NFBC Message Boards

As we begin the 15th season of the National Fantasy Baseball Championship, it's important to see how far we've come from that first season to now. History is on our side, but we need your help to record that history. Let's hear your stories about how you first heard about the NFBC along with your first memories from your debut NFBC season.

I have plenty of stories and will mix them into yours. The first year stands out for me because I aged in dog years that first year. Everything from launching a web site -- which we didn't know how to do at Krause Publications -- to being licensed by the MLBPA to getting our first registrant to making the live works in three different locations of the country. All of it stands out and sticks with me just like the gray hair does on my head!!

But it's all good. We built something from scratch into something that is the most recognizable and most respected fantasy baseball contest in the industry. We also attracted the best players in the industry, people who came to this contest in so many different ways. Some of them saw our NFBC ads in Fantasy Sports Magazine or other industry magazines. Some heard of this word of mouth. Some saw pictures of our past winners like Lindy Hinkelman to attract them this way. Some saw a newspaper ad or story on the NFBC. Let's hear from all of you about this.

Love it. Love the history. Love the people's stories. Let's put them all here so that history is recorded and available long after we're gone. Please contribute if you have a story. We'd love to read it. Thanks all.

It was 2010 in Vegas playing in the $500 double play live event. I remember one person only it was Matthew Sheppard(probably doesn't remember me) he sat to my right and he complimented me plenty during each break and at the end, even though it was my first big money league and it would take another 7 years until i finally had a winning season. I remember i took 4 OF in the first 7 rounds, and took my catchers in 29 and 30. And I used the reasoning that hey if you can't get a top guy you might as well wait to the end. He nodded and agreed even though now I know he DID NOT agree, but it made my first experience that much more enjoyable.

Thanks MORONS.

I remember three from a bit ago but not sure what order these are:

1) St Louis

- met Dan Kenyon for the first time
- met Kay Adams
- the fact that I listed those in that order - something wrong
- event was at a place called Pujols 5 or something like that - crammed quarters but quite memorable

2) Chicago Wrigley Field

- some sort of bar next to Wrigley
- band downstairs that didn't stop ever

3) Chicago Arlington Race Track

- eh....don't remember much about this one. Food was bad.

Nothing like a live event though! Can't beat it. Looking forward to reading some of the early event stories and characters.

That's right, I forgot that Kay Adams and Kyle Elfrink hosted our first St. Louis draft at Pujols 5 (since renamed after he left via free agency). Pretty cool. Both have done pretty well since we made them pull stickers for you boys!!

I wanna say it was 2008 or 2009 or so.....I was doing some small satelite snake drafts with nfbc enough so that I was watching the message boards to see what people were talking about. This was the fanball days.........Tom posted something about needing facilitators in atlantic city so wife and i made a overnight trip of it....it was unseasonably warm that weekend so she sat out on AC boardwalk and read while I was the stickerboy. Dave Anthony was the facilitator for my first draft worked.....

At the end of the weekend...after being sticker boy for two drafts......Tom said....what are you doing next weekend? We could use you at citifield in NY to faciliate. I said...well thats further away...how many drafts can i work? He said all.....so I went and I was hooked. Become more a drafter than facilitator in the years ahead....but that was how I started in this crazy place:)

Man, I loved that St. Louis draft!
That room was so crowded, I don't know how two drafts were going on, when there was barely room for one

The size of it allowed us to meet everybody in the room, which was awesome.
The lunch afterwards was the best. We got to all sit around together and talk about our drafts and baseball.
Nothing better.
Then, we got the word that we can order anything on the menu. Anything.
It was the Fanball era.
I never cared for Ryan 'E' Houston and he was a fella over Greg's head at the time.
I remember him coming off as a used car salesman and wasn't my cup of tea.
I bet King of Queens has an appropriate picture of him.
Anyway, it was the first and only time that I have ever ordered the most expensive item off any menu.
It was delicious and I can't even remember what it was

I don't know if this was the first NFBC, but it was one of the first, the first with private leagues.

I recall standing with Greg in the middle of the room, the Ultimate Auction on one side, the Ultimate Draft on the other. I said something like, "You do realize we're looking at $150,000 worth of entries going at it?"

Greg said something like, "I know, can you believe it?"

Then took a sip from his Corona. Though, it may have been MGD way back then.

ToddZ wrote:I don't know if this was the first NFBC, but it was one of the first, the first with private leagues.

I recall standing with Greg in the middle of the room, the Ultimate Auction on one side, the Ultimate Draft on the other. I said something like, "You do realize we're looking at $150,000 worth of entries going at it?"

Greg said something like, "I know, can you believe it?"

Then took a sip from his Corona. Though, it may have been MGD way back then.

Let me rewrite this last sentence for you:

Then took a GULP from his Corona with a lime in it. It was definitely a Corona.

My first draft was 2015, a 12 team event. I live in Las Vegas and stumbled upon the live drafts by accident. It seemed like a no brained when I saw all the signups and how far people travel. My first recollection was how well Greg and Tom treated me like I was the most important person in the room. I didn’t know anyone but I distinctly remember afterword sitting next to Rob Silver because drafting next to him was wiping out all my picks I had lined up. I also remember the Fellas who won all the 12 team leagues and the overall Primetime in 2015. When Rob Silver won the overall main event in 2016 it brought back memories how well prepared he was drafting next to him. I met Bryan Vogel and Dan Kenyon who were in that league also. Somehow I managed to win my first entry. The last two weeks of that league were crazy I think only about 10 points separated the top 7. It went down to the last day. I knew I had a good chance after the Saturday games because Max Scherzer had a no hitter and struck out 17 batters. I also remember hearing about FAAB but battling 6 other guys the last few weeks of the season for FAAB was mind boggling.

I'm going to add some of my earlier thoughts from Season 1 a little later, but having the rock star Meat Loaf drafting live in Las Vegas with us ranks up there as one of the best thrills from our debut season. And how did we get Meat Loaf to draft with us?

Meat is a big fantasy baseball player and obviously a huge baseball fan. He played a lot in the 1990's on Baseball Manager and I actually interviewed him for a story in Fantasy Baseball Magazine in 1992. I remember calling him and asking him a music question first just to break the ice and he wanted no part of that. He wanted to talk about baseball and how much he loved playing fantasy baseball on Baseball Manager. Oh, that was on Prodigy at the time if anyone remembers the days of dial-up Internet service.

In the winter of 2003, Meat Loaf was also competing with a group on ESPN.com called Leaderboard Sports. Those players included some of the top players on the site among all sports and they included Meat Loaf, Dave Cushard, Clark Olson, among others. In fact, in Year 1 of the NFBC, 22 of the 195 teams were owned by players involved with Leaderboard Sports. We wouldn't have survived for Season 2 if it wasn't for Dyv and his Leaderboard Sports group. That's just a fact.

So in 2002 when I attended the World Championship of Fantasy Football -- the first live high-stakes event -- I was blown away and told their owners, Lenny and Emil, that we could do this together in baseball. So I wrote up the rules for a high-stakes baseball contest and we tried to partner together. But the two sides couldn't work out a deal as our company at the time was in the middle of going from an employee-owned company to a huge VC buyout. I didn't know that at the time, but the negotiations to work together with Lenny and Emil stalled and they took my rules and created the World Championship of Fantasy Baseball (WCOFB) on their own.

They had 45 teams in 2003 and I announced the NFBC in November of 2003 to compete against them. Ken Bayes of Leaderboard Sports contacted me on a cold, wintry night in December and said he would be interested in joining our event and had several friends who also was interested. He wanted to know if we could talk. I had recognized his handle on the WCOFB Message Boards and happened to be working late that night writing an ESPN.com column and so I immediately replied. He was surprised with the quick response, we talked on the phone that night and he became a huge fan of the NFBC right away. I talked with Dyv next and the next thing you know their group was ready to play in both contests to support both contests.

However, our start times overlapped and I couldn't move ours because we had simultaneous live drafts in New York, Chicago and Las Vegas, so I wasn't switching. Emil wasn't either, but once we gained momentum with signups and they stalled they pushed their start time back. We finished with 195 teams and they had 45 again. In fact, in order to make sure Meat Loaf played in both contests, I rented a bus to take that group from the Rio to their host hotel. The WCOFB folded after that season.

Meat Loaf was in Las Vegas League 1 and I think he had like the 4th pick. He sat next to Nate Ravitz now of ESPN.com and at the time of Rototimes.com. He was unassuming as he walked in and everyone left him alone. And I can tell you this: NOBODY had more fun than Meat at the live draft. He was ribbing Nate and everyone else at the draft. He had a partner in the draft and Ken Bayes was his partner in the NL Auction League the night before. Brady Tinker was such a novice auctioneer at the time that I gave him the AL Auction because I didn't trust him to be good enough for Meat!!!

Meat was fantastic and the next year he competed in the NL Auction and the AL Auction on Friday, the Main Event on Saturday and our first Ultimate Auction on Sunday. When he got done he came up to me and said "Greg, can we do one more auction. I just love this stuff!" I said no, we're done, but I'll see you in football. He drafted live with us in football 2005 and actually was a regular guest on ESPN Classic that Fall. When he won his league title in football, he held up a yellos placard that read "LAS VEGAS LEAGUE CHAMP!" I'll never forget it.

He came out with Bat out of Hell III a few years later and has been on tour ever since. I haven't seen him since 2005 and would love to get him back. He was so much fun at the live drafts.

At the end of the Ultimate Auction, I decided to ask him to sign a baseball for me. He wrote ""Greg, give me a %. Meat Loaf" It's a beautiful signature and it shows that he knew we were onto something special.

We miss you Meat. Come on back!!

As I Searched for Meat Loaf, I found a thread where we kicked some stories around as we entered Season 10. This link shows the beginning of the NFBC and some cool personal stories. Let's add to it on this thread:

http://nfbcforums.stats.com/viewtopic.p ... af#p137263

Like Andy, I got my start in satellite leagues and peeling stickers at a Main Event. This was in 2012. I probably would have started with the NFBC sooner, but my previous experience with FanBall before their connection to the NFBC made me hesitant*. After spending years playing in the cold and impersonal CBS leagues, meeting Greg and Tom was such a welcome change. Guys who actually love fantasy sports and care about the people in their leagues? I knew I was going to be an NFBC lifer right away. My first live event as a participant was an auction in 2014 and I've been coming to auctions and the occasional Main Event ever since.

*I played in some FanBall leagues several years ago that had a waiver wire. The used to reset the waiver priority every week like they do in football, so drafting well and getting off to a good start completely screwed you all year long in free agency.

How about the Pete Rose autographed balls that were used to get many of us (myself included) to play the first year? No joke, back in 2004 that was a major selling point. I have always wondered how Greg wound up with dozens of those things, yet he found a way to eventually unload all of them.

Ten years later, Greg was trying to entice me back into the NFBC Main Event -- I had stepped away for a year after a couple of humiliating performances. Sure enough, he offered me a Pete Rose autographed baseball to lure me back and take the final unsold spot in the 2015 Las Vegas Main Event. SOLD!

King of Queens wrote:How about the Pete Rose autographed balls that were used to get many of us (myself included) to play the first year? No joke, back in 2004 that was a major selling point. I have always wondered how Greg wound up with dozens of those things, yet he found a way to eventually unload all of them.

Ten years later, Greg was trying to entice me back into the NFBC Main Event -- I had stepped away for a year after a couple of humiliating performances. Sure enough, he offered me a Pete Rose autographed baseball to lure me back and take the final unsold spot in the 2015 Las Vegas Main Event. SOLD!

That's the best production a Pete Rose baseball ever delivered!! Lots of signups for us and $125,000 for you!!

I still have three signed Pete Rose baseballs in my office, just in case I ever need to entice someone like you again!

Krause Publications hired Pete Rose to be our spokesman for SCD Authentic, a memorabilia and sports card authentication service. I don't think they could have hired the most unauthentic person for that job, but trust me, Tom and I had nothing to do with that. The service failed before the contract with Rose concluded, so we wound up with a lot of signed memorabilia to fulfill the contract. They had so much that in 2004 I asked if I could have some of it as a promotional tool to get signups and it worked. I never ran out of autographed Pete Rose items, so you know it was a lot.

Hey, an autographed Alex Rodriguez baseball was offered to whomever would trust us enough to sign up for an NFBC event!! And Rey Diaz, who won his first NFBC Main Event league title this year, got it. He was our first signup in early December 2003 and I will forever honor him as our first paying customer. He's coming back to Las Vegas this year, I think, where we'll celebrate the title and his #1 status again.

Hey, remember those great Upper Deck Authenticated memorabilia items we gave to the 26 weekly winners in 2004? Damn, that was a great year for only 195 players. We did it right, which lessened the blow of how much money we lost that year. But it really was a cool time.

Those were awesome weekly prizes!
I believe they were also given in 2005 and 2006 too if remembering correctly.
Those prizes had very few folks 'giving up' as the season went on. They still had a shot at those weekly giveaways.
Good Stuff!

DOUGHBOYS wrote:Those were awesome weekly prizes!
I believe they were also given in 2005 and 2006 too if remembering correctly.
Those prizes had very few folks 'giving up' as the season went on. They still had a shot at those weekly giveaways.
Good Stuff!

Correct. We had a great relationship with Upper Deck Authenticated while at Krause Publications. UDA also wanted to show off their highly-priced signed items and so our audience was perfect for them. It was a great match and you are right it was GREAT for the contest. You could win any week even if you were out of your league race and still leave with a signed Nolan Ryan item. Great stuff indeed.

The free magazine leagues....

Gekko vs Potter.....

Any DYV post...

Rick Thomas and his cardboard fort...

Glenn Lowy's countdowns.....

Good Times....

I remember being real excited to do a live draft after having a few years of success with CDM. lot easier to fix your original teams mistakes with that game... Vlad and Oak always raved about NFBC, NFBC, NFBC I though how different can this be.. I was in for a big surprise, I even helped a guy that was late and showed up hiding in a cardboard box making his picks. I was like Wow!! these people are nuts.. I 've met some great guys that play this game and some strong personalities.. I had NO clue until I sat down and started drafting, I thought I really like my team looking at the board and taking photos. I thought it was one of the best. I was so proud of my first try at NFBC that didn't last long .. LOL...... I thought NFBC was all about the draft until the First week that FAAB started. That's were the Big Boys started dusting me. I've been to AC, Citi Field , Manhattan , Now this year Vegas ... Love it!!! I tell everyone I don't care how much success you have playing in local leagues other sites when you play with NFBC you better put the time in and bring your A game .. You don't win on accident here.. Best of Luck 2018 can't wait....

So I did not discover the NFBC that first year. I had it discovered for me. I was being an insufferable ass at work. One of my buddies was, if you will excuse the expression, a Mets fan. After all those years with the Braves and 14 consecutive years of double digit wins, Tom Glavine in 2003 had chased the bucks ($11 whole million dollars) to throw-up at Citi (nine wins) and I was giving my friend crap about it during the off season just prior to spring training 2004.

It was easy to give the Mets shit back then because the Braves were still on top....

"Glavine was old!"
"Glavine was washed up!"
"Too many hits!"
"Too many walks!"
"The Met team batting average suffered because they couldn't hit against Glavine!"

And I was always talking about fantasy baseball and more fantasy baseball. I was always poring over spreadsheets and skewering the office guys sacred cow special favorite players.

So to shut me up, my buddy whips out this magazine that advertised this crazy contest that promised (guaranteed actually) $100,000 and it would only cost $1,250 to put my money where my mouth is. He thought I would run for the hills. Instead I stole his magazine and it took me six seconds to spend the $100,000 I just won. All I needed to do was convince my wife what a good idea it was to let me go to Las Vegas...

I started with a drive by in 2005 after I came back from Iraq. I flew to Vegas to meet the CDM crew to put names and faces together and a few of them were in the Main Event. I watched the fun from the sidelines and made the decision to get involved the following year...as part of the 2006 CDM syndicate team (about 10 guys paying $125 each). Jim (Lunatic Fringe) Christie and I sat in a draft which was the hodgepodge of people in different cities to round out the Main Event numbers. I think there was one other "live" team in Vegas in that league.

The following year I teamed with Michael Cohen (Ichiban) who sent us his plan from Japan which involved drafting some guy named Dice-K, and Bob Saxton (Sax). We dominated the Asian player market but didn't make much noise. I seem to recall walking away with baseball cards and a pile of magazines.

2008 started a multi-year run partnered with Ken Norred (Bama). After a couple moderate successes we had enough to be able to play two ME teams, one in each Vegas weekend. We had a very good year in 2013. The most fun we had was watching Brady and the other facilitators try to translate Ken's Bama drawl and my hyperactive hillbilly twang into passable English. It was even more fun when Ken and I were at an impasse (read: dispute) to what player to take and I swear Brady thought he might have to physically separate us.

In 2016 my wife came to Vegas to enjoy a small vacation while I drafted. She walked into the Main Event ballrooms and wandered until she found me. After being charmed by Nick Cassavettes who was sitting next to me, she declared "my God, it's a room full of guys like you." She has no desire to come back again.

What strikes me the most about the NFBC is the people. I'll never forget how much fun it is to talk with people who have the same passion for fantasy baseball that I've had for years. The post-Main Event murder boards and strategy chats on the Bellagio smoking patio are highlights even for those of us who don't smoke.

Copied and pasted....

I'm so simple, I call myself a simpleton.
My wife quickly agrees.
My wife, my family, and my friends all know that I am a baseball-driven soul.
I have been since I was seven years old. It can't be helped.
I went through life going to school, going to College, marrying, having a job and family, but throughout it all, anybody who met me knew that baseball was foremost on my mind.

Then the NFBC happened.
Now, a lost soul to most....

$1000 to play in a fantasy baseball league!
A THOUSAND DOLLARS?
15 years ago, it was a lot of money for us.
I never was a money-driven guy. Never.
But then, with not much money in the bank, I had to try and convince my wife that playing in a fantasy baseball league for a thousand dollars was a good idea.
After talking, whining, and begging my wife, I got the go-ahead.
I then told her that we had to go to Las Vegas for this league.
Boom.
"WHAT?!"
Yeah, it's in a big hotel there.
"We can leave early in the morning, I can draft, and then we could drive back home. No extra money for a hotel."
"So let me get this straight", she said not wanting to be correct, "You want us to pay $1000 to be in a fantasy baseball league. Then, you want to drive eight hours to Las Vegas, draft your team, then drive eight hours back home."
"Yes. Unless you wanna stay in a hotel. Actually, I would be more fresh for my draft if we left the night before, we stayed at a cheap hotel, then draft and head home.
Making a long story shorter, we stayed at a hotel near Nellis Air Force base.
They flew jets most of the night. It didn't bother me a bit. I was up most of the night 'studying'.
What did bother me was my poor wife trying to sleep. Poor thing.
She would turn over and ask, "Are you still up?"
A jet would fly over and I'd say, "Yeah, it's not like I'd sleep much anyway."
So much for being 'fresh'.

A few things I remember from that first draft was meeting some of the people that had written some of the very articles I had read.
I remember Shawn Childs approaching me with a little smirk on his face, pointing at my bags for the trip up against the draft room wall, saying, "Are those yours? Don't you have a hotel?"
I told him they were mine and that I was driving home with those bags after the draft.
What I didn't tell him was that I had the car parked in a questionable zone in the big hotel and wanted the bags in case the car was towed.
It was not towed.
It would be cool to find out that Shawn and I had the two best drafts in that room.

That first draft was not like draft's are now.
More business-like.
Only the writers and upper crust knew each other.
I was a nobody. And knew it. I kept to myself mostly.
I talked baseball with a few people and left for the long drive home.
On the way home, I had my wife read me the names that were drafted that day.
Over and over.
I judged each name and if they should have been taken in that place or not.
What a trooper my wife is.

I was successful and I've been in a Main Event every year since.
That draft was at a 'smaller hotel' (the Rio) and we didn't have many frills like today.
Now, it is like it has to be the biggest hotel with every beer and food known to man as an accompanyment.
Seriously, I would be just as happy if the draft were held at Nellis Air Force Base.
Damn jets would make it tough for the facilitators though.

Edit- Since then, I've drafted in St Louis, Chicago, and Las Vegas several times.
I don't drink, so I don't go for the beer.
I don't eat fancy food so I don't go for the spread.
And now, I do not stay up all night before the draft studying.
Mostly, I go now for different reasons than that first time.
I go to see friends that I only get to see once a year.
Friends like Kent, Andy, John, Shawn, Roger, Wayne, Bryan, Matt, Todd, Stan, Tim, Lawr, Mark, Steve, Brian, Bill, Rich, Joe, Scott, Dan, Greg, Tom, Mike (plural) and so many other wonderful people I've met since that first event.

The wife knows now that there are other people like me. She is happy for me.
At the same time, I think it is comforting for her that she is not alone.
There are other wives having to go through much of the same thing.
She now knows that April through September is baseball season and October through March is 'drafting season'.
She is now used to my computer 'honking' and makes jokes about 'my fantasy life calling'.
Oh, I forgot to include that five years after that initial draft, we went back to Las Vegas for a Main Event.
For old time's sake, we stayed in the same place by Nellis Air Force Base.
The jets were not flying that night.
Strangely, we got a great night's sleep, but we were both a little disappointed that we did.