"We didn't mean to auto-draft,” says Justin C. Cliburn. “But the internet in Baghdad wasn't the most reliable."

It was August of 2006. Cliburn was a specialist stationed at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, part of a security force (SECFOR) of Oklahoma Army National Guardsmen from the 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery regiment. His squad’s role was to escort civilian training contractors to Iraqi police stations, Cliburn serving as a Humvee gunner.



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He also served, reluctantly and incongruously, as a first-year fantasy commissioner.





“That season the guy who was supposed to run our league was stationed down in Diwaniyah [at Camp Echo],” recalls Cliburn. “He had next-to-no internet access, so I took over.”

And still the league began with technical difficulties.

“Yeah, internet cut out right before our draft began,” says Kevin Pyle, a founding member of the OklahomIraqis League. “Every team was auto-picked. Not Yahoo’s fault. That was Iraq.”

“I really lucked out, though,” says Cliburn. “Got LaDainian Tomlinson at No. 3.”

View photos The simple confirmation email that launched the league (Okiraqi.org) More

Despite an inauspicious beginning, the league held together. Eight of ten original members are still involved, and the league has grown substantially. The group expanded to two conferences last season, in fact, each with 14 owners.

“Out of the 28 that were in it last year, 26 were on that original mission,” notes Cliburn. “Twenty-seven were in the 158th Field Artillery, and 27 of the 28 have combat experience.”

Today’s version of the league is significantly deeper and more competitive.

“Understand, in 2006, we had very few trades and very few message board posts,” Cliburn says. “I'd be lying if I told you we took it as seriously then as we do now.

“Heading into that first season, all of us had been in a convoy hit by an IED, been shot at, or both. My squad found out the Iraqi general in charge of the police station we trained was skimming thousands of dollars a month — like $40,000 — from the U.S., and there really wasn't much we could do about it without getting ourselves killed. Every so often, some of the officers we trained there were found tortured and killed. … And other officers we trained were running sectarian death squads at night.

“So the fantasy football league was just a healthy distraction for us at first.”

Under the best possible circumstances, in the most low-maintenance league, it’s no simple thing to serve as a fantasy commissioner. Doing so in combat — facing extreme danger and 120-degree heat — seems almost unimaginably difficult.

But if you’re an obsessed player, you usually find a way.

“I remember Justin raced to an internet café at like 2:30 in the morning to add Tony Romo on Thanksgiving [in ‘06], while Romo was having his breakout game,” says Pyle. “Threw five or six touchdowns. Justin adds him before the game ended.

“Unbelievable.”

“Knew he’d be gone if I waited,” says Cliburn, gloating over a 10-year-old transaction.

View photos Pyle's auto-drafted title-winning '06 roster (Okiraqi.org) More

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