Simulation Football Leagues, Living in the Past, and Learning to Love Football Again

A few years ago I found myself on a plane to my Navy reserve duty and cracked open one of my many football books. Being an uber football nerd from the 1970s I have always loved playing computer football games; however, unless I was playing against someone in the same room, be it on an Odyssey 2, Game Cube, or  Play Station. Sadly, my childhood only saw one instance of me playing a table top football simulation in 1980, that being Sport's Illustrated "Paydirt."

Now mind you, I am involved in fantasy football every year usually, including this year when I got invited into my office's league [very disappointing season for me].  However, as I read Ted Kluck's wonderful book, Past Time, I knew I was really missing out on something special, that being a member of a simulation football league.  In essence, I had been missing out on being a member of not just a league, but a group of people that, like me, love the professional football of yesteryear.

SportsmasterSIM Presents "The Last Super Bowl"

Sports are universally beloved. Geographically, the athletic competitions take on various forms; the NFL, NBA, MLB are strong in America; NHL in Canada; Premier League in Europe; and Cricket in India.

But the now legendary George R. R. Martin wrote about the downfall of them all in “The Last Super Bowl,” a fantastically written short story in February 1975’s issue of Gallery Magazine, a men’s magazine.

The story is actually two tales, as he covers the last Super Bowl which takes place in January 2016 and interjects the depiction of that Super Bowl, between the Green Bay Packers and the Hoboken Jets, and the downfall of real sports. Real sports, in the 2016 of Martin’s fictional world, have been overtaken in popularity by simulated sports.

Robert Coover’s Dark Sports Fantasy

This article by Daniel Roberts originally appeared on September 8, 2017, in the Paris Review.

Robert Coover’s oft-forgotten 1968 baseball novel, The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop., opens in the middle of a game: “Bottom half of the seventh, Brock’s boy had made it through another inning unscratched, one! two! three! Twenty-one down and just six outs to go!” Brock is Brock Rutherford, retired star pitcher, and Brock’s “boy” is his son, the rookie pitcher Damon Rutherford.

But Brock doesn’t exist, Damon doesn’t exist, and the game isn’t real. It’s being played out with dice and a pencil by Coover’s protagonist, Henry Waugh, alone in his kitchen.

The Universal Baseball Association is a novel about fantasy baseball, though the word “fantasy” never once appears in the book.

Who Needs Players? Simulated Games Are the Future of Sports

From the array of Thanksgiving Classic football games to family-style Turkey Bowls and other sports played this holiday, the sports menu hasn’t changed much at all over the years. Yet technology could change everything here … and soon. In fact, it could change the way we play and watch sports altogether.

By Wired Opinion Editor: Sonal Chokshi @smc90

Imagine spending Thanksgiving on the couch, but instead of watching a live game we’re all watching a televised videogame. Sounds incredible. But in South Korea, videogames are already viewed as a spectator sport: They're televised nationally.

Imagine doing this in a real-life arena as well.

Football Manager Documentary

Simulated Football League Documentary