The Early Days of Fantasy Football (1 Viewer)

[ghosttothepost]

I started playing fantasy football with some college buddies back in 1988. My how times have changed. No such things back then as the internet or websites. In fact, the only publication I recall back then was a book by Cliff Carpentier called "Fantasy Football Digest." I'm not sure if it is even around anymore. Since there was no such things as online stats or online league managers, I recall waking up Monday mornings and using the USA Today to hand-score all our games and then type out a weekly newsletter on my box-like Macintosh. I'd print it out on some dot matrix printer and then make Xerox copies at school to distribute to the guys in our league.

The biggest difference I notice today is that it seems anyone can draft/manage a decent team by spending a few minutes on the web (particularly at a website like FBG). There just doesn't seem to be nearly the reward there used to be for those who choose to do a bunch of their own research. That said, all the technological improvements in this "hobby" over the years are certainly amazing and a lot of fun to see/use.

So does anyone have any early fantasy football memories/stories they'd like to share? (I apologize in advance if this topic has been sufficiently covered previously...)

 

[TommyGilmore]

Drafting Trent Green in 1999 then declining to pick up his backup when he got injured.

 

[finito]

I remember drafting Dan Marino 1st round in my first ever draft, and it was the year he was injured and Scott Mitchell lit it up. I didn't own Scott Mitchell however...

My favorite all time waiver wire pickups were Isaac Bruce in his 2nd year when he absolutely exploded, and Robert Brooks when he blew up.

 

[FavreCo]

Having Mark Rypien as my 1st ever pick in 1992 and watching him suck. We discussed expanding to 14 teams from 10 and one of the guys that was going to own an expansion team mentions that he was going to take some guy named Brett Favre with an expansion pick. Who? So I look him up. He's got about 14 tds thru 15 weeks or so. Well, let me scoop up this guy on speculation. The 1st of 4 titles.

 

[GloryDaze]

Going to the school library hoping to be the first one to get the USA Today to do scoring on Monday. Having to actually go buy one from a gas station when a jerkwad would steal the sports page and leave the rest before I got there. Making friends with the guy that put the paper in the big rod looking things so that he'd keep the paper in back until I got there.

 

[duaneok66]

Having Mark Rypien as my 1st ever pick in 1992 and watching him suck. We discussed expanding to 14 teams from 10 and one of the guys that was going to own an expansion team mentions that he was going to take some guy named Brett Favre with an expansion pick. Who? So I look him up. He's got about 14 tds thru 15 weeks or so. Well, let me scoop up this guy on speculation. The 1st of 4 titles.

I started in 1999 . . . I wasnt really following football that much at the time . . . I knew who Peyton Manning was, but I didn't know who Marvin Harrison was . . . I found out quickly . . .it wasn't really a league, it was one of those contests where you get X dollars and you fill out a roster. Everyone has the same players. Still, it was fun picking up Warner on the cheap and watching the Rams fireworks on a weekly basis . . .Good times . . .

 

[andyk]

started in 1990, USA today was the only place for stats, and ESPN Primetime was the greatest thing ever to happen to fantasy football. I also paid almost 1000 dollars for directv, at that point being able to watch all the games with your line up on a piece of paper in front of you was absolutely cutting edge.

 

[broncosFan]

Living in Houston in 1991, with the first pick of the draft, I selected Warren Moon. I promptly named my team "The Moonies" and rode the ol chuck and duck to a 13-3 record. The league was then 8 members, 6 six of them are still in the 10 man league we run today. Those were the days of no internet, and I had to drive 15 miles to a downtown Houston news stand to get a copy of Pro Football Weekly to get ready for the drafts.

 

[ghosttothepost]

I remember drafting Dan Marino 1st round in my first ever draft, and it was the year he was injured and Scott Mitchell lit it up. I didn't own Scott Mitchell however...My favorite all time waiver wire pickups were Isaac Bruce in his 2nd year when he absolutely exploded, and Robert Brooks when he blew up.

Marino was a fantasy beast back then. I remember also loving having Randall Cunningham on my squad. Those rushing yards/tds during his prime were golden!!!

 

[duaneok66]

Living in Houston in 1991, with the first pick of the draft, I selected Warren Moon. I promptly named my team "The Moonies" and rode the ol chuck and duck to a 13-3 record. The league was then 8 members, 6 six of them are still in the 10 man league we run today. Those were the days of no internet, and I had to drive 15 miles to a downtown Houston news stand to get a copy of Pro Football Weekly to get ready for the drafts.

bet you enjoyed every minute of the drive there . . .

 

[UFO]

Started in 1997, cusp of internet. Not really much online. We did scoring from USA Today and on excel spreadsheets for a number of years. I do yearn for those days a bit I must say...you really had to be serious to win, no auto drafting, no cheat sheets online, no injury information unless you watched the pre game...then of course you would place a call to the commissioner to change your line-up like you were calling your bookie or something. With all the info online it is certainly more addictive. Believe it our not with all the info at your finger tips and the efficiencies of league management sites I spend much more time now than back then.

On another note, we did an Arena fantasy league as a goof back in 2000, well we had a league until last year when the AFL folded. It gave you a real throwback feel of having to dig deep for research. I found myself reading the Grand Rapids newspaper online to find out who was winning the QB battle in camp. They are relaunching something called AFL 1 this spring with teams from a few of the indoor leagues I HIGHLY recommend trying it. it overlaps perfectly until about June just in time to start your hardcore NFL research. Have a friend who developed a basic web based league management system, if anyone is interested in starting their own league let me know.

 

[duaneok66]

hey ghost, GREAT thread idea . . .

 

[PatsFanCT]

USA Today box scores, adding every game by hand. Wouldn't finish until Tuesday night. Good times. All lineups were naturally called in, so rewinding the answering machine a gazillion times on Saturday nights/Sunday Mornings was fun too. The CBS 28/58 ticker would only show score changes so you'd have to cross your fingers until the half-time highlights or Sports Center came on to see if it was your guy. Finding your "Hot waiver wire pick-up" from the transactions report in the daily newspaper... I almost miss all that fun.

 

[ghosttothepost]

started in 1990, USA today was the only place for stats, and ESPN Primetime was the greatest thing ever to happen to fantasy football. I also paid almost 1000 dollars for directv, at that point being able to watch all the games with your line up on a piece of paper in front of you was absolutely cutting edge.

"prime time,...prime time,...prime time,...prime time,...prime time......" Loved that!

 

[duaneok66]

started in 1990, USA today was the only place for stats, and ESPN Primetime was the greatest thing ever to happen to fantasy football. I also paid almost 1000 dollars for directv, at that point being able to watch all the games with your line up on a piece of paper in front of you was absolutely cutting edge.

"prime time,...prime time,...prime time,...prime time,...prime time......" Loved that!

agreed - that's one of Berman's better ones . . .

 

[5Rings]

Taking Joe Montana, Wendell Tyler, and Dwight Clark 1-2-3 in 1983.

 

[BigDave]

Started in 1994 or 1995. 10 guys in the office and we drafted 14 players.

We kept a manual list of the players and rarely traded anyone during the season.

- I was commish and got half off the fee because of all the work back then.

- I would look up every stat in the local paper and calculate the scores.

- I published a one page "Fantasy Football Newletter" with standings, scores etc...

- We trashed talked in the newsletter which was pretty funny.

5 of the original 10 are still in the league and have been every year since the start.

There's no way we would have all stayed together if it wasn't for fantasy football.

 

[gardener]

What a great idea. 1988 was my rookie season. No internet...and if you paid through the nose you were lucky to get a 1200/2400 baud modem.

We lived & died by USA Today. I remember getting hosed one game because of a typo...but if it was reported then that was the score. No appeals, no internet, just USA Today...worse yet, the guy I played saw the game and still wouldn't give me the points!!

Players...oh the days...it has always been all about RBs but there was lethal combination that everybody rode to the title:

Joe Montana /Steve Youngto Jerry Rice.

There were all kinds of other characters...somebody always bit on Cunningham only to get hosed down the line.

And you won if you put in the most work. I remember spending hours scouring newspapers in the library on campus, reading every piece of information I could. Funny thing...I spend the same amount of time now and get a lot more information...only now I know that I am right most of the time anyway.

lol.

 

[tomarken]

On another note, we did an Arena fantasy league as a goof back in 2000, well we had a league until last year when the AFL folded. It gave you a real throwback feel of having to dig deep for research. I found myself reading the Grand Rapids newspaper online to find out who was winning the QB battle in camp. They are relaunching something called AFL 1 this spring with teams from a few of the indoor leagues I HIGHLY recommend trying it. it overlaps perfectly until about June just in time to start your hardcore NFL research. Have a friend who developed a basic web based league management system, if anyone is interested in starting their own league let me know.

We did this too, it was a ton of fun, and every once in a while a player you knew from the AFL would make the jump to the NFL (Rob Bironas is the only one that comes to mind immediately, but there were others, lol)

 

[ffldrew]

I started in 1983 - picked William Andrews first round - so lucky. Next year did the same thing...not so lucky.

Going to Newsland to get a Grogans Blue Sheet - I found those and I wouldn't tell owners where to find them - they finally found them in town. Best use was on draft night when someone picked a guy and you could say he'd been cut or injured.

Watching Todd Donaho on Sunday nights on SCORE and the ticker with player stats would roll by..Loved Todd Donaho

 

[Judge Ito]

I think my 1st year was '99, ZERO draft preparation (I think I took Randy Moss with my 1st pick), but the memory was just hanging out with a bunch of friends drafting players, it seems like everyone had a word or two about why they were drafting each guy (draft took forever, but was a blast!). It was either that season or the next that I had Corey Dillion when he broke what was then the single game rushing record...fun times.

Then 1 friend, the commissioner, would do scoring by hand every Tuesday, sometimes he wouldn't finish until Thursday or Friday because we were in college and he was busy with plenty of other things. Come to think of it, that guy did scoring by hand up until 2 or 3 years ago (I think he just really enjoyed it).

Great topic...it's fun to think back to my early FFB days; it's truly amazing how far this "hobby" has come.

 

[ctriopelle]

Started in '94 or '95 and we actually had a guy that had a laptop at the draft to record our picks. A buddy of mine convinced me to head to the bar with him to join a league. I had never heard of FF before, but I saw some FF ad in the local newspaper where teams cost $50 and figured a bunch of guys were going to pitch in and buy a team. I showed up with nothing but my wallet and my liver, and proceeded to down beer after beer and borrow other guys' magazines to decide who to pick next. I think I selected Montana #1 and Marino #2, simply because I was just picking players nobody else had picked yet and I didn't know many players on teams besides the Bears (and I knew they were bad at the time). We got our standings updates via mail, and had to call in our lineups via phone, I don't think we even had a waiver process. I didn't even know how our scoring worked that year, and I had a horrible record. I think I started my own league a couple years later and I used FFLM to manage the league. That first league I was in is still around, but I left about 5 years ago after a fallout with the commish not paying winners in a timely manner. My friend finished first (almost a grand) and didn't get paid until the following season, and I figured I'd had enough of dropping some coin into a league that may not be able to pay me back even if I won. It's been a fun ride though, and I thoroughly enjoy being glued to the TV from Sunday noon until Monday night.

And some contest thingy some website runs keeps me occupied too...

 

[Sweet Love]

I was drwan in when I worked for Andersen Consulting out of school in '97. I was out to lunch with some guys and they needed an "8th". I joined and although I dropped the league in 2002, I have never looked back; some found memories include:

A partner at the firm complaining to another partner that the newbies were all just sitting around doing nothing. I overheard this and the partner looked me square in the eye and said " Not you...I have heard you have been busy with printouts and just putting the nose to the grindstone. What are you working on?"

Me: " Uh, just trying to teach myself VB...going a little tough, but just trying."

Him: "Keep it up and good work."

That was in reference to my finding a site with FF projections, printing out 100+ pages at work (lol), and sitting there highlighting guys I should keep an eye on.

The other was my taking Curtis Conway after he had been injured. One guy said he thought he was hurt...the rest of us just shrugged our shoulders...we had no clue.

 

[Eephus]

Started in 1988 with a crazy homegrown system that ranked teams by scoring category each week and assigned 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points for each category.

Some of the owners didn't have computers back then so instead of weekly waivers we had a midseason mini-draft where people could pick up new players and discard their slop. Roster sizes were the same so once a player was dumped, he could be drafted by another team. And for some stupid reason, you could only replace players with others who played the same position. Poor Johnny Hector was drafted five times and dumped four times during the midseason draft of 1989, including twice by the same team.

 

[Neal Cassady]

started in 1988

-sitting at the kitchen table on mondays and tuesday and figuring out team scores by hand using USA today stats (miss that)

-not really knowing how many points my players scored (now i know in an instant)

-chip lohmiller taken at the start of round 2 (he WAS ranked #1 kicker in preseason)

-absolutely raping guys via trades (only about three guys who knew what the hell was going on)

-countless hours spent pouring over the preseason magazines on the ####ter (now i just lurk here)

-guys taking players from their favorite teams no matter how good they were fantasy-wise (see memory #4 above)

-st louis homer taking some dude named 'KURT WARNER?' with the last pick of the draft his rookie season (we all remember how that turned out)

-me rejecting a trade for kurt warner after week one of his rookie season (that didnt turn out real well either)

-ffootball mastermind

 

[OldMilwaukee]

Scoring was all we scored!

 

[Don Quixote]

1990... drafted Cris Carter in a TD-only league. Two days later, Buddy Ryan cut him for only catching touchdowns.

Randall Cunningham was my QB. Awesome year. A couple weeks into the season, I picked up a rookie named Emmitt off waivers.

 

[Hooper31]

I remember drafting Dan Marino 1st round in my first ever draft, and it was the year he was injured ...

This was me in my first year as well (1993).Fond memories of the USA Today sports section on Mondays tallying up scores by hand.Best draft ever for me was 1996: Testeverde, Tony Martin, Michael Jackson, Curtis Martin, Ricky Watters.

 

[snellman]

Late bloomer here. Started in 2001. I had gone through a divorce, been in a car accident, couldn't work and had a ton of time on my hands. I would spend hours snooping around on the internet and I came across I site call Yahoo sports fantasy football. I enjoyed watching my Vikings, so I thought I would give it a try and joined a public league. I took Randy Moss in the first and Donovan McNabb in the second. I was instantly addicted and joined 4 groups the next year. Joined my first dynasty in 04, loved that even more than redraft along with IDP. I missed out on the good ol days without the internet, but having played dice baseball in High School, know if I had been introduced to it, I would have been hooked.

Just went back into my Yahoo profile and looked at some of my old teams, ah the good ol memories.

 

[North]

I admit my experience has been almost exactly as yours. I've been in a league with the same 13 guys since 1988. We started with a bsic scoring system that rewarded TD only. Over the years we have added performance points and watched as league averages have soared.

Before the internet drafting a good team and winning was easy because I was willing to put in the time. Now doing research is too easy and everyone in our league has become veery competitive. It also hurts being with the same guys for the past 21 years, they all know yourhabits wwhen it comes to drafting. We joke that our first 4 rounds could be done by a computer because everyone knows each other so well we all know who each other will take.

The best thing however is that we still get together each year for our draft, which is tough with members now living across the country.

 

[netnalp]

I wonder how much USA Today's sales improved during football season, before the internet took over for scoring.

1984, 12 team league. My steal of the draft was 18th round, Louis Lipps. His rookie year, he went 45/860/9.

I remember there were only a few news stands that got the late night games in the USA Today the next day. If they sold out I'd have to wait till Wednesdays paper to get the Monday night stats.

 

[Dought Man]

Natty Means FTW !!!!! Thats what I remember most. And tracking scores from the USA Today on Monday/Tues morning.

 

[Dave Stauff]

Dalton Hilliard . . . 1989 . . . good memories . . . I finally retired as commish of that league this year, after 20 years going strong. But I still have seven others to keep me busy.

 

[Northbound Train]

On another note, we did an Arena fantasy league as a goof back in 2000, well we had a league until last year when the AFL folded. It gave you a real throwback feel of having to dig deep for research. I found myself reading the Grand Rapids newspaper online to find out who was winning the QB battle in camp. They are relaunching something called AFL 1 this spring with teams from a few of the indoor leagues I HIGHLY recommend trying it. it overlaps perfectly until about June just in time to start your hardcore NFL research. Have a friend who developed a basic web based league management system, if anyone is interested in starting their own league let me know.

 

[Da Guru]

I remember when I used to enjoy it.

My very first pick was Icky Woods..he blew his knee out in the second game.

 

[Native]

Won the championship in my first year of FF in 1988. Mail-in league from the back of a magazine. Had to call in my free agent pickups every Friday to some guy who answered the phone and managed all the leagues. Randall Cunningham and Roger Craig (1500 rushing yards) led me to the title...

 

[duaneok66]

I remember when I used to enjoy it.

please elaborate (seriously) . . .I remember several years ago (2003 or 2004) I had 4 leagues . . . I had Harrison in three and Priest in two leagues, etc . . .I'd have a color coded computer printout with my players and my opp players from all 4 teams . . . I didn't enjoy that year. was I supposed to cheer when Holmes scored if I had him in two but played him in the other leagues??? It was too confusing and I didnt really enjoy it - Later in the season I found myself (naturally) focusing more on the winning teams . . . I am back down to one dynasty league and now it couldnt be greater. Each week is usually a 36 hour game (Sun noon CDT until almost midnight Monday night) . . .what a game!!!-------------------------the only thing I loved about multiple leagues was the enjoyment of being in multiple drafts . . .

 

[RudiStein]

I don't remember what year I started but the first draft I ever witnessed was in 1985. 3 guys I knew shared one team . I showed up in the middle of the draft and watched. When my buddies were debating over which kicker to take I half-jokingly said "Kevin Butler. The Bears drafted him." They didn't listen and took someone else. Butler had like 140 points that year.

 

[boubucarow]

Losing first place in a total points league because I thought to bench Boomer Esiason and start rookie Drew Bledsoe in week 17 after the Saturday game had already started. The rule was lineup final at the start of the first game of the week. Later, the commish told me he would have made the change for me. It was my first league. I was 15, told about the draft a day before, and was picking against 13 thirty+ old guys in a bar. First ever pick was Thurman Thomas.

 

[majstro]

Great Thread.

To all the USA Today references, remember how week one was somtimes horrible since the season started on the Sunday before Labor Day and there was no USA Today on Labor Day!

How about the Eric Metcalf battles...was he a running back or a wide receiver???

I remember paying $4.00 to receive a faxed cheatsheet just before the draft from one of the magazines and thought it was cutting edge.

 

[Steady Mooobin]

Shocked some of you guys were playing as far back as 83.

I'm 32, so I didn't into it until around 92 or 93. I remember my not being able to wait until the Wed Washing Post came out so we could do the scoring, all on paper.

 

[bentley]

Won the championship in my first year of FF in 1988. Mail-in league from the back of a magazine. Had to call in my free agent pickups every Friday to some guy who answered the phone and managed all the leagues. Randall Cunningham and Roger Craig (1500 rushing yards) led me to the title...

I did one of these leagues in 1988. Pro Football Digest was the magazine. Not sure about the league. We'd get a newsletter that would often, but not always, come in before the next week's games. I ran a league in my high school that folded after one season in 1991. Most of the guys in that league were around for the formation of my current league in 1995. 5/8 of them are still in the league as of this year.I did my scores out of the Dallas Morning News. No USA Today here. I remember that some weeks, the Monday night game would end late enough that I wouldn't get that box score until Wednesday, delaying the results for another day and causing a lot of stress if there was a close game.The TNT Sunday Night football show in the mid-90s where they'd run the crawl with complete stats (rather than just the leaders) was the absolute bomb. That stat crawl was revolutionary back in the day.

 

[doeseatplace]

Ghost--Almost exact same story, starting in 1989. Driving around town to find the hurting "digest"...no one stocked it and no one had even heard of FF. Pulling stats from USA Today (we still use a modified version of the old USAT scoring system)....especially brutal around Thanksgiving, when commish would take three weeks to send out results, and you had to check your score in case he was loaded the night he ran the numbers. Started as touchdown only, so Rod Bernstine and Marion Butts were high draft picks, as were kickers (Chip Lohmiller anyone?)It has lost a lot, as owners don't have to put much time into fielding a decent team.

I started playing fantasy football with some college buddies back in 1988. My how times have changed. No such things back then as the internet or websites. In fact, the only publication I recall back then was a book by Cliff Carpentier called "Fantasy Football Digest." I'm not sure if it is even around anymore. Since there was no such things as online stats or online league managers, I recall waking up Monday mornings and using the USA Today to hand-score all our games and then type out a weekly newsletter on my box-like Macintosh. I'd print it out on some dot matrix printer and then make Xerox copies at school to distribute to the guys in our league. The biggest difference I notice today is that it seems anyone can draft/manage a decent team by spending a few minutes on the web (particularly at a website like FBG). There just doesn't seem to be nearly the reward there used to be for those who choose to do a bunch of their own research. That said, all the technological improvements in this "hobby" over the years are certainly amazing and a lot of fun to see/use. So does anyone have any early fantasy football memories/stories they'd like to share? (I apologize in advance if this topic has been sufficiently covered previously...)

 

[finfansteve]

in 1988 or so my 1st ever pick was bernie kosar and the pick after that i chose mark bavaro ( I obviously didnt subscribe to the rb 1st theory). Bavaro got hurt the 2nd game of the season and I still almost made the playoffs and after that I was hooked. I play in a keeper league and the moves I recall most fondly are drafting a smallish rb from florida as a rookie for the dallas cowboys and keeping him for almost his whole career and winning 3 titles with him and also trading herschel walker for a young qb just traded from atlanta to green bay on a hunch and riding him to 4 super bowls teamed up with emmitt to form an unbeatable combo. Great memories from those 2 all time greats....................

sort of misty eyed right now as a matter of fact

 

[flerbus]

Not too many years ago, before internet live scoring and laptops. The Sunday Nfl games would play a chime before posting some fantasy stats.

No matter what was going on, there would be a mad Pavlovian rush to the nearest TV to see how "your guys" were doing.

 

[footballnerd]

I started playing fantasy football with some college buddies back in 1988. My how times have changed. No such things back then as the internet or websites. In fact, the only publication I recall back then was a book by Cliff Carpentier called "Fantasy Football Digest." I'm not sure if it is even around anymore. Since there was no such things as online stats or online league managers, I recall waking up Monday mornings and using the USA Today to hand-score all our games and then type out a weekly newsletter on my box-like Macintosh. I'd print it out on some dot matrix printer and then make Xerox copies at school to distribute to the guys in our league. The biggest difference I notice today is that it seems anyone can draft/manage a decent team by spending a few minutes on the web (particularly at a website like FBG). There just doesn't seem to be nearly the reward there used to be for those who choose to do a bunch of their own research. That said, all the technological improvements in this "hobby" over the years are certainly amazing and a lot of fun to see/use. So does anyone have any early fantasy football memories/stories they'd like to share? (I apologize in advance if this topic has been sufficiently covered previously...)

Dude was I in your league? haha. We printed results on a dot matrix printer too and we sat down with grid paper to do our stats, and had our opponents double check it. Did that for baseball and basketball too. Definitely more fun now.

 

[elshagon]

I remember having to wait for the newspaper the next day and hoping they included the late game stats. My first year was 1994, all scoring done by hand...how times have changed! I still have the folder that was given to each team in the league that year, Young and Rice in the first two rounds.....good times!

 

[Mr. Retukes]

Did anyone else use Terry Bradshaw Fantasy Football for Windows 95 as their league management software? Our league used it in the pre-internet days. I don't remember if the scoring system was wacky by default (or if we were just too clueless to create a "standard" scoring system), but I remember some wacky point totals when players would do something out of the ordinary. 99-yard kickoff returns were worth 24 points! LOL

 

[Balance]

my team had to walk uphill in the snow both ways to and from the stadium.

 

[finfansteve]

more memories: thinking harvey williams, sammie smith, tim worley and cecil collins were the 'next big thing'. Trying to trade for guys named mark carrier, hart lee dykes, and alvin harper. Picking up chris warren and watching him score like 16 tds on the year. Not playing steve buerlein the year he had his career year because I had brett favre and, well, I just couldnt bring myself to bench favre for a guy named buerlein and then realizing I would have won the super bowl if I had started buerlein.

Drafting rod berstein as a TE (he was listed as such on the SD roster so we had to use him at that position) when in reality he was really used as a rb and picking up whatever bonus pts I got for a TE rushing td. Chip Lohmiller was a fantasy god.

watching neil anderson replace walter payton and actually doing a pretty good job of it for awhile. Trying to decide between steve walsh and troy aikman before realizing that neither was worth it for fantasy football purposes. Trading the 1st pick in our rookie draft (marshall faulk) for sterling sharpe only to watch sharpe go down for his career and for the next 10 years watch faulk tear it up almost tore me up and made me quit FF.

Trying to find a magazine to help with drafting as back then nobody had a computer so obviously there were no sites to consult with. The only ones I can remember from back then are fantasy football index and cliff charpentiers book (which you couldnt just find anywhere- you had to go to barnes and noble or something like that to find it). Marion Butts running over people because he was an enormous RB for the times.

Ironhead Heyward.................................