But let me back up.

It all began in the fall of 2006 on the 10^th floor of Middlebrook Hall on the University of Minnesota’s West Bank.

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But let me back up.

It all began in the early 2000s at Kellogg Middle School in Rochester, Minnesota.

Okay, so you can choose a lot of theoretical dates for the starting point of when and how this particular group of people came together into this particular fantasy football assembly. But let’s begin at perhaps the easiest definable juncture:

It all began in the fall of 2008 at 1016 11^th Ave SE in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It was Tuesday, September 2^nd, the first day of the University of Minnesota’s school year, and ten young scholars had just moved into a ramshackle rental unit a few blocks north of campus. Five of them, along with five other lads, were scheduled to participate in an online ESPN Fantasy Football draft, for the newly organized “TC Classic” league commissioned by one Jose Engelbrekt. Not yet having internet, four of the five house-dwellers even ventured to a campus library in order to participate in the draft. There was some talk of creating a keeper league, but it was ultimately brought up too late to implement.

The teams were as such:

The divisions: Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Towards the end of the season, Sean’s team, behind Adrian Peterson, had one of the highest point totals in the league, but had few wins to show for it, and in a controversial move the regular season was extended one week mid-season in an attempt to give him an additional shot at making the playoffs. The move paid off; the law of averages panned out and Sean won his last few games, bumping another competitor out of the playoffs, but he and Danny lost in the first round to Tim and Siems, and Sean lost the third place game by four points after forgetting to sub out an injured Kevin Boss at TE while he was on vacation around New Years.

Meanwhile, in a championship battle of the roommates, the Siemstress rode Michael Turner the Burner to the coveted first prize and the lion’s share of a $100 pot. Unbeknownst to the rest, a dynasty had just been born.

The next fall, 2009, the league was rebranded as “Real Men Cry” and Edwin Sandberg was recruited to replace Erik. And this is where the story really begins. It was agreed going into the draft that teams could keep up to two keepers for the following season, though lots of details had yet to be worked out. It was suggested this year to do an in-person draft and on a week night the first week of the school year, all ten participants crowded into a living room and drafted early into the next morning.

Several weeks into the season, a blockbuster trade was made whose repercussions are still being felt on the day this is being written nearly four years later. Tim traded Ravens running back Ray Rice, a 7^th round draft pick, to Siems, and Aaron has gone on to win two of the next three championships and make the playoffs three of the ensuing four years.

Since that fateful fall in 2009, much has changed. There have been nearly constant amendments from modifying keeper rules, to a conversion to an auction style draft, to a bidding based free agent system, to annual trophy awards, to discussions of adding more teams. After four seasons, Ed’s run as the league’s primary antagonist and trash-talking bard came to an end as well, as he departed the league and was replaced by Joe. Sean took a one season hiatus too, during which he was spelled by K.C., but McV is now back in the saddle, while Joe’s rapid ascension to league champion in his second season has ushered in a new era.

Still perhaps the more remarkable thing is how much things have remained the same. Nine of the same ten players from the fall of '09 still comprise the league, despite scattering from a two mile radius in Minneapolis to six different states and one entirely different continent, and as best we can tell, and hope, we shall continue as thus ad infinitum.