The Record

Robio Murray’s 12-game winning streak – Title Game, 1999

It was the match up everyone wanted, or at least the match up everyone expected. Robioland Football began in 1999 as a small league (eight guys) crowded in and around a small corner booth in a Ruby Tuesday’s in Sarasota, Florida. The season had been a good one; some teams good (Robio, Rick, Griff) and some teams not (Tim), but after sixteen weeks of football, the first title game was here.

The game would feature two old friends, two old foozball competitors who faced off nightly at the old Peanut Gallery. One (Robio), a defensive specialist, the other (Griff) a scoring machine. While Coomer usually got the upper hand on the tiny, wooden soccer tables, this game was not about that. This was about fantasy football. It was #1 Robio against #2 Griff. Let’s get it on.

Eleven weeks earlier though, it didn’t look like I would even be in the championship game. After six weeks, I was riding a two-game losing streak. I sat at 3-3 (including a then record low, 280-pt opening game). Luckily for me though, I decided in the final round of the draft to grab an unknown quarterback named Kurt Warner. Little was known about the guy. Sure, he was on a good offensive team, but the guy was a bag boy a couple years earlier. Even when he blew up early, I resisted putting him in. I had started the season with Testaverde and he went down in week one for the season. I subbed in Troy Aikman, who was doing fine, but was never a stat guy. After six weeks, I just kept thinking Warner would slow down. Finally, in week seven I gave in and starter him. I never lost again.

By the end of the regular season I was dominating, scoring over 1,500 in my final six, earning high scores in five out of those last six weeks. I entered the playoffs as the top seed and scoring champ. I cruised through rounds one and two, but now I was facing Griff in the championship game. If I lost the title game, the rest of the wins were meaningless. Luckily for me, I crushed Griff, 1,872-1,234. I ended up winning my final eleven games of the season. I would also win my first game in 2000, before being knocked off by Justin Hanright, 978-962. The streak was over at 12. The record still stands today, after nine years.