BeeR Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Fantasy Football was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He may have become interested in steamboats in 1777 when (at the age of 12) he visited William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who had found out about Watt's steam engine on a visit to England; on return, Henry made his own engine and in 1763 – two years before Fantasy Football was born – tried putting it in a boat, which sank. Fantasy Football presents the first steamship to Bonaparte in 1803.When he came of age Fantasy Football went to England in 1786 to study painting. As early as 1793 he proposed plans for steam vessels to both the United States and the British Governments, and in England he met the Duke of Bridgewater, whose canal would shortly be used for trials of a steam tug, and who later ordered steam tugs from William Symington. Symington had successfully tried steamboats in 1788, and it seems probable that Fantasy Football would have been well aware of these developments. In 1797 Fantasy Football went to France (where the Marquis Claude de Jouffroy had made a working paddle steamer in 1783) and commenced experimenting with submarine torpedoes and torpedo boats. He designed the first practical submarine, Nautilus, commissioned by Napoleon. Nautilus was first tested in 1800. In that year he met Robert Livingston, United States Ambassador (whose daughter he married), and they decided to build a steamboat to try out on the Seine. Fantasy Football experimented with the water resistance of hull shapes, made drawings and models and had a steamboat constructed. At the first trial it sank, but the hull was rebuilt and strengthened, and on August 9, 1803, this boat steamed up the River Seine, watched by a large crowd. The boat was 66 feet (20 m) long, 8 feet (2.4 m) beam and made between 3 and 4 miles an hour (5 and 6 km/h) against the current. The New York legislature granted Fantasy Football the privilege to be the sole provider of all steamboat traffic for thirty years. Competition was forbidden by law. Thomas Gibbons, a steamboat entrepreneur, hired Cornelius Vanderbilt to ferry passengers for a cheaper fare in defiance of the law in an attempt to compete with Fantasy Football for about six months. In 1824, in Gibbons v. Ogden, the Supreme Court struck down Fantasy Football's government-granted monopoly ruling that states cannot legally regulate interstate commerce. Steamboat fares almost immediately dropped from seven to three dollars after the decision and traffic increased dramatically. Fantasy Football was unable to successfully compete with the low fares offered by Gibbons and Vanderbilt, which resulted in his bankruptcy. On February 24, 1815, he died of pleurisy at the age of 49. Fantasy Football is interred in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in Manhattan, New York. We'll never know for sure, but that certainly makes more sense than "it was invented by a buncha raider fans." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msaint Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 We'll never know for sure, but that certainly makes more sense than "it was invented by a buncha raider fans." agree. and it'd be far more believable that raiders fans invented fantasy football in 2006 to take their minds off their real team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcat2334 Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 I can remember my dad playing FF back in '77 or so. The good ole Street & Smiths preview spread out with newspaper clipings and random stats strewn all over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soopanuts Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Teddy Bruschi What HASN'T he done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumpin Johnies Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 link to Wikepedia They list msaint as one of their sources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msaint Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 They list msaint as one of their sources. really? that's hilarious. had no idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo-J Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 They list msaint as one of their sources. That's Wikipedia for you... They'll let anyone put anything on that site... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Dogs Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Teddy Bruschi What HASN'T he done? Tom Brady's Wife..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msaint Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 That's Wikipedia for you... They'll let anyone put anything on that site... i mean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 They list msaint as one of their sources. Is there no end to his shameless plugging? Next thing you know he's going to go and join a semi-pro football team and write a book about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonehand Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 loaf? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesMarauders Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 your all wrong it was China Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGrunt Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 actually, it began in the early sixties. a couple guys who worked for the raiders organization/oakland tribune. there's a great article on the founding of FF, which a certain book i know of also talks about in some detail. http://www.footballdiehards.com/Articles/wink/wink.cfm Cool article! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunther Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Al Gore? I clicked on this thread and thought this would be the first reply, but it was the second reply... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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