1997 Season

Erie League debuts on the World Wide Web

Pavelich brings the Erie League to the internet when he publishes an official home page in April 1997. Sam Profio is the first owner to view the site and responds to the commissioner with the following e-mail: "Holy Fantasy Football!! I visited the Erie League Website. What a great idea!! I bet you put a lot of work into it. Great job!!! The owners' profiles with pictures is really great! I printed mine and Dave's (Bell) and will show it to him tomorrow at the office. I doubt that he knows about it yet because he does not check his e-mail. He'll freak!" 

Defensive scoring changes

Starting with the 1997 season, defensive scoring would take on a whole new look. In addition to the points for touchdown returns and safeties -- a component that had been in place since the beginning -- defenses could now also score individual points via the interception, the fumble recovery, or the sack. Another change involved starting lineups as owners would no longer be required to start two running backs -- a run and shoot option of one RB and four WRs could also be selected for the first time. The league office was moved to Stow, OH.

Plan B Free Agency and other off-season changes

To deal with the lack of talent available in a 16 team league, Commissioner Kirk Pavelich developed the Plan B Free Agency Rule. After the games of Week Five, all owners would be responsible for designating two players from their roster as Plan B Free Agents. The 32 players placed on the list were then made available to the rest of the league for one week only, at a cost of $5 per transaction. All teams would have the ability to make one Plan B selection and all teams would be guaranteed to lose no more than one of the two players designated. The 1997 season also gave owners their first opportunity to deal call-in slots as part of normal trade activity.

Plans were developed for the Erie League's First Annual All-Star Bowl, a game that would involve the top scoring players from each of the conferences. The added bonus was that the Most Valuable Player of the Game would earn a $20 bonus for his Erie League owner. The game was scheduled to be played the week after Fantasy Bowl 8.

The Bradley Rzyczycki Regular Season Points Scored Award was created in honor of the Cosmic Monsters owner who set the league's scoring record of 1,120 points back in 1994. A clause was written into the rules that specified the award's name to be changed if any subsequent owner might break the  record.

Pavelich creates the Erie Cyber League

Pavelich announced in his August 1, 1997 newsletter that plans were in motion for a new fantasy football league that would run entirely off of the internet. The Erie Cyber League, which would conduct its draft on-line via a chat room, would require that all transactions, trades, and lineups be submitted through e-mail. The cost to play was set at just $5. Charter members include: the Top Dawgs, the Funky Monks (Keith Kuratko), the Chicago Virus, the Ballbusters (Dave Bell), Zero Tolerance (Kirk Pavelich), Murdock's Maniacs, Nemesis (Mike Bell), and the Minnesota Pics.

First draft lottery held

On Tuesday August 12, 1997, the first-ever Draft Lottery was held at the Medical Specialties Warehouse in Streetsboro. The purpose of the event was to randomly draw the selection order two weeks before draft day in the hope that it would increase the possibility of draft order trades. Bryan Vince and the Psychedelic B's were the first ping-pong ball out of the box and immediately went on the clock.

Comings and goings

Mike Szydlowski's Polish Monarchs went on a two year hiatus at the start of the '97 campaign, a move that opened the door for the Screaming Eagles (Jim White) expansion franchise. Storm Thomas officially retired the name Stormtroopers after receiving complaints from individuals who believed the name to be associated with the Nazi death squads of World War II. As a result, Thomas created the new name, the Gargoyles.

The Erie League officially entered into a statistical partnership with FanStar. Gone forever were the days of looking up statistics in the paper and calculating them by hand.

The 1997 Draft

The draft took place on Sunday Aug. 24, 1997, with the Psychedelic B's selecting QB Brett Favre with the first overall selection. Other first round picks included: RB Barry Sanders (#2 - Callouses), QB Steve Young (#3 - King Salmons), RB Emmitt Smith (#4 - Atomic Punks), RB Terrell Davis (#5 - Gargoyles), RB Curtis Martin (#6 - Black Diamond), RB Ricky Watters (#7 - Donikers-DTL), RB Jerome Bettis (#8 - Captain Tripps), QB John Elway (#9 - Midnight Vigilantes), RB Eddie George (#10 - Screaming Eagles), RB Adrian Murrell (#11 - Shadow Bandits), RB Karim Abdul-Jabbar (#12 - Assassins), WR Jerry Rice (#13 - Hostile Omish), QB Scott Mitchell (#14 - LTP), QB Drew Bledsoe (#15 - Cosmic Monsters), and RB Terry Allen (#16 - Bonecrushers).

Storm Thomas became the first owner in history to trade a player (Irving Fryar) for a call-in slot after Week One. Due to technical difficulties with the software, Pavelich eliminates the requirement for a head coach after two weeks of action. 

Owner Profiles

The owner profile section returned to The Sports Page in Issue Six. Among the Erie Leaguers profiled: Storm Thomas (Gargoyles), Kirk Pavelich (Midnight Vigilantes), Mike Bell (Assassins), Jim Damicone (King Salmons), Keith Kuratko (Atomic Punks), Don Jones (LTP), Bryan Vince (Psychedelic B's), Sam Profio (Donikers-DTL), and Dave Bell (Bonecrushers). 

1997 season highlights

Callouses QB Kordell Stewart tied Emmitt Smith's single game scoring record when he posted 40 points against the King Salmons in Week Six. Captain Tripps RB James Stewart made it a three-way tie for the record when he notched 40 points of his own the following week against the Shadow Bandits.

Callouses GM Jody Barth started a feud with his former high school baseball coach and current Chamberlin High School football assistant coach Don Jones (LTP) with comments that are printed in Issue Seven: "At least Jones is winning in fantasy football because it's sure not happening on the high school field," Barth said at the time. Jones responded the following week with "Jody's comments once again proves he still does not understand thinking before he speaks."

The league's first Plan B Free Agency night took place on Thursday October 2, 1997 with the Hostile Omish making RB Ki-Jana Carter (formerly of Captain Tripps) the first player selected. In total, $35 is spent on seven Plan B player acquisitions.

Blockbuster trades abound during the Week Eight trading deadline. The Kuratko brothers pulled off the first deal, with Keith sending Atomic Punks QB Mark Brunell and RB Corey Dillon to Mike's Hostile Omish for QB Jeff George. Kirk Pavelich's Midnight Vigilantes then packaged QB John Elway and RB Bam Morris to Joe Nunney's Black Diamond club for RB Curtis Martin.

LTP defeated the Screaming Eagles 72-69 in two overtimes during Week 11, thanks to PK Scott Blanton's game winning field goal. 

Bryan Vince's Psychedelic B's followed their '96 championship season with a 3-10 campaign, the worst record for a defending champion since the '92 Brown Bombers' 3-11 effort. Keith Kuratko's Atomic Punks finished 5-8 and missed the playoffs, despite scoring 1002 points on the season. This marked the first time in Kuratko's eight years in the league that he did not qualify for the post-season.

Two more teams fell victim to the Commissioner's Curse. The Callouses were proclaimed in the 1997 Playoff Preview to be "the tournament favorite" while Kuratko's Atomic Punks were said to be "the odds-on favorite to take the Consolation Bowl tournament." Barth's Callouses lost 114-89 to Brad Rzyczycki's surging Cosmic Monsters in the first round while the Punks dropped a 63-60 decision to the Bonecrushers in Consolation Bowl Two.

Division Champs

The Callouses (10-3) won the Club Division, the Donikers (9-4) captured the Diamond Division -- their third straight division title, Captain Tripps (10-3) took home the Heart Division title, and the Midnight Vigilantes (9-4) won the Spade Division. Jody Barth's Callouses won the regular season points championship with 1041 (80.07 per game). Click here to see the rest of the 1997 standings. 

Fantasy Bowl 8

Don Jones and LTP (pictured at right with co-owner Steve Suder) won Fantasy Bowl 8 over Rzyczcki's Cosmic Monsters by a score of 60-59. Click here to see the Fantasy Bowl 8 Preview. Heading into the Monday Night contest, the Monsters had held a 56-47 advantage, but a 13-3 difference for Jones' players in the final game of the week helped him pull out the victory. The actual margin of victory came on a Gary Anderson extra point with four minutes remaining in the contest. QB Scott Mitchell was named Most Valuable Player for his 18 point performance. For his victory, Jones split a check for $470.25 with Suder. Click here to see the rest of the details in the Fantasy Bowl 8 Recap. Storm Thomas' Gargoyles defeated Captain Tripps 76-54 to win the third place game.

The All-Star Bowl

The Black Conference defeated the Blue 95-68 in the league's first ever All-Star Bowl. Midnight Vigilantes WR Cris Carter scored 26 points to win MVP honors and earn a $20 bonus for owner Kirk Pavelich. RB Barry Sanders of the Callouses helped the Black Conference's cause with 25 points while WR Rob Moore (LTP) added 15. All of the action took place during NFL Week 17.

Brad Rzyczycki won the post-season playoff league, scoring 235 points.

Great Lakes Too Recap

Pavelich's Young Guns rolled to their second Great Lakes Too title in three years by hammering Doug Frank and the Ryan Express 106-54.

VanDerVorst wins Cyber League title

The Top Dawgs, owned by Randy VanDerVorst (pictured at left with his wife) of Lynwood, Washington, won the Erie Cyber League title by defeating the Minnesota Pics 71-43. The Dawgs finished the year at 13-3, scoring 1399 points (87.43 per game). VanDerVorst collected $40 as the league's inaugural champion. The Erie Cyber League ceased operations after the '97 season.

Awards Banquet

The third annual Awards Banquet was held on Jan. 3, 1998 at Maxx Doogan's in Twinsburg. Jones and Suder were voted top GM and Coach, Kordell Stewart (Callouses) was named MVP, QB Mitchell was named post-season MVP, and RB Warrick Dunn (Assassins) won Rookie of the Year honors.