My Hall of Fame Speech
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 2:40 pm
When Dan Kenyon and KJ Duke were brought onto the stage in Las Vegas on Saturday to make a presentation prior to the Main Event I assumed there was something being done for one of the other players in the room. We were honoring past champions and Hall of Famers and I reasonably assumed Dan and KJ’s moment was simply more of the same.
Boy was I wrong.
When Dan said that I was being inducted into the NFBC Hall of Fame I was, quite simply, stunned. I tried to maintain my composure on the outside but inside I was running a gamut of emotions. I assumed Dan was talking about someone else and this moment wasn’t in any way, shape or form about me. Because, obviously, why would it be?
So much happened so quickly. One minute I was listening to Dan speaking in Latin (I think it was Latin) about Launch Angles and the next Greg was handing me my Hall of Fame plaque. It was more than bit surreal. As a result, I didn’t feel like I said all the things I would’ve liked to have said given the importance of the moment and how much it meant to me personally. We were also moments away from the start of the Main Event and I didn’t want that time to be about me when it was such a special event for the 90 teams in the room.
So with all that as a backdrop I hope you will now indulge me for a moment so I can share some more (hopefully) eloquent thoughts about what this induction means to me.
First off, as I said on the stage this is an incredible honor and certainly not something I ever expected to occur. When I joined Krause Publications nearly two decades ago (Holy S I’m old) to work with Greg I was a reporter. It’s what I always believed I was born to do, be a writer and reporter and that’s what I had done every single year of my adult working life after graduating from college. I certainly never envisioned all the twists that would occur involving fantasy sports, a hobby I had been immersed in as a player since 1986.
When Greg formed the NFBC in 2004, I ran Chicago. We had fun hosting drafts and auctions and it seemed like something great to be a part of. There was no way of knowing at the time that these events (including the NFFC and NFBKC) would become the dominant forces not only in my life but in the lives of so many others.
I worked Chicago the first year and ran Tampa and Orlando as well for a few brief fleeting moments before settling into New York. The Big Apple quickly became my city and I took great pride in running a first-class event. We’ve bounced all over the place in New York and on the East Coast but no matter where we were my goal has always been the same – to make sure the players participating had the best time possible. Nothing matters more to me than that. When something goes wrong, I feel as if I have failed and the failure lingers with me. When the events run smoothly I feel as if all the hard work and long hours has been more than worth it.
Because, quite honestly, it has been. There is nothing more important in our business than the player. Without you, none of this is possible so we must ensure that above everything else our players are treated well and are provided a first-class experience in everything they do with us. Whether it’s a $50 Draft Champions or the $15,000 Platinum, all leagues matter and all players matter.
I’m immensely proud of how far we’ve grown our contests over the years. It hasn’t always been easy to be sure but when I think about the more difficult times they really pale in comparison to all the great things we’ve accomplished. To think we’ve gone from 195 Main Event teams in our first NFBC season of 2004 to 510 this year is incredible. Then to include the veritable plethora of contests we now offer which so many players enjoy. This has become more than just my life, it’s become a significant entity in one of the biggest hobbies in our country. So much of it is truly mind boggling.
None of this for me would have been possible were it not for Greg. The truth of the matter is I owe him a debt I can never repay. When Fanball bought us in 2009 it was not lost on me that Greg was who Fanball wanted. They had no interest in me and, in fact, that was made clear to me at one point during the negotiations.
This hardly should be considered shocking. Greg was an industry pioneer, an FSTA Hall of Fame inductee and its former President. Hiring him was a huge coup for any company. In the eyes of most in the industry I was just the guy who ran New York, assuming anyone knew who I was to begin with.
It would’ve been easy for Greg to focus only on himself and his family during that tumultuous time. This was a life changing moment and as the father of three he certainly had plenty to consider. To say he went above and beyond when he insisted to Fanball that if it wanted to hire him I needed to be brought along as well isn’t doing the moment proper justice. I went from being possibly unemployed without having any idea where my life could be headed to retaining a job and doing what I had grown to love.
So thank you Greg for all you did then and all you’ve done since. This honor would not have been possible were it not for you. You changed my life and I will be eternally thankful to you for that.
I would be remiss if I did not also mention two other important people who have played key roles in this journey. When STATS hired us, Steve Byrd became our new boss. He believed in us and unlike previous companies I had worked for, he made it clear he also believed in me. I will never forget when he brought me into his office to discuss my new job, salary and title he stressed that I was an integral part of the plan to further grow our contests. He even scoffed at my suggested new title, saying it had to be more prominent so it accurately reflected the importance of my role in the company.
For one of the first times in the fantasy industry, someone in authority was making me feel as if my role mattered and my position was meaningful. Steve, I thank you for that and for all the belief and trust you had in us and the good times we’ve had together.
When STATS bought us, I thought that was the company I was going to work for until I retired. I never envisioned another big change was coming. It did when SportsHub Technologies bought us last year. Greg has known its founder Rob Phythian for many years and I knew him as well. Like Steve, Rob has always treated me with great respect and has always made me feel as if I was more than just the guy who ran contests with Greg. He’s also stressed my importance in the company’s present and future and it’s among the many reasons I’m more excited about our contests’ prospects than ever before.
I feel as if we are finally positioned to have all the elements we need to grow our contests in ways we only dreamed of before and Rob is the central figure in all this. I look forward to doing all I can to make it happen. Thank you, Rob for including me in this wonderful journey.
All of this brings us to the here and now and this incredible honor I have just received. I’m usually not one for public displays of emotion. I tend to be reserved and even protective of my feelings. But this is something that truly overwhelms me. I don’t do this job for recognition. I do it because I genuinely love it. To be inducted into the NFBC Hall of Fame is something I will cherish every day for the rest of my life.
I’ve been in the fantasy business for nearly two decades. At no point in that time has anyone ever given me an award and at no point in that time did I expect to receive one. Doing the job (hopefully) well had always been the reward. The incredible growth of our contests had always been its own honor.
So to receive something like this now brings with it such powerful feelings that I cannot completely express or articulate. But believe me when I say this means more to me than all of you will ever know. I am humbled to be inducted alongside the greatest fantasy baseball players in the industry and with my good friend Brady Tinker. This is something I will never forget, and I promise it will only inspire me to do the work even better than I have done before.
Thank you for this and thank you for changing my life and making it much better than it had been before.
Boy was I wrong.
When Dan said that I was being inducted into the NFBC Hall of Fame I was, quite simply, stunned. I tried to maintain my composure on the outside but inside I was running a gamut of emotions. I assumed Dan was talking about someone else and this moment wasn’t in any way, shape or form about me. Because, obviously, why would it be?
So much happened so quickly. One minute I was listening to Dan speaking in Latin (I think it was Latin) about Launch Angles and the next Greg was handing me my Hall of Fame plaque. It was more than bit surreal. As a result, I didn’t feel like I said all the things I would’ve liked to have said given the importance of the moment and how much it meant to me personally. We were also moments away from the start of the Main Event and I didn’t want that time to be about me when it was such a special event for the 90 teams in the room.
So with all that as a backdrop I hope you will now indulge me for a moment so I can share some more (hopefully) eloquent thoughts about what this induction means to me.
First off, as I said on the stage this is an incredible honor and certainly not something I ever expected to occur. When I joined Krause Publications nearly two decades ago (Holy S I’m old) to work with Greg I was a reporter. It’s what I always believed I was born to do, be a writer and reporter and that’s what I had done every single year of my adult working life after graduating from college. I certainly never envisioned all the twists that would occur involving fantasy sports, a hobby I had been immersed in as a player since 1986.
When Greg formed the NFBC in 2004, I ran Chicago. We had fun hosting drafts and auctions and it seemed like something great to be a part of. There was no way of knowing at the time that these events (including the NFFC and NFBKC) would become the dominant forces not only in my life but in the lives of so many others.
I worked Chicago the first year and ran Tampa and Orlando as well for a few brief fleeting moments before settling into New York. The Big Apple quickly became my city and I took great pride in running a first-class event. We’ve bounced all over the place in New York and on the East Coast but no matter where we were my goal has always been the same – to make sure the players participating had the best time possible. Nothing matters more to me than that. When something goes wrong, I feel as if I have failed and the failure lingers with me. When the events run smoothly I feel as if all the hard work and long hours has been more than worth it.
Because, quite honestly, it has been. There is nothing more important in our business than the player. Without you, none of this is possible so we must ensure that above everything else our players are treated well and are provided a first-class experience in everything they do with us. Whether it’s a $50 Draft Champions or the $15,000 Platinum, all leagues matter and all players matter.
I’m immensely proud of how far we’ve grown our contests over the years. It hasn’t always been easy to be sure but when I think about the more difficult times they really pale in comparison to all the great things we’ve accomplished. To think we’ve gone from 195 Main Event teams in our first NFBC season of 2004 to 510 this year is incredible. Then to include the veritable plethora of contests we now offer which so many players enjoy. This has become more than just my life, it’s become a significant entity in one of the biggest hobbies in our country. So much of it is truly mind boggling.
None of this for me would have been possible were it not for Greg. The truth of the matter is I owe him a debt I can never repay. When Fanball bought us in 2009 it was not lost on me that Greg was who Fanball wanted. They had no interest in me and, in fact, that was made clear to me at one point during the negotiations.
This hardly should be considered shocking. Greg was an industry pioneer, an FSTA Hall of Fame inductee and its former President. Hiring him was a huge coup for any company. In the eyes of most in the industry I was just the guy who ran New York, assuming anyone knew who I was to begin with.
It would’ve been easy for Greg to focus only on himself and his family during that tumultuous time. This was a life changing moment and as the father of three he certainly had plenty to consider. To say he went above and beyond when he insisted to Fanball that if it wanted to hire him I needed to be brought along as well isn’t doing the moment proper justice. I went from being possibly unemployed without having any idea where my life could be headed to retaining a job and doing what I had grown to love.
So thank you Greg for all you did then and all you’ve done since. This honor would not have been possible were it not for you. You changed my life and I will be eternally thankful to you for that.
I would be remiss if I did not also mention two other important people who have played key roles in this journey. When STATS hired us, Steve Byrd became our new boss. He believed in us and unlike previous companies I had worked for, he made it clear he also believed in me. I will never forget when he brought me into his office to discuss my new job, salary and title he stressed that I was an integral part of the plan to further grow our contests. He even scoffed at my suggested new title, saying it had to be more prominent so it accurately reflected the importance of my role in the company.
For one of the first times in the fantasy industry, someone in authority was making me feel as if my role mattered and my position was meaningful. Steve, I thank you for that and for all the belief and trust you had in us and the good times we’ve had together.
When STATS bought us, I thought that was the company I was going to work for until I retired. I never envisioned another big change was coming. It did when SportsHub Technologies bought us last year. Greg has known its founder Rob Phythian for many years and I knew him as well. Like Steve, Rob has always treated me with great respect and has always made me feel as if I was more than just the guy who ran contests with Greg. He’s also stressed my importance in the company’s present and future and it’s among the many reasons I’m more excited about our contests’ prospects than ever before.
I feel as if we are finally positioned to have all the elements we need to grow our contests in ways we only dreamed of before and Rob is the central figure in all this. I look forward to doing all I can to make it happen. Thank you, Rob for including me in this wonderful journey.
All of this brings us to the here and now and this incredible honor I have just received. I’m usually not one for public displays of emotion. I tend to be reserved and even protective of my feelings. But this is something that truly overwhelms me. I don’t do this job for recognition. I do it because I genuinely love it. To be inducted into the NFBC Hall of Fame is something I will cherish every day for the rest of my life.
I’ve been in the fantasy business for nearly two decades. At no point in that time has anyone ever given me an award and at no point in that time did I expect to receive one. Doing the job (hopefully) well had always been the reward. The incredible growth of our contests had always been its own honor.
So to receive something like this now brings with it such powerful feelings that I cannot completely express or articulate. But believe me when I say this means more to me than all of you will ever know. I am humbled to be inducted alongside the greatest fantasy baseball players in the industry and with my good friend Brady Tinker. This is something I will never forget, and I promise it will only inspire me to do the work even better than I have done before.
Thank you for this and thank you for changing my life and making it much better than it had been before.