After launching the CISFL in 1999 and winning the inaugural championship, I knew I wanted to keep it going but by the summer of 2000 a complication had developed – I no longer worked for CIS. The company that had ramped up for Y2K suddenly found that there wasn’t a whole lot of work post-Y2K, and the heads started to roll. Of the other CIS employees still in the league (Mike, Randy, Steve, and Ken) I don’t recall who left first but I think it was me. And like most CIS employees I didn’t exactly “leave” but we won’t get into that, suffice to say I joined a much better company called NextCorp in August 2000.
With probably half of the original 14 owners gone, I now prevailed on the remaining members to help rope in new suckers. Mike brought in his brother-in-law Jimmy, who brought in his co-workers Carl and Dan. Dan had his own team while Jimmy and Carl co-managed theirs. Steve recruited his neighbor Duke, who brought in a friend whose name I can’t recall. The twin sons of our former CIS colleague each got their own team. I brought a co-worker from NextCorp named Jennifer, who remains the only female owner in league history. Mike, Steve, Randy, Ken and I kept our teams, though I changed my team name from Error 20s to Wide Right.
The league also reduced to 12 teams from the original 14 and kept the three division alignment. All that was left was to change the league name. Since I wasn’t at CIS anymore there was no way in hell I was keeping their name in my league. So I sat at my desk at home, trying to think of a name, when I glanced over at the bookshelf and saw my small collection of Civil War books. My first thought was “Union Fantasy Football League” since I’m a Union guy all the way (I am a Yankee after all) but even I knew that name sucked, as did the abbreviation UFFL. My next thought was Confederate Fantasy Football League, which sounded much cooler. And so the CFFL was born.
Not much is known about the 2000 season. I didn’t start keeping the draft histories until the next year; the only thing I remember is that Jennifer couldn’t make it to the draft so I picked her team. We moved to the CBS website in 2000 but the history on the website also doesn’t start until 2001.
The divisions and teams for the 2000 season, with owners and final regular season records:
East
Curve It Around – Dan (9-4-1)
Schizophrenia – Chris Vick (6-7-1)
Little Feats – Duke (5-9)
Wide Right – me (3-11)
Central
Deep Snappers – Jimmy & Carl (9-5)
Corsairs – Steve (9-5)
Big Guns – Randy (8-6)
Frogs – Mike Vick (6-8)
West
TNT – Jennifer (12-2)
Rocket – ?? (7-7)
Maulers – Mike (5-9)
Weasels – Ken (4-10)
Of the two teams I drafted the one that wasn’t mine went 12-2, which is still the best record in CFFL history. My team? Dead last at 3-11.
The champion that year was #7 Schizophrenia, who knocked off the top three seeds in the playoffs. The engine behind their playoff run was Marshall Faulk who scored 11 TDs in weeks 15-17 that year and single-handedly won Schizo the CFFL title.
One last tidbit that I had forgotten – the Consolation Bracket was called the Gator Bowl Playoffs in the official rules. I only did it for that one year but that’s something I definitely should have kept. The 2000 Gator Bowl was Maulers vs. Wide Right in a rematch of the 1999 semi-finals. This time Maulers would prevail over my squad, which would be the last time that would happen for another ten years.
Don’t worry, I won’t be recapping every season like this. I just wanted to review and remember that first season of the CFFL as best I could. Something I forgot to mention about the first CISFL season was that the league started in August 1999 and I got married in November 1999, which makes this league the longest commitment I’ve had in my entire life. And I’ve never regretted it. Except when I lose to Maulers.
Ruminations & Cogitations 
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