Color me for the yahoo live draft. When you say7:10, that is p.m., correct?
I’m a big fan of the live draft. If everyone is motivated, I really don;t think we’d have too tough a time setting up a good time where we all could be involoved. And while its less than ideal, if something should come up for one player, he/she can still pre-rank their players and have the computer do the job.
Hamlet, I am so glad that you’re in this league. Tis an honour to be smacked down by thee.
I prefer this over autodrafting or doing it ourselves…less muss (autodrafting), less fuss (DIY).
I have a big, important, Project at Work® that is finishing on 8/27. I would prefer to avoid that day, as well as 8/26. Evening of 8/29 is not so good either. I can manage to take time just about anytime else.
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… And in the days of the generations of Martz there was a Northern Iowan, who was called Kurt Warner. He who had wandered in the darkness had come upon the land of the teflon roof, and thus dwelt there.
And in the days of Martz would Warner flingeth the spiral, and lo it entered the hands of Torry Holt. Which begat two touchdowns on one play.
And it was good.
Milossarian, you do understand that I had sublimated those memories, don’t you? I was just getting back to a reasonably well adjusted life. Some wounds are just to painful to examine.
I’m all for a live draft. But I can’t do it this Friday night, or next Friday or Saturday night.
Any other day, at any other time. Or, any other time of day on a Friday or Saturday except night.
The draft order will be randomized, right? When will it be set?
If Milo has conflicts with Fri & Sat evenings (what–you went out and rented a social life? ;)) then perhaps we could go on Monday, 9/2. Nothing like a little fantasy footall to top off a holiday weekend.
The only real drawback I can see is that it leaves scant time for trades before the first week. That shouldn’t be an issue for anyone who can make (and net get cut off from) the live draft, but anyone forced to pre-pick should have an opportunity to adjust the roster before the first game.
The randomization is a very good question. I certainly hope it is…
Okay, I just checked. I can randomize it. Now, another friggin’ question. Does everyone want me to tell them their draft order, or do they want me to randomize it right before the draft? Oh, fuck it. Too many questions. I’m going to wield my authority, randomize it right after this sentence, and let everyone know, as knowing is half the battle. The order is as follows:
- Unskilled Hacks II
- Mundis Morning Blues
- The Flying Ferrets
- FistsofDiesel
- Shlby Shelbyvillians
- St. Paul Lumberjacks
- Isotopes
- WL’s Warriors
- Og
- Continental Drifters
- Austin Robot Monkeys
- Omni’s Omnipotents
And from what it looks like, people seem to be available this weekend. Milo mentioned that he can’t do it on a weekend evening. I also can’t do it on a weekend evening. I’m suggesting Sunday, August 25th at 11:35 am EDT. Since that’s 5 days, 1 hour, and 6 minutes away, I think that’s fair warning. Labor Day weekend frightens me, as I don’t want people to cancel BBQ plans to click buttons on a computer screen.
Addendum: If there are any more Dopers that want to join, there are 2 spots open. Feel free to join. However, you’ll be put at the bottom of the draft order, if that’s a concern for you.
I really look forward to the draft, everyone. Thanks for signing up!
Works for me.
I eagerly await Mundi’s botch of the 2 pick. 
What’s to botch? I’ll just grab Trung Candidate right after Shib takes Kevin Faulk.
While I profited considerably from an 8th spot in a draft earlier this season, changes in current expectations now require me to pick 5th or 6th, possibly as early as 4th.
So: 4. FistsofDiesel
5. Shlby Shelbyvillians
6. St. Paul Lumberjacks
Perhaps we can work something out to trade 1st-round picks? I can offer a later pick in return.
Please let me know what you think.
About the draft time: Friday evening at 7 EDT works for me (I’m Pacific). Monday morning is fine, too. Having it on the 2nd could be problematic, though, because the first game is that Thursday the 5th, and undrafted players will barely have cleared waivers by that time. We could collectively agree to have the commish waive the waiting period on trades until the season starts, to give us all a little bit more flexibility. We could also set the waiver time to 1 day until the season starts, then set it back at 2 days afterwards. I don’t think there’s any way to let us modify our rosters between Thursday and the weekend games, but if there is we should definitely enable that option.
At any rate the most active part of the season (for me at least) is the first few days following the draft, so I wouldn’t think we’d have any trouble getting trades and things like that worked out pretty rapidly.
Damn it! I get a bottom pick every year!
But this year… yes, this year it will work for me!
I pick last in the other draft I’m in. I’ve done it before. You actually have an advantage in every round but the First, because you make back-to-back picks, the last pick of the first round and the first pick of the second. You have those back-to-backers throughout the draft
Double-shock pow-ah!
But yeah, that first round is pretty brutal for ya.
Oh yeah, you think I’d let Canidate (note proper spelling) slip by just so that I can grab Marshall’s (distant?) cousin?!? Ha! Besides, I’m going to take Bill Gramatica or Neil Rackers (note improper spellings) with the first pick. I’m sure that you’d never expect that!
Oh well, if I can’t spell Canidate (I knew that once upon a time) I’ll just have to take Lamar gordon instead.
And the draft is done. If RB dominance is truly the road to the Super bowl, then I will be smacking loud all year. If my reach picks for young wideouts with potential go bust, then I’ll be smacking my head against the wall.
**Gannon, Rich
Chambers, Chris
Gardner, Rod
Alexander, Shaun
Taylor, Fred
Heap, Todd
Barber, Tiki **
Garner, Charlie
McCardell, Keenan
Ward, Hines
White, Jamel
Moss, Santana
Dilfer, Trent
**Andersen, Morten
Tampa Bay **
I had to grab Gannon and the young wideouts earlier than I should have, since early runs hit QB and then WR pretty hard. As pay-back, I found Barber and Garner sitting on the board late. White and Moss are long shots/sleepers, but I was happy to reach out in rounds 12 & 13.
Heap was a bit of a reach, but I truly believe he will put up solid TE numbers this year. A TE with good hands is a young QB’s best friend. You hear that, Chris Redman?
If Taylor manages a healthy season, I’'m golden, but even if he reverts to form I can live with Barber as a second RB and McCardell or Ward as flex wideout. Much depends on Gannon continuing to defy age and defensive tackles.
If someone had told me before the draft that I would again gamble a season on talyor’s toughness I would have called then insane. Instead, it turns out that I am insance. So insane that I feel pretty good about this team. Of course, no lineup is safe from boneheaded GM manuevers during the season, so by week 4 I could well be starting Lamar Smith and Corey Bradford.
Spiritus, did you end up with a 20-30% match with your other fantasy club? I see a lot of common names there.
20% would be right: 3 out of 15. (Actually, the other league has a larger roster with individual defenders, but it I take just the offensive players it is 3 out of 16 there.) I like ot have some overlap among leagues. Otherwise, juggling 4-5 rosters becomes just too much of a drain on my time.
Taylor, Heap and Chambers.
I like all 3, though none of them are locks. Taylor would be if it were the National Flag-Football League, of course.
I’m really big on Chambers. I don’t think he’ll be a top 5 receiver, but I think he might be top 15 when the season is finished. Heap is a gamble, but I’m fine with gambling on TE. Thanks to Gonzalez’ hold out there isn’t a single lockdown stud left among tight ends.
Draft Post-mortem
I didn’t do too bad. I kind of got caught on the see-saw with the 6th pick in the odd numbered rounds and the 7th pick in the even numbered rounds. There were too many other picks between each of my picks for me to plan too far ahead. In some cases, the person right before me grabbed the player I wanted and thought was going to slip through. It’s really annoying when the Yahoo! autodrafter grabs the player you wanted (kudos to the autodrafter, I guess).
Without further ado (does anyone ever need extra ado?), the picks:
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Priest Holmes, RB KC Four running backs and Kurt Warner taken with the first five picks. No surprise, though I was hoping someone would grab Garcia, Culpepper, Moss, or Owens and leave either Ahman Green or Ricky Williams for me. I thought about Garcia for a long time, but ended up taking Holmes and hoping for a repeat of last season. I figured there would be no decent RBs left by my second pick, but one of the second tier quarterbacks would fall through.
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Corey Dillon, RB Cin Nope. Holmes was the last RB taken in the first round. There was a run on quarterbacks (Manning, Garcia, Culpepper, McNabb) and the expected late first round receivers (Moss and Owens). Almost all of those people then took a RB in the second round, though. If I wanted a QB, it would have to be Favre or Gannon, but I couldn’t see to take one of them so early. I had thought that Edgerrin James would get to me, but he was taken one pick before mine by Isotopes. I felt that I had gotten the last of the second tier (i.e. non-Marshall) backs with Holmes, and now the last of the third tier backs with Dillon. Sure hope it works out.
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Rod Smith, WR Den Favre, Gannon, Brooks, and McNair are all taken. The next quarterbacks are Brian Griese, Trent Green, and Drew Bledsoe. It’s too embarassing to take one of those guys with a third round pick, so I pass. I figure that there are only three teams without a quarterback now, so I can wait (I just hope I don’t get Trent Green–I’ll take Griese or Bledsoe). Here, my draft position helps: the other two teams without QBs are behind me, so they either have to waste a 3/4 round pick on one of these slugs, or I can grab whoever I want in round 5.
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Derrick Mason, WR Ten A bit of a homer pick, since I did my undergrad at Michigan State. Isotopes again took my guy (Eric Moulds) just before me. Two tight ends were taken. Wow. Otherwise, we’re firmly in the run on WRs that happens after everyone grabs a QB and a couple of backs. I experience a moment of panic immediately after this pick when I think I’ve accidentally taken Derrick Alexander. Whew!
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Brian Griese, QB Den It’s either Griese or Bledsoe, and I’ve got to grab one now. The two teams without quarterbacks each get two picks before my next one, so I can’t wait. I had Griese two years ago when he had a great year. And I had Griese last year when he didn’t. I hope this is more like the former. I’ll kick myself if Bledsoe has a good year.
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Jamal Lewis, RB Bal What am I doing? I don’t know. It feels too early to go for a TE (though that might have been a better idea), and I don’t want to be known as the first to take a K or Def. I’m hoping Lewis’s legs don’t fall off and he can find the endzone a lot.
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Thomas Jones, RB Ari Insane? I hope not. This pick was hard to fathom. I felt rushed. I missed all the good TEs. Wesley Walls and Shannon Sharpe (will he score touchdowns again?) were still around, but I just felt rushed with my decision and picked this guy. Geez.
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Michael Vick, QB Atl TEs left? Frank Wycheck and Chad Lewis (oh yeah, and Todd Heap). Teams between this and my next pick without a TE? Two. I can’t decide between the two, so in a moment of indecision, I grab a second QB (the first team to do so). I’m thinking that Vick might turn out to be the sleeper of the draft. Or not.
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Frank Wycheck, TE Ten I got my guy. Somehow, I’m not pleased. But, he’s always pretty consistent.
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T. J. Duckett, RB Atl Hah! The ultimate homer pick, another MSU guy. Thunder to Warrick Dunn’s lightning in Atlanta, I hope he steals all the short yardage touchdowns. He was my sleeper pick, but I wasn’t sure how deep he was sleeping so I grabbed him at 10. Believe me, I will crow long and loud if he amounts to anything. I’ll hide under a rock if he Ron Daynes it. Obscure fact #1: the Ionia County Fair where he was beat up is only ten minutes from my boyhood home. Obscure fact #2: the Ionia County Fair was the country’s largest “free fair” (no charge for admission) until this year when they began charging. I wonder what the new largest is?
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Bill Gramatica, K Ari Why not. Yahoo! suggested him, and someone else was talking about him. I don’t really think there are any good defenses left now, so I’ll grab a kicker.
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New England, Def Best defense left? I’m not sure, but I know the names of the guys better than some of the other teams, so I pick 'em. I’m the last to pick a defense, but everyone assures me that they will be picking two, so I jump. I had considered waiting until my last pick, but decide against it.
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Donald Hayes, WR Car I realize (probably a little late) that I’ve got two WRs so far, for two roster spots. And I remember that they get injured a lot. Hayes is the highest WR left on my list, so he’s the one.
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New York Jets, Def Why, oh why? Things are going fast, and my attention is wandering. If anyone really does draft two defenses, I want to lead the rush. Turns out that only Continental Drifters does. I think I was suckered.
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Drew Brees. QB SD He threw all over the field at Purdue (I went to grad school at Indiana, so I know too well). He looked pretty darn good in one of the few exhibition games I had caught. I had determined beforehand to grab him with one of my last picks. I even started thinking about him around pick 10, but stubbornly waited, each round hoping he would fall one more round. If he plays up to his potential, I will dance the watusi up and down Nicollet Mall. If he holds a clipboard for Doug Flutie, I will probably not dance.
Grade: Well, nobody dominates. I think I got the best back available with each of my first two picks, so I just hope that’s enough.
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