The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Shane Frederick

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September 9, 2009

Fantasy football: Still fun after all these years

By Shane Frederick

I participated in my very first fantasy football draft in 1993 when I was a senior in college.

Not to sound too old, but that was a much different time — at least when it comes to fantasy football.

This was pre-Internet, pre-e-mail (at least before everybody had it and used it daily) and pre-text messaging. No one in the room had a cell phone or a laptop.

This was a time when fantasy commissioners wasted hours Monday and Tuesday mornings with calculators, notebooks and — believe it or not — newspaper box scores and then found a way to get those results out to their friends that week. Lineups were submitted on sheets of paper or left on answering machines with minutes to spare on Sunday mornings.

During that first draft, which was held in my St. Paul apartment, I seemed to be more concerned about the chicken wings and the beverages for the draft than the actual draft itself. Meanwhile, league members showed up to my door bearing not bags of chips but armloads of magazines and three-ring binders full of research that they wouldn’t dare share with me, no matter how good my snacks were.

I don’t remember how my team did that year but I do remember draft day.

Like many drafts, there were arguments. Sometimes they’re about the rules or the scoring. Often they’re about how long takes a particular person to make a choice — especially in the late rounds when the draft is getting long.

The big argument that day came at the end of the draft when my roommate, another fantasy football newbie who had officially become bored with the proceedings, opted to draft William “The Refrigerator” Perry as a backup running back.

This was not funny to one veteran player who all but shut down the league on the spot. For the “integrity” of the game, the angry deputy commissioner (which meant he kept record of everybody’s picks — no computers, remember) insisted that my roommate be given the Bears defense, rather than make a mockery of the game.

I’m surprised I survived the season, let alone continue playing fantasy football for what is now 17 years.

On Monday evening, I participated in a draft that is, for all intents and purposes, what remains of that 1993 league. It’s now made up of a combination of family members and friends from high school, college and Mankato.

The night was much different than that one so long ago.

Of course, there’s the technology. Although we’re still holding out on doing a fully automated draft, everything else from recording the pick to weekly scoring is done through a Web site.

Four of the six people at the draft party had laptops. Two had Blackberries, another had an iPhone. The other league members who couldn’t make it, communicated via Yahoo! Messenger on their computers or handheld devices, with one — my old Fridge-picking college roommate — trying to play along with his Google phone on a sailboat somewhere in suburban Minneapolis.

For all of the innovation, the draft went about as smoothly as that one oh-so-long ago and probably took longer. There were no major controversies, but there was still a stressed-out commissioner — me — trying to keep up with the picks and the players out in cyberspace.

That’s OK, though. The chicken wings were still perfect.



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Click here to access his college hockey blog or e-mail him at sfrederick@mankatofreepress.com.

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Shane Frederick