Spotlight on the Premier Online Franchise TMFL and commissioner Keller
The return of the spotlight series as we head to Madden 12 and Premier Xbox Online Franchise the TMFL. We also have a bio and Q&A session with commissioner Keller. The TMFL’s goal is to be a feature rich franchise that runs at a brisk pace. In Madden 12, the TMFL has consistently held about 20-25 members and is currently in the early weeks of season 2. The TMFL is the only premier online franchise on TSO and it is a great honor for Keller to have the opportunity to run it. Admin Emmdotfrisk recently joined up with some fellow experienced Madden gamers from the PS3 side to bolster the ranks and give the league a better rounded member base.
I sat down with Keller for some questions:
Name: Matt Keller
Bio: I’m an average 26 year old living in Columbus, Ohio working in IT - mostly user support but also managing projects, servers, websites and anything else I can get my hands on. I live with my beautiful GF, Danielle, of 5 years after meeting at Ohio State where we both graduated in 2009. I have many, many interests outside of video games including but not limited to: playing actual sports (mostly flag football, basketball and most recently golf), watching sports (mostly just the Bills and Buckeyes), fixing/building computers, airsoft, guitar, writing, movies, various TV shows… pretty much anything you can think of. Life is far too short to enjoy everything there is to do in the world. Regardless, I spend a large portion of my time escaping the daily grind by playing a multitude of games including but not limited to: NCAA, Madden, BF3, Skyrim, League of Legends and any decent strategy game I can find.
1. What is the history behind TMFL? How did it begin? How did you become commish of the TMFL?
The TMFL began before I was here at TSO. When I came here I wanted to start my own league and took over the failing SMFL. We played a season there and after some lengthy discussions with the management team, decided to merge the two leagues and keep the TMFL’s namesake with myself presiding over it. We then ran 5 seasons in Madden 11 and have taken the same core group of guys and continued running with this years game with the same goals and detail oriented league structure. I became commissioner out of necessity more or less. I felt like there were players out there looking for a league like what we have now and my goal was to bring those guys here and make the best out of it.
2. What are some of the past challenges the league has faced and how did it overcome them?
The arrival of MyLeagueManager and Xtreme Football has brought both the promise of added features and the drawbacks of an intricate Online Franchise experience. We faced issues like contracts not structuring properly/fairly to Free Agency not working to draft pick trades not working; pretty much every problem you can envision, we’ve had it. Luckily we have a lot of really smart, talented people here at TSO and within the TMFL and we’ve worked around things in much the same way as some leagues have had to with Transfer Failed issues with NCAA.
3. In what direction do you guys see or hope the TMFL will go for the rest of the Madden 12 cycle? How has XFN helped?
With the help of Frisk - my focus right now is really taking the guys we have and building sort of a communication foundation that really drives interest and chatter among league members. Really this is Frisk’s vision but I’m 100% behind it. What separates good leagues from leagues that have a lot of instability and turnover is rivalry and camaraderie. If we can get everyone on board with live communication system that operates 24/7 - there is always something to talk about, people to shoot the shit with or talk trash to and people to get help from when you have questions. Unity is the key and that’s what we’re hoping to build this season.
XFN really ushers in very tight interfaces and a strict, working product. MLM has been riddled with problems in my opinion and outside of our Free Agency period that we ran on MLM, it has not been a good fit for us. We’ll be using the XFN draft console and shortly after their implementation of the Free Agency module. So we’re excited to see how everything works. We expect things to go smoothly and look forward to a stable platform with which we can run the Franchise on. XFN brings stability and confidence that things are gong to work which are essential qualities for leagues right now.
4. What future do you see beyond Madden 12 for the TMFL and the rest of Madden Football on TSO?
My hope is that we can really start to see some explosive growth on the site once Madden catches up with NCAA in terms of Online Dynasty/Franchise experience. More tools, more customization, more flexibility - that’s really the key right now. Online Franchise is so bare-bones we have to rely on outside tools to cater the experience to our needs - my hope is that EA will finally give us the tools to put the power in the hands of online commissioners. Our direction in the TMFL really won’t change - we still want to be the best 360 Madden league on the site - 32 teams - fully fledged salary cap and free agency structure and detail oriented individuals who enjoy the finer points of game-play and team management.
5. What do you guys think of Madden this year? Give me a couple things you would do to improve the experience.
In my opinion, Madden has really not lived up to the hype this year. I thoroughly enjoyed last years game and as such I think I expected to much out of this years game. Game-play wise it plays pretty similar to last years game but now that I’m playing NCAA equally as much, I’ve noticed the NCAA game-play is more appealing to me and just feels more realistic in a lot of ways. I feel like players in Madden are too fast and it feels too much like an arcade game whereas NCAA plays a bit slower and feels more realistic. As far as what can be improved, I’ve really touched on it already. My mantra for years has been, “power to the players”. So give us the tools to cater the experience how we like. Give us integrated salary cap and free agency system. Give us the ability to change draft classes, to upload our own or to accept the defaults if that’s what we want to do. Give us the ability to fine tune the progression formula or edit player ratings and potentials. Give us tools and resources and Madden can really start to grab the attention of all football fans because the experience can be as general or as hardcore as it needs to be for the players involved.
6. I understand there were a few controversies and bumps along the way to start this year. What is going on there and how has that been left behind?
Some controversies have came about from the MyLeagueManager system and some from lack of activity, including my own. I have tried to explain the situations to our owners and explain my thinking behind the decisions and direction of the TMFL during these times and admittedly I have made mistakes. Luckily Frisk has come along and really injected new life into the league and carried us into XFN which as I said will provide stability and confidence that we really need heading into our first offseason.
7. Season 1 and the off-season is just now in the books and season 2 is in full swing. Who won the Super Bowl for season 1? What were some of the surprise teams? What were some of the disappointments?
The Falcons won the first Superbowl this year over the Patriots 21-19. Congrats to antcap24 as he has been playing very well the entire time he’s been in the TMFL, only to lose out many times in the playoffs. He finally has a championship, he earned it. As far as surprise teams, you have to say the Panthers as he took a young team with Cam Newton and made his way all the way to the NFC Championship before falling to the Falcons. Then obviously you have to say the dud has been the entire AFC, outside of the Patriots, who really have underachieved and look like the doormat of the NFC right now. The entire AFC needs to step up big time next year in order to compete with the ultra competitive NFC.
8. Who are the teams to look out for season 2?
Next season I’d say the Jets and Patriots in the AFC and definitely the entire NFC South. That division is sick - anyone could come away with the division title and all of those teams will win 9 or more games if I had to guess, which is just bananas when you think about it.
Keller now gave us a run-down of the members of TMFL as of the off-season:
Bills - Keller - Commish, baller, Lou Ferigno worshiper. Enough said.
Jets - Emmdotfrisk - Helps me run the league and has been a welcome addition to the TMFL - helping me setup the XFN and bouncing ideas off of one another about how to improve the league and such.
Patriots - GovernedSpy - Our resident Brit - Has had a real good attitude thus far and is the prototypical “sandbagger” of the league. “Dont worry I’m a noob mate” - he’s not fooling people anymore after playing in the Superbowl.
Titans - DamnitBobby/BobJR - one of Frisks lovers….jkjk…. but srsly…. He brings a lot of experience with XFN and seems like such a great addition to the league. Why he picked Tennessee I’ll never know but Damnit Bobby is a staple around the TMFL nowadays
Colts - MatrixMonkey - Monkey played in the TMFL before I was even around so I know he has experience. I think he’s been kind of lurking in the shadows waiting for his opportunity and with Peyton Manning that shouldn’t be too difficult.
Jags - Darkwing - Our resident TSO picks specialist and persistent internet problem cannon fodder. I’m fairly certain that if you play him, you’ll have lag - but that just goes to show what type of guy he is that we like to keep him around anyway, despite all his problems. 
Texans - Jmustang1968 - I’m not going to say anything nice about the guy writing this article. He can write his own praises!
Bengals - bjbdahitman - Bjb is pretty much brand new to the TMFL and hasn’t really been involved much. With the offseason fast approaching we’ll quickly get to see what hes made of. He better buckle his chinstrap.
Redskins - Gangsta4Lyphe - Another user that is pretty much brand new. He’ll be fighting with the ultra competitive NFC and the Eagles/Cowboys in his own division but he brings quite the reputation from the GMFL so I have confidence he’ll be just fine.
Bucs - ryty32 - Ry is another one of Frisk’s mistresses - playing in the most competitive division in the league will not be kind to him but the Bucs are a young up and coming team. I think if he can add a piece here or there in the Draft and Free Agency he could be really dangerous.
Eagles - DerekC - The last of Frisk’s mistresses - Derek/bkhogfan should probably update his gamertag or forum name to at least somewhat resemble one another but he insists on being retarded - we’ll get along just fine
Cowboys - Bringbackjimmy - When BBJ isn’t raging on the forums about how he’s quitting the Deuce, he’s actually a pretty cool guy. He’s definitely a mouth-breather, so don’t bother talking to him on XBL, but no one is more gay with Tony Romo than idliketoblowjimmy
Giants - Hoppedupford - One of the louder character’s in the TMFL - ford doesn’t mind giving his opinions - I respect that. He’s sort of like Dan Snyder - trading all his draft picks for players and such - but the guy has been a welcome addition to the league and I can’t wait to see his matchup against Jmustang, if they ever play.
Vikings - CWT 3000 - Corey is like the Bondzai of the TMFL, except he actually wins games. He had a rough start last year but I think playing in the TMFL has really given him a sense of pride in his game because he’s really brought his game to the next level. He fell off in his first season of Madden 12 but I’m expecting him to climb his way out of the dumpster and hit his stride next season.
Lions - HovatheGodMC - Oh HOVA. When you have Megatron - you should pretty much win every game by default. The dude is uncoverable - uncoverable. I’m expecting Hova to bounce back this year - his stick skills are well known on TSO.
Falcons - antcap24 - The champ. One of the most consistent winners in the TMFL - actually I don’t think he’s ever had a losing season. He builds his teams with high powered offenses and I don’t expect this year to be any different. The dude just wins.
Saints - capp34 - Capp pretty much ruled the end of Madden 11 so there’s no doubting his stick skills or team management. He likes to blow up his offensive/defensive lines and build around skill position players so I’m expecting to see 5 WR’s over 85ovr on his roster every single season. He went deep in the playoffs this year, I expect more of the same.
Panthers - Fuzzylogic - Wanna trade me Cam Newton? I don’t know how the heck he is winning with the Carolina Panthers but an NFC Championship birth with one of the least talented teams could mean trouble if he ever brings in any talent.
Jsimms - 49ers - We can thank Jsimms for bringing some new guys around the TMFL and also mention that he was, like MatrixMonkey, in the TMFL before I was even around if I’m not mistaken. He made some noise in the ultra competitive NFC this season so I expect him to continue to be competitive - but how the heck do you win with Alex Smith?
I would like to thank Keller for taking his time to contribute to this TSO Spotlight.
