Gopher Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 First league was in 8th grade, which would have been the fall of 1988. There were 8 of us, and we drafted in my buddy's living room. Turned in weekly lineups at school, but I remember calling the commish occasionally to change my lineup. Didn't happen that often back then, though, because there were no last minute inactives, etc. I didn't even have cable, so in my house, there was no Sportscenter, internet, etc. I don't even think the commish had an answering machine, so changing a lineup would sometimes take repeated calls (and sometimes with no luck at all). Monday mornings, I would either ask my dad to stop at the nearest USAToday stand, or borrow one from a friend at school. That was when we would usually find out if we had won or lost... tallying up the scores before class started in the morning. Did a similar thing with roto baseball back then. I think that "league" was just four of us. We drafted at somebody's house, turned in weekly lineups by phone, and tabulated weekly stats using the Sporting News (which was like a week behind by the time it came to my house). Good times. Some of the best memories in life are remembering when things were so stinking simple, compared to today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tally Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 The Huddle thru the years via The wayback machine (pick your year) Dec 1998 Oct 1999 Aug 2000 July 2001 Aug 2002 Sept 2003 Sept 2004 July 2005 Aug 2006 July 2007 Dec 2008 Feb 2009 July 2010 And yes, you can click on the links and go to the old articles. Damn it! I don't know if its because I'm getting old or because I've have had a 30 year love affair with Josh Gordon but I joined in 2003, just clicked the link for that year and it's not the least bit familiar. It was still fun to see, thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboysDiehard Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 You guys had email and spreadsheets when you started? Pffft... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I remember always getting a USA Today on Monday and Tuesday and heading over to my co-commissioner's house to do the scoring by hand. We then had to figure out the standings. And yeah, I took lineup changes and waiver requests over my landline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustOfBeenDrunk Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I will forever be grateful to Randall Cunningham for helping me win my first league Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Def. Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I will forever be grateful to Randall Cunningham for helping me win my first league Goddamned Brad Johnson sunk me that year. Oh and yes history repeats itself, as Trent Green did it to me again a couple years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevegrab Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I used to be wrapped up in tracking all my players in every game in as close to real time as I could ... switching from channel to channel while tracking it on my PC ... and never really watching the game itself. I finally figured out that I was watching stats and not games. From that point on I started ignoring the stat lines and watching the actual game ... the first time I see my opponent's lineups and the first time I check how I am doing is typically after the afternoon games and before the Sunday night games, sometimes not until Monday morning. Now I actually watch the game that is on and enjoy it for what it is ... not for the stats that particular players are accumulating. LIKE ! I was never quite that hard core and rarely had more than one game to watch (no ST) but I would follow the scores and what my players were doing. Now since I tend to watch a lot of the games on delay on the DVR (can do other stuff until 2-3 PM on Sunday then spend the rest of the day catching up) I completely avoid looking at stats, usually until the SNF game starts and I'm caught up. I feel the same about watching Redzone, people don't really see football games but highlights, and come away with warped views of the teams since they miss a majority of the plays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the outlaw Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I used to be wrapped up in tracking all my players in every game in as close to real time as I could ... switching from channel to channel while tracking it on my PC ... and never really watching the game itself. I finally figured out that I was watching stats and not games. From that point on I started ignoring the stat lines and watching the actual game ... the first time I see my opponent's lineups and the first time I check how I am doing is typically after the afternoon games and before the Sunday night games, sometimes not until Monday morning. Now I actually watch the game that is on and enjoy it for what it is ... not for the stats that particular players are accumulating. LIKE ! I was never quite that hard core and rarely had more than one game to watch (no ST) but I would follow the scores and what my players were doing. Now since I tend to watch a lot of the games on delay on the DVR (can do other stuff until 2-3 PM on Sunday then spend the rest of the day catching up) I completely avoid looking at stats, usually until the SNF game starts and I'm caught up. I feel the same about watching Redzone, people don't really see football games but highlights, and come away with warped views of the teams since they miss a majority of the plays. to be honest with you (and, please don't crucify me!), about the only entertainment and enjoyment I get out of the NFL nowadays is via fantasy football, what with the likes of the league's "holier than thou" greedy attitude, the Commissioner being an egotistical tool in general, inconsistent player punishments and fines, and my own crappy team's 3-ring circus...so, sadly, i find that i am more often than not, constantly refreshing my browser on sunday afternoons to get up-to-the-minute stats and updated fantasy scoring...anyway, i guess it is what it is for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildTurkey Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 to be honest with you (and, please don't crucify me!), about the only entertainment and enjoyment I get out of the NFL nowadays is via fantasy football, what with the likes of the league's "holier than thou" greedy attitude, the Commissioner being an egotistical tool in general, inconsistent player punishments and fines, and my own crappy team's 3-ring circus...so, sadly, i find that i am more often than not, constantly refreshing my browser on sunday afternoons to get up-to-the-minute stats and updated fantasy scoring...anyway, i guess it is what it is for me... Won't crucify you and totally get where you're coming from. All I can suggest is, just watch it in the moment. Watch the athleticism on display, take it in as much as you can. Mute the announcers (maybe simulcast local feeds), fast forward though commercials, take in the game live ... experience as much as you can without considering the misguided capitalism and cronyism that's killing the product. You can boycott the sponsors, don't buy any licensed products, post and publicize the negative, and hope it has an effect. It probably won't make a dent. Because until the NFLPA gets a viable head who will take on the commissioner, nothing will change. When there's a guy who has the players' best interests in heart, and perhaps, a viable 2nd option (USFL part 2) comes around, the league and their owner's chosen schlub won't change a thing. They're doing quite well doing what they're doing, and until there's palpable resistance, we're screwed. So enjoy it while you can, because it won't be getting any better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 to be honest with you (and, please don't crucify me!), about the only entertainment and enjoyment I get out of the NFL nowadays is via fantasy football, what with the likes of the league's "holier than thou" greedy attitude, the Commissioner being an egotistical tool in general, inconsistent player punishments and fines, and my own crappy team's 3-ring circus...so, sadly, i find that i am more often than not, constantly refreshing my browser on sunday afternoons to get up-to-the-minute stats and updated fantasy scoring...anyway, i guess it is what it is for me... I get it. The NFL has slowly lost me as a fan with all you mentioned. I'll watch my Chiefs, but I could do without them. I'm more likely now to take my kids fishing on a Sunday afternoon than have family over to watch the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staniels12 Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 I founded a restaurant industry league in NC in 2007 where all 16 owners must be present for a live draft, and we still call out picks like the early 90's. One guy enters them into MFL, but nobody can use their laptop to enter picks, just to follow along. In fact, we have considered banning laptops for the draft and making owners create hard-copy cheatsheets as their only materials. But it never passes - folks love their technology! For sure we all ramp up our season-long interaction because of the live draft, and make a point to have league outings during the season watching games, going to Panthers games and even an annual golf tournament. But no, I don't miss scouring boxscores and running to Kinko's on Tuesday nights after work to copy our weekly league scoresheet and newsletter.I remember 1996 was the first year a couple of guys in our original league moved away, and we transcribed the entire draft in an AOL chatroom so they could stay in the league. I had to switch to a red font and all caps whenever I entered an official pick to differentiate from the chatter. That was the last year I had to hand-calculate scoring, and we switched to Terry Bradshaw software we bought at Circuit City in 1997 with mixed results. It took us about 3 weeks into the season to figure out how to download stats with damn Windows 95, but we thought we were pretty slick by mid-season when we were pumping out professional looking weekly recaps. Then we found MFL in 2002 and never looked back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevegrab Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Why worry about all of that? Who cares what happens off the field? The product on the field is better than ever. Watch that. Ignore the rest. This advice applies to life as well. Agree I might get into a lot of heated arguments about the NFL the wildass punishments, teams cheating but not or over punished, the knuckleheads getting into trouble because they cannot give up bad habits, etc. But I put that aside when I watch games, it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the NFL. I've heard many college football fans bitch about the stupid NCAA infractions and punishments, the non-existence or now corrupt and badly designed playoffs system and so on, but most of them are still hard core CFB and watch a ton of games every week. Same with any type of entertainment, some artist or actor may be a douchebag, druggy, abusive, oppositive political views, etc. I don't care if they play music I like or act in a program I want to see I enjoy what they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BA Baracus Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 I used to be wrapped up in tracking all my players in every game in as close to real time as I could ... switching from channel to channel while tracking it on my PC ... and never really watching the game itself. I finally figured out that I was watching stats and not games. From that point on I started ignoring the stat lines and watching the actual game ... the first time I see my opponent's lineups and the first time I check how I am doing is typically after the afternoon games and before the Sunday night games, sometimes not until Monday morning. Now I actually watch the game that is on and enjoy it for what it is ... not for the stats that particular players are accumulating. I hear ya on this. So much better to just watch the games and not sweat the stats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grits and Shins Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 I remember when IF a rookie WR was drafted it wasn't until the last round. Then came Randy Moss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.