In another karmic twist of fate for STATSdraft, I found myself driving down to Dallas last week for a fantasy draft, aimed at Jerry World. No matter how much I might fight it, STATSdraft’s origins story is explicably intertwined with my relationship to the Dallas Cowboys.
Love me some G men
I am a New York Giants fan. My mother’s side of the family is from New York and the Bill Parcells-led teams of the '80s captivated me at a time before I was allowed to play football. As a child I would say I was Mark Bavaro during elementary school recess and “LT: Living on the Edge” was probably the first book I ever had to convince my parents to buy. I read it as I dreamed of eating glass and climbing the brick wall into my dorm.
But I created the game that would become STATSdraft because my friend from Zimbabwe, Farai, said the Cowboys would win the Super Bowl.
“It’s like a whole other country”
When that I arrived at the Cydcor draft in Arlington, I was within eyes view of Jerry World (aka AT&T stadium) where the Cowboys play. At the center of Texas sports, the draft took place in a large conference room that reminded me of what it must’ve been like during the very first NFL draft — where owners gathered in hotel rooms, writing their selections on pieces of paper. Even though this draft has incorporated technology, to my delight, I still saw copious amounts of paper and pencil. Well-researched people were furiously writing down numbers and names. There’s something viscerally pleasing to me about the sound of paper being held down to a table by one hand so the other hand can write on it. The shuffling of the pages being sorted so that the bits of our brain that have been poured out can be organized.
Welcome back
The vibe of the draft gave me feelings of the first day of summer camp as a player. Big, boisterous greetings and embraces. The intimacy of inside jokes being thrown back-and-forth. A kinship created through competition. This is the kind of community STATSdraft wants to be a part of.
Without fail, every time people gather around sports, there is an emotional connection that occurs. So rarely in our lives are we allowed to let it all hang out. But that’s what has always made sports so great. Even in football where the need to fit in, to a scheme and team, is so essential. It is impossible to succeed without being the best version of yourself. Being comfortable in mySelf has always been a thing that’s difficult for me. In fact it’s one of the great struggles of my life. I remember a couple years ago, a friend I’d grown up and played ball with had made the comment, “Enneking has always been himself” to which my reply was, ”It hasn’t been for lack of trying.” One thing that I keep being reminded of is the importance of staying true to one’s Self. Do not try to put on a performance to get the reaction you want. Be real and show yourSelf to everyone around you. After just one day, I'd already been Blessed to see that that is going to be a lesson that I will absorb from this community.
Your people can lead you
I first found out about this fantasy draft after reaching out to interview commissioners. We wanted to get an understanding for any of the friction that they were feeling or any pain points that they were experiencing with fantasy football that STATSdraft might be a remedy for. Fortunately, my old college roommate Michael Palomba has been guiding me during the STATSdraft journey and connected me with Don McConville. I was taken aback when Don first told me of the league he commissioned. Flying in from around the country, the members of the 10 teams gather annually to award the previous year’s trophies, talk trash, and build their team back up for the new year.
Customizability
This league has been together for over a decade and in that time they have gone through several rounds of customization to tailor it to suit their wants. Adjusting scoring systems so the values of positions mirror their real life values, expanding rosters to include a full offensive 11 and defensive 11 (though I didn’t hear any lineman get drafted Don!) this draft takes an entire day! Teams are named after real life organizations with Rams, Raiders, Panthers, Niners, Saints, Falcons, Eagles, Browns, and Saints represented. The years have taught them well; even the space gets customized, with tables set in circles so that the auctioneer can be in the middle. They even cater lunch and a snack before the bar is brought in. The draft is actually an auction so even selecting players is made a competition. Certainly selections celebrated today will turn out to be reasons for losses later. The “steal of the draft” can just as likely become the anchor that weighs your team down.
I need to learn
This league is a company league set between national conferences. A gathering of employees old and new presented a unique opportunity that I couldn’t miss learning from. Already I’ve gained many insights into how to be a CEO, how to be a manager, how to sell your company. But the most interesting thing I’ve learned came from seeing these once strangers in their many roles. It’s one thing to see the Brit in a London jersey crack jokes at a draft, another entirely to sit and watch a room of hundreds hang on his every word as he motivates them to new professional heights. One of the most intriguing things in our lives is that we are not purely one thing. We are multiple. Our entire existence is contingent. My children call me daddy but their friends wouldn’t. I tend to introduce myself as Topher these days, but my old friend Palomba knows me as Chris so that's how some this weekend have met me. These are the subtle ways we communicate our identity. Identity, it appears, is a thing that is never static. Rather it is a multivariate, ever evolving organism that is entirely contingent on the environment in which it exists.
That is the lesson I am trying to learn. How does the organism that is ChrisTopher Niles Enneking fit into the environment that is sports technology? How does he fit into an environment that is tech business: business CEO, or CEO of a gaming company? How do those things fit within the same man who became a 3 year starting OL after walking on at KU, who coached at a private school while living in a tent in a state park, and who’s been a viral spoken word poet? All of these things are able to exist in overlapping dimensions, and as a human, none of them are mutually exclusive. We can all be all things at some time. The goal is to be able to shape what we are, during the times that matter, to achieve the goals we want.
Download and start playing STATSdraft today.
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