Rfl Concepts

[robbman21]

Last week we had the Seattle Grunge hockey concept and I remembered my fantasy football league and my nephew's team in it by the same name.I also realized this is the 10th Anniversary of the RFL (Robb's Football League),a computer-simulated fantasy football league I ran with all my senior class buddies having teams made up of HOF'ers and current players.I decided to dust off the old folder containing the original uni concepts,re-do them,and post for all to see and critique.I apologize for only having paint but hopefully they turn out well regardless.So here is the first set,the Seattle Grunge,who finished 7-9 in the

'Noll' Conference that year.They wore white at home and dont remember if they played any 'games' that would have put them in orange.

[robbman21]

Next up is the New England Americans.The Patriots had just played their first season in the new design and so these were being missed a little bit.This team was owned by my math teacher my SR year who was from Boston and had just graduated Boston U.What's odd is that he was really a huge Giants fan,but thats another story.I went with the Pats unis but I was also a big Indy racing fan at the time and so thats what inspired this helmet,as several of the American born drivers had a paint scheme on their helmet similar to this one.I had a hard time remembering anyone from this team but I do remember Stanley Morgan,so he's the one represented here.Again my apologies for using paint but it's all I have.

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[mac]

I too made up an entire football league, I had teams like the Hawaii Waves, Arizona Firebirds, Nashville Knights, Virginia Vultures, and the montana prowlers just to name a few. I designed uniforms for all twenty teams in the league and even made up a history that dates back to 1970. I created every team when I was six so some of them are kindof stupid, such as the san jose poison ( their colors are black and white with a skull and cross bones on the helmet). But i have grown up with them and the uniforms have evolved as I evolve in my designing ability. It really is a lot of fun

anyways I like the boston one's helmet, the first thing I thought about the other one is miami hurricanes. circa 1987

[robbman21]

Next up is my team,the Atlanta Rush.I named them after the band,not because we had a great running game.I'm a huge Falcons fan so of course I had to steal their look for my team but I added black pants.The helmet/sleeve logo is their logo from the mid 70's-early 80's of the star from the '2112' album and the naked guy

from the 'Hemispheres' album.Never understood the point of the naked guy but anyway.We finished 12-4 but lose in the divisional round of the playoffs.I had the best recieving corp and best secondary in the league,although a chose Art Monk to represent my team here.

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[robbman21]

I too made up an entire football league, I had teams like the Hawaii Waves, Arizona Firebirds, Nashville Knights, Virginia Vultures, and the montana prowlers just to name a few. I designed uniforms for all twenty teams in the league and even made up a history that dates back to 1970. I created every team when I was six so some of them are kindof stupid, such as the san jose poison ( their colors are black and white with a skull and cross bones on the helmet). But i have grown up with them and the uniforms have evolved as I evolve in my designing ability. It really is a lot of fun

anyways I like the boston one's helmet, the first thing I thought about the other one is miami hurricanes. circa 1987

Wow really?It's nice to hear that from someone else so I dont feel like an odd-ball for having this league and going to the trouble of making unis for them all.I ran my league for a few years before the RFL and then at school one day I was showing my friend the Atlanta Rush unis I had made and soon all my buddies in class was passing the pics around and wanting their own teams.By weeks end we had 16 teams and mascots and that next Monday did our first draft.We had teachers,coaches from the football team,everyone wanting to get in and the next year I expanded.Anyway,we prolly have a lot of stories on this to swap so feel free to email me anytime.

[robbman21]

Here is one of the few non NFL-inspired designs,the Las Vegas Gamblers.The 'G' logo I made with the dollar sign marks to kinda show the 'high-stakes' look I was going for.This was my brother-in-law's team and he wanted a simple,stripped-down look and also thought they should wear white at home since it was in Vegas.The jersey represented is of Heath Shuler,his starting QB that year although Heath was just about to enter the NFL draft.His team was made mostly of college seniors and first or second-year NFL'ers as he was trying to build a young team.Little did we know then.....

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[Pat]

same thing! i had a league of 20 or so teams.

then i decided to add a uniform set and logos for every major market in the US. I have 40 done, and working on the final 10 right now for the grand total of 50. after that i plan on doing 14 canadian teams for a total of 64 so if i ever feel like it i can set up some sort of bracket. id tell you all the team names but itd take forever

[CityOfWalrus]

I made a hockey league with 256 teams stretched across north america and one in tokyo........and yes i did jerseys for every single team all 256..and guess what no team had a repetition of names and the one rule was each team had to alliteration.....BB and the exception to the rule was..... if it was San Antonio they could have thier nickname be S or A.........

[MC Buffalo]

robbman21

My personal favorite is the Atlanta Rush, but only because I have been an avid Rush fan since 1978. In fact one of my Fantasy Football Teams was called the Canady RUSHians (we use our last names as the "City" names). The name has since been changed to the Canady Cherokee (and I don't want to hear any crap about Political Correctness, I am half Cherokee Indian, so I'm allowed)

I did have one question on the Atlanta Rush concept though, Wouldn't it work even better if the "starman" was replaced by a Running Back instead of a Quarterback, then you nickname would have a "dual" meaning.

By the way.... 30th anniversary tour is starting up, they will be here in Buffalo on August 15th, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

[walkerws]

My brother and I both had our own baseball and football leagues (32 each) and we iddi the dame thing. The funny thing is that we both had Cleveland Knights football teams and had carry over teams and owners as we "played" both sports.

[robbman21]

robbman21

My personal favorite is the Atlanta Rush, but only because I have been an avid Rush fan since 1978. In fact one of my Fantasy Football Teams was called the Canady RUSHians (we use our last names as the "City" names). The name has since been changed to the Canady Cherokee (and I don't want to hear any crap about Political Correctness, I am half Cherokee Indian, so I'm allowed)

I did have one question on the Atlanta Rush concept though, Wouldn't it work even better if the "starman" was replaced by a Running Back instead of a Quarterback, then you nickname would have a "dual" meaning.

By the way.... 30th anniversary tour is starting up, they will be here in Buffalo on August 15th, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

30th Anniversary Tour Eh??Man I gotta try to check that out!!They are the one band of my all-time faves I've yet to see and at 27 I may be one of the youngest

die-hards there is.I figured since we have so many Canadian members here that my team may draw more of a response,and it still may for all I know.Also love the idea of putting the running back instead of the QB pose.I just hope I could make a decent looking RB from behind,since if I turned him around....well....there may be kids lurking here!

[robbman21]

Here's the Chicago Bandits,represented by Mike Singletary.This was my cousin's team and he was a big Bears fan,and there were plenty of Bears on the roster.

He wanted something similar to the Bears but a little different and this is what I got.The second season and so on of the RFL the Bandits had a Bandit logo on the helmet that was a cross between the Arizona Outlaws and the Skoal Bandit logo.

When I do Season 2 you can see.Also,if you have'nt noticed it seemed most of the cities represented had a player that was big in that NFL city.This will show as I post more of them.

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[robbman21]

This is probably the most blatant NFL copy,the San Diego Shockers.Now remember people I was 17 and was only beginning the growth phase of a uniform designer,so I really leaned on what was already established.I think I am most proud of this logo though.I used the bolt designs but this time going down the helmet,and there is a cloud pattern there that forms an abstract 'S" for 'Shockers'.

Orinally I had this concept with several realistic bolts coming down from the clouds but I thought this may be hard to duplicate on a real-life helmet,so I went to the simpler design.Also the sleeve stripes are in the bolt pattern as well.

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[Stampman]

I did tons of different leagues when I was growing up--mostly for my own amusement--I wish I still had some of the drawings I did. Mostly I did hockey, but I did other sports too, I even "invented" a hockey/soccer/baseball hybrid where the unis were sort of lacrosse like...oh to have those drawings back! I once tried playing that for real with a friend--that ended when the ball went crashing through a basement window!

Eventually we had a PC & I discovered Earl Weaver, and I had a new baseball league...

Now I'm into EA sports--because I like them, and also--what else is around for PC (Well there is Maximum Football on the way) There I've done over 100 teams--and posted some too. (My Avatar is from a MAdden 2002 custom team)

Oh well if it weren't for the rest of my life I may just get illustrater and redo all the above!

Nice to hear that there are others--even if the experiences aren't exact!

Oh--and some nice designs BTW!

[number55]

I really like that Americans helmet...standard colours, but with an edge.

[robbman21]

This is the Houston Hurricanes.I like this because it's one of the more original designs I did for the league and I really like the unusual hurricane I did for the helmet and sleeves.If I did these unis now the hurricane pattern would be less abstract,but remember this was 1994 and this type of art was what was what was out there along with the whole grunge music scene and all,so thats how it came out.Jim Kelly is represented here,and the Hurricanes started like 0-3 and then like 1-5 but rebounded and made the playoffs at 9-7.

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[robbman21]

This is the 'Charlotte' Cougars.A few months before we started the league they had just announced the Panthers coming to the NFL.At the time we thought they would go by the Charlotte name and when citys and teams were being picked my geography teacher picked Charlotte and went with 'Cougars' since I didnt want any NFL names.These uni's I designed in February of 1994,and I was really,really surprised to see how close I came to the actual on-field unis in 1995.The only thing I had to go by was the Panther head logo that was on one of my friends caps and I used the colors off of it.Notice the jaquard pattern on the pants stripe.I put this there as a tie-in to UNC's basketball team.

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[robbman21]

There were some things with the RFL that we never saw coming,and one was the

CFL Baltimore Stallions.They began play in the '94 season but at the time this league formed they were going to be known as the 'CFL Colts'.Originally my friend with this team was going to have this team in Indy and be the 'Stallions',but about an hour after he decided on this team he moved them to Baltimore.Ironically his first pick and starting QB was John Elway,and yes.....he did this whole tie-in thing on purpose.This uni set is also the first to show the RFL alternates.There were 3 alternates that first season and they were all black.MLB alternates had just barely taken hold and for whatever reason I decided to do some for fun's sake in the RFL.

I should'nt take credit for it though as one of my friend's decided that when his team 'played' at Dallas,Seattle,or Las Vegas they would wear black.The other 2 alts came about because my firiends heard his idea and thought their teams should have them too.The great Walter Payton is representing the alts.Notice

the SMU Mustang on the sleeve.In the second season this was the helmet logo.

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[schlim]

It's nice to hear other folks had the same 'obsessions' growing up as a kid making their own sport leagues, teams,and in some cases sports. I found an old stack of papers froim a childhood league I created that played afictional sport, but all the teams wore hockey type jerseys, I even created player baseball like cars for the league for one season, and included salaries, union woes, attendence, and team color changes into the mix, all done in the mid 80's before all of that was as prevelant as it was today. I'm going to try to get all of this league and its stats onto my website this summer, so if anyone would like to see it or share more of their stories, please contact me.

Thanks

Michael

Love seeing your designs and hearing your stories!!!

[robbman21]

I'm going to try to get all of this league and its stats onto my website this summer, so if anyone would like to see it or share more of their stories, please contact me.

Thanks

Michael

Love seeing your designs and hearing your stories!!!

Thank you so much Michael!I actually went so far as to make a weekly newsletter for the RFL and pass it out to owners every Monday after games were 'played'.

It has all game box scores and league stat leaders,but the unique thing is I would draw non-colored drawing of players in action,then once run through the copier would take my markers and fill in the uni's and so my guys coule see their teams and players in action.I put captions on them and everything.If I can find one I'll scan it.My forte is much more hand-drawn sports art(think Daniel M. Smith,he is the artist I most compare myself too),so those would show how the uni's were originally envisioned maybe better than on here.