The NFL network had a story on the beginnings of fantasy football back in the 60's in Oakland. It got me to thinking. In a previous post I mentioned my first foray into fantasy sports was in the 90's with the help of Yaj. But I had forgotten that sometime between 1987 and 1989 I had participated in a fantasy basketball league. Since it was some 25+ years ago please bear with me. I believe I found the league advertised in one of the basketball magazines I was reading at the time which would have been Hoop magazine or the Basketball digest.
This was a national deal in which you paid an entry fee, received your team in the mail and then set your lineup for the week. This was done either by mail or phone. Same thing was done for picking up players. The guy running the league had a certain time of the week in which we could call in to make player moves or provide him trade info. Speaking of. To make trades you could called the other owners. Considering how things are done nowadays it really seems pretty crazy but I loved it. We received standings weekly with team and maybe player stats. I do remember trying everything I could to get Dominique Wilkins from one of the other owners but never could pry him away. I don't remember winning the league or exactly where I stood in the standings but something in the back of my brain is telling me I didn't do very well.
I think I only did it one year but I've been hooked on fantasy sports ever since. I think if I'd been around in the 60's I'd found a way to do fantasy sports. Not that it would have been hard...well maybe it was a lot more work back then but if it was doable I'd done it. Just thought I'd share my first fantasy sports experience while it was "fresh" in my mind and the peak fantasy season (football) is upon us.
I was just talking to my co-workers about my 1st time playing fantasy football and how we had to take turns going out to buy a USA today. You and your opponent that week were responsible for tallying up the points and making sure your opponent was calculating his points correctly (I didn't know of any females playing fantasy back then). If you found up you screwed up after the results were handed in, too bad, all scores were final.
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