We had our draft earlier this week. And so did about 62-million other people.

The little game that began right across the bay in Oakland has now taken over the minds of roughly one of every six Americans for the next five months. And every one of those 62-million Fantasy Football players truly believe they know just a little bit more about this complicated game than the “other guy.”

With all due humility, I will tell you that I feel like one of the “founding fathers” of Fantasy Football.

My league has been going on for so long Jim Thorpe was the first player picked. My team that first year was the Decatur Staleys. It wasn’t only before computers, it was before typewriters. We communicated with two tin cans and a string. Which was labor intensive because some of us lived on the west coast and others on the east coast.

OK, I’m kidding about Thorpe, the Staleys and two tin cans, but this is year 40 for our group of 12. Our first draft took place in a conference room at HBO Sports when Jerry Rice’s name was called as the very first athlete to be owned by a beer-swilling optimist who was sure he knew more about running routes then his draftee.

Nobody has left our league voluntarily since that night in 1985. Those that did leave all demanded that their fantasy league stats be included in their obit.

That conference room at HBO has long since been boarded up and so, for that matter, has HBO Sports. Our little group of know-it-alls has now spread to all corners of the country and our drafts have gone from a marathon evening of laughing, taunting and screaming at each other to just over an hour in front of a computer screen.

This year’s draft probably could have been completed 20 minutes sooner had I not lost the “How To” manual telling me how to navigate our league’s online drafting system. I then proceeded to announce eight or so players I chose to select only to find out that while I was bumbling with my computer, all eight had already been chosen. So I drafted Jim Thorpe.

Team ownerships in our league now include children, and even grandchildren of our now wise and mellowed group of ne’er-do-wells. We used to take timeouts for another beer or a face full of pizza. Now we take bathroom breaks.

Back in the day, a frequently bellowed refrain was “WHO?” when a rookie’s name came up. Now there is so much information available to a team owner that everybody knows about that free-agent rookie wide receiver from Bethune-Cookman who’s destined to be a phenom.

My personal draft room this year included my wife, whose interest lies somewhere between apathy and “that’s nice dear,” and my dog, Dottie, who truly believes she can hang on to more balls than Ja’Marr Chase. There’s nothing worse than an arrogant dog.

Although I must say today she did make a diving catch of a frisbee over the outstretched muzzle of a German Shorthair Pointer.

I thought about drafting her in the later rounds if somebody already took the guy from Bethune-Cookman.

Having already placed Jim Thorpe on the Physically Unable to Perform list (seems he’s been dead since 1953), I moved on and made my first pick Christian McCaffrey. I’m hoping to keep him off that same list.

The rest of my selections were born of many years of player evaluations, seeking wisdom from a higher power, Ayahuasca cleansings, and multiple readings of Mel Kiper’s Guide to Drafting Wisdom and Hair Styling.

I try not to leak any of my secret fantasy drafting formulae, but will offer just a couple of tips for future drafts if you promise to keep them only to yourself. Do you promise?

Tip #1: You must have at least two players on your roster with alliterative names. That’s why I drafted Justin Jefferson and Emeka Egbuka on my team this year.

Tip #2: Look for the juxtaposition. My starting placekicker this year is Will Lutz. It was my mistake. I thought his name was Klutz.

Tip #3: When selecting a team, always choose the one with the loudest roar. I took the Lions and Bengals.

Tip #4: Always select two players at the same position who also have the same bye week. That way, when it comes up you can replace one of them by hoping Jim Thorpe is able to come off the PUP list.

Tip #5: Even if all else fails, don’t ever call Mel Kiper for his opinion. A Ouija board is a far more reliable tool.

The sad truth is that Fantasy Football is a fickle proposition. It proves beyond doubt that those of us who yammer about sports for a living truly have no idea what we’re talking about. Our little cadre of “experts,” to the number, has worn the laurel wreath of victory, and the horns of failure. We are but a humbled bunch.

I don’t have any offspring who are eager to join my very mediocre Fantasy Football franchise, but Dottie is feeling pretty full of herself these days. She’s been wanting to co-manage my team and I keep telling her the lack of opposable thumbs eliminates her from typing in the names of our selections on draft night. Now I’m out of excuses.

Wednesday night I couldn’t do it either.

Barry Tompkins is a 40-year network television sportscaster and a San Francisco native. Email him at barrytompkins1@gmail.com.