Inductee: The Career Commissionership of Naithan Stubbs, 2009-present. (Committee Induction)
Well, welcome. This is alien territory for me, not just
because I’m stepping away the microphone to write one of these for the first
time, but I’ve also been given some fancy title that allows me to do more of
this as the season progresses. I’m not too sure what this title is, neither do
I care for titles or acronyms that nobody really understands that much (does
anyone really know what EDITLOCCA stands for?) – so just Chris will do just
fine. Let me also say that contrary to previous opinion, THIS is the easiest
Hall of Fame induction Naith had to write, because he didn’t have to write it
at all, though he does know what it’s about, as it’s entirely about him!
So, without further ado, let us delve back into the murky shroud
of time, back to a simpler time, back to the summer of 2009…
Now, the summer of 2009 is prominent for absolutely no
reason at all, nothing really happened in the world, the astoundingly terrible
‘Evacuate the Dancefloor’ by Cascada was at number one for a whole two weeks in
July, the USA somehow got to the final of the Confederations Cup (which nobody
cared about) and nearly won, Usain Bolt pissed on the opposition to set the
100m world record in a non-event that this writer stayed up until 1am Cyprus
time to watch. All that effort for less than 10 seconds, never again. Most
memorably though, Phil was roaming the streets of Priory Park, proclaiming his
tank-ness for all to hear. Most of us were about to embark on Year 11, the so
called ‘most important year of our lives’ (except you Dave and Nige – though
I’m sure whatever you were doing was important too). Yet, in the midst of all
this obscurity, change and, erm, tank-ness came an event that altered the
course of our combined history – the formation of the LoC.
Now, I will be the first to say that when Naithan approached
me all those years ago, I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. I had only really had
a passing interest in the NFL from visiting the USA a few times and thought it
was just a simple case of picking a team and seeing how they did each week.
WRONG! This is where the Naithan appreciation starts – and I’m sure many of you
will have similar stories about his attempts to convert you like an evangelical
NFL missionary – but without his at first constant badgering about how good
American Football was to get us into the sport and secondly, his knowledge and
support when we began to actually try to compete in fantasy – many of us would
not have been exposed to it and wouldn’t have developed the passion, or
certainly the interest for it that we hold today. Nobody would have been forced
to get better at it either, and that’s why the league is now as open as it’s
ever been – I think literally anyone in it can win it.
Competition has also been a key factor in this league. It’s
always been regarded as an event, always been regarded as serious and always
been regarded as fun and that direction comes from the top. It’s probably
testament to why almost everyone from the early days is still active today.
We’ve had 5 seasons without a team dropping out. The draft
is a highlight of my year, and there have been very few auto-drafted teams.
Rules are changed up often, explained and voted on democratically. This fantasy
league has had more elections than most African nations combined even if its
leader hasn’t changed – the commissioner has ploughed down any opposition that
stands in his way (yes, that’s you Phil). There has been the advent of various
socials that happen across the year as people have moved away, I think
anticipation of the division aligning event is now on par with the draft. Let’s
not forget the countless articles, power rankings, podcasts and more that back
it all up. All this really has been the brainchild of the commissioner and his
passion for the league, organisational skills and efforts to continue to evolve
it deserve huge credit.
Granted, not everything’s caught on – the keeper league
turned out to be like communism and the forfeits didn’t work, he may have given
himself one too many GM of the Year awards and put himself in the Hall of Fame
that he created but ultimately, who cares? The league is in a great shape and
it would be difficult to imagine a league not run by comrade Stubbs.
So, here’s to the commissioner, to another 10 years and more
of the LoC – and, just think, what would you have done with your Sunday
evenings without the LoC? Who wouldn’t you have met? Would you even have
watched the NFL? If the answer to the last question there is no, then you have
a lot to thank Naithan Stubbs for and why he deserves his place in the Hall of
Fame.
Afterword – huge credit and thanks to Dave who has opened
his home up to the LoC for years and obviously did a good job of imparting his
passion onto Naithan, who has passed it onto us. So really, there is a case for
Dave being inducted too as the LoC’s ‘Genesis’, but that’s for another day…
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