Thank you all!
But let me say thank you to buckeye for his last couple years of service to this great community we know and love as the NDL.
I want to also thank those who came before him. Jeffmo, Nole, Mike and AJ.
I then want to thank all past, present and future Conference Commissioners. You really are the meat of this league. You are what keeps the interest of the other members up and what makes or breaks this league, in my opinion.
I then want to thank each individual member who is active in this league as of today.
We would not be what we are today without our members.
When I think about the NDL, this league has become an integral part of my life.
I not only use it for NCAA football, but I also use it for other things such as gamesharing, movie reviews, NFL, NCAA talks, etc. and news.
With 120 + members, originally, scattered throughout the US and the islands, you could usually hear it here first.
There are many, many reasons that we all decided to stay here in the NDL and I think the most important is our sense of community.
I encourage each and every one of you to get together in person when you can to get to know your fellow NDL brethren.
It will not only give you a few more friends in life, but it will also give you a more fulfilling experience.
Meeting guys like Dak (Joe), Plasma (Mike), Pino (Louis), cnasty (Corey), Nole (Josh), jeffdaddy (Jeff or Berekoff), Harder (Dale), Blackrain (Randall), to my homeboy oldschoola (Stan) who tried to trick me into believing he was a man on crutches at the airport in Vegas for the first time meeting, it makes it more personal.
I have also got to know, buckeye (Matt), ajalves (AJ), BigMike (Mike), I_S33M (Ryan) and good ol Sirloin (Beefy), shel311 (Shel), jsence (Jason) who was my first ever NDL opponent, over the past couple of years.
I apologize if I have missed anyone that I have met or got to know.
I look for these folks when scheduling OOC games, because after meeting face to face, it made my NDL experience much more personal.
It makes you feel like you do not want to let those guys down. You get to know them and you play straight up games out of a mutual respect for each other.
Anytime Pino travels to Cleveland for his job, we get together at the Tilted Kilt.
So it builds into much more than just an online NCAA game against someone that I am in a league with.
Lastly, I want to and cannot thank Holmey enough for all of his hard work in getting us into our own sustainable site (no more leaguedaddy) and then making these forums sweet!
You truly are thanked.
Now, onto me.
What can you expect from me as your next commissioner?
Those of you that know me or know enough about me, you know I am a no Mickey Mouse Bullshit type of guy.
As grown men, we should be able to handle the little stuff among yourselves.
Know that in any situation, I will handle it in the fairest possible way, based on the information at hand.
And Josh, yes, thank you to buckeye as I have learned a lot from him.
Mostly, how to keep a level head in times of frustration.
With that said, we are a community of grown men.
Sometimes we forget that, but you need to remember, as a commissioner, I have to take into account what is best for the league as a whole.
I know I am far from perfect, but I can tell you that I am an open and honest individual.
I live my life with the rule of, if you don't want my opinion, don't ask, cause if you do, you may receive an answer that you don't want to hear.
But I speak from the heart.
In a few recent posts, I have said a little motto that I believe in. If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.
This is nothing personal to anyone in this league.
What I mean by it is that if you cannot be an adult, voice your opinions, give us some constructive feedback and help us work towards keeping the NDL the best gaming community out there, then maybe this is not the site for you.
Lastly, as Ryan posted above, I cannot say it any better myself:
I_S33M_THAB33T_U wrote:We all now need to work together to help create a gaming community not just built around NCAA now, and help him transition us to more of a open community towards all games.
Everyone up the ranks has put forth great amounts of time to help and keep it going, And to anyone who says its sunk/dead. All I can say is BYE, We don't need your negative thoughts or you here.
It takes us as a whole to keep this thing going. Let's move forward from an NCAA league to a gaming community of epic proportions.
