|
|
Direct Links Home Index
Stats
About Us
Links |
|
|
Greenbears History The Greenbears are a group of sports fans from Indiana, who remember how sports used to be--fun. One of our primary activities now is to hold fantasy league competitions--not for money, like many leagues play for, but only for the thrill of competition. We have a league photo album, too. Here's some information about our association and its history: Rural RootsThe Greenbears have roots in a small town baseball program from the early 1970s in eastern Indiana. Although they were separated as they grew older and as their families moved away from that town, they never forgot those hot summer days when they played baseball together. By the late 1980s, they had met again, with sports as their common ground.Our Leagues BeginThe competitions mostly existed on the field (or the court) when the Greenbears were young, but they took a new turn in 1990. One of the group's original members noticed the popularity that fantasy sports were having, and organized a baseball league. Although that first summer's game had many difficulties, and is not officially recognized, it was a good learning experience, and it paved the way for serious competitions afterward.By autumn, the group was ready to stage a real league contest, the Late Night Football League. On a cool night, five men met in the Commissioner's dark, smoke-filled basement--later known simply as the War Room. They assembled with handwritten papers and football yearbooks in hand and coolers in tow. Their purpose: to choose their own pro football teams. The number grew to seven by the time that the 1991 baseball season rolled around. More baseball, basketball and even college sports contests soon followed under the Late Night League banner, with great success. ChangesOver the years, the names have changed, but the games go on. Unfortunately, the original group has not been able to stay together. Of the original seven owners, only 4 were still active by spring 1997.But others have joined the action, and that has been the biggest success of the Greenbears as a group. In 1996, the pro basketball league had 10 owners, and the 1997 baseball league expanded to 10 teams for the first time. The numbers have held at about eight per league, with about 12 steady participants. In addition, the sports leagues have introduced our original members to many new people, and we've all made new friends as a result. The expansion of the baseball league caused a group reorganization in 1997. Leagues were no longer to be known as Late Night Leagues, but became Greenbears Leagues. The traveling trophy for baseball, The Old Brass Spittoon, was permanently retired to the Commissioner's possession. Leagues In The New MilleniumWe're optimistic that the Greenbears can continue to have fantasy leagues and other contests, despite increasing demands on our time. Computerization has greatly helped in that regard.In 1998, we hired Fantasy Sports Properties, Inc. to provide software and stats for all our leagues. FSPI allowed us a new level of quality and depth in our stat reports, and allowed the Commissioner to focus on things besides calculating scores. But the owners wanted more. In early 1999, we added Ultra Leagues in sports other than baseball for the first time. By adding more chances to claim a championship, we made participation more interesting than ever before. However, Ultra leagues were not the answer for building more interest among the owners. In the summer of 1999, we made a crossroads decision for the new millenium. We decided that we would conduct all of our fantasy leagues through online stat services, such as Sandbox.com, instead of renewing our association with FSPI. The advantage would be that owners could do everything themselves and see the results instantly. Most of our owners were online by 1999 anyway, and this decision gave the Commissioner even more freedom. College contests remained the same, however. In addition, baseball owners immediately began playing Diamond Mind Baseball. DMB is game simulation software, and was chosen as a replacement for Ultra fantasy baseball, using the same rosters and basic rules as for Ultra.
See our league's photo album here! Read about the history of each of our baseball teams here!
This page was last updated on: 9/19/99 |
