American Management Conference (AMC) was added to account for the extra 10 teams which were distributed between the PSG and Fire divisions.  The PSG division eventually became the Functional division.  The schedule remained the same with 12 regular season games consisting of 8 divisional, 3 intra-conference and 1 out-of-conference game.  The playoff structure remained the same, 40 teams fighting for 24 playoff spots.  All 8 division winners received byes for the first round with the Conference Championships played on week 15 producing the "final four" and the Charter League Superbowl IV finishing off the season two weeks later.

The major addition to the 2000 season was the creation of the Commissioner Board of Directors (CBD).  The CBD consisted of a representative from each division responsible for their respective division and the league's growth and direction.  Each CBD member received information and updates from the Commissioner which was disseminated to the teams in their respective divisions.  In regards to changes in the rules and regulations of the league, each CBD member was entitled to one vote.  With a majority vote, the CBD had the final say in any changes to the league.  The Commissioner would cast the deciding vote if a tie existed.  The CBD empowered the owners with control to shape and direction of the league.

The fifth season began in the fall of 2001.  The Charter League increased to its maximum size of 48 teams.  The four conferences remained the same but with an extra two teams in each conference.  These additional teams forced each conference to add a third division constituting three divisions of four teams in each conference.  In the VFC, the Mixed division was added.  In the FFC, the Nagowski division (old North division) was added.  In the DLC, a Central division was added.  In the AMC, the Ice division was added.  As voted by the CBD, the schedule changed slightly by the removal of the out-of-conference regular season game.  Teams played 6 divisional games and 6 intra-conference.  The 24 team playoff structure remained the same but only the top two division winners received byes in the first round leaving the third best division winner to play the third wildcard team in each conference.  The conference champions met in the final four for the regional title then squared off in Charter League Superbowl V.

Half way through the 2001 season, the ENC Fantasy Football Organization was moved from the Cisco server to a private server hosted by Perry Myers.  The hosting service was changed to increase performance of the fantasy application and gain more control over other external factors to aide in the usability of the site.

The sixth season began in the fall of 2002.  The size of the ENC Fantasy Football Organization increased by 50%.  There were two conferences added totaling 24 more teams.  The American Futbol Conference (AFC) was added taking with it the Fire and Ice divisions from the AMC and adding the Smoke division.  The AMC added the Technical and X divisions to its already powerful Functional division.  The Liverpool Horseshoe Conference (LHC) was added with three new divisions: the Pine, Oak and Cherry divisions.  Because of the increased league size, the decision was made to reinstate the Family League founded in 1997.  The ENC Fantasy Football Organization returned to its original state of a Charter League and a Family League.  The Charter League kept the VFC, the DLC, the AMC and added the AFC.  The Family League recaptured the FFC and added the LHC to produce a 24 team league.  The only difference in the schedule was in the Family League in which no regional playoff games were played.  The FFC and LHC conference champions played each other in the Family League Superbowl II in week 16 while Charter League Superbowl VI matched up the VFC (after defeating the DLC), and the AMC (after defeating the AFC) in week 17.  In all, the ENC Fantasy Football Organization grew to 72 teams.

At the beginning of the 2002 season playoffs, the ENC Fantasy Football Organization was registered and placed under David Szczesniak's personal site, www.sez17.com, for the remainder of the season.  Still hosted through Perry Myers' illuminari.org server, David and Mark Szczesniak continued to develop improvements and enhancements for the league with supported input from the various CBD members.

The seventh season began the fall of 2003.  Two more conferences were added like the previous season to fulfill the Family League's 48 team capacity.  With the addition of two new conferences, the American Soccer Conference (ASC) and the College Football Conference (CFC), the ENC Fantasy Football Organization expanded to 96 total teams.  The ASC's three new divisions included the Defender, Midfield and Striker divisions.  The CFC's three new divisions included the Wahoo, Hokie and Volunteer divisions.  Two distinct Superbowl champions were crowned, one for Superbowl VII of the Charter League and one for Superbowl III of the Family League.

The pioneering design for a franchise module was constructed and developed to capture the history of each team in the organization.  Cumulating back through the previous six seasons, this module contained an owner written franchise description as well as regular and playoff season statistics and evolution of team name, division, conference and league.  The first annual owner's banquet was held at the Crystal City Sport Pub in Crystal City, VA.  Awards, trophies, league updates, food and games were provided to celebrate the 2003 season.  The Conference Olympics were held pinning the conferences against each other in a series of sports bar games.  The CFC escaped with the gold.

The eighth season began the fall of 2004.  One more conference was added to create a third league consisting of 12 more teams expanding the organization to 108 total teams.  The new conference, the United Football Conference (UFC), was the beginning of the Expansion League in the ENC Fantasy Football Organization.  The UFC's three new divisions included the Red, White and Blue divisions.  For this first season, a conference champion was crowned without a subsequent superbowl in the Expansion league while the Charter League held Superbowl VIII and the Family League held Superbowl VI.

The focus of the 2004 season was to maintain a stable server and provide a smooth season of flawless play and minimal accessibility interruptions with the organization reaching 100+ teams.  Many of the additional features on the website were mainly backend improvements and automated processes.  A new email process was instituted to improve the performance of processes administering email notifications.  A Spreads page was added that dynamically displays the spread for each game each week based on the starters selected.  A proceed distribution section was added to the Owner's page to aide owners in balance allocation for their rewards.  The second annual owner's banquet was held at the Crystal City Sports Pub again to celebrate the 2004 season and hold the Conference Olympics for a second straight year.  Congratulations to the FFC for claiming the gold.

The ninth season began the fall of 2005.  One more conference was added to enlarge the Expansion Conference consisting of 12 more teams expanding the organization to 120 total teams.  The new conference, the Novas Football Conference (NFC), was the conglomeration of flag football participants from the Virginia State Champion Novas.  The NFC's three new divisions included the Backfield, Secondary and Line divisions.  For this second Expansion League season, the first conference superbowl was held crowning a champion amongst the UFC and NFC.  The Charter League held Superbowl IX and the Family League held Superbowl V.

The main addition to the 2005 season was the Sez Stock Exchange.  Each team was assigned an initial stock price based on their drafted roster which then fluctuated daily throughout the regular season based on statistics accumulated each week.  Another additional improvement featured the partial lockdown of early starters.  This process was instituted to allow owners the ability to change starting lineups of unplayed players up until the typical Sunday morning deadline during weeks when there was an early (Thursday or Saturday) game.  The introduction of ENC Football Forum allowed owners to chat and make comments on the main page.  A CBD Forum was also created for CBD Members to propose and vote on potential rule changes.

The third annual owner's banquet was held at the Crystal City Sports Pub again to celebrate the 2005 season and hold the Conference Olympics for a third straight year.  Superbowl and Toiletbowl trophies, Conference Championship plaques and division winner prizes continue the post-season tradition.  Congratulations to the AMC for claiming the gold.

The tenth season began the fall of 2006.  This decade milestone encapsulated additional features that include a draft availability module to allow owners and representative CBD Members to track potential draft dates on-line, an on-line draft module for owners located in remote locations to login to Sez17.com to participate in a real-time on-line draft, and a major change in roster manipulation with the availability of a forth free agent selection during the regular season.  In addition, the Spreads page has been enhanced and integrated into the Sez Stock Exchange to include a new feature expanding the capabilities of the Exchange. There was also an organizational restructuring to honor those individuals with true understanding of the organization's process, goals and vision.  The introduction of League Leaders for the three leagues helped organize, shape and stabilize the current leagues while allowing a shift in Commissioner responsibilities to those of growth and increased entertainment value for all owners.

The forth annual owner's banquet was held at the Crystal City Sports Pub again to celebrate the 2006 season and hold the Conference Olympics for a forth straight year.  The traditions post-season awards were presented and a recap of the season's exciting moments unleashed.  Congratulations to the GLC for capturing the olympic gold as the newest conference in the organization.

The 11th season began the fall of 2007.  The organization sustained 144 owners across the three leagues expanding across 18 states and 4 continents. The global presence has spread entertainment and communications to the corners of the world. The use of the rolling draft allowed owners the ability to draft over an extended period prior to the season opener.

The fifth annual owner's banquet was held at the Crystal City Sports Pub again to celebrate the 2007 season and hold the Conference Olympics for a fifth straight year.  The traditional post-season awards were presented and a recap of the season's exciting moments unleashed.  Congratulations to the NFC for capturing the olympic gold driven by flagged strength and power.

The 12th season began the fall of 2008.  The organization maintained the three leagues, Charter, Family and Expansion. Many new owners joined the leagues to enjoy another successful season. Three new enhancements were added which included an All-star game, features for comparative analysis and additional historical statistics.

The beta-run of the new week 17 All-star game yeilded a positive response. The All-star game allowed owners to select an all-star team of 8 players from any pro team for week 17; top scoring owner for that week based on Charter League rules won. The comparative analysis feature allowed owners to view the statistics and scoring of their complete roster for each game to analyze the What if? scenario. The Comparative Scoring Page displays the statistics for all roster players on both teams playing each other. Lastly, the head-to-head statistical data for the previous 11 seasons was added to the database for owners to view their franchise game history against all other franchises. Owners can view how well they have faired against their various opponents over the years.

The sixth annual owner's banquet was held at the Crystal City Sports Pub to celebrate the 2008 season. Post-season awards and the season wrap-up were communicated with discussions of proposed rules and unique events during the season. During the off-season, technical designs will be developed to migrate to the new PHP and MySQL website structure to improve system performance.

The lucky 13th season beginning in 2009 brought much improvement to the user interface.  The first running of the new PHP draft module was used by two conference with improved speed and draft list filtering.  The Schedule page received a facelift separating out the games by conference with a quarter reference to represent the progress of player stats entering the system.  Current records and head-to-head history was added to each game to provide further status and background on the competing teams.

The three leagues: Charter, Family and Expansion made it through another successful season. The new PX Conference made home to many distant owners across the planet. The Beta use of the enhanced PHP draft room made drafting easier and faster. The season concluded with another All-star game and a decent final week surge on the Stock Exchange.

The seventh annual owner's banquet was held at Famous Dave's BBQ in Chantilly, VA to celebrate the 2009 season. Post-season awards, season wrap-up, BBQ and cake filled owner's bellies with the standard rule change discussions and up-and-coming events in the post-season. A warm center room fire place kept us toasty through the banquet and into the harsh winter months following the season.

The 14th season began the fall of 2010.  The organization remained steady with the three leagues, Charter, Family and Expansion. With a fairly stable group of owners, many new owners desiring a spot in league had to wait until next season. Little front end improvements were made but the backend went through a complete overhaul. During the bulk of season, the backend was completely restructured. All of the webpages were rewritten in PHP, the backend database was ported to MySQL and the webhost changed from Perry Myers' illuminari server over to a cloud based hosting platform under Dreamhost. This was done to improve system performance and migrate to more scalable technologies. This process was completed for both the fantasy football site and the main sez17 website.

The season again ran very smoothly. Per some CBD Member requests, rule changes were voted on at the eigth annual owner's banquet held again at Famous Dave's BBQ in Chantilly, VA. Based on the voting, a couple of minor rule changes were decided.

The 15th season began the fall of 2011.  The organization held strong with the three leagues: Charter, Family and Expansion. The only minor change involved a league switch of the Novas Football Conference (NFC) and the American Management Conference (AMC). The owners in both the conference remained about the same. With the technical overhaul completed last season, this season brought forth a couple rule changes and system enhancemets. The main rules change was the ability to select two additional free agents during the regular season. This new rule offered owners more opportunities during the season to optimize their rosters. During the second half of the season, near real-time scoring was implemented. Owners could check the staus of their games while in progress. The second major enhancement was the inclusion of graphic stock trends in the Sez Stock Exchange interface allowing participants to view their stocks performance over time. Lastly, weekly player stats and player status search options were added to the Player, Team and Scoring pages to allow direct access to starter decision making information.

The season was a success once again. The regular season, post season and all-star game had some exciting games. The Elimination completed fairly early this year. The number of awards remained the same but some titles were renamed for clarity. Based on discussions with CBD Members, additional rule changes were voted on at the ninth annual owner's banquet held again at Famous Dave's BBQ in Chantilly, VA. More change are afoot for next season.

The 16th season kicked off in the fall of 2012.  The organization maintained the three league structure: Charter, Family and Expansion. There was very little turnover from the previous year so most owners and conference associations remained the same. The main change to the site this season was the inclusion of a Thursday game every week. Based on the NFL decision to boost television ratings, early starter selections were made available each week for the entire season. That change as well as the replacement referees had minimal impact on the league. The one rule change instituted involved the ordered free agent selection (waiver wire) deadline. The deadline was moved from 5:00 pm on Tuesday to 10:00 pm on Tuesday to accomodate Tuesday evening owner decisions regarding available free agents. This new rule offered owners more opportunities to make informed decisions to optimize their rosters. The near real-time scoring was enhanced to update more frequently. Owners could check the staus of their games while in progress.

The season finished up at Bungalo Billards Lakehouse in Chantilly, VA to celebrate the season. We shared food, drink, and laughs about the 2012 season and played pool and darts to channel our rivalries through an alternate medium.

The 17th season kicked off in the fall of 2013.  The organization maintained the 144 team structure split evenly across the three main leagues. There were minimal changes instituted. Scoring, schedule, free agency, and drafting all remained the same. A new website email account was added to supply notifications and updates for player selections and changes to help separate email traffic.

The 18th season started in the fall of 2014.  The basic rules, draft, schedule, and play stayed consistent with the previous season.

The 19th season kicked off in the fall of 2015.  The organization maintained the three league structure: Charter, Family and Expansion. We had one conference change introducing the new Franklin (Farm) Neighbor Conference in the Expansion league. There were two rule changes that went into effect. Points for receiving yards changed to 1 point for every 40 yards and incremental points were given to the defense for points allowed.

The 20th anniversary season kicked off in the fall of 2016.  The organization maintained the three league structure: Charter, Family and Expansion. We had no change to the underlying conference structure across the leagues. The points per receiving yards remained the same and the league proceeded as in previous seasons.

The 21st season kicked off in the fall of 2017.  This season introduced the pick time limits for rolling drafts to better streamline the drafting process. Owners could set their teams to autodraft similar to past seasons but would no longer have an unlimited time to make a selection. This process kept the drafts moving for those that forget to place their team on autodraft and were distracted from the draft for a period of time because of life events. This helped eliminate large gaps in the rolling draft process. It also helped during the completion drafts through significant reduction in the pick time limit for the live on line close-out draft process.

The 22nd season kicked off in the fall of 2018.  The organization maintained the three league structure: Charter, Family and Expansion. We had slight refinements to the draft process but no najor changes to the draft or the league.

The 23rd season kicked off in the fall of 2019.  This season brought forward inclusion of a mobile app pilot providing fantasy football capabilities at finger tips of on-the-go owners. Owners could change starters and view team information from their personalized mobile app.

The 24th season began a little late in the fall of 2020 due to the COVID.  With considerations for players opting out for the season, quarentine restriction protocols, and multiple game scheduling adjustments, it was a challenging season. There were even provisions for a potential NFL mid-season cancellation. This season included a slight site redesign to accommodate software upgrades and additional security measures. Further improvements were made to the draft process to further streamline the rolling draft process. The season had its hiccups tracking a plethora of practice squad players who moved into game time slots last minute to accommodate starting players placed on temporary IR due to COVID. It was a crazy year altogether which made season a bit more exciting.