Glory Days

Vulcans finish some unfinished business

COLLEGE HILLS - Back in 1975, high school kids played football in suspension helmets, oversized shoulder pads, loose pants and screw-on cleats, all for the glory of the game. Back then, college students still played football for Mom & Dad, their hometown, their head coach and for a scholarship that included room and board, books, fees and tuition. It seemed to be plenty back then. Pro football players still played the game for a decent salary and for the love of the game. Some in the original World Football League (WFL) played without pay. The 1975 Gardendale High School football team went 4-6 in Coach Ed Bruce's first season with the Rockets. In the same year, the #2 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide coached by Paul "Bear" Bryant was upset in the home opener at Legion Field by the unranked Big 8 Missouri Tigers (7-20) coached by Al Onofrio and led by RB-Tony Galbreath and QB-Steve Pisarkiewicz. The crushing loss practically ended Bama's hope for another National Championship. The Tide would go on to finish the season with an 11–1 overall record, 6–0 in the SEC as league champions, and defeat Penn State 13-7 in the Sugar Bowl to finish #3 in both the AP and UPI polls while Mizzou finished the season with a paltry 6-5 record. Also in 1975, the new WFL returned to the Magic City as the newly named Birmingham Vulcans took the field with the goal to defend the World Bowl I championship captured the year before (1974) by the Birmingham Americans. Like the BDFL, the WFL had an 18-game schedule, but without a national television contract and low attendance, the league folded after Week 12. The Vulcans had the league's best record (9–3) at the time of the shutdown and were declared the 1975 WFL Champions despite not playing in, or winning, World Bowl II. In 2023, the North Birmingham Vulcans joined the BDFL with the goal to connect the BDFL with the WFL's storied past and finish some unfinished business on the football field. In their first year in the BDFL, the Vulcans knocked on the league's championship door, but had it slammed shut in a heart-breaking Big Daddy Bowl loss to the Druid City Blitz (29-25). Those who have been in the BDFL for 30 years know that it is a league of guts and attrition and that the season is an 18-week marathon, not a sprint. Those new to the league must learn this the hard way. However, the North Birmingham Vulcans with years of quiet outside observation before landing a BDFL franchise were a quick study and earned their first BDFL Championship Title in just their second season in the league by knocking off the Jugtown Juggernauts (17-11) in Big Daddy Bowl XXIII. In an ironic twist, the 1975 Birmingham Vulcans were led in part by a role-playing placekicker (Ron Slovensky) as were the 2024 North Birmingham Vulcans who were carried during the regular season and throughout the Big Daddy Championship Series (BDCS) by their placekicker, Cameron Dicker "The Kicker".

2024

The 30th year of the BDFL is in the books

GULF SHORES - The 2024 BDFL season had its trials and tribulations both on and off the field. The good news is we all made it through another year and are alive to tell about it. The team (North Birmingham Vulcans) that got off to the best start ended up winning it all after hitting a lull towards the end of the regular season and finding enough guts in the Big Daddy Championship Series (BDCS) to capture their first BDFL championship title in just their second season in the league. The Brookside Dogs struggled to have a winning record during the regular season (7-8), but somehow with the highest point total was the #1 seed in the BDCS, only to lose three straight games in the post-season. The hottest team to end the post-season was the Altadena Bandits who finished the season as the top point club with 530 total points and if it wasn’t for the first successful free kick in the NFL in 48 years in Week 16, the Bandits probably win it all. This 57-yard freaky free kick gave the Vulcans six gifted points and the vict’ry over the Bandits in the first round of the BDCS. Talk about a heartbreaking loss, the league inadvertently had this as a win initially for the Bandits over the Bellcows in a terrible post-season scheduling snafu. After further review, the Bellcows had beaten the Cheetahs 22-21 and the Vulcans beat the Bandits 32-31 to advance to the semi-finals of the BDCS. The Bandits handled the situation with class and poured out their frustrations over the next two games in the BDCS scoring 87 total points in Weeks 17 and 18. The second hottest team to close out the 2024 season was the Sloth Monsters. The Legend of Shades Creek closed out the 2024 season with three straight wins in the Big Mullet Series (BMS) to win the league’s consolation bracket and earn the first pick in the upcoming 2025 BDFL Pony Draft of college eligible players. As for the losers, the Duncanville Armadillos took home the Toilet Seat Team of the Weak award for the season finishing 4-14 and 401 total points. The Armadillos remain in the league’s shrinking notorious “Null Set Club” with the Fieldstown Bellcows and the Altadena Bandits as the league’s only teams without a BDFL Championship Title. The BDFL’s 2025 season will begin with the 2025 BDFL Pony Draft in April and the league hopes to have a Super Bowl Party in February to celebrate this 2024 season. Thank you all for our 30th season and for making the BDFL the premier fantasy football league in the world!