The 40-year Fantasy Football League
Endurance. It’s one of the strongest indicators of the success of an idea. As JerseyMan’s longtime Legacy Club member and former advisory board member Jeffery Jaskol [who offers investment advisory and financial planning services through Summit Financial, LLC, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor doing business as The Jaskol Group] says, his Fantasy Football league is one of the oldest … and is still going strong after 40 years!
The Vince Lombardi Memorial Football League’s original season was way back in 1985! As Jeff Jaskol tells it, the “originals” all worked at Ma Bell [the colloquial name for the AT&T telephone monopoly that controlled much of the telephone business in the 20th Century], and there are two original teams still playing, “the Fabulous Thunderbirds (Paul) and the Raging Bulls (Ken). Paul started with his brother David, whom I worked with, which was how we came into the League. Paul now has his oldest son Matt with him. At some point his younger sons wanted in, but that didn’t work out, so they are now their own team – the Wrongful Heirs (X and Y) and enjoy the competition against their brother and their father for bragging rights. The Thunderbirds own the most championships.”
“Since we started when there were no guides, our founders thought about every detail of the game, and we built our own scoring system we continue to use today. The theory was the “big play” – a long touchdown run, a pick six, punt return for a touchdown, and rarest of all, a kickoff return, occurred less frequently than other plays, so we assigned them higher point values. Our scores regularly include 99-96 shootouts decided over an extra point or two-point conversion. The amazing thing was that they figured all of this out by hand, in their heads, and hand checked all the statistics. The old guard loves our scoring and our differences from any other league we have ever seen or participated in. Our kids tell us we are nuts, but most have come around to our thinking that our games are more exciting and play down to the last play on Monday night for the eventual results.”
“Dave worked with me and by 1988 they needed another team, and he approached me and our co-worker Al to form a new team – creatively named the DOBs – Dave’s Office Buddies. We show up at the draft – always in person except for Covid – and someone else has withdrawn – so Al and I draft two teams – the DOBs and the BODs – Buddies of Dave. The next year Al brings in his best friend Obie and I bring in my best friend John and the Philly Cricketeers and the Lost Tribe are born. They remain today.”
“Back then we scored in paper. Every Monday on my way to work I stopped at a local newsstand and bought out their supply of USA Todays, for they used the Elias Sports Bureau for scores, which was our official stats provider. My office, which now had three teams in the fray, didn’t get much work done on Mondays during the season.”
“The teams kept populating by word of mouth – a friend here, a brother there.”
“My son Andrew turned 13 and I brought him along to the draft. That was 24 years ago, and we had our first two generation team, and later my son Adam joined when he turned 13. There are now about half the teams officially in two generation status.”
“By now, internet scoring had come about. We were a Beta site for our original partner which became RT Sports, now one of the top professional fantasy outfits. We always thought how long a play was mattered, so we actually asked them to track the yardage of an interception or fumble return, just like a kickoff or punt return and they included it for us. In most leagues, that is now a staple. So, we were the founders.”
“I conclude with what you cannot replace – the camaraderie of 25 or so guys, and now many of their sons, that have gotten together every year for 40 years to pick on each other, kibitz, share stories and news. It’s an irreplaceable love that I hope never ends. See you in ten years at 50!”
