Eddie Royal isn’t the only NFL player using social media to gather a fantasy football league.

Eagles tight end Brent Celek — a rising fantasy commodity himself — has spent the summer recruiting 11 fans to compete against him in fantasy this season.

The initial post back on July 24 makes it appear the idea just kind of cropped up rather than being the product of any particular planning. It also, however, aimed to engage his followers on Facebook and Twitter right from the start.

“I’m thinking of having u all submit videos on here explaining why i should pick u to be in my league.. any other ideas?” Celek posted.

He did follow other ideas, adding his first leaguemate the same way Royal did — the simple method of “Who can respond to this message first?” Celek did start to have a bit more fun after that, though, offering the next spot to the first person to post a photo of the subject wearing Celek’s No. 87 jersey and standing by a stop sign. The winner managed to be selected just 8 minutes later … just in case we didn’t know that the public hangs on the words of athletes/celebrities (scoffs the guy writing an article about some football player filling a fantasy league).

Spot 3 was uninspiringly awarded to another fan who posted a photo of himself in an Eagles jersey (though he at least got a bit creative).

The next two apparently went to fans who successfully bored Celek to death with videos.

Position 6 called for commenters to describe why it will be the Eagles’ year, eliciting 336 comments. The winner (Rishi Sugla) posted three different times and appeared to finally win by presenting a quick Celek biography from Wikipedia info. (Tough to say he didn’t actually win for his name, though.)

Spot 7 went to a groom wearing an Eagles vest and singing the team’s fight song at his wedding.

The eighth guy somehow failed to annoy Celek enough with his fight-song rendition to be eliminated.

And that’s where Celek’s league stands, more than three weeks after his last selection. The tight end did promise Monday night, however, to fill the remaining three slots on Tuesday. Royal, of course, went to an eBay auction to raise $810 for charity in filling his final spot.

A similar method would seem an obvious choice for Celek, who already has his own foundation. Brent Celek’s Take Flight Foundation seeks to “provide seriously ill and physically challenged children throughout Greater Philadelphia with daily support and life changing experiences,” with an admirable goal of helping 2 million children by 2013.

Celek provides yet another example of the willingness of some athletes to engage fans directly via the still relatively new social-media channels now available. The fact that he chose fantasy also shows once again the prominence of our games at the highest level of the sports scene that drives them.

No matter how silly the resulting Facebook videos or how excruciatingly long the summarizing FSB.com posts, here’s hoping we see more examples of this kind of interaction. It can be fun and rewarding for all involved.

At this point, there are many a fantasy league that take themselves very seriously — tongue in cheek or completely unaware of what the mouth is saying. One can trace this fantasy-as-reality mentality all the way back to the beginning.

The original set of “rules and regulations” for the GOPPPL jumped right into official contract-style language: “The Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prediction League, hereinafter also known as the GOPPPL, is hereby created. It shall be composed of eight (8) clubs, each club to have an owner and one or two coaches.”

“Hereinafter” itself is a word befitting an endangered species list outside of contracts and government legislations. Hereinafter, however, we’ll give you a look at just what the first fantasy football league set forth (by virtue of the copy shared with us by original coach Andy Mousalimas).

First, in the founders’ own words, the league’s purpose:

The purpose of this league is to bring together some of Oakland’s finest Saturday morning gridiron forecasters to pit their respective brains (and cash) against each other. Inasmuch as this league is formed only with owners having a deep interest and affection for the Oakland Raiders Professional Football Team, it is felt that this tournament will automatically increase closer coverage of daily happenings in professional football.

Inasmuch as this test of skill and knowledge of the players in the AFL and NFL leagues will be backed with coin of the realm, it behooves each club owner to study carefully, prior to draft, all available statistics, schedules, weather conditions, player habits, and other factors, so as to preserve one’s prestige and finances.

Lack of skill or study will also afford the heaviest loser the yearly trophy, symbolic of the loser’s ineptness in this grueling contest. This award will be presented by the League Commissioner at the Annual GOPPPL Banquet, held in late January for club owners, coaches and wives.

The rules then went about creating the positions of commissioner and secretary, bestowing the former with powers to control league gatherings and disputes, as well as “appoint all committees.” (How many committees has your league formed?) The secretary, meanwhile, was officially in charge of the dirty work — scoring, league records, collecting and distributing money, etc.

(Tell the whiny owner in your league who complains about what injuries have done to his team that he should be glad he didn’t play here. He has the waiver wire, at least. A GOPPPL team had to “apply to Commissioner for approval to activate a temporary replacement from undrafted players” in the event that injury left its squad in a bind.)

The first set of GOPPPL rules also presented a draft structure with which most of us remain familiar. The league centered on a bunch of devoted football fans who liked to gather and chatter about the sport, thus each year started with a gathering — first at the home of creator Bill Winkenbach before moving to restaurant/pub banquet rooms. From the start, the draft followed the serpentine format that remains most common today, with the annual first pick (after year one) going to “the heaviest loser of the preceding year.”

Of course, much of the scoring and the position requirements would look unfamiliar to today’s players. Although the GOPPPL incorporated individual defensive players, the league relied completely on scoring plays for player points. The system, revolving around monetary values rather than points:

50 cents for a rushing touchdown by any player
25 cents for a touchdown reception by any player
25 cents for a touchdown pass by any player

(with each of those doubled for any score that came from more than 75 yards away)

10 cents for a successful extra-point try
25 cents for a field goal
$2.50 for a kick- or punt-return touchdown
$2.50 for any defensive touchdown by a defensive back or linebacker
$5 for any touchdown by a defensive lineman

As you can probably surmise, a defender could be impactful if he happened to score in a given game, but none would have been a particularly worthwhile player overall. The entire eight-team AFL tallied just 17 touchdowns in 1963 via fumble or interception return, so any GOPPPL owner had to consider himself fortunate to luck into one.

Similarly, although return specialists were broken out into their own position, value there was hard to come by, especially if a team looked to AFL options. The entire AFL managed just three touchdowns via kick or punt return in 1963, whereas the NFL produced 11 among its 14 teams.

It wasn’t until the later Kings X leagues (which we’ll get into next week) that fantasy scoring began incorporating yardage and other settings that remain at the center of today’s game.

As for the (very) specific position requirements in GOPPPL, teams had to draft to the following setup:

4 offensive ends
4 halfbacks
2 fullbacks
2 quarterbacks
2 kick/punt returners
2 kickers
2 defensive backs or linebackers
2 defensive linemen

From that, the weekly lineup called for:

2 ends
2 halfbacks
1 fullback
1 quarterback
1 returner
1 kicker
1 DB/LB
1 lineman

Because so many football players multitasked with positions in those days, players could be drafted more than once in the GOPPPL. George Blanda, for instance, was drafted first overall to play quarterback, and then again later as another team’s kicker. Those who look over the original draft will notice 11 players (in italics) who appeared on multiple teams.

Although the framework clearly laid the base for what we play today, it’s interesting to see some of the stark differences. Some were a product of the times (a de-emphasis on the passing game, even with the focus on the more pass-happy AFL) and many other changes have simply been a part of the game’s evolution.

We’ll pick up with that evolution at the Bay Area’s first sports bar, the Kings X.

Here are FSB.com, we’re always interested to hear about pro athletes and other celebrities who play fantasy, especially when the person is really into it. Summer Sanders sure seems to qualify there.

TheFootballGirl.com recently ran an interview with the Olympic swimmer turned TV analyst and host in which Sanders revealed that she plays in three fantasy football leagues, including an “all-girls” league for which she serves as commissioner.

Is that three-year-old league competitive?

“Oh gosh, definitely,” Sanders told TFG’s Melissa Jacobs. “When I first started, I’ll admit some of the owners weren’t that active, but they’ve been replaced by a crop of women who are super into it.

“I’ll tell you, my 63 year old mother is in my league and she’s hilarious because she used to pick based on loyalty. She’s from Nebraska and you know how Nebraskans are so passionate about their football? Well, she’d pick players simply because they played there. But she’s become wiser now.”

It’s a fun interview worth reading, including the explanation of how she married both her husband and the Buffalo Bills.

Welcome aboard the fantasy wagon, Ms. Sanders. Glad to have you.

A recent headline from the Washington Post website seems a bit misleading: “Despite magazine industry downturn, NFL, college football and fantasy football previews are thriving.”

The article opens by seeming to offer the proliferation in number of fantasy (and non-fantasy) football preview magazines as evidence of that thriving market. That, though, was followed by the truly good news: that second quarter 2010 presented the first time in nine quarters that the magazine industry saw gains in total pages and advertising revenue.

That, of course, followed big losses the previous two years — including the folding of more than 36 publications.

Specific to the football arena, Fantasy Football Index reportedly saw circulation drop 9 percent from 2008 to 2009 (24 percent from 2007 to 2009).

On the other hand, Lindy’s reportedly has seen gains in sales of its NFL preview magazine, and the article passes along word from Sporting News that its annuals still turn a profit.

So which is it? Are things bleak for magazine producers or is this a solid market segment whose target audience is so devoted to the games — or too lazy to compile its own draft lists — that the support will continue on? At best, the truth sure seems to lie somewhere between “thriving” and dying.

Last summer, Nando Di Fino wrote up this report in The Wall Street Journal in which RotoWire’s Chris Liss concedes that his company’s fantasy football preview magazine probably would not turn a profit and that it wasn’t really expected to. More than a moneymaker, the magazine serves as a big shiny ad — positioning the RotoWire name in front of potential customers and providing a strong business front for potential partners.

That report relayed the anecdote of CBS Sports doing away with its print preview mag in favor of an electronic version — not something you do with a profitable product — and Sporting News reporting a 19 percent dip in fantasy football yearbook sales from 2007 to 2008.

We’re sure there are some print publications that continue to make money, and as Lindy Davis pointed out in the Washington Post story, there are factors that make it easier for sports annuals to survive.

“A lot of magazines have been giving their product away for years to get the ad dollars,” the Lindy’s publisher told the Post. “Twelve issues for 12 bucks, and we’re charging eight bucks for one. So we’re charging top dollar, that’s one thing. And there’s just an incredible passion for sports in America. Good economy, bad economy, it doesn’t affect it. And sports can sometimes be a refuge in bad times.”

The slashes in print ad spending and saturation of the market makes it a tough time to make your money with a magazine, though, even one that caters to the devoted fantasy audience.

FSB.com would love to hear some facts from any of our readers who are still plugging away on the print side, so contact us at matt.schauf@worldfantasygames.com to share.