Ask Mike: Who created fantasy football?
Hey Guys,
Few people are blessed with the ability to play professional football. And even fewer are given the chance to be a general manager of an NFL team. Thank goodness for fantasy football, where anybody can manage a squad of gridiron gladiators. It’s one of the few pastimes that both statistical nerds and wannabe jocks can agree on.
With the football season about to start (and my league draft this weekend), I set out to identify who created fantasy football. According to various sources across the Web, a gentleman named Wilfred Winkenbach deserves the credit. Mr. Winkenbach originally used the fantasy concept for the game of golf, but it wasn’t long before he transferred the concept to baseball and then football.
As this article points out, “the football idea came to him on a wet October evening in 1962, when he discussed his idea with the Oakland Raiders PR man Bill Tunnell and the Oakland Tribune sports journalist, Scotty Stirling.” I assume the men had no idea what kind of multi-billion dollar industry they were creating.
In its initial incarnation, the rules were quite different than what they are today. For example, in the first fantasy football draft, “teams were able to draft 20 players: four offensive ends, four halfbacks, two fullbacks, two quarterbacks, two kick/punt returners, two field goal kickers, two defensive backs/linebackers and two defensive linemen.” And, according to CoEd magazine, the very first player picked in the very first fantasy football draft was none other than the great George Blanda. Think of him as the Adrian Peterson of his day.
An article from SFGate.com explains that the game wasn’t always called “fantasy football.” At first, Winkenbach named it the “Greater Oakland Pigskin Prognosticators League” (GOPPL). Each year, the loser of the league was forced to display a giant dunce cap in their home until the next season. Fear of embarrassment really is a great motivator.
Do you guys plan to participate in a fantasy football league? If so, got any tips on who to draft and who to avoid? Please leave a comment below — I don’t want to end up with a dunce cap on my coffee table.
Thanks for reading,
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haha ive been wondering about this too
I COMPLETELY AGREE
i wont, sounds weird though
id like to see the embarasment oh the shame
Haha, I was doing some digging on this just 2 days ago, thanks mike! ; )
the players to get are as follows: shianco (TE MIN), Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, Austin Miles, Randy Moss, Antonio Gates, and The packer defense.
Stay away from the following due to over-ratedness: Brett Favre, marion Barber, tony Gonzalez, Trent Edwards, Brady Quinn, and The Carolina Defense
i don’t know.
Really it is a very creative idea. like in my country ,Nigeria where the over 150million populace are all coaches whenever it comes to the issues of football , it gives us that virtual atmosphere to really test our abilities and experience what the team go through in the real case , making to appreciate more the complexity of the and it’s unpredictability. to learn more please visit my blog (johnsportsissues)
wow lol that would be embarrassing. Its great learning about things like this. I wish i knew more players, i’d like to do it some day
Yes, I’ve made a fantasy league. And my draft was last Friday. If you have 1st pick, waste no time on drafting Adrian Peterson. But if you can’t get him, other good RBs are Thomas Jones (NYJ), Maurice Jones-Drew (JAC) and Michael Turner (ATL).
Been playing fantasy football since 2001 and loving it… I started with 1 league that year, 4 the next, 8 the following, and have had between 12-14 leagues since 2003… I do all the drafting myself (some sites have autopick drafts, I want to be responsible for my picks)…
In the past 3 years I’ve been in a few pay leagues (pay to play, play to win $$$ rather than just bragging rights)…
I’ve always watched my hometown/state team (Minnesota Vikings) every week since I was a child, but it makes watching other games more enjoyable as I now have something vested in them…
Some “purists” say it actually takes away from the game because lets say I’m going against a team who drafted Adrian Peterson, you would think I would want him to perform bad so my fantasy football league team would win, but not so…
I would gladly lose a game, or the entire fantasy football season, if AP destroyed the team he was up against that week, every week… It’s just a game for fun, and the real game of football trumps any fantasy hopes I may have…
It really depends on your league settings but in most you really need to concentrate that first pick on a top QB. He’s the guy that’s gonna make or break you. Of course it all goes back to how your league is setup and how your scoring is done.
Great story to read. If you pick anyone besides Adrian Peterson first you are insane.
What the hell is NFL???
It is very good thing that some one in this busy world those are having time and interested to providing information and want to clear human doubts.
Thank you very much..
it is a funny topic.