A TikTok video showcasing the old-school draft went viral amassing nearly 2 million views
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/FatherFantasyFootballLeague-4-3b39778eda5f4b7db94c9f49b0201d29.jpg "Their Dads Started a Fantasy Football League in 1998. Now Their Kids Are Carrying on the Tradition")
Credit: Dylan Burd
NEED TO KNOW
- A group of friends has maintained a nearly 30-year tradition of drafting fantasy football teams without computers
- The league has grown to include their children, creating a multigenerational tradition centered around Labor Day gatherings
- A TikTok video showcasing the old-school draft went viral, highlighting the league’s enduring family and friendship bonds
For nearly 30 years, Allan Burd and his friends have spent Labor Day gathered around the same table, debating players and making their fantasy football picks the old-fashioned way — in person, without computers or apps.
But what began in 1998 as a league among friends has grown into a multigenerational tradition, with the children who once watched their dads compete now running a league of their own and, in recent years, even welcoming the original players as teammates.
For Allan, 61, the league began a year after it was founded, when his friends asked him to join in 1999. At the time, he says he knew “next to nothing about football other than I’d root for the Giants,” so he picked up magazines and tried to prepare for his first draft.
His preparation didn’t exactly pay off. Allan drafted Steve Young as his quarterback without realizing his history of concussions, selected Garrison Hearst without knowing the running back was dealing with a severe injury that would keep him out for the season and then lost his first pick, Jamaal Anderson, to a torn ACL in Week 2.
“It was a rough start, but I ‘ignorantly’ picked up an unknown quarterback named Kurt Warner to replace Young, a dubious pick at the time that turned out to be fantasy gold,” Allan tells PEOPLE exclusively.
Credit: Dylan Burd
Warner helped carry Allan to the playoffs, where he lost in the first round, but the experience was enough to turn him into a lifelong fantasy football player.
At the time, fantasy football required considerably more patience than it does today. The friends waited for box scores to appear in the newspaper on Monday or Tuesday, then calculated their fantasy stats themselves, giving them another reason to gather and relive the weekend’s games.
Allan won the league in his second season, but by then, the competition had become about much more than fantasy points.
“There’s nothing better than hanging and competing with your friends every weekend for bragging rights,” Allan says.
Credit: Dylan Burd
Then, in 2000, the league became about more than football.
David Hoberman, one of the friends who had brought Allan into the league, died of cancer at just 34 years old. The friends had spent the years before his death gathering at his house for a Labor Day barbecue, and afterward, they decided to carry that tradition forward in his memory.
They named the league DOBERMAN FFL and kept the annual gathering going, eventually bringing their families into the fold.
As the years passed, the day became a constant in the friends’ increasingly busy lives — a chance to put everything else aside and be together. For Allan, it became a commitment he wouldn’t break, even when Labor Day falls on his wedding anniversary, Sept. 5.
“First and foremost it means everlasting friendship. At the end of the day, that’s what the game is about,” Allan says.
Credit: Dylan Burd
And by then, a new generation was watching.
Allan’s first son Dylan was born in 1998, the same year the league began, and his second arrived in 2001. As the boys and the other players’ children grew up, they became fixtures around the league, watching their dads scream at the television over every catch, drop, fumble, interception and yard gained or lost by their fantasy players.
Dylan remembers being pulled into the excitement from an early age. When he was little, the dads held their draft at night, and he would find out the next morning who his father had selected.
Eventually, the families began gathering for the draft, too. Afterward, they would pore over the completed rosters and argue about whose team was strongest. During the season, some families would get together for the dads’ matchups, with the children tracking the scores as their fathers watched every play.
Dylan says he would “literally feel the excitement in my stomach.” “These are some of the best memories of my life,” he says.
Credit: Dylan Burd
By 2007, Dylan and the other children were ready to make the game their own.
That year, when Dylan was 9, he and his best friend Patrick Bocchicchio, whose father was also in the original league, started a kids’ fantasy football league. The younger players modeled it after their parents’ version, including its in-person draft, which they have held offline since 2008.
This season marks the 20th year of the kids’ league. The children who once watched their dads compete had now built a tradition of their own — while keeping plenty of the original league’s rules intact.
And eventually, the two generations found themselves sharing a league, too. Two years ago, an opening became available in the kids’ league, and Allan and Patrick’s father, Rich Bocchicchio, joined by co-owning a team.
“So now the dads have a team in the kids league,” Dylan says.
@dylan_hoh Best day of the year for them! #fantasyfootball #nfl #fantasyfootballdraft #sports
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The annual gathering has grown beyond the draft itself. After making their picks, the families spend the rest of the day together, with the kids playing sports and everyone catching up. This year, they played volleyball.
For Dylan, who works in social media for House of Highlights, making it back to the draft has become a priority of its own. Two years ago, he had an out-of-town wedding on the Sunday night of Labor Day weekend but returned Monday in time for the draft. Next year, his best friend is getting married out of town on that Sunday.
“I am already thinking how to get back Monday for dads’ draft,” he says.
For someone who grew up watching the tradition from the sidelines, Dylan has become part of the generation carrying it forward. And this year, he decided to share it with the rest of the world.
Dylan posted a TikTok from the annual draft with the caption, “The dad’s fantasy football draft is old school with no computers allowed.”
The video quickly went viral, amassing nearly 2 million views and giving people outside their Long Island circle a glimpse into a tradition that has remained remarkably intact for nearly three decades.
“When the video went viral, I loved it,” Allan says. “All the guys in our league loved it. It’s both heartwarming and most of the comments are endearing and heartwarming. (Most, not all, lol).”
@dylan_hoh Dads Fantasy Draft FULL DRAFT BOARD. 🍿🏈 #fantasyfootball #nfl #fantasyfootballdraft #football
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Of course, the internet also had plenty to say about Allan’s fantasy strategy, including his decision to select Kenneth Walker with the fifth pick. But Allan happily responded to the comments, enjoying the attention and the chance to share a tradition that has meant so much to him and his friends.
For Dylan, the reaction offered a glimpse into why the league has lasted for nearly three decades.
“The world is getting a glimpse into what fantasy football means to all of us,” Dylan says. “It’s a way for all of our families to stay close friends and have fun together. And it means everything to all of us.”
“To everyone out there who plays… take the guys you like regardless of what the experts say and enjoy rooting for them and hanging with your friends, even when you’re getting your butt kicked!” Allan adds.
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