Back in the mid 90's, a group of childhood friends partook in the time-honored tradition that most have experienced - going away to college. (OK, so some partook a little longer than others!) During their college years, they all made their own new friends as is to be expected. The group still kept in contact; they just weren’t as close as they used to be. They all had their new lives they were involved in and they kept themselves fairly occupied in these new situations. There’s nothing wrong with that. When they finally finished college and they came back to the lives they had before going away, they kept in touch with each other again, but quite frankly, they weren’t as close as they had been before they went away. Now some people would have shrugged that off and said to themselves, “Well, that’s just the way things work. You can’t live in the past forever. People need to move on.” But one of those friends wouldn’t have any of that. These were the guys that shared all of their childhood experiences together. These were the guys that helped to make each other what they are today. These guys were brothers. Greg wasn’t about to let all that slip away.
He thought back to their childhood and the many things that they shared and had in common. And one thing kept coming back to him - sports. Whether it be playing basketball or wiffleball in Rob’s driveway, their preferred hangout, or playing street hockey in front of Eric’s house or in Doug’s driveway, or just being the nerds they were collecting baseball cards, they were always united by sports. Upon returning from college, Greg had joined a fantasy baseball league on CBS.com and had a pretty good time doing it - heck, he even won the damn thing. That got him to thinking - this would be a great idea to do with his friends. What better way to keep the lines of communication going amongst them than through sports? Something that they would actively take part in and use to remain close. With that, a new fantasy sports league was born in September of 2000 and Greg became its commissioner. It still remained nameless however, but that would only be for a short time as Greg, Rob, Doug, and Evan started brainstorming. After days of deliberation, they then remembered a defining event in their shared lifetime and the perfect name for the league became clear.
Flash back to the summer of 1992. Four skinny suburban white-boys decide to join a 3-on-3 street basketball tournament called Hoop It Up. Yeah, they were a real force – four scrawny white kids from the mean streets of Washington Township and Westwood, New Jersey. There were three requirements to join the league – a small entry fee, transportation to Long Island, and a team name. Well, they each ponied up some dough, secured a ride to the location from Greg’s dad, and they were off. They arrived on that beautiful sunny Saturday morning to the parking lot of the Hicksville Mall. Hicksville. Sounds quaint. Full of hicks, right? They’ll be in their element, playing against other honkies who think they’ve got skills. Yeah, not so much. Playing against some of the most “urban” teen basketball players in the tri-state area, they were no competition. They lost their first game of the double-elimination tournament handily then, despite miraculously pulling off a victory in their first game in the loser’s bracket, they were ousted from the tournament after their third game. They never really stood a chance. Despite their shortcomings, they had a blast, happy that they won at least one game - the Italian kid and three Jewish lads on a team called “Spaghetti and Matzo Balls”.
The name was perfect and the Spaghetti and Matzo Balls Fantasy Sports League was born. Years later, after many fantasy baseball and football seasons have passed, the league is still going strong today. And do you know what? It has definitely served its purpose – the guys are closer than ever. And for that, no matter what place any of their teams might finish in any season, they will always look back at the year as a success. The childhood friends are still a huge part of each others’ lives. And they wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.
Not only has this league succeeded in keeping the friendships they already had, it has helped them to meet many new people they now consider friends as well. When they needed to fill in a few more spots in the league, they opened it to others: college friends, family members, co-workers. The circle has stayed together - in fact, it's even grown. Mission accomplished.
