The Hanscom Air Force Base Fantasy Football League was founded in the fall of 1997 by a bunch of young Air Force officers stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base who really should have been working. The league had ten owners, nine of them Air Force officers and one Air Force civilian contractor. The league used the ESPN.com Fantasy Football service and was a great success. The next year the same members came back for more and once again hundreds of hours of work time was wasted... er... invested on fantasy football. That year the league also instituted a 'keeper' system, which was amazingly confusing and difficult to implement. It was generally agreed that the keeper system was a bad idea, though the league itself was still a success. During these first two years the league championship was won by Steve Fortin.
By 1999, most of the original members had PCSed away from Hanscom. One of the original league members (Chet Levins) left, and another one was added. That owner was Lee Petrie, the first league member without a direct connection to the Air Force. The league also expanded to 12 teams, adding Air Force officers Jerry Morey and Pete Modigliani. The 1999 season saw members in Germany, Italy, Guam and across the US and required the first email draft. At the time, the idea of an entire draft conducted by email was met with skepticism but the email draft became one of the high points of the entire season. Literally hundreds and hundreds of emails were generated weekly as draft picks and smack talk flew around the world. The league also moved to the cheaper and more flexible Sportsline.com Fantasy Football service. That year Steve once again rolled to the Hanscom Bowl, but was defeated by Paul Bray in Hanscom Bowl III, thereby ending the 'Age of Fortin'.
For the 2000 season, Lee Petrie bowed out and the league welcomed another old USAF guy, Eric Yeaney. The league began formalizing rules, procedures and history. The formal 'rules proposal' period began, the first Media Guide was published, and the Hanscom FFL Champions Cup was created. The Sportsline.com fantasy football service went from a $100 cost to free, which allowed the league to begin giving cash prizes for winners in various scoring categories. The Hanscom FFL Pro Bowl was started and the league playoffs expanded to five teams. That year the mysterious Gary Pillow won the title - most league members wouldn't meet Gary for another 2+ years.
The 2001 season had 12 teams and, for the first time, none of the league owners were stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base. The league kept the Hanscom name however, in order to remember our past and a time when we were all younger, we were stupider, and the Patriots made the Super Bowl. Long time HFFL owner Dave Fitzgerald powered to the title that year defeating the defending champ in Hanscom Bowl V.
The 2002 season said goodbye to Eric Yeaney and hello to the formerly Air Force-blue Ken Nelson . Ken brought freshness, smack talk and a penchant for drafting tight ends to the league. 2002 was also the first year that individual defensive players (IDPs) were used in the league. The introduction of IDPs produced passionate responses on all sides, but league members voted to keep them by an even larger margin for the 2003 season. .The 2002 season found all 12 teams located back in the US and, strangely enough, the Patriots as the defending Super Bowl Champions. That Cinderella story gave all the owners hope for their own championship run. In that theme, original owner Chris Knauer squeaked out the last playoff slot and ended up taking the championship in a great run.
The 2003 season found the league in a surprisingly stable position, as all twelve owners returned. The season was highlighted by the amazing run of Chris Olsen's Jersey Toxic Pigs, going on a league record 12-game winning streak. The Pigs continued the incredibly poor record of number one seeds in the playoffs, falling in the first round. The 2003 season also saw a new all-time record losing streak, as the Nuclear Noblemen stumbled to a 13 game skid. Unfortunately for them, 2003 was also the introduction of the Pink Bunny Slipper award given to the last place team and the Noblemen became the first 'winners' of that award.
The 2004 season was one of streaks. Ken Nelson extended his all-time record losing streak to 14 games before finally winning in Week 2. He later went on to extend his Bunny Slipper streak to two. Mark Rieker's Attleboro Engineers went on a five game losing streak to finish the season and slide out of the playoffs. Dave Fitzgerald's Vegas Fitz Blitz nearly tied the all-time record with an 11 game winning streak that gave him the #1 seed only to lose the next four straight and finish out of the prize money --- making him the fifth straight #1 seed to fall in the first round of the playoffs.
The 2005 season featured several big rebounds. The Jersey Toxic Pigs lost the first two games of the season, but went on to win the division and the championship. The Monkey Knife Fighters lost their starting RB in Deuce McAllister, but went on to claim a wild card spot. And Nelson's Betsy-Wetsy Dolls ended up with the Bunny Slippers once again, but they finished with the 7th best R-Index rating as a result of a crushing schedule; they had to face opponents that scored 20 pts more per week more than the 2nd place FitzBlitz.
The 2006 season was another season of streaks. The Attleboro Engineers started out 6-1 but ended 1-6 to miss the playoffs. Ken Nelson ended his streak of last place finishes and almost made the playoffs. The Jersey Toxic Pigs became the first team in league history to finish in last place as the defending champion. And Paul Bray was surrounded by controversy over a trade with Gary Pillow that brought him LaDanian Tomlinson, a nine game winning streak and his second league title.
In 2007 the league descended into bizarro world. Mark Rieker ended a seven-year dry spell and made the playoffs with a league-best 10-4 record. Former powerhouses Paul Bray and Dave Fitzgerald failed to make the playoffs while Pete Modigliani had the best R-Index of the year but also failed to make the playoffs. And this time Gary Pillow traded FOR LaDanian Tomlinson in a move which propelled him to his second league title.
