Is Anyone Else Old Enough To Remember... (1 Viewer)

[Truebluey]

Anyone else use one of those old 5 1/4" floppies for pulling data from a dial-up and it would spit the scores out for you once you inputted the lineups?
That was a big time saver, but in just a few years the internet was reliable enough to trust hosted leagues on websites.

Our local newspaper ran a fantasy league contest for a couple of years. There were hundreds of entries, maybe thousands . Guess it was too much work, they stopped after a couple of years. I made the top 50 leaderboard one year but never won anything.

 

[dickey moe]

I do remember everyone having to get stat lines from the newspaper to calculate FF scores.

 

[Riles]

I remember waiting up on Sunday night to watch the George Michaels Sports Machine to catch a few highlights and hopefully see someone on my team scoring touchdowns.

 

[zamboni]

I remember waiting up on Sunday night to watch the George Michaels Sports Machine to catch a few highlights and hopefully see someone on my team scoring touchdowns.

I liked to draft WR Michael Jackson just to hear Chris Berman and Tom Jackson do the "hee hee" thing on Prime Time.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

On the East Coast they had to start printing before the end of the MNF games many times and days like Wed morning you had to double check the stats BECAUSE the Tuesday Morning paper many times was incomplete and did not have the final stats in them.

 

[zamboni]

On the East Coast they had to start printing before the end of the MNF games many times and days like Wed morning you had to double check the stats BECAUSE the Tuesday Morning paper many times was incomplete and did not have the final stats in them.

As a bit of a tangent, that was always the drawback of fantasy baseball - on the East Coast you wouldn't know the West Coast scores until a full day later.

 

[BassNBrew]

1. Bringing 15 self-addresses, stamped envelopes to the draft do the commissioner can mail out weekly standings.
2. Bringing a magazine that was printed 2 months prior to your draft
3. Calling the commissioner on a land line for adds/drops
4. Looking at the Monday newspaper to see how many points your team scored
5. Being able to watch one game/week, plus the Monday Night/Cowboys game, and not having any idea how your guys performed.

Ah, the good old days.

1. No. I know many of us had work e-mail, but I think we communicated via phone.
2. Yes. Best part of FF was reading the magazines.
3. Yup. Also was how we contacted the bookie.
4. USA today was money.
5. Now you're going back to the 70s before FF. Even then we got two games but if the second game ran long it was being cut off so Hee-Haw could air on time.

 

[Dizzy]

When we decided to put our league together (1993) I went to Walden Books and picked up the Fantasy Football Bible. This was our “basis of design” for our rules and scoring. Now, 30+ years later, rules have been tweaked/added, but we more/less have the same line-ups as 1993 – which means no ST/DEF and no IDPs.

In the forward of that book, it gave a very specific reason why fantasy football was fundamentally based on “offensive production” only… a story which I am sure has been debunked a dozen times over through the magic of the internet, but FWIW, here goes:

Per the Fantasy Football Bible (1993), the concept of fantasy football traced back to a pair of local radio personalities in San Diego during the Dan Fouts “Air Coryell” era. The Chargers were annual AFC powers during those times but always came up short in the post-season. The radio guys claimed that if NFL teams were ranked on offensive production ONLY, the Chargers would be #1 every year. So, they came up with a points system based on offensive statistics and challenged callers to come up with any offensive line-up and compared them to the Chargers production on a weekly basis and kept score. This was wildly popular and the next year they held an on air “draft” of all available offensive players and the rest is history.

 

[nightmare]

When we decided to put our league together (1993) I went to Walden Books and picked up the Fantasy Football Bible. This was our “basis of design” for our rules and scoring. Now, 30+ years later, rules have been tweaked/added, but we more/less have the same line-ups as 1993 – which means no ST/DEF and no IDPs.

In the forward of that book, it gave a very specific reason why fantasy football was fundamentally based on “offensive production” only… a story which I am sure has been debunked a dozen times over through the magic of the internet, but FWIW, here goes:

Per the Fantasy Football Bible (1993), the concept of fantasy football traced back to a pair of local radio personalities in San Diego during the Dan Fouts “Air Coryell” era. The Chargers were annual AFC powers during those times but always came up short in the post-season. The radio guys claimed that if NFL teams were ranked on offensive production ONLY, the Chargers would be #1 every year. So, they came up with a points system based on offensive statistics and challenged callers to come up with any offensive line-up and compared them to the Chargers production on a weekly basis and kept score. This was wildly popular and the next year they held an on air “draft” of all available offensive players and the rest is history.

Not quite. Fantasy Football was started in the 1963 by a part owner of the Oakland Raiders. Pigskin Prognosticators or some such.

 

[renesauz]

I ran work leagues as far back as 1992. Scored by hand weekly using USA today.

 

[nightmare]

Does anyone remember the Usenet group rec.sports.football.fantasy?

In 1997, leading up to the 1998 season I got a home computer (Compaq Presario) , discovered Usenet and the crazy world of the chat rooms.

rec.sports.football.fantasy

That was like the 'Holy College' of fantasy experts, and in that flux started the Fan-EX leagues, Cheatsheets.net (the precursor to FootballGuys) and begat the godfathers of fantasy football.

A magazine printed in June no longer made the cut.

I was now swimming with the best and the brightest and their advise and opinions were so far ahead of where my home league was, it truly felt like a cheat code.

Just to see other drafts and where players were going, the first inklings of an ADP, was invaluable.
I knew my way around the game a little bit, but now I knew which players I could wait on and which players were at a premium.

My 1998 team was so gross.....

QB - Steve Young
RB - Terrell Davis
RB - Jamal Anderson
WR - Antonio Freeman
WR - Randy Moss
Flex - Fred Taylor


…that it almost fed-back on itself, where guys didn't want to play in a league that was over by Thanksgiving.

I had to persuade guys to stay and I had to bad-mouth my own team.

"It's just a fluke, I don't really know what I'm doing"

rec.sports.fantasy.football. Yes. The guys from KFFL were there along with Adam Caplan.
I used WebTV (before Microsoft bought it).

 

[Tanner9919]

1. Bringing 15 self-addresses, stamped envelopes to the draft do the commissioner can mail out weekly standings.
2. Bringing a magazine that was printed 2 months prior to your draft
3. Calling the commissioner on a land line for adds/drops
4. Looking at the Monday newspaper to see how many points your team scored
5. Being able to watch one game/week, plus the Monday Night/Cowboys game, and not having any idea how your guys performed.

Ah, the good old days.

yep. All of these. waivers were done over the phone. you always made it to the draft there was no online nonsense. there was more fun back then, the draft was a party, usually tied in with a poker game. all done at a VFW, American Legion, or some bar's basement or a fire house. We had one at a strip club one year. that was interesting.

yeah the good ole' days!

 

[Gally]

you always made it to the draft there was no online nonsense.

This right here. This is the biggest loss caused by the online technology.

 

[Biabreakable]

No I'm not. And I didn't add up totals for leagues from USA Today's Monday paper or use newsgroups either

Well didn't you work for USA Today back then?

I seem to recall you writing for them. Not sure when that was though.

 

[Brunell4MVP]

6) Having 2 stud RBs automatically meant you had a good team

I had Jamal Anderson and Terrell Davis once year ... maybe 1998. They both ran for over 1800 yards and had over 14 TDs. That was the entire goal in the draft. Get 2 RBs and QB.

 

[loser]

if you haven’t called sports phone at 976-1313 you haven’t really lived.

For all your sports news instantly!!

 

[Snoopy]

if you haven’t called sports phone at 976-1313 you haven’t really lived.

For all your sports news instantly!!

Should have made them use a 900 number as 976 looked like an ordinary number.

 

[Bri]

No I'm not. And I didn't add up totals for leagues from USA Today's Monday paper or use newsgroups either

Well didn't you work for USA Today back then?

I seem to recall you writing for them. Not sure when that was though.

I was joking around.
I used to add up numbers with USAToday and it was my favorite sports page when we read papers.
Yeah I did work for them years later and it was a dream come true to be on the page that I loved reading when I was growing up

 

[Da Guru]

1. Bringing 15 self-addresses, stamped envelopes to the draft do the commissioner can mail out weekly standings.
2. Bringing a magazine that was printed 2 months prior to your draft
3. Calling the commissioner on a land line for adds/drops
4. Looking at the Monday newspaper to see how many points your team scored
5. Being able to watch one game/week, plus the Monday Night/Cowboys game, and not having any idea how your guys performed.

Ah, the good old days.

My first #1 draft pick was Icky Woods after he won ROY. Blew his knee out early my first season.

Our 14 team draft took about 6-7 hours. Everbody had the magazines, by the 10 round teams were drafting players taken a couple rounds earlier. Had to call in our lineups by landline to commish by noon on Sunday. NO changes after that.

USA today was the go to for injury reports.

 

[bostonfred]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

By the time USA today came out you would know how about some of your touchdowns and maybe know how many yards a guy got but you weren't even close to knowing the whole box score.

And back then, we didn't get points for every yard or any points for receptions. We got 3 points for 100 yards rushing, and a bonus for 150 or 175 that only happened once or twice a year. Barry was completely under valued except for 1996 iirc, and people didn't realize what a beast Faulk was in indy because he wasn't getting 100 yard rushing games he was just getting 120 total yards and that didn't get a bonus.

 

[Biabreakable]

No I'm not. And I didn't add up totals for leagues from USA Today's Monday paper or use newsgroups either

Well didn't you work for USA Today back then?

I seem to recall you writing for them. Not sure when that was though.

I was joking around.
I used to add up numbers with USAToday and it was my favorite sports page when we read papers.
Yeah I did work for them years later and it was a dream come true to be on the page that I loved reading when I was growing up

I figured you were pulling out legs a bit there.

 

[Biabreakable]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

By the time USA today came out you would know how about some of your touchdowns and maybe know how many yards a guy got but you weren't even close to knowing the whole box score.

And back then, we didn't get points for every yard or any points for receptions. We got 3 points for 100 yards rushing, and a bonus for 150 or 175 that only happened once or twice a year. Barry was completely under valued except for 1996 iirc, and people didn't realize what a beast Faulk was in indy because he wasn't getting 100 yard rushing games he was just getting 120 total yards and that didn't get a bonus.

Yup.

After the first season of playing FF I strongly argued for yards to matter (we were TD only my first year) and I thought the yardage bonuses were dumb also although I think it took a few years before everyone agreed to actually count every 10 yards. Decimal scoring was the next hurdle. I think the internet existed before that change actually happened.

 

[bostonfred]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

By the time USA today came out you would know how about some of your touchdowns and maybe know how many yards a guy got but you weren't even close to knowing the whole box score.

And back then, we didn't get points for every yard or any points for receptions. We got 3 points for 100 yards rushing, and a bonus for 150 or 175 that only happened once or twice a year. Barry was completely under valued except for 1996 iirc, and people didn't realize what a beast Faulk was in indy because he wasn't getting 100 yard rushing games he was just getting 120 total yards and that didn't get a bonus.

Yup.

After the first season of playing FF I strongly argued for yards to matter (we were TD only my first year) and I thought the yardage bonuses were dumb also although I think it took a few years before everyone agreed to actually count every 10 yards. Decimal scoring was the next hurdle. I think the internet existed before that change actually happened.

At the risk of picking scabs, one of the people who helped to get decimal scoring going was Mike "unlucky" zangrilli and his phenoms leagues. For all of his flaws he did a great job putting the rules together. At the time I naively believed that he was a good kid that got in over his head on multiple fronts and didn't know how to fix it. As I get older I even more naively believe that.

 

[Army Eye]

My own nostalgia only goes back to playing on websites like Sandbox, and SmallWorld. Not quite as romantic as some of the great recollections posted here. However, someone mentioned Adam Caplan and that stirred a memory. Does anyone else remember the show that Adam Caplan and Sam Caplan did back in the web's early days? It was a podcast before these things were called podcasts. At the time, it was basically the only fantasy football talk show, that I was aware of anyway, and I thought it was really good.

 

[FarFromHome]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

By the time USA today came out you would know how about some of your touchdowns and maybe know how many yards a guy got but you weren't even close to knowing the whole box score.

And back then, we didn't get points for every yard or any points for receptions. We got 3 points for 100 yards rushing, and a bonus for 150 or 175 that only happened once or twice a year. Barry was completely under valued except for 1996 iirc, and people didn't realize what a beast Faulk was in indy because he wasn't getting 100 yard rushing games he was just getting 120 total yards and that didn't get a bonus.

Yup.

After the first season of playing FF I strongly argued for yards to matter (we were TD only my first year) and I thought the yardage bonuses were dumb also although I think it took a few years before everyone agreed to actually count every 10 yards. Decimal scoring was the next hurdle. I think the internet existed before that change actually happened.

At the risk of picking scabs, one of the people who helped to get decimal scoring going was Mike "unlucky" zangrilli and his phenoms leagues. For all of his flaws he did a great job putting the rules together. At the time I naively believed that he was a good kid that got in over his head on multiple fronts and didn't know how to fix it. As I get older I even more naively believe that.

Crazy to think we ever played without decimal scoring. No better feeling then winning on a Monday night game by .08 pts.

 

[Mr.Blonde]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line.

I can remember my buddy sitting on the toilet and in hearing that tone, jumping off the crapper and running into the living room like Buckner running over to cover first base, with his pants at his knees, trying to get a scoring update.

Match that, cool iPhone app.

 

[Snoopy]

And the TV networks had an annoying habit of giving a score of another game, then only providing the info on who kicked the field goal in the game.

 

[zamboni]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

For sure - it was like Pavlov's dog whenever you would hear the chime and would race to the TV to see the score updates.

 

[Hooper31]

1. Bringing 15 self-addresses, stamped envelopes to the draft do the commissioner can mail out weekly standings.
2. Bringing a magazine that was printed 2 months prior to your draft
3. Calling the commissioner on a land line for adds/drops
4. Looking at the Monday newspaper to see how many points your team scored
5. Being able to watch one game/week, plus the Monday Night/Cowboys game, and not having any idea how your guys performed.

Ah, the good old days.

Per much all of this. First year was 1991. Fantasy Index. Bob Harris and the TFL report. Getting a weekly fax with updated information. Was fun to be there and watch the internet provide an avenue for fantasy football to explode. RSFF (rec.sport.football.fantasy) on USENET. Magnificent ******* Productions, DonnyStar, and the loudest fantasy league on the web. mrfootball.com. The prognosticator Tony Holm. Cheatsheets.... I feel like I could go on and on... Terrell Davis, Marshall Faulk, Priest Holmes... There was always the next league dominator waiting in line. My all time favorite player to have on my team? Megatron. No doubt.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Love this.

 

[zamboni]

rec.sports.fantasy.football. Yes. The guys from KFFL were there along with Adam Caplan.

Blast from the not too far past - haven't thought of KFFL in a long time. I believe they were acquired by Gannett (publisher of USA Today).

 

[doeseatplace]

I remember waiting up on Sunday night to watch the George Michaels Sports Machine to catch a few highlights and hopefully see someone on my team scoring touchdowns.

The best 1980s technology money could buy

Man, that Sports Machine was the best

 

[doeseatplace]

rec.sports.fantasy.football. Yes. The guys from KFFL were there along with Adam Caplan.

Blast from the not too far past - haven't thought of KFFL in a long time. I believe they were acquired by Gannett (publisher of USA Today).

KFFL was the GOAT in the early 1990s

 

[zamboni]

rec.sports.fantasy.football. Yes. The guys from KFFL were there along with Adam Caplan.

Blast from the not too far past - haven't thought of KFFL in a long time. I believe they were acquired by Gannett (publisher of USA Today).

KFFL was the GOAT in the early 1990s

Agreed - was one of the key sources of fantasy-related information back then. I checked out their forums too back in the day, but they weren't very active.

 

[imafallguy]

Me and my friend were invited to a league run by his sister’s boyfriend in 1990. We were in jr. high and they were in high school, so we were a bit intimidated, but we both agreed that Marion Butts would be our first pick because he had a cool name. We finished last place of course. I started a 12 team league in 93 with all of my best friends and some of the girlfriends and we did everything in that list except the snail mail bit. I once delegated point totaling to one of the friends and there were all kinds of arguments about the errors. After that, everyone totaled their own and we would get together to discuss weekly. I’ve always been at least 1 league since. I still have my fantasy football mags from 90-95!

 

[BearsFan4Life]

1. Bringing 15 self-addresses, stamped envelopes to the draft do the commissioner can mail out weekly standings.
2. Bringing a magazine that was printed 2 months prior to your draft
3. Calling the commissioner on a land line for adds/drops
4. Looking at the Monday newspaper to see how many points your team scored
5. Being able to watch one game/week, plus the Monday Night/Cowboys game, and not having any idea how your guys performed.

Ah, the good old days.

Brings back good memories of running down to lobby of my dorm every Monday to grab the 1 sports section to hand write out everyone's scores. Our 14 team dynasty league is now 31 years old with 12 original members still involved.

 

[Gally]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

By the time USA today came out you would know how about some of your touchdowns and maybe know how many yards a guy got but you weren't even close to knowing the whole box score.

And back then, we didn't get points for every yard or any points for receptions. We got 3 points for 100 yards rushing, and a bonus for 150 or 175 that only happened once or twice a year. Barry was completely under valued except for 1996 iirc, and people didn't realize what a beast Faulk was in indy because he wasn't getting 100 yard rushing games he was just getting 120 total yards and that didn't get a bonus.

Yup.

After the first season of playing FF I strongly argued for yards to matter (we were TD only my first year) and I thought the yardage bonuses were dumb also although I think it took a few years before everyone agreed to actually count every 10 yards. Decimal scoring was the next hurdle. I think the internet existed before that change actually happened.

At the risk of picking scabs, one of the people who helped to get decimal scoring going was Mike "unlucky" zangrilli and his phenoms leagues. For all of his flaws he did a great job putting the rules together. At the time I naively believed that he was a good kid that got in over his head on multiple fronts and didn't know how to fix it. As I get older I even more naively believe that.

Crazy to think we ever played without decimal scoring. No better feeling then winning on a Monday night game by .08 pts.

Most of my leagues have plateau scoring and I like it so much better. I am not a fan of the decimal aspect. You have to get to the next plateau to get the point. Just like you need to get to 10 yards for first down. You don't get 80% of a first down for going 8 yards.

ETA: For the league that started in 1986 we still have the same scoring system (more or less). 2 pts for 40 yds rushing or receiving. I pt for every 20 yds after that until you get to 150yds. Then it's every 10 yds. For QB's it's 3 pts for 150 yds and basically 1 pt for every 25 yds after that. For kickers it's 1 pt per 10 yds of length for a FG. Until you get to 45 yds. Then it goes to every 5 yds. So a 50 yd FG is the same as a TD (6 pts). We have it as a "superflex" where you can start 1 QB, 1 K and the a QB or K for that third spot. Many times K's are used.

 

[grateful zed]

what was the early ff show on espn with mark malone or something. it was the only thing of its kind for several years.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

I remember when CBS Sportsline launched its online fantasy platform. It was an incredible revelation. It was like going from a typewriter to MSWord to do a college paper. Automating things like scoring, waivers, lineups, trades, etc. was mind-blowing for us.

 

[belljr]

I remember when CBS Sportsline launched its online fantasy platform. It was an incredible revelation. It was like going from a typewriter to MSWord to do a college paper. Automating things like scoring, waivers, lineups, trades, etc. was mind-blowing for us.

It was also free the first year or 2

 

[belljr]

My scoring was always "on steroids" compared to many other leagues. Kept the same rules for the longest time with a couple tweaks along the way,

We took all the pieces out of my 1993 Fantasy Football Index

Rush: 1pt every 10. 5 pt Bonus for every 100 yard threshold so 100 yds = 15 pts
Rec: same as above
Pass: 1 pt every 20. 5 pt bonus over 300 (and then every 100 after) 400 yards wasnt common then lol

ALL TDs (rush/rec/pass): 0-9yds 6pts, 10-39 9pts, 40-69 12pts, 70+ 15pts

FG: 1-39 3pts, 40-49 4 pts 50-59 5 pts. 60+ 10pts

Team Defs sack 1, fr 2, int 3 - Don't recall if TDs were based on distance.

We had some negatives here and there mixed in but it was easy to keep track of - and mucho fun

 

[beef]

Self addressed stamp envelopes

classic list

 

[da_budman]

My scoring was always "on steroids" compared to many other leagues. Kept the same rules for the longest time with a couple tweaks along the way,

We took all the pieces out of my 1993 Fantasy Football Index

Rush: 1pt every 10. 5 pt Bonus for every 100 yard threshold so 100 yds = 15 pts
Rec: same as above
Pass: 1 pt every 20. 5 pt bonus over 300 (and then every 100 after) 400 yards wasnt common then lol

ALL TDs (rush/rec/pass): 0-9yds 6pts, 10-39 9pts, 40-69 12pts, 70+ 15pts

FG: 1-39 3pts, 40-49 4 pts 50-59 5 pts. 60+ 10pts

Team Defs sack 1, fr 2, int 3 - Don't recall if TDs were based on distance.

We had some negatives here and there mixed in but it was easy to keep track of - and mucho fun

Our league was quite similar EXCEPT you got double points when your player scored out of position...I..E when a wr rushed for a td and when a rb caught a pass for a td..... pass catching running backs were KING in my league and scores regularly topped 200 poiints.

 

[PIK95]

1. Bringing 15 self-addresses, stamped envelopes to the draft do the commissioner can mail out weekly standings.
2. Bringing a magazine that was printed 2 months prior to your draft
3. Calling the commissioner on a land line for adds/drops
4. Looking at the Monday newspaper to see how many points your team scored
5. Being able to watch one game/week, plus the Monday Night/Cowboys game, and not having any idea how your guys performed.

Ah, the good old days.

Watching Bo Jackson run into the tunnel on a small (14inch?) Black and White TV with RABBIT EARS? Yup. Cunninghams longest punt ever game? Good times.

 

[PIK95]

I started in 1996, which must have been one of the first few years of commercial online fantasy play. I’ve never not played online.

in '96 I had a Gateway (cow box) PC with a 56K modem that I had to hit *71 on the phone so call waiting did not disconnect me.

Netscape or Webcrawler?

 

[Army Eye]

This is more of an indirect memory, but what I've noticed playing Immaculate Grid is that I have incredible recall of football players from the late 90s, and it's much more hazy from say, 2000-2020. Late 90s being when I first got into fantasy football, I was really obsessed. Every chance I got in school, I'd be in the computer lab poring over stats, seeing what players I could get, reading articles, you name it. It's funny how that era is still locked in my brain.

 

[TheWinz]

1992, stationed in England, submitting your lineup having no idea if your guys were alive or dead

 

[Da Guru]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

By the time USA today came out you would know how about some of your touchdowns and maybe know how many yards a guy got but you weren't even close to knowing the whole box score.

And back then, we didn't get points for every yard or any points for receptions. We got 3 points for 100 yards rushing, and a bonus for 150 or 175 that only happened once or twice a year. Barry was completely under valued except for 1996 iirc, and people didn't realize what a beast Faulk was in indy because he wasn't getting 100 yard rushing games he was just getting 120 total yards and that didn't get a bonus.

Yup.

After the first season of playing FF I strongly argued for yards to matter (we were TD only my first year) and I thought the yardage bonuses were dumb also although I think it took a few years before everyone agreed to actually count every 10 yards. Decimal scoring was the next hurdle. I think the internet existed before that change actually happened.

My first league was TD only for 5-6 years, no yards or PPR. It was terrible as your RB would get 100 yards rushing 40 receiving and zero points. A RB that was have 5 carries for 10 yards and 2 TDs would have 12 points. Same with WRs, 10 receptions 150 yards and no TDs was zero points. Passing TDs at the time were 3 points. Kickers were valuable as they scored every week unlike position players.

If you scored 30-35 points that was a good week.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

By the time USA today came out you would know how about some of your touchdowns and maybe know how many yards a guy got but you weren't even close to knowing the whole box score.

And back then, we didn't get points for every yard or any points for receptions. We got 3 points for 100 yards rushing, and a bonus for 150 or 175 that only happened once or twice a year. Barry was completely under valued except for 1996 iirc, and people didn't realize what a beast Faulk was in indy because he wasn't getting 100 yard rushing games he was just getting 120 total yards and that didn't get a bonus.

Yup.

After the first season of playing FF I strongly argued for yards to matter (we were TD only my first year) and I thought the yardage bonuses were dumb also although I think it took a few years before everyone agreed to actually count every 10 yards. Decimal scoring was the next hurdle. I think the internet existed before that change actually happened.

My first league was TD only for 5-6 years, no yards or PPR. It was terrible as your RB would get 100 yards rushing 40 receiving and zero points. A RB that was have 5 carries for 10 yards and 2 TDs would have 12 points. Same with WRs, 10 receptions 150 yards and no TDs was zero points. Passing TDs at the time were 3 points.

If you scored 30-35 points that was a good week.

I know a guy who quit playing FF because his league refused to change away from TDs only. He got angry every time his Barry Sanders would run the ball 50 yards down to the 5 only to see the fullback vulture his TD.

 

[JohnnyU]

A lot of good nostalgia in here. How about the tone on fox doo da loo doo da LOO that meant they were going to start showing the scores in a scroll at the bottom of the screen. With no other way to find out how the other games were going you'd cut off mid pee and run out to the living room to see it start with some garbage game like Cleveland Cincinnati and they'd show you the score, and maybe you'd get the top performers of the day but you'd never get their complete stat line. And you'd see that there has been a touchdown since the last update 10 minutes ago but they'd still show you some other guy's numbers so you didn't even get a little new information. Then the ticker would go away and you could see the whole TV screen again for the one game that was on.

By the time USA today came out you would know how about some of your touchdowns and maybe know how many yards a guy got but you weren't even close to knowing the whole box score.

And back then, we didn't get points for every yard or any points for receptions. We got 3 points for 100 yards rushing, and a bonus for 150 or 175 that only happened once or twice a year. Barry was completely under valued except for 1996 iirc, and people didn't realize what a beast Faulk was in indy because he wasn't getting 100 yard rushing games he was just getting 120 total yards and that didn't get a bonus.

Yup.

After the first season of playing FF I strongly argued for yards to matter (we were TD only my first year) and I thought the yardage bonuses were dumb also although I think it took a few years before everyone agreed to actually count every 10 yards. Decimal scoring was the next hurdle. I think the internet existed before that change actually happened.

My first league was TD only for 5-6 years, no yards or PPR. It was terrible as your RB would get 100 yards rushing 40 receiving and zero points. A RB that was have 5 carries for 10 yards and 2 TDs would have 12 points. Same with WRs, 10 receptions 150 yards and no TDs was zero points. Passing TDs at the time were 3 points.

If you scored 30-35 points that was a good week.

I know a guy who quit playing FF because his league refused to change away from TDs only. He got angry every time his Barry Sanders would run the ball 50 yards down to the 5 only to see the fullback vulture his TD.

Ahead of his time