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.
Six weeks in, despite having a roster filled with future Pro Bowlers like Randy Moss, Edgerrin James and Marvin Harrison, I sat at 3-3, looking more like a chump than champ. Not even two months into the season I was starting to remember why I avoided fantasy football.
The problem was at quarterback. Vinny Testaverde, the Italian Stallion, a man I had the honor to watch in person his first NFL game (of course he was backing up Steve Deberg), was suppose to be my sleeper. A late quarterback pick I saw as a steal in round eight, capable of leading my band of merry men to the promise land. Instead, in week one, in only the first quarter, Vinny crumbled to the turf, as if a switch was clicked and all power was lost. He was gone for the year.
I reached into the free agent bag and pulled out another veteran, Troy Aikman. He once led the Dallas Cowboys to three championships at the beginning of the decade. He even won one with a team led by Barry Switzer, so he could certainly lead my talented team. At times, he did. I won my next three. Meanwhile, a little known Rams quarterback was blowing up the league like few had ever done. If available, he would have been snatched off the wire by most teams. However, he wasn’t a free agent. Instead, he was riding my pine. I had only taken him with the very last pick of the draft because I needed a second quarterback and I was a believer in Dick Vermeil. In fact, heading into the season my plan was to always draft Trent Green. Those plans were flicked to the side when he had gotten bitten by the preseason injury bug. Yet, starting Warner was never really an option. It didn’t matter that he was dominating the league like he was Marino ’83. It had to be a fluke, right? The dude was a bag boy like a month ago or something. I knew the second I’d start him, his “300 yards, three touchdown” games would become 150 yards and two interceptions.
Thus, he sat…until my 3-1 start quickly disappeared. Sitting depressingly at .500, I decided I could no longer ignore Warner’s monstrous stats. Aikman went to the bench in week seven. Kurt Warner was now my starter. I wouldn’t lose another game, producing the weekly high score in five of the final six weeks of the regular season, easily earning the top seed.
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.