A group of former Herricks students has built a lifelong friendship around their love of football.
Josh Blank, Brett Cantor, Dan Dallal, Dave Dallal, Mike Dallal, Jason DiSpaltro, Rob DiSpaltro, Greg Papalexis and Rohan Patel met through the Herricks school district a decade or more ago and have been locked together every fall through a fantasy football league — The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Blank, who transferred to Roslyn High School for his junior year, said the group has had a solid core of eight members with two rotating spots every fall that often go to members’ friends, but the league could be expanding to 12 this fall.
“Everyone likes watching football, but this makes things that much more exciting,” Blank said. “You have individual players to root for, so it gives you a reason to watch games you wouldn’t usually have an interest in.”
Members of the group, who graduated in 2010, all went off to college and returned to the New York area, and the league members make a point to see each other every year for Draft Day.
“I never see these guys anymore, and I grew up with them,” Blank said. “The commissioner [Cantor] used to come over in kindergarten and my mom would make us sandwiches. It keeps us all together. It’s a ton of entertainment.”
Cantor, who now lives in Brooklyn, has served as commissioner of the league and said the group is closer to a band of brothers than an ordinary friend group.
“It’s so comfortable with them,” Cantor said. “It allows you to be totally yourself. We can joke around and talk as much smack as you want and still know everyone will be friends at the end of the day no matter what.”
As commissioner, Cantor approves trades and serves as the leader of the group. Cantor said he takes his position a step forward, however, making weekly recaps for the group, going over the games from the previous weekend and looking ahead to the next.
In those recaps comes one of the biggest parts of fantasy football: smack talk.
As with any group of 20-something men, they jokingly poke at each other throughout the season, and both Blank and Cantor said one member in particular, Jason DiSpaltro, enjoys the back-and-forth banter.
“I spend a good amount of time making it engaging and fun for everyone, so it adds a little more motivation to win so you don’t get memed by me,” Cantor said.
While the group is considering an expansion, league members have no plans of abandoning ship any time soon.
“Hopefully it goes on forever,” Cantor said. “It’s already been 12 years, I’m sure it will go on at least another 12.”
