Our first season of play was that fall in 1990. The league was originally set up to include twelve teams divided among three divisions playing a head-to-head schedule. The three division winners and the next team with the best record regardless of division advanced to the playoffs with the final two teams playing for the Super Bowl title. Fantasy Football started to become popular, so we added four more teams and a fourth division in 1993. We had two conferences with two divisions in each conference. Division winners and the next two teams with the best record within a conference advanced to the Conference playoffs. Conference champions played for the Super Bowl title. Eventually things move on, and four of our teams elected to not return in 2004. Rather than add four new teams, we elected to go back to our original setup of twelve teams with three divisions and no conferences. We were eventually joined by sons of some of our Charter Members, and in 2010 increased our league to fourteen teams. Five of our current members are sons and nephews of some of our Charter Members.

The League today is still operated and managed by the original Commissioner and League Manager.

Our current teams are:

Palestine Pokers

We published a four page weekly newsletter, titled BSA Today, from 1990 through 1998 listing results and a variety of stats. Each Tuesday, after all the stats were on the AP wire, we downloaded them from USA Today's website, and ran them through a set of computer apps our Commissioner had written for the Microsoft Access database package. Using this output, we filled in various tables in the newsletter, wrote a few columns of pure absolute bull (by the Commish), and then mailed it to each member. We discontinued publishing the newsletter in 1999 when all members finally had access to the internet. We followed the same procedures for gathering our results and stats, but started posting this info to our new website, Duke's Corner, to be reviewed by all members at their convenience.

We decided to test the Fantasy Football League Manager program offered by ESPN in 2004. They manage rosters, stats, scoring, standings, free agent claims and waivers, etc. They also offer the ability for each team to log on the internet, access an ESPN webpage specifically for our league, and then claim free agents and manage rosters right up until the start of the first NFL games. This relieved each member from having to take or make call-ins on specific nights, and allowed them do it at their convenience. The testing worked so well that we fully implemented our league and all members on the ESPN program by Week 7 of 2004. We continue on BTFFL at ESPN  today.

Even though our league management is high tech today, we are still old school when it comes to drafting. We hold an off-line draft each year as we have done since 1990 by gathering at the community room at a local institution complete with podium and PA system. Our Commissioner gives a welcome speech, acknowledges all visitors,  and then acknowledges our previous year's Super Bowl Champ and Cellar King (first and last place finishers). Speeches are required of both of these individuals (most Cellar King speeches are short, and can't be recorded or repeated in public), We then draw team names out of a hat to determine drafting order. The team identifiers drawn out of the hat have been custom made by the Rattlers since 1992. Each years identifier is something different. After the draft order is determined, we sit down and conduct a football draft just like you see the NFL do it on TV. Once the draft starts, each owner has 2 minutes to make his selection in each round. We go for 14 rounds with two or three breaks. One break is for a catered lunch. It makes for a long draft, but it gives old friends who don't get to see each other very much a chance to visit and hoorah each other.

Check out our BSA Rules and Regulations section for additional info.

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