Fantasy Trophies founder Dave Mitri seems to be making a good business decision by giving one of his handmade products away for free. According to the Washington Times, Mitri is shipping “The Throwback” — the company’s best selling model — to Washington tight end Chris Cooley to be awarded to the winner of Cooley’s fantasy league.

“It’s pretty cool. We’re excited to get it,” Cooley told the Times. “And I will also be excited to award it to myself when I win the league.”

Cooley has distinguished himself among professional as one of those most supportive of and interested in the fantasy game. He gained notoriety when a video of the draft for his league — which also includes several of his teammates as well as Cooley’s wife and the girlfriend of Washington quarterback Jason Campbell — became a YouTube hit earlier this year.

Mitri has been building his fantasy trophies for nearly 16 years and says he has played fantasy sports since 1991. According to the Times article, he has recently grown his business and is now generating publicity at merely the price of one statue ($329). He told the Times that he was drawn to Cooley’s league by the draft video.

“What was cool about his video is that anyone who watched it wouldn’t necessarily know he was a professional athlete,” Mitri was quoted as saying. “He’s totally the kind of guy I could see in my league. I think he’d really get the humor in this, and I’m totally sure that when they get it, they will be blown away.”

In case you haven’t seen the video referenced above, you can check it out below. A few of the highlights for fantasy folks include Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer apparently going fifth overall, the Hallmark moments of Cooley and Campbell drafting each other and these guys being much worse than you are at trying to pick players who have already been drafted. I’d say that Cooley could be the average participant in one of my leagues, but I’d never voluntarily include a guy who subscribes to the slightly askew style of wearing a ballcap.

Tags: chris cooley, dave mitri, fantasy football, fantasy sports, fantasy sports business, fantasy sports industry, fantasy trophies, football, jason campbell, the throwback, washington redskins, washington times

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 11:20 pm and is filed under Lead Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.