DT.com Fantasy Football League

[Lookwhoitis]

Yeah, I am running my local league through Yahoo! and it definitely has some nice features that ESPN is missing.

2. The way ESPN is setup, you cannot change the format of the draft away from a snake draft. ESPN says that a keeper draft will not snake but that is only the rounds where there are keepers. As soon as those rounds are past then it snakes automatically again. Again this is great for a re-draft league but I think that in a dynasty league where every team has the same players coming back that the weakest teams should get the early picks in each round. This will help the parity of the league and keep everyone interested. (This is something that could be adjusted in a Yahoo! league.)

I think we should make the switch to yahoo. ESPN's fantasy interface is crap.

I for one strongly think that in a keeper dynasty league, the lowest performing teams should have the same pick in each round (especially since it is only a three round expansion/rookie draft). That way the teams that underperform have an edge to get better.

I do not think many folks will be mad if we switch to yahoo, and it is infinitely more customizable.

In this league there seems to be a couple of hard core fantasy football types (of which I am definitely one) and a lot of folks who could be labelled as Casual players. It is all a good thing for folks to be mixed together and have fun participating, but fairness of equal opportunity for all involved is a focus of mine.

Rube, I think you have been a good commish and I know it is a hard job because I do it myself in a number of other leagues.

I think you should change to yahoo's interface for the good of the league.

It is often hard to make decisions for everyone based on different levels of participation and enthusiasm, but I for one am very excited about this format and the long term implications of this keeper system.

I just don't want to get hosed in the draft by potentially having to pick #1 wait to pick 24 and then possibly get forced by the computer to have to pick a D/ST because there is not one on my team at the moment.

[DoctorZaius]

The only thing I will say is that I am in two Yahoo leagues and I like the continuity. That being said, I am a newbie and will go with whatever the outcome is. Who knows, I may end up enjoying ESPN, especially since I have never been in a Dynasty league.

[stroppygoblin]

2. The way ESPN is setup, you cannot change the format of the draft away from a snake draft. ESPN says that a keeper draft will not snake but that is only the rounds where there are keepers. As soon as those rounds are past then it snakes automatically again. Again this is great for a re-draft league but I think that in a dynasty league where every team has the same players coming back that the weakest teams should get the early picks in each round. This will help the parity of the league and keep everyone interested. (This is something that could be adjusted in a Yahoo! league.)

I recognize every one of those words, but when arranged in that sentence, they mean nothing to me.

I think i'm in the wrong room, which door did I come in through ?

[Lookwhoitis]

2. The way ESPN is setup, you cannot change the format of the draft away from a snake draft. ESPN says that a keeper draft will not snake but that is only the rounds where there are keepers. As soon as those rounds are past then it snakes automatically again. Again this is great for a re-draft league but I think that in a dynasty league where every team has the same players coming back that the weakest teams should get the early picks in each round. This will help the parity of the league and keep everyone interested. (This is something that could be adjusted in a Yahoo! league.)

I recognize every one of those words, but when arranged in that sentence, they mean nothing to me.

I think i'm in the wrong room, which door did I come in through ?

The Rabbit Hole

[Merlin1958]

2. The way ESPN is setup, you cannot change the format of the draft away from a snake draft. ESPN says that a keeper draft will not snake but that is only the rounds where there are keepers. As soon as those rounds are past then it snakes automatically again. Again this is great for a re-draft league but I think that in a dynasty league where every team has the same players coming back that the weakest teams should get the early picks in each round. This will help the parity of the league and keep everyone interested. (This is something that could be adjusted in a Yahoo! league.)

I recognize every one of those words, but when arranged in that sentence, they mean nothing to me.

I think i'm in the wrong room, which door did I come in through ?

Fucking Goblins!!! They're everywhere!! LOL

[RUBE]

I am not sure that we would be able to get everyone to switch over to Yahoo! Part of the reason that we used ESPN in the first place was because many of the participants already had ESPN accounts to do the NFL pick 'em contest and did not want to create a Yahoo account. To be honest, I would rather have done the offline draft than setup a new league and get everyone to move but I couldn't even make that happen. What chance do we have of getting everyone to move?


If you would like to try again to lobby for an offline draft, please be my guest. I would recommend sending PMs to everyone or emailing them through the league page because not everyone checks here. If you can flip the vote then I will be more than happy to arrange the slow draft.


(FYI, it can not force you to pick a D/ST if you set your pre-draft rankings and draft strategy settings. You can put all of the D/STs really low and tell it to only pick a WR or RB or QB if you want. Of course, if you do not auto-draft then you do not have to worry about it at all.)

[Lookwhoitis]

I dont see why we cant do a slow draft conducted by email or pm. We have over a month until the NFL season starts. It is only a 3 round draft.

I probably take fantasy football a little too seriously. I play in multiple leagues a year and have been playing about 20 years. it is a hobby and a passion akin to collecting books and comics to me.

I am willing to organize and moderate a slow draft if we are willing.

I hope I don't seem too much like a sore loser (yes i had to suffer through that dogs breakfast of a season last year because I drafted keeper and young due to long term strategy) and am whining about fixed draft order vs snake. But that is how i see it.

Lets take a hypothetical for instance. I feel that Sammy Watkins might be the best player on the board and I have the number one pick. I am pretty loaded at WR at the moment, but I really need a running back. So now, because it is snake style and I wont pick again until 26th overall, my desire to get a RB (which is my most needed position) could be denied because i picked best player on the board and the RBs all go off because I have to wait 25 picks to pick again.

Snake style is not for keeper/dynasty. It is for Redraft. Having a snake style draft in a team expansion draft that is only 3 round long severely limits the folks who had the worse records who are on the top of the draft order.

Our league seems liek it is made up of a number of casual players. There is nothing wrong with that. But that is why it is the mission of the hard cores to steer the league right. I think you have been doing a good job commissioning RUBE, but i implore you to make a decision that is for the good of the league.

I agree it may be too late to make a transition to yahoo at this moment but perhaps we could do it next year. The real issue is the draft and the decision of whether or not we will allow a snake style due to espn's interface limitations.

Of course I am not going to quit in a huff if I dont get my way,lol. My team is too stacked for that and im too much of a fantasy football crackhead, but id feel like the wrong thing happened within the terms of this being a long term true keeper league.

I feel like we have what it takes to do an offsite draft. I am ready to pick immediately but WHO I pick is determined by whether or not it will be a fixed order draft (lie it should be) or snake style because a majority of folks decline to be interested enough in the league to participate.

I am going to take the initiative and try and contact all members by pm and email to see if we can get it going, but you have to give the go ahead RUBE. Without the commish's blessing it is an exercise in futility. Who knows perhaps my attempts to circle the wagons will be in vain and we will have no choice but to go with the original plans

[Lookwhoitis]

There are many ways we can implement quick group communication:

Closed Facebook group
Text message
Post in this thread
Email

I am willing to participate in helping move the draft along and doing whatever needs to be done so the commish doesnt have to do it all himself

[Lookwhoitis]

Here is a copy of the email i just sent to the League:

Hey folks,

I am trying to spearhead a slow draft initiative in order to avoid the limitations of a snake draft that the ESPN interface imposes upon us.

For those that do not know, A fixed draft position style has you picking at the same slot every round. If you were the third worst team in the league, then you have the third pick in each of the three rounds. If you won the superbowl, then you pick 12th in each round. This draft style is utilized to allow the teams with the worst records to get better by having a higher pick and it is traditionally used in keeper/dynasty league formats. It usually creates parity to long term league arrangements.

What we are scheduled to take part in is a SNAKE Draft, which is used for redraft leagues. In the case of someone getting the 1st overall pick and taking the best player in the league for a given year, say Leshaun McCoy or Adrian Peterson (or in our case a QB: Peyton Manning? Aaron Rodgers?) They have to WAIT until the 26th pick to pick again as the 12th slot drafts back to back (12 & 13) and it snakes in reverse order. This draft style is utilized to create parity in a draft from scratch in which ALL players are in the pool and you can select ANYONE in a redraft league.

I am willing to help RUBE the commish facilitate a slow draft along, and then we can just input the players into the interface manually, FOREGO the live draft, and contemplate a move to a more compatible interface (yahoo?) next season.

We could set up a closed Facebook group for those who are in FB, draft picks in the fantasy football thread in the dark tower.org boards and communicate with reminder emails to let folks know they are on the clock.

Please respond to this message with a vote which states whether or not you are willing to participate in this way. If we get a majority, perhaps RUBE will give is the go ahead to begin.

Also, know that with a slow draft, you will have more time to think about your picks, more time to check training camp reports to see which rookies are hot and which or not, and also the most important time to see if the guy you want gets a training camp INJURY thus hurting his draft stock.

Im not sure how this league email works so please feel free to respond to it, email me directly at lookwhoitis@gmail.com, pm me on the boards, or post in the thread.

Thanks!

Please respond asap with your vote and/or thoughts

Thanks!

[Lookwhoitis]

If we begin a slow draft soon, we should have plenty of time to get through 36 picks by Thursday Sept 4th, the begin of the NFL Season with the Thursday night game

[Robert Fulman]

This is getting perilously close to too much work for me. Reading that email probably required more brain power than I put into the entire season last year.

[Lookwhoitis]

DRAFT ORDER

1 Walkin' Dudes (xfiends) Lookwhoitis
2 Equus Asinus (SkippyD023) SkippyDO23
3 death by snu snu (droopy007) SpaceMaN's bro
4 The La-Z-Boys (joehutchison94@yahoo.com) Joe Hutchinson (Garrell's Buddy)
5 Team cormier (QBarnes22) sgc1999
6 Garrell's Raiders (Garrell2112448 ) Garrell
7 Underhax Breadcrumbs (ziniti) Robert Fulman
8 RUBE's .45s (RubeCoe) RUBE
9 Ben Staad Bears (copefiend2) Ben Staad
10 Merlin's Giants NYC (merlin1958 ) Merlin1958
11 The Forbidden Zone (DoctorZaius32) DoctorZaius
12 Lud Grays (spacemany0) SpaceMaN

[Lookwhoitis]

This is getting perilously close to too much work for me. Reading that email probably required more brain power than I put into the entire season last year.

[Lookwhoitis]

If we have a league full of mostly Casual players, then why do we have a long term, Hardcore format? (Keep ALL of your players plus add a 3 slot expansion each year.)

[Robert Fulman]

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I'm a go-along-to-get-along kind of guy. Last year, Rube switched to a keeper league and it didn't really bother me at all. I don't care if we stick with the keeper league, or if we start over completely, but I'd prefer to stick with ESPN (because I have an account and I have the app on my phone) and I'd prefer to stick with a standard draft (because I auto-draft).

[Lookwhoitis]

My apologies if I seem a little over-excited. I am a true fantasy football fan and am pumped it is almost football season.

I am not trying to make waves or force change upon the league.

I just think the snake draft screws me as the worst record holder by only getting to pick 1st, 24th, 25th.

If I want Watkins, but need a RB more I am forced to go with Sankey against my wishes because most of the RBS will be gone by the 24th pick (most probably)

PLUS I need a D/ST. There are a couple of projected high points scoring defenses out there. But if people are autodrafting, there is always the chance they will go off the board on an autopick (if the dont rank their players or the players they ranked get all selected) as multiple folks have said the will probably autodraft. Im certainly not going to pick a D/ST with the first overall pick in the draft...

Autodrafting folks who dont put the work in will get 3 QBs lol, or maybe one of the defenses I need.

I just am feeling kind of screwy because it looks like my draft will be affected not due to decisions I made, cuts/drops, records, but due to the limitations of the interface and the casual style most folks choose to participate in.

I mean you would only have to look at your league interface (upon getting an email that you are on the clock) THREE TIMES and make a selection, LOL

That is not very much participation.

Once again please excuse me if I am over the top & foaming at the mouth like the Cujo of fantasy football. I am just excited the new season is almost upon us.

One thing is true, I agree with RUBE's assessment of my team in a previous post and can guarantee I wont be picking 1st next year!

[Ben Staad]

I am up for whatever everyone wants. I like the thought of the slow draft however logistically it may be difficult for everyone to participate. If a slow draft is initiated and multiple people do not participate who/how would their picks be assigned? I'm guessing the commish would just go to the standard player rankings and assign them the highest draft pick still on the board. Correct?

[Lookwhoitis]

I'm just surprised that folks don't think they can look at their ESPN team 3 times in over a month. The time between now and kickoff on Sept 4th)

I mean, just wait till you get a notification that you are up to pick, (by communication method of your choice! email, boards pm, txt message, Facebook update, Pony Express, ect) , spend 10 minutes looking at it, and you are done!

You have to look at your team at least 4 times a month in regular season, lol. Once a week to start a lineup.

I mean it's only 36 picks guys, come on! LOL

*goes and hides in corner*

[Lookwhoitis]

I just looked at the pre-rank players list and it has ALL the players on it. That thing is set up for a re-draft league.

It is only sortable by team and position, not by who is already taken on the keeper list.

do we really think that the casual owners who dont want to put much time into it are going to comb through that list of 1455 names and pre-rank when you cant even tell by looking at the list who is kept and who is available?

I doubt it.

[Spencer]

Is it too late to join the league? If so, no worries. Otherwise, I would say that for the slow draft stuff I've been reading about, if people want to do it off of ESPN, the closed Facebook group sounds like the best idea to me

[Robert Fulman]

You can have my spot if you want it.

If you go back to last year, you'll see that Lookwhoitis complained about draft order then, too. What I don't get is why the "casual owners" have to take so much crap from the guy who came in last place.

[Lookwhoitis]

You can have my spot if you want it.

If you go back to last year, you'll see that Lookwhoitis complained about draft order then, too. What I don't get is why the "casual owners" have to take so much crap from the guy who came in last place.

Ha! Go, now... there are other leagues than these...

At least it will save you an ass whuppin' from this years Walkin' Dudes on the fantasy gridiron!

[DoctorZaius]

My apologies if I seem a little over-excited. I am a true fantasy football fan and am pumped it is almost football season.

I am not trying to make waves or force change upon the league.

I just think the snake draft screws me as the worst record holder by only getting to pick 1st, 24th, 25th.

If I want Watkins, but need a RB more I am forced to go with Sankey against my wishes because most of the RBS will be gone by the 24th pick (most probably)

PLUS I need a D/ST. There are a couple of projected high points scoring defenses out there. But if people are autodrafting, there is always the chance they will go off the board on an autopick (if the dont rank their players or the players they ranked get all selected) as multiple folks have said the will probably autodraft. Im certainly not going to pick a D/ST with the first overall pick in the draft...

Autodrafting folks who dont put the work in will get 3 QBs lol, or maybe one of the defenses I need.

I just am feeling kind of screwy because it looks like my draft will be affected not due to decisions I made, cuts/drops, records, but due to the limitations of the interface and the casual style most folks choose to participate in.

I mean you would only have to look at your league interface (upon getting an email that you are on the clock) THREE TIMES and make a selection, LOL

That is not very much participation.

Once again please excuse me if I am over the top & foaming at the mouth like the Cujo of fantasy football. I am just excited the new season is almost upon us.

One thing is true, I agree with RUBE's assessment of my team in a previous post and can guarantee I wont be picking 1st next year!

Hey, thanks for the Watkins and Sankey advice!

[Lookwhoitis]

Hey, thanks for the Watkins and Sankey advice!

LOL you only have a shot at one of em, as i'm picking first!

[RUBE]

I wouldn't have allowed this discussion to be reopened if I knew it was going to cause problems. I think everyone needs to calm down and talk about this civilly.

Robert, there is no need to leave. I say that everyone who didn't vote in the poll should go do so now and we can get this thing settled.