The Unexpected Origin of Fantasy Sports

The term rotisserie sports started as a joke during a 1980 lunch. A group of friends tracked the stats of real players as if they were drafting a team to win a hypothetical chicken dinner.

The game was invented by a journalist named Daniel Okrent at a New York restaurant called La Rotisserie. He and his friends wanted to manage their own teams based on actual major league statistics. The hobby became a cultural phenomenon that now occupies millions of fans every year. It turns out the name for one of the biggest digital pastimes is just a permanent tribute to a specific roasted meal.