Fantasy Football: Former Duke All-American Michael ‘Tauiliili’ Brown Talks Custom Fantasy Football App Win-Win In Exclusive ‘Inquisitr’ Interview
Wherever you go and wherever you look, fantasy football is around. Between advertisements for one-day leagues, entire network shows dedicated to fantasy lineups — and shows that do quite well both rating and feedback-wise, for what it’s worth — and even the “____ of the game brought to you by DraftKings or FanDuel,” it’s hard to avoid what’s arguably keeping leagues afloat in a time of decreased ratings.
If you’re the type of person who’s giving up on fantasy football because you’re close to giving up on the sport entirely, we can’t blame you. However, if you think football and the fantasy part of it is a lose-lose situation so far, then why not give Win-Win a try?
Win-Win, as the developers explain on their website, is “the only fantasy sports platform with tournaments hosted by pro athletes and teams! Priceless prizes and powerful impact!” Former Duke University football standout Michael “Tauiliili” Brown explained more in a recent phone interview he had with the Inquisitr.
“Win-Win is a platform that connects fans to their favorite athletes through games while making the world a better place and that game is fantasy sports. A lot of people obviously are familiar with fantasy sports and it’s basically trying to leverage that industry to great things and positivity. After bouncing around in football a bit – I’m from Houston, I played ball at Duke University and was a two-time All-American there, got signed to the Colts, and bounced around – but one of the things I was always focused on was life after football; I always kept that at the top of my mind, which is why I chose Duke.”
A short video on how the app works can be seen below.
Once compared by Sports Illustrated to former three-time Pro Bowler Jonathan Vilma, Brown has done in three years what many athletes have sometimes taken decades to do: figure out life after retirement.
“As I was transitioning out, I was actually looking into business school because I had not yet known about tech. But in 2013, I was introduced to Draper University, which is [famous venture capitalist] Tim Draper’s program and I got into the bug, realizing that this – tech, startup, all these things – is what I wanted to do. I didn’t have the idea for Win-Win at the time when I moved to Silicon Valley, but I figured that if I wanted to start a company, I should work in startup and what I ended up doing when I got hired as a startup here was I was really trying to get my network and knowledge up. After fifteen months so around this time last year, I started developing this concept and it all started when, like everyone, I was getting bombarded with FanDuel and DraftKings commercials and I was like ‘obviously, this is really annoying.'”
As of right now, Win-Win currently offers game styles that include “Traditional Fantasy Football,” “Simple Fantasy,” “Over.Under.On,” “Pick ‘n Play,” and more. Working with Shae DeWaal and the successful Jones Social PR group, Win-Win is already beginning to build a following among diehard football fans. Getting the opportunity to mix a passion such as fantasy football with the potential for prizes that don’t just come in the form of money has appealed to both casual players and those who have been doing pools since the days of actual, physical spreadsheets.
To Brown, though, the app also provides an opportunity not only for players to actually care about fantasy football other than an occasional locker room pool but also for them to avoid some of the shadier tactics that the bigger companies use.
“One of the things I looked at a little bit more uniquely because I played professionally is ‘why don’t I see any of my friends in the NFL promote this? Why aren’t any of them tweeting out like ‘pick me up for your FanDuel team? I called some guys up saying, “what do you think about this whole thing – it’s all over the TV, you’re all over the TV” – and more or less, they didn’t like it. They either didn’t care enough to have an opinion or just didn’t like it. One of my old teammates, [Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon] actually did FanDuel infomercials earlier this year and didn’t get a dime.”
For what it’s worth, USA Today reported in September of 2015 that the two companies spent $31 million on 9,000 ads during the first week of the 2015 season.
Miami Dolphins linebacker Koa Misi, who hosted a Week 7 tournament for breast cancer with prizes that included a signed Dolphins jersey and an autographed football, explained his reasoning for teaming up with Win-Win as the following.
“Raising money for research gives women hope and more chances for survival. My goal is fund research to have a direct impact on the quest for survival maybe even find a cure one day. I believe working alongside my family, teammates and the community at large we can make a real difference.”
It’s not just players who want to create a real difference with the money they have. One fan, who asked to be identified as Michael L., donated $8 to Feed the Children and ended up on the San Francisco 49ers’ sidelines during a Week 3 game against the Seattle Seahawks.
To learn more about Win-Win, make sure to subscribe to their mailing list (it’s free, don’t worry!) and keep an eye on what tournaments are coming up by following them on Twitter at @Win_Win.
[Featured Image by Darron Cummings/AP Images]
