N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5 • M a r i e m o n t, O h i o • Vo l u m e X L , N o .
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Fantasy Football in Mariemont By Kim Beach According to football lore, Fantasy Football began in Oakland in August of 1963 and was called the GOPPPL (Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League). An Oakland bar manager named Andrew Mousalimas made George Blanda the first pick in fantasy football history. He spent years promoting the many facets of fantasy football at his Bay Area bar, the Kings X. The game grew slowly over the years and then in 1997, CBS launched the beta version of the first publicly available, free Fantasy Football website. Fantasy Football took off. According to a September 2015 NY Post article, almost 75 million people will play Fantasy Football in the United States this year. At its most basic, fantasy football is
a game in which football fans use their knowledge of the sport to compete against each other in formats that relate to the actual performance of professional football teams. The goal of the fantasy football player is to select which athletes or teams will have the most impressive performances during a given week. In order to be successful at fantasy football, a fantasy player must follow the weekly happenings of the NFL and make better choices than his opponent makes. In Mariemont, Fantasy Football has been a long-standing favorite of many fans. We have interviewed two “Commissioners” to give you some insight about this pigskin pastime. As you can see from their answers, participating in Fantasy Football is as much about the camaraderie of being with friends as it is about the actual football games!
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Commissioner Brad Lockhart When did your league start? 2001 Who is the current commissioner? Steve Spooner How many commissioners have there been? Three: Hake-2001-09, Lockhart 201012(co- with my brother, Marc), Spooner 2013-present What commonality brought your group together? Friends in Mariemont that love football and camaraderie. Largest amount someone has won? $400+ Do you do live drafts? Yes. Early on it was at the Commissioner’s house and the last 3 years at Macs Pizza. How many people are in your group? There are 10 teams in league #1 and 10 teams in continued on page 23