ROTISSERIE BASEBALL AND USA TODAY. Those of us who were early players in fantasy baseball leagues are aware of how much difference the internet made. The wikipedia entry on fantasy baseball points out that: “the advent of powerful computers and the Internet revolutionized fantasy baseball, allowing scoring to be done entirely by computer….”
The founding of USA Today on September 15, 1982 also changed fantasy baseball. The wikipedia entry says: “The traditional statistics used in early Rotisserie leagues were often chosen because they were easy to compile from newspaper box scores and then from weekly information published in USA Today.”
However, just as USA Today helped fantasy baseball, fantasy baseball made a major difference to the success of USA Today. To quote the wikipedia entry again: “Daniel Okrent, the journalist who invented fantasy baseball, based on discussions with colleagues at USA Today, credits Rotisserie league baseball with much of the early success of USA Today, since the paper provided much more detailed box scores than most competitors….”
Yes. And there HAS to be a place where you can go for facts, not regurgitated facts decorated with spin. This is, I’m afraid, a very American concept, the idea that you can see facts clearly, apart from a specialist’s interpretation of them. But, sometimes, ordinary people can just see the truth. Ah, Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
Thank you, Superman. You could see clearly.