anyone remember their first FF team? (1 Viewer)

[prgromek]

fall 1996, senior year of high school

guy I knew at work invited me to join his league, those first couple live drafts I was like a fish out of water - forgot which mag I brought to the draft

In the first round I took Barry Sanders, 2nd round Jerome Bettis, I think Scott Mitchell was my QB - I ended up losing in the Super Bowl that year but I was definitely hooked for life

I remember watching NFL Primetime and trying to add up my stats by hand that year - those were the days

 

[slayer666]

1989 Total Points league

I utilized the throw all your eggs in one basket theory, landing Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and John Taylor on the same team.

Joe Montana = 3,521 passing yards and 30 touchdowns in 13 games.

Jerry Rice and John Taylor combined for 142 receptions, 2,560 yards and 27 touchdowns.

The cherry on top of the sundae was Thurman Thomas as my RB1. He compiled 1,913 scrimmage yards and 12 total touchdowns.

Championship! I was hooked and have participated in the hobby ever since.

 

[gump]

1997. No one understood value, so I drafted Drew Bledsoe with the 8th pick.

He threw 4 TDs in each of the first two weeks.

Week 3, I traded him for Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin to our weakest owner.

2 months later...Championship!

We instituted some trade policies that offseason.

ETA: Loved every Monday morning, getting the paper and adding up the scores by hand.

 

[sinatravolta]

My first year I had the 8th pick of the draft and was all set to draft Marshall Faulk with the #8 pick in his first year with the Rams. Then Trent Green got injured and they're going to be playing a nobody at QB. So I lost faith and traded up and drafted Jamal Anderson coming off his career year in 1998 when he had 1,846 rushing yards.

Faulk of course went on to have 1,381 rushing yards and 1,048 receiving yards while Anderson got injured in week 2 and was out for the season.



The game has generally been kinder to me since then.

 

[Mjolnirs]

1990. A co-worker introduced me to her husband who was starting a league. I knew nothing about it, but jumped in. The only things I really remember about my roster is that I had Emmitt Smith, Thurman Thomas and Art Monk on my team. I finished the regular season 11-3 and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the league's founder. If I remember correctly he beat me with a late Chip Lohmiller field goal.

ETA: Loved every Monday morning, getting the paper and adding up the scores by hand.

I still do this for my team, just because I enjoy it.

 

[Sweet Love]

1997. No one understood value, so I drafted Drew Bledsoe with the 8th pick.He threw 4 TDs in each of the first two weeks.Week 3, I traded him for Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin to our weakest owner.2 months later...Championship!We instituted some trade policies that offseason.ETA: Loved every Monday morning, getting the paper and adding up the scores by hand.

1997 for me too. 8 team league (ditto on no one understanding value), picked 8th and grabbed Jeff Blake with my first pick and Curtis Martin with my second. I made it to the championships and was hooked too...to my knowledge, this was roughly my roster (loaded at RB...lol)MoonBrad JohnsonBlakeMartinAbdul-Jabbar (16TD year)DunnJamal AndersonCorey Dillon (beast got me to the playoffs as a FA pick up)Irvin FryarTim BrownTerrell OwensJimmy Smith

 

[zed2283]

1994. Drafted Steve Young with the #1 overall pick and came back with an up-and-comer named Chris Warren in the 2nd. Lost in the championship game.

1995. Drafted Chris Warren in the 1st and up-and-comer Brett Favre in the 2nd, and added a nobody named Isaac Bruce in the 14th. Lost in the championship game.

I lost in the championship game in each of my first 5 seasons, before finally winning the big one in my 6th year. Hooked for life!

 

[sunuvabee]

1999 was my first draft. I had no idea what I was doing. Luckily I got the ESPN Magazine pro football preview issue the night before the draft and used that to pick my players.

I remember the first overall pick that year was Tim Couch (picked by a KY homer and Browns fan)

My first round pick was Brian Griese

I've come a long way since then thanks largely in part to FBG!

 

[higgins]

1989 on an initial dynasty draft - the only players I can remember are Warren Moon, Herschel Walker, Andre Rison, Ozzie Newsome and Fuad Reveiz.

 

[meeka]

Herman Moore, Isaac Bruce and Lawrence Phillips took me to a second place finish my first year.

We had to call our lineups in to the commish and he sent out an update every 2 weeks by snail mail with results, rosters, schedules, and standings.

Sunday Morning call to the commish to set my lineup. 12:30 call to get my opponents lineup. Monday Sports Section with paper and pencil to see who won! Good times.

 

[WampusCat43]

1989, Houston. I organized a work league of 100% noobs. We had a beautiful conference room there, and I set everyone up with a personalized nameplate, notepad, pen, and cigar. We were fatcats.

The first three picks were kickers, then Troy Aikman, then Deion Sanders, I **** you not. Good times.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

I think it was 1994, and based on the salary cap game that USA Today put out, where the values changed every week and you could buy and sell players.

I remember purchasing Craig "Ironhead" Heyward for a game against the Bucs for min salary, and he had the game of his career. Helped me place a respectable second in my first year. I still remember buying the USA Today on Wednesdays to see how much money my team was worth.

 

[imagroid]

1995. I was junior in HS. I had the 2nd pick and took Emmitt. I don't remember much else except that I had robert brooks & jeff george. I had zero idea what FF was all about. I had a magazine that I bought at the grocery store and that is all I used. I ended up trading Emmitt before the season started for Cris Carter and Chris Warren. I won my first ever league and it was based on pure luck. The league disbanded after 1 season cause the founder (my buddies dad) was mad that he lost to some 16 year old punk. Soured me on FF for quite some time until I started the league I run in 2005.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

1994. Drafted Steve Young with the #1 overall pick and came back with an up-and-comer named Chris Warren in the 2nd. Lost in the championship game.1995. Drafted Chris Warren in the 1st and up-and-comer Brett Favre in the 2nd, and added a nobody named Isaac Bruce in the 14th. Lost in the championship game.I lost in the championship game in each of my first 5 seasons, before finally winning the big one in my 6th year. Hooked for life!

Wow, you're the Bills but with a happier ending.

 

[Chicago Hooligan]

My friends and I never had the attention span to finish a season in the pen-and-paper era. We liked the draft (picks often based on football cards one owned rather than player talent) but things would fall apart after the first, inevitable allegations of cheating or stat/scoring arguments. Super Nintendo was more fun anyway.

The first 2-3 seasons of "serious" FF online, our leage was set to draft automatically. I have no idea why we did this, especially for more than one year, but it meant that all you could do beforehand was change your player rankings and hope for decent picks (like an absentee drafter in any normal league). There was much head-scratching and cursing upon our initial logins after the draft when we saw our strangely constructed squads. I clearly remember getting Charlie Batch as my starting QB.

edit: That USA Today game sounds familiar too.

 

[Ted Lange as your Bartender]

1991 - it was only a 6 team league, we had a ridiculous TD-only scoring system with heavily skewed bonuses for long yardage TD's. Plus we only drafted starting lineups the first year and only picked up FAs due to injuries.

My team:

Randall Cunningham (out for the year Week 1, replaced by John Elway)

Barry Sanders

Christian Okoye

Andre Reed

Fred Barnett

Keith Jackson

Nick Lowery

Chiefs Defense

 

[Masked Vigilante]

Started off about 7-8 years ago. Didn't do any research going into the draft. I took the Chicago Bears D in the first round. Defense wins championships right?

 

[shredhead]

No one cares about your fantasy teams!

 

[bcat01]

2004 - Drafted Priest Holmes and Steve Smith in the 1st and 3rd. Both got hurt and I still won the regular season, but lost in the first round of playoffs.

 

[Kuz]

Wow.. time has been flying by.. I have been playing this lovely game for 20+ years. I can't remember if this was 1987 or 1988 but my 3rd round pick got cut in training camp after we drafted..



My 1st 3 picks that year were..

Rice

Bobby Humphrey

Cris Carter - later cut by the Eagles..

 

[ajopiela]

Oh man..awesome memories here..

I think my first fantasy football team was about 5-6 years ago when i was about 12 years old...

I can't remember EVERYONE on my team, BUT i remember a FEW key guys...

1- Drew Bledsoe. I drafted him 7th overall, this was the first year when he was with Buffalo, so he out up some sweet numbers for me

2- Shaun Alexander- Drafted him in the 2nd round because i read in some fantasy preview that he was going to have a bust out year...ended up having one of his best seasons for me

3. Picked Marvin Harison in the 3rd round...had his typical year...not sure how i got him here....maybe WRs were less valued years ago, i can't remember.

4. Ravens D- yep picked them in the 4th round!!!

I also took Tony Gonzalez and Joe Horn at some point, they both had great seasons.

Obviously i have come a long way, but needless to say... I ran away with the championship that year.

 

[QuizGuy66]

College in '89.

Drafted the awesome rookie hot shot Tim Worley in Round 4

Oh and Stephen Baker - I mean ya can't miss a guy with the name the "Touchdown Maker", can ya?

And in the last round I fatefully selected Craig "Iron Head" Heyward.

Actually had one IDP and I took Erik McMillan of the Jets who ended up returning 4 INTs for TDs that year.

Of course this was back when all the info was on stone tablets and newspapers and ESPN Prime Time were the main sources of info so I was able to pick up Sterling Sharpe (who got like 14 TDs) and Dalton Hilliard (who got like 18 TDs) and made the playoffs.

Even lost a game due to corrupt commissioner shenanigans involving Rich Karlis' 7 FG performance.

-QG

 

[Woogie Lee]

marino

eric rhett

iron head

pickens

fryar

was the core of my team

1994

 

[wraith5]

2001, 16 team league, drafting from the #15 hole.

Knew nothing about FF, so I researched on the web and found this place. (I think I used Unlucky's stuff, too)

With my Excel sheet in hand, I took Tony Gonzales with my first pick, to a roar of laughter at the n00b. I took Ahman Green next, and ended up with Charlie Garner, Aaron Brooks, Plaxico Burress and who knows who else.

I won the league, but got stiffed on my winnings by 1/2 the guys. Many important lessons were learned that year.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

1994 or so ( dallas vs pitt superbowl 30)

Marino

Rhett

Waters

Irvin

Metcalf

Fred Barnett

Jeff Graham

 

[Teampandp]

I was not part of the league but knew about three guys in it. I got invited to the live draft and one guy didnt show up. I took over his draft and later the team (for free) At the draft I grabbed a mag and started picking players. 1st pick J.Elway QB Den, 2nd pick W.Moon QB Hou. What a start lol. I finished 6th out of 12.

 

[booda]

I'm relatively a newbie compared to some of you guys stories...I remember i had the 11th pick and my first 2 picks were Marvin Harrison and Terrel Owens...I think I drafted Deuce in the third, and took a chance on a rookie back named portis in the 6th....First league, first championship (i thought they would keep coming after that.. ) , and been addicted ever since..

 

[evilempire]

It was 1991.

I went to a buddy's house to pretty much be the chronicler of the draft (and for the free beer), and an hour before things started someone backed out. A few frantic phone calls netted nothing, so they asked me if I wanted to be in ... even said they understood it was last minute and they'd cut my entry fee down since I wasn't planning on being in the league.

I said sure and gave a cursory look to a few mags some of the guys had brought along then decided to formulate a strategy ... just take the best players and guys you want when you can. Don't worry about anyone saying "reach" or "you could have had him three rounds later."

I don't remember my entire team (though do remember it was a 10-team league), but the centerpieces were Warren Moon (who I took in the second round), Thurman Thomas (first round pick) and Haywood Jeffires (I believe a fourth rounder). I also had Rodney Hampton and Leonard Russell, though took them probably way too early because I knew nothing about value at that time.

I also had Rob Moore, that year and just about every year he was in the league. I liked him as a player, but people always passed him over in the draft so I said, "eh, what the hell? Rob Moore, please."

I made it to the Super Bowl that first year before losing, and the following year I didn't have to be asked if I wanted to be in ... I was in for life.

 

[Yellow Line is Unoffcial]

1982 The Ponchatrain Paper Football League. My Dad was in this league and he brought me in to draft for him. I remember the draft was in a private dining room at a nice resturaunt in New Orleans. I think he had to pay an extra $50 to cover my food and drink. I remember our QBs were Richard Todd and Doug Williams, not much else NFL went on strike week 2 and the league got canceled. Didn't play again until about 1990.

 

[DarkManX]

It was either 98 or 99 when I first saw this thing called "fantasy football" and had no idea what it was. I live in Australia so NFL coverage was basically slim to none. I did an autopick draft on Yahoo but thought you had to take the players in order, you know, QB, WR, RB, TE, so im pretty sure I ended up taking someone like Jake Plummer with my 1st pick and needless to say, crashed and burned. I know I did have Eddie George as he was and is still my all-time fave player. That season was very forgettable.

 

[Black]

This is not as fun as these 1990 teams, but 2004 was my first year. I got invited to a work league. Had no clue about value or even what players were good in fantasy.

Drafted (in this order):

Duece McAllister

Dante Culpepper (39 TDs),

Brian Westbrook

Ch Brown (1067 yards, 6 TDs)

Tony Gonzalez (1258 yards, 7 TDs)

L. Coles

A. Toomer

TJ Duckett

Marty Booker

Moe Williams

STL DEF

D. Bennett

M. Brunell

J. Feely

Ricky Williams?

Somewhere along the way I picked up D. Branch, Donald Driver (1298 yards, 9 TDs) to shore up my WR and LJ (11 TDs when Priest got hurt) and R. Droughns (1240 yards, 6 TDs) to help my RB.

I finished 9 of 10. Ouch.

 

[eefflrat]

1995 or maybe 1996...After the first 3 weeks I nabbed two rookies off the waiver wire, Terrell Davis, and Isaac Bruce....Almost won me a championship, finished second. still remember them though, along with Ricky Watters alligator arming a pass against the Cards.

 

[two_dollars]

2004 - didn't have much of a clue beyond the top players at each position.

Ended up with a rb trio of:

Edge,

Dillon,

Martin.

Just because I jotted their names down and they were the last ones on my list.

Lost the championship game.

 

[bentley]

1988. It was a national league that advertised in the back of Football Digest. They ended up being way short on signups and dropped the entry fee from around $100 to $20 in order to fill leagues. I had Bobby Hebert, Tim Newsome, Mike Rozier, and a bunch more nobodies.

 

[ninerfanatic492000]

all i can remember for my initial draft was drafting robert edwards with pick 1.12 in 1999, i knew robert had a surprisingly great rookie year and had 'some' injury during pro bowl weekend. didn't know it was catastrophic(i wasn't the news/stat whore then i am now)............was not a good year for me. but the failure lead to a burning desire that has intensified exponentially every year since

 

[renesauz]

1991...details lost in the haze of time and the hangover the following morning. I think i made the playoffs but didn't win. Took over running the league the following year, and played ever since.

 

[Rovers]

Steve Deberg, Merril Hodge... last place. Those are the only 2 I can remember...

 

[JBIZZLE]

Only been playing FF for 3 years...I won it all my first time playing and then came in 2nd and 3rd last year in both leagues....

Brady

A. Johnson

A. Gates

L. Tomlinson

T.J. Houshmanzadeh

Reggie Wayne

 

[VonRomig]

Little brother ran a re-draft league out in Colorado for 4 years (using spreadsheets and the USA Today). When he joined the internet age and expanded from 10 teams to 12, I joined. His league was the only one I was in my first year. The next year I ended up in 30+ leagues (near 50 if you count Yahoo! public ones), having caught the FF bug. Now I stay at 10 money leagues; 3 dynasties, 3 keepers, 3 re-drafts, and one IDP league. (I still get in about 4 Yahoo! leagues real early just to test different strategies)

My first team went 3-10.

Von

 

[fourd]

1985, this will be our 25th year for the league. 12 teams, met in the apartment of the guy that organized it with a pad of paper, beer, and a Street and Smith. I remember having the 12th pick and took Dave Krieg and Steve Largent. Couldn't tell you much more than that. Had to wait for Monday morning and the USA Today for stats but always watched the George Michael Sports Machine Sunday night to see what went on. Weekly updates were mailed out that year. Year 2 we moved to faxes.

 

[zed2283]

1994. Drafted Steve Young with the #1 overall pick and came back with an up-and-comer named Chris Warren in the 2nd. Lost in the championship game.1995. Drafted Chris Warren in the 1st and up-and-comer Brett Favre in the 2nd, and added a nobody named Isaac Bruce in the 14th. Lost in the championship game.I lost in the championship game in each of my first 5 seasons, before finally winning the big one in my 6th year. Hooked for life!

Wow, you're the Bills but with a happier ending.

I started out 0-5 in championship games and have gone 8-3 since, so it definitely got better!

 

[Ghost of Bill Walsh]

It was back in the 80's and all I can remember was I had a lot of Rams players. QB Jim Everett, RB Eric Dickerson, WR Flipper Anderson, PK Carney Lansford and a couple of others I can't remember. Learned real quick my first year it's not good to have so many players from the same team. I think I had 7 or 8 Rams players. Needless to say I didn't do to well my 1st year. Sadly, my first year in FF wasn't a good year all around as I lost both my father(June '88) and my mother 4 months later(Oct. '88) to heart attacks.

 

[Wu-banger]

1994. Drafted Steve Young with the #1 overall pick and came back with an up-and-comer named Chris Warren in the 2nd. Lost in the championship game.1995. Drafted Chris Warren in the 1st and up-and-comer Brett Favre in the 2nd, and added a nobody named Isaac Bruce in the 14th. Lost in the championship game.I lost in the championship game in each of my first 5 seasons, before finally winning the big one in my 6th year. Hooked for life!

Wow, you're the Bills but with a happier ending.

I started out 0-5 in championship games and have gone 8-3 since, so it definitely got better!

16 first or second place finishes in 25 years is a nice run...

 

[zed2283]

1994. Drafted Steve Young with the #1 overall pick and came back with an up-and-comer named Chris Warren in the 2nd. Lost in the championship game.1995. Drafted Chris Warren in the 1st and up-and-comer Brett Favre in the 2nd, and added a nobody named Isaac Bruce in the 14th. Lost in the championship game.I lost in the championship game in each of my first 5 seasons, before finally winning the big one in my 6th year. Hooked for life!

Wow, you're the Bills but with a happier ending.

I started out 0-5 in championship games and have gone 8-3 since, so it definitely got better!

16 first or second place finishes in 25 years is a nice run...

Well, I've added a few leagues over the years (currently in 4) so it's really 16 in 51 league-years. Still not too bad!

 

[ukshane]

Not my story but we had a new guy draft last year in our 12 team auction league.

Tom Brady $50

Vince Young $3

Brian Brohm $1

Larry Johnson $62

Rudi Johnson $19

Kevin Faulk $1

Joey Galloway $15

Issac Bruce $6

Wes Welker $5

Bryant Johnson $5

Mark Clayton $2

Jacob Tamme $1

Deion Branch $1

Torry Holt $28

First time I ever saw a team go winless for the season. I don't think he'll be back.

 

[Steelfan7]

It was back in the 80's and all I can remember was I had a lot of Rams players. QB Jim Everett, RB Eric Dickerson, WR Flipper Anderson, PK Carney Lansford and a couple of others I can't remember. Learned real quick my first year it's not good to have so many players from the same team. I think I had 7 or 8 Rams players. Needless to say I didn't do to well my 1st year. Sadly, my first year in FF wasn't a good year all around as I lost both my father(June '88) and my mother 4 months later(Oct. '88) to heart attacks.

You probably didn't get many points from Carney Lansford due to him being a baseball player. Mike Lansford I think is the name you are searching for.

 

[teamramrod]

The first year hooked me.

Free league on Yahoo, just anonymous folks form the web. I picked first, picke my man Barry Sanders. Last pick of the draft was Kurt Warner. I don't now why i picked him or how. Then history happened. I remember some guy busting my chops on the league message board for starting "an Arena League QB"

I won the championship.

After about week 3, all i did was log in and post "SCOREBOARD"

ahhh, I was smug as all get out.

Peace

 

[jagbag]

Forgot which year was my first, but I was lucky enough to get the first pick. I followed football, but never fantasy. I was convinced by other league members that Emmitt Smith was fantasy gold.

So I draft him number one, and I think he got hurt in his first game. #### was I pissed.

 

[FTRWRTR]

To be honest I preferred college football to pro football but back in 1998 I had a hard time finding any chat rooms devoted the college game so I spent time in the pro football rooms. I wasn't fond of ff because I believed the stuff I heard from some sports radio guy bashing the game, saying ff owners only cared about stats and didn't care about football so whenever I was asked to join a ff league I declined. However I came to the decision that it was stupid for me to bash a game I've never played so the following year when someone asked me to join their ff league I did. It was a 12 team, hyper league over at fanball with a bunch of other first and second year ff owners. My first few picks were:

round one - Terrell davis, rb, denver- arguably the best rb in the league at that time unfortunately he tore his ACL after a few games

round two - Cade Mcnown, qb, chicago - A bit of a homer pick since I'm from chicago but mcnown reallly impressed me in that year's qb challenge. Obviously I didn't know a thing about adp because there's no way I should have taken him that high

round three - Peter warrick, wr, cincy - I love florida state and warrick was a beast in college. Again not knowing about adp really hurt

Fortunately for me when TD went down I was able to snag his backup, mike anderson, off the ww and he helped lead my team to a 9-4 record that year. and IIRC a final four finish. The commish of that league was corrupt as heck( for example after the draft he realigned the division so that the teams with the weakest drafts ended up in his division) and I ended up leaving the league a couple of years later

 

[VaCatFan]

Michael Vick

Aaron Brooks

Shaun Alexander

Deuce McAllister

Kevan Barlow

Michael Pittman

David Boston

Keyshawn Johnson

Ed McCaffrey

Randy Moss

Peerless Price

Jerry Rice

Anthony Becht

Adam Vinatieri

Miami

Somehow I finished first with this team in 2002.