Merry Christmas to me!!! Now that I'm all grown up and my son is still too young to enjoy the holiday season, this is what I look forward to each year. It's my own personal Festivus!!
This year I am in four fantasy football leagues, the first of which drafts tonight. It's the league that I will be writing about, once again, this season here. I am the commissioner of the 14 team league and we are now in our 16th season. We will gather in a room too small for 14 people and lay out pizzas and wings while we draft the old school way, in person. This is a normal snake draft save for the fact that we do a 3rd round reverse twist. After going 1-14 and then 14-1 in round two, we repeat 14-1 once again in round three before continuing to snake. In the five years or so since starting this, it has been proven that teams 1-7 and 8-14 have an equal chance of making the playoffs, which wasn't true before with such a large league size.
With the fourth pick tonight, it becomes imperative that I hit a home run with my choice. I only have two picks out of the first 38 which leaves me very little room for error (like taking the Darren McFadden/Steven Jackson combination from a year ago). I probably won't make up my mind until I'm on the clock tonight about which direction I want go.
Tomorrow afternoon I head over to my friends house for another in person draft. This league is completely different than my league. It is only 10 teams big and it is not only an auction draft, but we use keepers as well. I have not had much success in this league for whatever reason. I have tried to balance the win now approach while keeping an eye out for players who are a year away from stardom and getting them cheap. I have rarely drafted rookies which very well could be my main problem. This year I do have a rookie keeper in the form of Russell Wilson. I'm banking on him being starter worthy (one of the best 10 quarterbacks in the league) and freeing up some cap room space for other players. I will also be keeping his teammate, Marshawn Lynch and past diva/enigma receiver Dez Bryant. It's a good base, but I'm sure to screw up the rest of the roster. Once again I was burned by keeping Darren McFadden last season. No more.
Sunday brings me a new league. I will be writing for a fantasy football website (http://www.leaguesafepost.com/) this year and they have invited all the new writers into a league. It will be an online, auction draft and, obviously, it comes with some twists. There are no kicker or defensive spots. There is a normal flex spot as well as a, new to me, OP slot (offensive player utility) where you can even start a second quarterback. The scoring in this league leans heavily on touchdowns over yardage as 120 yards rushing/receiving will equal the points of one touchdown. Not knowing any of the owners and not being strong in auction drafts along with not seeing exactly how the scoring system will affect players puts me at a strategy disadvantage. I'll have to use guile and pure dumb luck to succeed in this one.
After I have recovered from my weekend of fun, I have one final draft on Thursday night. It's a relatively standard league save for it being a PPR (points per reception) league. That will slightly change my strategy as a player like Reggie Bush becomes a far more valuable player than the likes of Alfred Morris (if you believe Bush can stay healthy). This will be an online, snake draft and only 10 teams this year (we lost two mainly to the guys becoming fathers and hating a certain league mate who is just plain vile). It's only my 3rd year in this league and very possibly could be my last if that certain someone continues his wrath of being a prick. There are just certain things that ruin fantasy football and foul mouthed idiots will do it. I have never met him, but his online persona is of a person I'm glad I've never met.
Fantasy football is meant to be fun. A way to enjoy games in a secondary way rather than just rooting for your favorite team and against the Cowboys. I love to be active in my league with add/drops, trades and polite trash talking. Nobody can claim to be a master at fantasy football, there are just too many variables, but you can put yourself in a good situation to succeed in all league formats by doing a bit of research.
Good luck to everyone drafting this weekend, may your #1 draft pick not tear an ACL in Week 1 and may your sleepers become league MVP's.
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