My nephews and I were holed up at the TWA Hotel in New York on a rainy Sunday a few weeks ago, waiting to attend an evening wedding. I fiddled with my phone and laptop and scanned the TV, while explaining that this was a big day for my fantasy football teams. [To be honest, every Sunday during the NFL season is big.] Though the three teens knew a lot about football, I was taken aback when they said that unlike some 45 million Americans they had never learned the fantasy version–which has become a billion-dollar enterprise. So I told them the backstory.
It was a similarly rainsoaked weekend 61 years ago when Bill Winkenbach, an owner of the positively awful Oakland Raiders, flew into the TWA terminal for a Sunday game against the Titans [later the Jets].
Depressed over his team’s 0-7 record and lack of promotable stars, he and some friends spent most of the night in a hotel bar, inventing a game that would allow them to roster stars of every team–players like Jim Brown, Mike Ditka and Frank Gifford.
