The Year in Review - 1994  

The Beginning:  Before this, none of us knew what fantasy football was.  There was no Internet, and it was rarely mentioned on the radio or television.  I had heard vague references in passing but didn't have a clue about how you played it.  One day in July I happened upon a fantasy football magazine that had suggested rules and scoring methods inside.  Now all I needed was to see if anyone else at work would be interested.  The first person I asked was Danny.  Even before I could finish describing how it worked, he was jumping up in excitement.  "Sounds great, I'll get Mark, Jessie and Martin.  They'll all be pumped about it."  While he recruited from the claims section, I was asking guys in my area.  First I got Johnathan, Cory, and Daniel.  Later we added Beaman and then finally Gary to bring it to ten owners. 

The Draft:  Johnathan and I worked out the rules, scoresheet, and schedule.  We decided to make two divisions.  The Claims Division included Beaman, Danny, Jessie, Mark, and Martin while Finance/Info Systems Division consisted of Darrell, Cory, Daniel, Gary, and Johnathan.  On August 11, we were ready to start drafting.  We held the draft by making a selection on a draftsheet, and then forwarding it to the next person.  With the first pick Beaman selected Emmitt Smith.  The rest of the top five were Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Dan Marino, and Jim Kelly.  A week later the league had drafted only 15 players.  At that rate the season would be half over before the drafting was finished.  Some owners started leaving their top three choices with someone else in case they were out.  Also there were small draft gatherings of owners who drafted near each other so we could complete it in time.  We finally finished the draft about August 31st.  We just barely got all the team names before the first game of the NFL season started on September 4th.  We decided try an interesting rule.  If you didn't start a player over four consecutive weeks, that player was eligible to be drafted by other teams.   

The Early Season:  Week 1, Johnathan set a record that lasted until 2000 when he scored 97 points in beating Martin by 55.  That wasn't even the biggest spank that week though.  Jessie beat Mark 76 to 3 in a pounding that would set the standard until 2000 with Dan Marino scoring 29 points for Jessie.  During week 2 we finally decided that the champion would receive a trophy and lunch.  That week Martin lost while scoring 5 points to set up a match up between high-scorers Mark and Martin.  Together could they score more than 10?  Yes, Martin won 30-19.  Darrell won his first six games to take the early lead.  Jessie won four of his first five and seven of nine to lead the other division.  Daniel lost eight in a row after beating Cory week one.  Beaman was 1-5 after losing his first four.  Johnathan started strong but was just 2-4-1 after week seven.  

Controversy 1:  After week seven there was a near lynching in the first major controversy in the league.  Darrell was 6-1 while Daniel was 1-6.  Darrell had helped Daniel make free agent moves and trades.  It was suggested (by Johnathan I might add) that Darrell was using Daniel as a farm team.  After Darrell pulled the knife out of his back, he showed that none of his starters were ever on Daniel's team.  Daniel was losing although he had scored more points than some other teams with better records.  It was decided that Darrell didn't do anything wrong but that he should stop helping Daniel.  After week 10, if Darrell had played Daniel's schedule he would be 3-5-2 instead of 9-1.  If Jessie had played Daniel's schedule he would be 3-7 instead of 7-3.  If Daniel had played Jessie's schedule he would be 8-2 instead of 2-8.  Sometimes it's more important whom you play than how you play.   During week 13, Martin became the first person to score less than zero!  He scored minus one with the help of the Packers (-8) and Jim Everett (-2).  The week before he scored 9 to total 8 points over two weeks.   On November 1st, Jessie began his five-year mission to have the option to start three wide receivers.  "Tight Ends are totally useless!"  Beaman responded with "I totally disagree with Jessie.  The tight end is one of the pivotal aspects of the game.  Shall we join the pop-culture wave of mindless simplification to please the masses?  Or will we continue to fully experience the rich, poetic, and intricate game of football, the cosmic allegory of all that is good in the universe?"   Remember that rule that if you didn't start a player for four weeks others could draft them?  One day while Martin was out of town, several owners took turns stealing his backups from him.  Johnathan even called Beaman during a meeting in Houston to tell him to take a player.  Before the carnage was over, Martin had lost five players and was down to two backups.  Use them or lose them!  This rule was discontinued the next season.  

Controversy 2:  Darrell won his last eight games of the regular season to finish 14-1 and win his division while Jessie won his last two games to win his division at 9-6.  This is where we had the second major controversy of the year.  On Monday, after the last weekend of the regular season, Beaman was behind Johnathan, 45-42.  Beaman had both of the Chief's quarterbacks, Joe Montana and Steve Bono.  Montana was on the scoresheets printed Friday.  On Monday, he learned that Bono would start in place of Montana.  Beaman wanted to change his starter to Bono.  The league was divided.  On one hand, we had let owners change their starter's on Friday afternoon and sometimes that was after Thursday games.  Also if it was unknown if a player was going to play or not, we allowed owners to start the backup if the starter didn't play, as long as both owners involved agreed.  On the other hand the rules stated that starting lineups are due before the first game of the week.  The stakes were high.  If Johnathan won the game, he and Danny would make the playoffs.  If Beaman won the game, he and Cory would make the playoffs.  The emails were flying!    That Monday night, Bono scored enough points for Beaman to defeat Johnathan.  On Tuesday, with no other options, we solicited attorney Paul Gonzalez, to issue a decision and determine the outcome of our inaugural season.  Before he would rule on the controversy, Paul asked each owner to submit to him, their understanding of the dispute.  I'd sure like to see those emails now!  As commissioner, Darrell took responsibility and apologized to the league.  "If I had not allowed any oral amendment to the rules, this problem would not have happened.  It started as an innocent little agreement among friends, and escalated to include numerous, potentially harmful situations.  The worst part it that two are unhappy and for this I am truly sorry."  That Friday Paul gave his decision.  He ruled that the "oral amendments" to the starting lineup rule, "did not withstand the test of clarity and therefore should be struck as null and void.  Therefore we should fall back on the written agreement."  Beaman had to keep Montana as his starter and therefore Johnathan won the game and the wildcard along with Danny.  

The Playoffs:  In the first round of the playoffs, Darrell won his 9th consecutive game in beating Danny 50-33.  Jessie nipped Johnathan 31-23.  As it turns out, Darrell and Jessie would have still made the title game even if Beaman had won the game over Johnathan.  Jessie made the title game with the Cardinals, Dan Marino, Rodney Hampton, Marino Butts, Keith Jackson, and Andre Rison.  Darrell's main starters included the Steelers, Steve Young, Ben Coates, Irving Fryar, and eight different runningbacks.  This being our first season, we didn't know that many players would be resting this last week of the NFL regular season.  Scoring was down considerably.  In the title game, only two starters scored for each team.  Jessie got 12 from the Cardinals while the Steelers lost in a high scoring game to the Chargers and netted Darrell minus 5 points.  Jessie got his name on the trophy first by winning 23-7.  In the consolation game, Danny beat Johnathan 9-7!  Martin lost to Daniel to become the first Loser of the Year.  

Milestones:  Steve Young was the MVP with Emmitt Smith a close second.  Jerry Rice, Ben Coates, John Carney, and the Cowboys were the other leaders.  Six teams finished between 8-8-1 and 7-9-1.  Overall, it was a good year and a valuable learning experience.  The bottom line: if you want to make friends, don't be in the same fantasy football league!