So this was the first year I ever played Fantasy Football, and unless Vince Jackson throws up 29 points against me tonight it looks like I made the playoffs in 5th place of my 12-man league. I never understood the allure of Fantasy Football, but now that I've played I can kinda see how it could be a lot of fun if it's set up right. Unfortunately, my league is pretty weak.
Half of us are in France and the other half are in the States. They're all cool guys, but at least here in France where the games don't come on until ridiculous hours of the night, we never really get together for the games. Also, the guys I play with are really mellow, so the smack talk is really low-key. I can imagine it being a lot more fun if everyone was a smart ass like me.
One thing that came out of the season, however, was that I finally knuckled under and watched The League. People have been telling me about it since it started, but I never tuned in. Holy shit. Very few shows on TV are able to elicit much reaction from me at all, primarily because they're all mediocre dreck. Imagine my surprise and delight at finally seeing something so astoundingly vulgar that even I was taken aback.
This show is brilliant. If you're not watching it, you have to start. It's about a group of high school buddies who now have wives, families, and jobs they hate and the center of their collective universe is their Fantasy Football league. It's puerile, sophomoric humor, but it's also really clever at the same time. Each character represents a hysterical stereotype, from the nerdy doctor who thinks he's the shit to the half-retarded stoner who gets more ass than a toilet seat.
Watching The League has shown me where my own Fantasy Football league needs improvement. Being the new guy, I didn't have a lot of input this year. If I manage to finish near the top of the pack this year, however, you can bet I'll be pushing for some changes next year.
- My league uses the retarded "Keeper" rule, where all returning members get to keep one player of their choice. While it's great in theory, in a 12-man league that wipes out a huge percentage of top-tier talent. I ended up at the ass end of the draft order and my first pick was Joe Flacco, for fuck's sake. Everybody worth a shit was already a "keeper" or drafted. In The League, everybody starts from scratch every year. This is a deal breaker for me and I'll drop out of my league next year if we don't level the playing field like this.
- The draft order in The League is determined by some sort of contest. This might not be as practical in my league, as half of us are on different continents, but I'm going to push to work this out. Last place getting first pick is good and fair, but I think it would be a lot more fun to actually compete each year for draft order.
- Smack talk is a must. It's probably the funniest aspect of The League. These guys get in each others' heads in ways that never would have occurred to someone even as sick as me. Making an appointment with the hot urologist your opponent is dating just so he knows his girlfriend is fondling your junk? Genius. My league needs a lot more of that stuff.
I know a lot of you have playing for many years, so maybe you can tell me what works best so I know for next year.
- What's better: 8-man league or 12-man league?
- What am I missing about the "Keeper" rule? It just seems lame to me. Can someone give me an argument in favor?
- How do you determine draft order? I'm thinking next year we do something like highest number of Jaegar Bombs in an hour gets first pick or something.
I thought I'd leave you with this holiday gift idea for the guy who has everything:
all these guys are awesome stand-up acts too. The league definitely brings out the best though.
Fantasy Football = Dungeons & Dragons for jocks.
I found it a few months ago and watched both seasons in 3 days. I didn't know anyone but the doctor did stand up, so I'll have to go see it if it is near me in return for torrenting their dvds.
The League is the best show on TV.
Wow something I can finally talk about with some relative expertise. Fantasy Football. I've won many leagues and keeper leagues blow. They blow for a few reasons if you get fucked in your first draft you're fucked for the duration of your league because say the person keeps Tom Brady then gets the #1 pick next year his team is so much better than everyone else. The number of people in a league for football its a huge difference between 8 and 12. Reason being more people the shitter your team is going to be. With a 12 player league the teams basically only get 1 super star then the rest of the players are pretty mediocre. Unless you're Nobama in my league now must bullshit team ever.. but we wont talk about that.
The draft order when I did it with my friends from high school we'd have a madden tourney the winner drafted first.
Madden tourney. Nice thought. I could see that working.
I tried fantasy hockey, it was fun at first but I got too into it and wasted too much time... have you ever watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Eddie? If you like the League, you'll probably like It's Always Sunny
I almost shit my pants laughing when the second guy (writer?) in the green shirt was recently on Conan. So yea, I thought about watching it..
12 man leagues are pretty standard if you want a "competitive" league. 8 man leagues there is just too large of a talent pool, especially on the Waiver Wire for bye weeks and injuries. 12 man leagues really stress your preparation for the draft.
Keeper leagues. I don't really have an opinion on. I won a keeper league I was in the first 2 years I was in but I still don't really like them. We had the option of keeping 3 players and you kept them for a pick 2 rounds earlier then you drafted them. My first year (2009) I drafted Mendenhall in the 6th and Arian Foster was a FA pick-up meaning I got to keep him for a 10th last year and Mendenhall for a 4th. Needless to say, I won the league pretty easily.
Smack talk is fun and The League is actually a brilliant show. The first season (or two) were more focused on the actual fantasy football angle while this season it has taken more of a backseat role. Show is still awesome though.
"Taco" came to fame for his "Everyday Normal Guy" video on YouTube. He's pretty fkn funny.
Joe Flacco should not be your first pick in a 40-man fantasy league.
Hahahaha so true.
Hahaha I was going to say the same thing. Jeez...the OP clearly knows nothing about football.
Yeah, yeah. Make your jokes about the new guy. Flacco threw up some pretty solid numbers this year, (188 points), and I finished ahead of 7 other teams with better QBs (including Drew Brees - a fucking BEAST).
EDIT: I went with Alex Smith this weekend. BIG difference (30 points vs. Flacco's weak ass 5).
I actually haven't seen The League this year (I completely forgot about it), but it is an awesome show.
I agree with you on keeper leagues, they're horrible. There is no benefit. I was in a real ridiculous one once where the guy traded all of his picks the following year to get great players during the current season. It was the most ridiculous thing ever. Even regular keepers serve no real purpose in my mind.
I've always done the random draft order (as set by Yahoo). This seems to work well, but a contest is a great idea.
Smack Talk is absolutely a MUST. In the dumb keeper league I was a part of everyone was wound so tight there was almost no smack talk. It drove me nuts, so I changed my team name weekly to insult my opponent. They didn't really appreciate that, but whatever - they were a bunch of tools.
I also did my first fantasy football league this year and am proud to say I'm in first place, although it is only a 6 person league. What I learned this year:
1) In smaller leagues, when making blockbuster trades, try and trade 3 or 4 good players for one great player, because in my league good players are easily replaced.
2) Don't get too attached to your bench players, I've made 35 moves this year through free agency and waivers.
3) When playing with Giants fans, draft anyone on the Patriots 1-2 rounds later than you normally would. Also when trading for players on the Patriots, pretend the Patriots suck, and you're afraid to make the trade because the Patriots suck.
4) Always trade with morons.
I DVR the league and wait for the end of the month so I can watch 4 episodes in a row. It is, in my mind, the best show on TV by a mile.
Easily the best comedy on TV right now.
Eddie... You want to talk QB problems... I have 'em all. I picked up a team 4 weeks in from a buddy of mine who didn't have time to play. The guy had Payton and Jay Cutler - and with most of the good QBs gone off Waiver, I ended up getting Tavaris Jackson as my backup. I traded for Michael Vick, dropping Jackson. This way I figure I'd have two decent QBs. The few surprise late waiver quarterbacks get picked up through two weeks ago when Vick gets injured and Cutler goes down leaving me with Vince Young.
And yes, the league is hysterical. FX is definitely doing something right with that stuff.
Peyton Manning? When did they hold their fucking draft, June?
It's all about the Auction Draft. 10x better than a Snake Draft. Also, Yahoo and NFL.com are both garbage for fantasy. Yahoo's app hardly ever works.
I'll agree the app pisses me off... drives me crazy..
How does the Auction draft work? We did a snake draft this year. Also, we use the ESPN Fantasy Football. Since I have nothing to compare it to, I can't really say if it's better or worse than any other, but it's pretty easy to use.
In an auction draft each member of the league starts with a set amount of "cash", usually $200, that they use to bid on players as they are nominated for auction. Each person takes turns nominating different players and once nominated anyone can bid. It's essentially eBay with fantasy football players. The auction draft puts everyone on a level playing field as anyone can bid on any player in any order. The player goes to the highest bidder. There is a lot of strategy at work in an auction draft because you only have so much cash and don't want to spend too much early on, but you don't want to have too much left over. I think it brings more transparency to the draft system and it allows you to see how much people really value the players they want.
i.e. I paid $32 for Calvin Johnson this year, but paid $11 for Wes Welker. I paid $4 for Matthew Stafford and $2 for Cam Newton. Can you say trade value?
Plus it's a lot of fun to drive up the price of some players you don't want, but you know your buddies do. I actually got "stuck" with Ray Rice this year doing that, but it's worked out pretty well for me. Finance types love the auction draft.
A keeper league also works better when it is an auction draft like this. In my league, you can keep as many players as you want, but their keeper value will go against the $200 cap for next year. Our keeper value is determined as 2/3 of the auction value this year + 1/3 of next year's ESPN projected auction value. But there is a minimum value of 15% over this years auction value. For instance, I had Adrian Peterson but for me to keep him would have cost $81 out of the $200 budget for next year. If I'm out of the playoffs, I may look to trade him to a contender for cheaper keeper values like a combo package of AJ Green, Demarco Murray, Cam Newton, etc. You're banking on these younger players to be the next Calvin Johnson's and LeSean McCoy's in future years, and you afford that risk by getting good prospects at low values. Now the team I ended up trading AP to now has him, Frank Gore, LeSean McCoy and Calvin Johnson, and though he may run away with the championship this year, there's no way he can keep all those players and ones that he would drop you may be able to get for cheaper than their keeper value when they go back into auction for next year's draft.
Eddie, it wasn't my team to draft. I picked it up four weeks into the league starting.
Yeah, I got that. I was just surprised to see his name as it was announced he was gonna be out for the year pretty early.
http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/sports/colts_and_nfl/peyton-manning-out-for-t…
Our office league had a 100 dollar buy in but the guy that was running everything left for a startup in the Bay Area. No sure how I'm going to get my money when I win now.
Risk arbitrage at it's finest. haha
12 team leagues are the best. It causes more activity in every aspect (trading, waiver wire, research, etc.). It's a blast finding unexpected gems, too, like Stevie Johnson and Brandon Lloyd last year. You're forced to acquire guys like that after 1-2 weeks of good performance to see if it becomes a regular thing.
In an 8-team league, there's less urgency to find the next Victor Cruz, b/c everyone is already stacked. At that point, it's more about what position you are on the waiver line, rather than evaluating talent from a stage with little information, and then taking a risk.
Yet more evidence that my league is weak sauce. There was a grand total of 1 trade the entire season, and it was mine. I traded Frank Gore for Jimmy Graham. Also, we had a trade deadline of November 24, and no trades were allowed after that. Is that normal? Cause that kinda seems like bullshit. I think it would be better if you could execute trades until the last game of the season.
There would be so much collusion if trades were allowed until the end of the season....teams who are out of it will cut deals with teams who are still in it...it always ends up compromising the integrity of the league.
Keeper leagues are awesome if they're set up the right way. In our league, no one drafted in the first four rounds can be kept for next year. This ensures that top tier talent is up for grabs again the following year. The great thing about keeper leagues are that if you picked up a rookie in the final rounds and he ended up having a great year, you can keep him at a discount...it's all about rewarding your knowledge or faith in a player. In my baseball league last year, I picked up Craig Krimbel (a rookie who at the start of the season didn't even have a job)in like the final rounds of the draft, he turned out to be the best fantasy closer in all of baseball last season..now next year, Krimbel will def. be picked up before the 12th round is over...i get to keep him in place for a 24th round pick...not a bad deal.
The League is an awesome show! Coupled with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia...hartdto beat.
Eddie, some people may disagree with me, but I HIGHLY prefer the Yahoo Fantasy Football software over the ESPN software in just about every way possible (with a slight edge to ESPN on research capabilities)
Funniest show on TV right now. Every single one of the characters mesh and play off the others perfectly.
And...vaginal hubris. We all know someone with it
I've been watching the show for a few months now, actually the reason I decided to do FF this year haha. Next year I'm thinking I'll do an 8 person league, here's the basic setup I'm toying with:
-People: 8 (had 12, but the problem is unless you do really well in the draft, you're going to be scrounging for good players. I think 8 is a good number because you've got a closer group of people, there are more available superstars, and it creates more action within the league)
-Buy in: $20 (if you don't do a buy in, theres always the chance that people will just say fuck it. I mean, there is when theres a buy in too, but at least theyre leaving their $20 if they decide to stop playing at some point)
-Rosters (this year we did QB, WR, WR, WR, RB, RB, TE, K, Def) QB, 2x WR, 1x WR/RB option, 2x RB, 1x WR/TE option, K, Def. One of my friends did it this way and he said it was a huge success. It gives you a bit more leeway in setting up your roster, its more like youre choosing your team. If you like receivers more, stack up. You like RBs more, take on a third. The one thing he said is that it hurts the TE market, but that's not really a big deal. I think this type of lineup would work best for an 8 person league.
-Scoring: standard, with decimals (I like that it's more accurate with the decimals. Scoring will probably be the same/similar for next year's league)
That's about all I got, cant wait til next season haha!
PS- used Yahoo, no cap
nm
You lost this week lol I don't even want to hear it from you, you have a chance to NOT make the playoffs
Luckiest man.... to ever play fantasy football.
I want to hear this story...how stacked is your team?
Literally unbelievable how he achieved his team... in a default league(default scoring, roster size) he averages 110...
Will I like this show if I don't watch sports? I've only heard good things about it but yeah...
Please no luck.
Good one we'll see in the playoffs..if I make it there. You are also SUPER lucky that you have the least points against by a good margin. I put up the second most points in the league and have the second most points against and I'm still may make it to the playoffs.
FF pro? This guy.
Joe Flacco first pick? Come on first pick is all about the running back Eddie
The League is available for streaming on Netflix. Nice!
rtsports.com has a solid ff site... Strongly recommend your league take a look
I took a 5 year hiatus and just got back this year... I forgot how addicting it can be. We used to use March Madness brackets to decide the draft order - this kept the smack talk going year round --- a must for a solid league.
Don't give up faith just yet
Definitely killed it for the regular season. Anything can happen in the playoffs, though. 2007 was the last time I've been in a league where the #1 regular season team won the playoffs.
Fuck me. I didn't make the playoffs. I ended up tied for the #6 (final) spot, and I got beat on season points 1,178-1,164. A guy I thought was finished had two Chargers playing last night and put together 25 points. FML.
Child please.. I have to win this weekend to lock in the 4th spot.
who does n0bama have on his team?
Cam Newton, MJD, Welker, Chris Johnson, Mike Wallace, Balt and Chi defense, B Marashall.
Basically bunch of retarded drafters in our league..i.e the computer because half the people didn't come to the draft.
Season 3 is amazing, go Jeff Goldblum!
Watched the first season on Hulu. Haven't stayed up to date. All the brothers from my fraternity still quote it on a daily basis in emails and text...
Most people prefer 12-man leagues for being more fair and competitive. I think it's wilder with only 8. My roster is deep. LeSean McCoy + Matt Forte + Wes Welker + Desean Jackson + Cam Newton? Unreal.
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