Interesting article on fantasy sports

[EWeaver]

Not particularly flattering (not that I agree with the perspective), and Okrent certainly seems to have a negative view...unsurprisingly, the artcle has a DFS focus. Worth checking out either way.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/ ... ream-teams

[Greg Ambrosius]

It looks like the New York tabloids are all over the 35th anniversary of Rotisserie Baseball, which is a good thing. Here's another interesting article on the Founding Fathers:

http://yahoo.thepostgame.com/blog/fanta ... -beginning

[Greg Ambrosius]

I find both of these articles on the Founding Fathers of Rotisserie Baseball very interesting, but I was surprised by the reaction of Daniel Okrent toward the growth of fantasy baseball when I first met him in 1994 and it continues to amaze me today. In fact, he seems more bitter today toward the industry than ever before.

I've told this story before, but when we first were going to start the Fantasy Baseball magazine at Krause Publications in 1989 I wrote Glenn Waggoner a letter telling him what we were going to do and asking him to write the Forward to the debut issue. I was being as reverential and polite as I could be. He quickly wrote back and said we were the perfect company to do this magazine and by the way any time we use the Rotisserie term he wanted the Registered mark by it and they wanted to be compensated. I still have that letter he wrote to us. We quickly huddled up as a staff, said we were going to rename the magazine from Rotisserie Baseball Magazine to Fantasy Baseball Magazine and we rarely if ever used the term Rotisserie in the magazine.

The Founding Fathers continue to say that they never made any money on the invention, but it was because they wrote a book on how to play an imaginary game and then they didn't create PRODUCTS that could have been the leaders under their invention. In other words, yes they came up with the game format but they didn't take the time to create and promote the best game model out there. That's how you make money; the invention of the game wasn't enough. And in fact, having just NL-only auction leagues was never going to be the front-runner in this space anyway.

I first met Glenn Waggoner in 1994 when ESPN did a Pay-Per-View Fantasy Baseball special in March and we were two of the industry guests to appear on the show. He was a curmudggeon back then, but he was very polite with me. He was happy that the magazine was growing, but even then he said they never made any money off the term Rotisserie. I didn't see Glenn again until March of 2000 when we inducted Glenn and Daniel into the FSTA Hall of Fame. Contrary to the second article's story, Glenn did attend that ceremony and he gave a very gracious acceptance speech and in fact he ran that speech in ESPN The Magazine as well. He was honored to be inducted into the FSTA Hall of Fame and even though Daniel Okrent didn't come I believe he understands why we honored him as well.

The only time I met Dan was in April of 1994 when "Good Morning America" had Dan and myself on with Charles Gibson to talk about the growth of fantasy baseball. I was excited to be on, but when I met Daniel Okrent in the Green Room he was as grumpy as could be. He kept muttering how he wished he had never come up with the rules, how they never profited and so on and so on. I thought it was all an act for me, but then when we got on the air I was this breath of fresh air next to this tornado of doom. It was quite hilarious to me because the whole piece was supposed to be on the growth of fantasy baseball and he just wanted to tear it down.

But Dan is an extremely smart guy and he's done much greater things in his lifetime beyond creating the rules for Rotisserie Baseball. Same with Glenn and Steve Wulf and many of the other Founding Fathers. We're lucky that they wrote the book "Rotisserie League Baseball" in 1984 and for another dozen years after that, but they didn't create this industry. Not even close. Those who came after them grew the industry, grew the popularity, created new games and took the idea into mainstream America. They have no reason to be bitter because this is capitalism at its finest. Those who have great ideas aren't always the ones who create the money-making products. They didn't have the passion to do that.

Great articles on great guys. They deserve all the accolades for coming up with the perfect idea at the perfect time. They don't need to shy away from the industry because without them there likely isn't any fantasy sports industry. Enjoy the accolades guys. You deserve it.

[Tom Kessenich]

I really disagree with the notion fantasy sports diminishes your interest in the game itself. Speaking for me it enhances it. I live in Wisconsin so I'm a Brewers fan. I think they are already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs this season so I have nothing to root for on April 20. Being in fantasy leagues is keeping me invested in the game. If I wasn't playing any fantasy baseball my time now would be spent counting down the days until training camp opens for the Packers. Instead, I'm watching baseball every day of the week. That's 100% due to fantasy baseball.

[Yah Mule]

It's too bad Robert Sklar is rarely mentioned in these articles. Although you do see him listed as co-editor on the cover of the roto baseball book pictured in this piece. Sklar and fellow Michigan professors were playing a stripped down version of roto that inspired Okrent's game for many years. They essentially had pools on which players would lead the league in various categories. Okrent invited Sklar to play in the inaugural league. The story goes that Sklar's girlfriend complained about the time he devoted to roto and she told him to choose between her and his team. She didn't get the answer she expected.

[Greg Ambrosius]

It's too bad Robert Sklar is rarely mentioned in these articles. Although you do see him listed as co-editor on the cover of the roto baseball book pictured in this piece. Sklar and fellow Michigan professors were playing a stripped down version of roto that inspired Okrent's game for many years. They essentially had pools on which players would lead the league in various categories. Okrent invited Sklar to play in the inaugural league. The story goes that Sklar's girlfriend complained about the time he devoted to roto and she told him to choose between her and his team. She didn't get the answer she expected.

That's a great point Jim. Alan Schwarz (now of the New York Times) wrote a great book on the history of Sports Statistics and he mentions Robert Sklar in that book. But you are right, he doesn't quite get the attention for spurring Dan's passion into creating the rules to this game.

[COZ]

I find both of these articles on the Founding Fathers of Rotisserie Baseball very interesting, but I was surprised by the reaction of Daniel Okrent toward the growth of fantasy baseball when I first met him in 1994 and it continues to amaze me today. In fact, he seems more bitter today toward the industry than ever before.

I've told this story before, but when we first were going to start the Fantasy Baseball magazine at Krause Publications in 1989 I wrote Glenn Waggoner a letter telling him what we were going to do and asking him to write the Forward to the debut issue. I was being as reverential and polite as I could be. He quickly wrote back and said we were the perfect company to do this magazine and by the way any time we use the Rotisserie term he wanted the Registered mark by it and they wanted to be compensated. I still have that letter he wrote to us. We quickly huddled up as a staff, said we were going to rename the magazine from Rotisserie Baseball Magazine to Fantasy Baseball Magazine and we rarely if ever used the term Rotisserie in the magazine.

The Founding Fathers continue to say that they never made any money on the invention, but it was because they wrote a book on how to play an imaginary game and then they didn't create PRODUCTS that could have been the leaders under their invention. In other words, yes they came up with the game format but they didn't take the time to create and promote the best game model out there. That's how you make money; the invention of the game wasn't enough. And in fact, having just NL-only auction leagues was never going to be the front-runner in this space anyway.

I first met Glenn Waggoner in 1994 when ESPN did a Pay-Per-View Fantasy Baseball special in March and we were two of the industry guests to appear on the show. He was a curmudggeon back then, but he was very polite with me. He was happy that the magazine was growing, but even then he said they never made any money off the term Rotisserie. I didn't see Glenn again until March of 2000 when we inducted Glenn and Daniel into the FSTA Hall of Fame. Contrary to the second article's story, Glenn did attend that ceremony and he gave a very gracious acceptance speech and in fact he ran that speech in ESPN The Magazine as well. He was honored to be inducted into the FSTA Hall of Fame and even though Daniel Okrent didn't come I believe he understands why we honored him as well.

The only time I met Dan was in April of 1994 when "Good Morning America" had Dan and myself on with Charles Gibson to talk about the growth of fantasy baseball. I was excited to be on, but when I met Daniel Okrent in the Green Room he was as grumpy as could be. He kept muttering how he wished he had never come up with the rules, how they never profited and so on and so on. I thought it was all an act for me, but then when we got on the air I was this breath of fresh air next to this tornado of doom. It was quite hilarious to me because the whole piece was supposed to be on the growth of fantasy baseball and he just wanted to tear it down.

But Dan is an extremely smart guy and he's done much greater things in his lifetime beyond creating the rules for Rotisserie Baseball. Same with Glenn and Steve Wulf and many of the other Founding Fathers. We're lucky that they wrote the book "Rotisserie League Baseball" in 1984 and for another dozen years after that, but they didn't create this industry. Not even close. Those who came after them grew the industry, grew the popularity, created new games and took the idea into mainstream America. They have no reason to be bitter because this is capitalism at its finest. Those who have great ideas aren't always the ones who create the money-making products. They didn't have the passion to do that.

Great articles on great guys. They deserve all the accolades for coming up with the perfect idea at the perfect time. They don't need to shy away from the industry because without them there likely isn't any fantasy sports industry. Enjoy the accolades guys. You deserve it.

Great stuff, Greg. Kind of funny how they focused all their efforts on protecting the copyright of the word "Rotisserie." ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary on the origins of "Rotisserie" baseball I found quite humourous and most especially because Daniel Okrent seemed to be so self-deprecating and openly acknowledged and was even a bit wistful about the fact that he created the idea of a billion dollar industry, did not profit from it, and, most humorously of all, never won a League title. Quite the modern Greek tragedy if you ask me.

COZ