RT Quinlan’s Fantasy Football League Keeps Timeless Traditions

League meets every Wednesday of NFL regular season

DULUTH, Minn.- On one of the final Sundays before the NFL season begins, the RT Quinlan’s Fantasy Football League gathers for its annual in-person draft.

“You’ve gotta let the draft come to you,” Advises Sean Woolverton, who’s won the league championship over the last two seasons. “It depends on what position you get. That pretty much dictates what strategy you employ.”

“I don’t have a draft strategy,” Declared Tony Matt, a competitor in the league. “I tried to do a couple mocks earlier this year, and then I just had a busy week, busy weekend, and so I’m just kind of coming in here, and I’m just going to see how the see how the players fall and go from there.”

“My draft strategy is not to pass out,” laughed Pete Hannegraf, sporting a Randy Moss Vikings shirt.

Woolverton, who’s also the league’s commissioner, has been with the RTQFFL for all 22 years. “”We’ve been competing with each other for a couple decades now, so we’re all very knowledgeable and savvy players, and we enjoy competing against one another.”

While some players have come and gone, Woolverton has found some worthy competitors to fill empty chairs, such as Matt and Hannegraf.

“It’s awesome,” Matt gushes. “So, I commish my own league; I’ve done it for 10, 15 years. I like this league more than I like my own league that I commission. It’s just, it’s unique.”

“I love the communal feel of it,” says Hannegraf. “I’m in other leagues, you know. You never see anyone, ever. So, I like the sense of community. These guys and gals are all a hoot.”

While other leagues commune just once a year for the draft (most leagues are now down virtually), the RTQFFL assembles once a week during the football season.

“We do all of our moves and set our lineups here every Wednesday between 5:30 and 7:30,” says Woolverton. “We make our moves, set our lineups, do trades.”

“Right now, everything is done online. It’s hard to get people together for drafts and waivers and stuff like that,” Matt admits. “It’s really fun to just come down here and do everything manually. It’s just a different feel for the game. We’re just kind of nerds and we like to have fun with it.”

As the members of the RTQFFL has found out, replacing the keyboard and mouse for a pen and a pint has made for more fun, community….and a lot more trash talk.

“Oh, it’s nothing but,” Hannegraf laughed. “Nothing but trash talk, which I excel in.”