Fantasy football in the 1980s
Website design By BotEap.comI started playing Fantasy Football in 1987. I started 23 years ago when I was 10. The landscape has changed dramatically since then.
Website design By BotEap.comIt all started when my dad got the chance to join a dynasty league. Two teams had not renewed and there was going to be a draft to divide their players. My dad, my older brother Ben, and I went to his office to do the draft over the phone with the other new owner. The rookies that year were already in the draft so I remember the grand prize was Vinny Testaverde. The other featured QBs were Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham. I know I felt nervous because the stakes were high. We did a coin toss over the phone that seemed to require an incredible level of trust through the eyes of a 10-year-old. We lost the coin toss and selected 2nd and 3rd. Testaverde went first and we finally got Moon and Cunningham. It worked out well for us and I’ve always had an affinity with Cunningham because of that early connection with him.
Website design By BotEap.comAfter that draft, all three of us were totally hooked. So much so that we organized another league for that same season so that each of us could manage our own team. It was a league that redesigned every year. Well, my dad and I each had our own team. I have never felt so much responsibility being in control of my own fantasy team. The first draft took place in our house. My dad advanced our entry of $10 or $20. I don’t remember how much, but it seemed like a lot at the time. The other players were all adults except for one boy who brought his two children; the eldest of which had his own equipment and the youngest shared with his dad. Clearly, my dad had a lot of faith in me.
Website design By BotEap.comTo prepare me for the draft, my father bought Cliff Charpentier’s 1987 Fantasy Football Digest. It was a complete book of more than 200 pages. It had a solid color for the front and no flashy images. This book was amazing for me. There was a lot to learn. It was arranged by position and in the different scoring methods. We were the basic scoring method of the game. Which awarded 4 points for TD thrown, 6 points for carrying and receiving TD, 3 points for field goals and 1 point for extra points. That was it. No points were awarded for yardage. Now it seems barbaric, but that’s how we played and we loved it. The book was presented by position with classifications that had levels. Starting with “Best of the Best” and going down from there. I remember thinking that this was like a textbook and should not be questioned. I had a resource and I studied it a lot. I remember countless mock drafts on my own. We didn’t determine the draft position until draft night, which made preparation infinitely more difficult.
Website design By BotEap.comDraft night was always incredibly exciting for me. The first two years were held in our home and then it was moved to a different owner’s business conference room that seemed extremely official. Draft position was determined by dealing cards from ace to nine. The drama was amazing. There were pretzel sticks to eat like cigars and this would be the first time I would see beer in my house. It was a whole new world for me. It was about as much fun as a pre-teen kid could handle.
Website design By BotEap.comSundays held a whole new excitement for them. Watching the games was torture, we got a game or two at noon, and of course we had no DVR. So you were craving the ticker at the top of the screen and the very rare break in the game to assess how you were doing. The halftime highlights were a whirlwind of information to track down. I remember begging the announcers “How did you score the third TD?” This would go on through the noon and 3:00 games and then we had to wait an agonizing couple of hours until NFL primetime, which also launched in 1987. I have so many memories of one of my fantasy players running around the screen and listening to Chris. Berman yelling “Rumbling Stubble TOUCHDOWN!!!!” The high was amazing. I somehow miss those days. With today’s instantaneous information, that anticipation can never build like it did back then.
Website design By BotEap.comBen and my dad took over the duties of the commissioner. This was a lot of work. They learned how to use a spreadsheet on our green screen Apple IIC. Lines were called on our home phone on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings with last minute calls arriving just before noon. I remember that these calls were very annoying to my sister, who couldn’t possibly understand the level of importance of her. The official results had to wait for the box scores in the Monday morning paper. Suddenly, she was very excited about the paper and very glad that we had delivery in the morning. I was one of the only kids in elementary school who went to the library and ventured into the newspaper section. I would review the box scores to plan my drop and additions.
Website design By BotEap.comAfter the game on Monday night, the results would be entered into the spreadsheet and printed. We would mail them out to the rest of the league the next day. It’s a testament to how much fun fantasy football is that even with what now seems like such a crude way of receiving and distributing data, we had a good time playing it. You certainly had to be more dedicated than having a league that would last due to the sheer amount of work required.
Website design By BotEap.comI have nothing but fond memories of playing fantasy football in the 1980s and early 1990s. I’m glad it has become more accessible to the masses and has reached the popularity it has today. Yet there’s a small part of me that misses waiting through commercial breaks hoping to hear Chris Berman yell as only he can: “Nigerian Nightmare slams its way into the end zone.”