Ep 9. Silly Little Game (Adam Kurland and Lucas Jansen)

In season 1, episode 9 of the ESPN documentary series 30 for 30, titled "Silly Little Game," the focus is on the creation of the fantasy baseball game and the impact it had on the sport and the people who played it.

The episode is centered around the story of a group of journalists from New York City who in 1980, during a slow season for baseball news, created a game that would change the way people enjoyed and thought about America's national pastime. Adam Kurland and Lucas Jansen, two young editors at the Wall Street Journal, were looking for a way to make the typically slow period of the baseball season more interesting. They came up with the idea for a game where people would create their own teams made up of real players, earning points based on their performances in real-life games, just like a real team would.

What started out as a small group of friends playing a game in their living rooms quickly caught on, and before long, fantasy baseball leagues were popping up all over the country. This innovation turned into a cultural phenomenon, with millions of people across the globe playing fantasy sports.

The episode shows how the game had an impact on the sport itself, with players who may not have been superstars becoming valuable commodities in the fantasy marketplace. It also explores how the game was a means for fans to express their love and passion for the sport.

The documentary features interviews with many of the original members of the league, as well as sports historians and fantasy experts. It also showcases the evolution of fantasy sports from its humble beginnings to the multi-billion-dollar industry it is today, and how it has impacted the way fans consume and interact with sports.

Overall, "Silly Little Game" is an insightful and entertaining look at how a simple idea from a group of friends turned into a worldwide phenomenon, and the lasting impact it had on the world of sports.