The Early Days of Fantasy Football (2 Viewers)

[BUTTER]

Made our own rules up in the late 80's but in 1991 used the handbook from a Miller Lite case (Franchise Football)! LOL

Best draft was 1995 as I nabbed Emmitt Smith and then my all time favorite player Jerry Rice. Nice year to get them!

 

[Rockchild]

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.

I remember a buddy come running into the room with his pants around his ankles after hearing the chimes. He was on the can and rushed in and didn't have time to pull up his pants. We still chuckle about this every draft.

 

[soonerhef]

Made our own rules up in the late 80's but in 1991 used the handbook from a Miller Lite case (Franchise Football)! LOLBest draft was 1995 as I nabbed Emmitt Smith and then my all time favorite player Jerry Rice. Nice year to get them!

We played with those rules too. QB's scored double for rushing TD's. RB's scored double for receiving TDs, etc. TD's were worth 6 from 0-9 yds, 9 for 10-39 yds, and 12 for 40+.I think it was 1991 and I drafted Randall Cunningham with the 1st pick, only to see him go out for the season against the Packers in the 1st game. He was a freakin monster under that scoring system.

 

[ShaqAttaq]

1992. sitting in my first class of the day on monday with the USA today going over stats. writing down lineups on a piece of paper while watching the games. hearing the chimes & instinctively looking. looking forward to watching NFL primetime.

 

[QuizGuy66]

Was in my first league in college in '89. It's amazing how many people started in 88/89 in this thread. We had like one magazine with the prior year's stats and nobody had any idea what the hell they were doing. I drafted Tim Worley as a rookie in round 4 (oops) as well as Stephen Baker (I mean the guy's nickname is the touchdown maker and he had 7 TDs the year before!). Grabbed Andre Rison as a rookie for the Colts, which basically meant he was worthless that year. Was chooing between Ironhead and Hilliard for my last pick and fatefully chose...Ironhead! After week one I ran out and corrected that one and picked up Hilliard. A couple weeks later grabbed this guy who was leading the league in receptions: Sterling Sharpe. Basically rode those two guys into a playoff berth after an awful start and despite the efforts of our uber-corrupt commish. I "lost" a game because my opponent "picked-up" Rich Karlis the week he hit 7 FGs. Those kinds of shenanigans are a little harder to pull off today

Oh we also had 1 IDP player in that league. I didn't know enough to take a steady sack guy so I grabbed Erik McMillan from the Jets (who had led the league in INTs the year before). He ended up scoring 4 touchdowns for me that year

I remember the mad confusion and debate (what the heck do we do with this extra week that got added to the schedule - the dawn of the bye week in the NFL).

I commissioned for the first time the next year. Hand scored in a bound notebook Things like the all play record, I actually figured out on my own and posted (as well as coaching percentage) as I figured that would be entertaining. Commishing was definitely a lot more work.

Primetime was a religious experience. Once upon a time Chris Berman actually was cool and someone you wanted to see on your tv.

The thing was you would never see every score. One of my favorite memories was discovering (I actually think it might've Leonard Bernstine?!?) that my RB scored 3 times when that was the only unknown scores that were left and exactly what I need to win.

I also remember having Thurman Thomas and an 8-point lead going up against Keith Cash (!) and losing.

More random thoughts to follow as I shake them out of my addled mind.

-QG

 

[firstseason1987]

"I remember back when we'd draft a team, then have to wait until next year's football cards came out to figure out who won."

Y'all just riding my coattails.

 

[belljr]

I have so many. I remember getting the Daily News every monday and doing the stats. We had 2 of us that would do them both independently then compare for the integrity of the league. The abundance of Sunday morning phonecalls for starting lineups. Telling my then girlfriend (now my wife) how to write down the rosters if I wasn't home. Mailing out standings and records in the MAIL. i think we started in 92. I bought a FF Index pretty much just used their rules and we were making it up as we went.

I remember in I think 98 buying software to keep track of the league and paying for a stat download that would update the software and keep track of the league.

Some of the biggest moves. A trade for Ben Coates when he was "struggling" don't remember who I gave up but in the playoffs facing the guy I traded coates for puts up 2 TD's (I think on Monday night for the win).

I rode Steve Young to the finals of my league in 92 and 93. He was my first keeper.

Needing 26 from Bernie Parmalee on a Monday night and he gets 29

Man so maybe good memories.

 

[ghosttothepost]

Great stories! It's funny how reading about others' early days experiences reminds me of even more of my own experiences. And I agree with a previous poster that its fascinating how many other people started back in the 88/89 time period like I did. Here I was thinking I was some sort of dinosaur among the people around here...

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

I remeber my first draft - Dan Marino - Ricky Watters - Michael Irvin top 3 picks

We grabbed our scoring out of the USA today paper.

Pre-internet, had to get the newspaper on Monday morning and hand calc the stats.

 

[Cenobite]

First trade I made was Barry Foster for Sterling Sharpe. Ahh, the good old days.

 

[Da Guru]

I remember guys drafting kickers in the first rd before yardage scoring.

Here are a few names from the past....Dalton Hilliard, Marion Butts, Flipper Anderson,Eddie Brown, Antonio Freeman. Robert Brooks Rodney Hampton, Chris Warren, Yancy Thigpen, Brett Perriman to name a few.

 

[PR Sparty]

My first year playing, don't remember the year, but I got the first pick and I took Kordell. I think it was his second year and he was supposed to be the man.

 

[Don Quixote]

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.

Eric Metcalf was a pain. The league that I was in was length of TD-based and awarded double points if a RB caught a TD. Metcalf was easily the highest scoring RB (and maybe player).The same thing happened with Kordell Stewart one year. He started off the year as a WR and backup QB but became full-time QB midseason -- we still scored him as a WR that year, however. So, he got double points for every touchdown he either threw or ran.

 

[TheRingLeader$]

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.

ahhh yes....the equivalent of the "radio era" in FF. I remember waiting until Wednesday for the commish to add up all of the scores to see if you won or lost. And sometimes we had to wait until Friday if he was on vacation. Yes, you could grab a USA Today or even a local paper and add up all of the scores yourself, but you had to know who you were playing against. We had to slide all of our lineups under his door before 5PM on Fridays. So you had to make arrangement with the guy that you were playing against to get a copy of his lineup. When the internets finally found its way into our company back around 1999ish courtesy of Rotowire.com.....we found free FF webhosting. Then we migrated over to MFL.

 

[netnalp]

My first trade was in 1991. My girlfriend traded me Jim Kelly for Browning Nagle. Lots of collusion went on, magazines didn't talk much about rules to prevent it so we weren't aware how bad it was.

The Run & Shoot was fantasy gold.

My stud Robert Edwards going down in Flag Football

1999, I was a self anointed "Shark" and my co-owner was a "Guppy". Our stud QB Vinnie Testaverde goes down for the season with a torn Achilles. I called all the shots during the draft and he insists that he finally get to make a decision, so during the Jets game he calls in to pick up our new QB. I was so infuriated with his choice, I said "WTF!!! You have a gut feeling!!! Your gut told you to go with a former arena football QB? That's insane! If that guy throws for more than 10 TDs all season, I'll give you any winnings we make".

Kurt Warner went on to put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%.

And yes, I handed over my share of the money when we won the league and led the league in points.

 

[Sullie]

1990 - wow!

Just like everyone else, Cliff Carpenter's Fantasy Football Guide (clutched in my hand like a bible) and and everyone had the same Fantasy Football magazine. Pretty funny really! We had some goofy scoring rules. I remember that my first pick was Warren Moon and my next pick was Andre Rison which I foolishly traded away for Calvin Williams of the Eagles after I got pissed in week 2 when Rison didn't produce. That year Rison was spectacular and Calvin Williams was, well, he was Calvin Williams!

Speaking of loopholes - we used to mess with the Commish and do "one week" trades. No written rules about trades so if you wanted to help out a buddy you would trade Jerry Rice for some stiff for one week and then trade him back the next week just to mess with your opponent. Pretty crappy but it was kind of funny.

Man, I remember the total uproar on Monday's sometimes when a questionable play would come up. Not all the fantasy rule kinks were worked out so absolute mayhem happened when (for example - the teams were made up in this case) Jim Kelly threw an interception, the Eagles were running it back, fumbled it and a Bill WR picked it up and ran it, etc.

Tuesday's the Commish would walk around the office and drop off your "official" score, the results from the rest of the games and the standings with a few stats, some jabs and comments at the bottom. The low score was always highlighted and the high score was always highlighted.

Good stuff!

 

[garosenb]

I drafted Fuad-o-matic in the fourth round of my first FF draft in 1992. I recall the draft was at a Foot Locker before work started one early Saturday morning. I did not win the title that year.

 

[Kanil]

I was a later start than most of the folks here. I didn't start playing until 97 and had no clue what I was doing. I made homer picks left and right:

John Elway

Terrell Davis

Shannon Sharpe

Jason Elam

Rod Smith

I won all my games except for the Denver bye week. It was great.

 

[5Rings]

"I remember back when we'd draft a team, then have to wait until next year's football cards came out to figure out who won."Y'all just riding my coattails.

glad you could join us, n00b

 

[belljr]

I know I have a spreadsheet somewhere with our league history and keepers on it. Some were hilarious.

I just found some old lineups but I'mnot sure what year they were from. I'll have to post the championship game when I get a chance.

 

[ffldrew]

If I go to my office I might find some 5 1/4"floppies with rosters and results in a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet buried somewhere.

 

[Resident A]

I started in 1992. First ever draft pick was Herschel Walker at #10.

No internet, no Fantasy football magazines, all I had for research material was the Street & Smith's Pro Football mag which was published in like May, so rosters were not current. There would be a lot of players drafted who were either on a different team than the owner though, or not on a team at all. I actually thought Hershel was still a Viking when I drafted him that year...

The commish wrote a weekly update sheet with scores, standings, trades, etc. and mailed it out. You literally wouldn't know if you won your game until Thursday or Friday when the thing arrived.

 

[Burgendy]

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

Man, we still use the points system out of this (length bonuses, out of position points, no yards until certain milestones reached) though the program was dumped ages ago. Best part about it is you can't rely on all the cookie cutter draft sheets because the scoring system is so different and you have to do your own work.

 

[mphtrilogy]

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...)

Barry Sanders on my first team in 1989!

 

[Marauder]

ahhh yes....the equivalent of the "radio era" in FF.

I remember waiting until Wednesday for the commish to add up all of the scores to see if you won or lost. And sometimes we had to wait until Friday if he was on vacation. Yes, you could grab a USA Today or even a local paper and add up all of the scores yourself, but you had to know who you were playing against. We had to slide all of our lineups under his door before 5PM on Fridays. So you had to make arrangement with the guy that you were playing against to get a copy of his lineup. When the internets finally found its way into our company back around 1999ish courtesy of Rotowire.com.....we found free FF webhosting. Then we migrated over to MFL.

I was also in a work league in those days and we had to have our lineups into the Commish before noon on Friday so he had time to compile them onto one sheet of paper which he xerox'd and handed out to us before 5:00.

 

[Marauder]

Eric Metcalf was a pain. The league that I was in was length of TD-based and awarded double points if a RB caught a TD. Metcalf was easily the highest scoring RB (and maybe player).The same thing happened with Kordell Stewart one year. He started off the year as a WR and backup QB but became full-time QB midseason -- we still scored him as a WR that year, however. So, he got double points for every touchdown he either threw or ran.

Probably the most underhanded thing I've done in FF was when Rod Bernstein was playing for the Chargers. He was drafted as a tight end then switched to running back around his second or third year. The first year he played RB, the source we used to determine positions (maybe USA Today) still listed him as a tight end. Our league at the time gave bonus points for rushing yards by a WR or TE so I drafted him as a TE knowing that his rushing yards would make him a monster scorer. It was probably 3-4 weeks into the season that everybody else noticed that he was playing RB and they made me switch him.

 

[jon_mx]

ahhh yes....the equivalent of the "radio era" in FF.

I remember waiting until Wednesday for the commish to add up all of the scores to see if you won or lost. And sometimes we had to wait until Friday if he was on vacation. Yes, you could grab a USA Today or even a local paper and add up all of the scores yourself, but you had to know who you were playing against. We had to slide all of our lineups under his door before 5PM on Fridays. So you had to make arrangement with the guy that you were playing against to get a copy of his lineup. When the internets finally found its way into our company back around 1999ish courtesy of Rotowire.com.....we found free FF webhosting. Then we migrated over to MFL.

I was also in a work league in those days and we had to have our lineups into the Commish before noon on Friday so he had time to compile them onto one sheet of paper which he xerox'd and handed out to us before 5:00.

The old days any info on players was nearly impossible to find. Only place to get all the stats was USA Today, so it was Wednesday before the Monday Night game was published. The first year we played was very TD heavy. The goal line backs were king. You had to rush for 100 yards to get 3 points. A player like Marion Butts was golden, 2 carries, 2 yards, 2 TDs.

 

[evilempire]

LOVE this topic.

Started playing in 1991 as a late addition to a start up league with a couple of guys from work ... just eight teams, and 22-man rosters. Started two QBs/four RBs/five WRs/TE/two kickers, and we didn't really score points but won by winning a category ... passing yards, TD/INT ratio, etc. That year went heavy on the Oilers because of their offense ... had Haywood Jeffires (caught 100 passes) and Warren Moon ... but only finished second because I had no running game. Didn't understand the notion of position scarcity and just took players.

Getting the stats from USA Today was the bomb, though sometimes we got the first edition on Tuesday and it didn't have a complete box score from the Monday Night game.

Paid extra for a stand-alone voicemail so owners could call in lineups ... and no such thing as waiver wire, it was first-come first served with pickups. Would do a three-minute recap (complete with goofs on owners) of the week's results, usually Wednesday nights around 7 pm ... for some guys it was the only way they knew whether or not they had won!

Kept league standings in a spiral notebook, and came up with a weekly stats newsletter detailing the top 10 guys in each category ... the owners liked that.

Drafts were usually in someone's basement, with tons of food and beer, and invariably there would be a lot of razzing after a guy chose a kicker too early or picked someone who was hurt and out for the season (no takebacks at that point).

My best year was 1998, when I had Steve Young, Marshall Faulk and some whipper snapper named Randy Moss (got him in the ninth round after remembering him absolutely lighting up someone in a late-season MAC game).

I also got into the habit of drafting Rob Moore every year ... worked out for a while, but not so much at the end.

Watching games and waiting until halftime to see highlights, hoping your guy scored because there was no such thing as live scoring (at least not for most people). Thinking you won after Monday Night, only to find that your math was fuzzy.

Those were some good times. I like how instantaneous things are now, but most of the guys from that first league have gone their separate ways.

 

[bentley]

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 was a commissioner just like this and I was pretty much always loaded the night I ran the numbers. I would come home from college for Thanskgiving weekend and drink the whole time, which meant I blew off the weekend before and usually the weekend of Thanksgiving. Then everyone would get three weeks worth of results the next weekend.I was in a league in 1992 when I was a freshman in college where my co-owner and I traded away players for tangible goods. We had Emmitt Smith & Dan Marino, really needed food for the house, and nobody raised that much of a stink.

 

[QuizGuy66]

ahhh yes....the equivalent of the "radio era" in FF.

I remember waiting until Wednesday for the commish to add up all of the scores to see if you won or lost. And sometimes we had to wait until Friday if he was on vacation. Yes, you could grab a USA Today or even a local paper and add up all of the scores yourself, but you had to know who you were playing against. We had to slide all of our lineups under his door before 5PM on Fridays. So you had to make arrangement with the guy that you were playing against to get a copy of his lineup. When the internets finally found its way into our company back around 1999ish courtesy of Rotowire.com.....we found free FF webhosting. Then we migrated over to MFL.

I was also in a work league in those days and we had to have our lineups into the Commish before noon on Friday so he had time to compile them onto one sheet of paper which he xerox'd and handed out to us before 5:00.

Yup that's what I did in the work league I ran - I needed the time to write out all the lineups during my lunch break so I could distribute them at the end of the day.-QG

 

[belljr]

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

Man, we still use the points system out of this (length bonuses, out of position points, no yards until certain milestones reached) though the program was dumped ages ago. Best part about it is you can't rely on all the cookie cutter draft sheets because the scoring system is so different and you have to do your own work.

Thats the software I got the stat feed for - it changed to something else name wise

 

[The Mooreticians]

My first season was back in '92, and we set our lineups by leaving messages on the commissioner's answering machine. Pickups/drops were done the same way. He actually subscribed to a data service so we could get official stats, but mostly we would check our scores in the newspaper the next morning.

We've had a championship trophy ever since the league began - it's a nice piece of history that passes from Superbowl winner to Superbowl winner... we had to add a second tier to it recently.