Oh hey, good news. Kiros replied to my e-mail. He said he should be here at 8, although he might be late. So that’s 8 of us, if everyone is available.
I checked it in time, thankfully. I didn’t know I had PMs turned off, either. I’m good for 8 tonight, but I don’t have the server info yet.
I recommend coming with a list of ranked players, whether from a website or your own list, so you’ll have some idea of who to nominate when it’s your turn to. You don’t have to nominate in any particular order of skill/value, though. The first guy up for bid can be anyone.
I would also start planning now for budgeting your various positions. You could hypothetically grab LDT and Peyton Manning, and Marvin Harrison with all your money, but now you’re broke with an empty roster. Plan it out.
Ellis Dee’s link earlier in the thread gives an average auction draft value for players in a 12 man league, you can use that as a reference.
I’ll be available to answer questions in the draft about who’s been drafted, what anyone’s roster currently is, how much money they have left, etc - but if you can keep track of some of the stuff that’s important to you it’d help me out.
Remember that the person to nominate a player also places the first bid, which can be as low as $1. It’s a valid strategy to nominate players that you don’t want to get other people to use up their money, but keep in mind that later in the draft if you nominate a player hoping to make someone else take him, it might backfire when you end up winning him for $1 because no one else wanted him, and now one of your roster slots is used.
Don’t inconvenience yourself too much to be there right at 8 - based on a few people having difficulty making that time we probably won’t end up starting until 8:30 or so… but try to be at 8 if you can.
If you can’t make it tonight, please tell us now so we don’t wait up for you.
How do we get connected? I have the software, is there a group name? I’ve never used this stuff before.
I left some instructions in the commissioner’s note in the fantasy football league. I didn’t want to enter my IP on the public message board.
But click the arrow next to user name, pick “add”, enter Omniscient, then apply/ok/whatever. Then go to server, pick add, enter the IP listed in the commissioner’s note, and don’t change anything else. Then okay/apply/whatever. Then hit connect and it should work (assuming you give your firewall appropriate permissions or whatever)
It’s fairly obvious we didn’t plan ahead…
Nominating owner, player, price, winner
Diomedes LdT 100 Trevor
Ellis Dee Manning 45 Trevor
Chuck SJ 73 Chuck
Kiros LJ 65 Dio
LOUNE S Alex 55 Trevor*
Omniscient Addai 65 Dio
SenorBeef A Gates 34 Varlos
Varlos V Young 15 Varlos
Diomedes Winslow 11 SenorBeef
Ellis Dee McGahee 43 Omni
Chuck Bulger 19 Omni
Kiros T Henry 35 Kiros
Omniscient R Bush 36 SenorBeef
SenorBeef M Harrison 35 Chuck
Varlos F Gore 60 Varlos
Diomedes Fitzgerald 24 Kiros
Ellis Dee Owens 25 Kiros
Chuck Crumpler 8 Dio
Kiros MJD 32 SenorBeef
Omniscient Parker 42 Chuck
SenorBeef Chi Def 12 Omni
Varlos Maroney 43 Varlos
Diomedes Kitna 18 SenorBeef
Ellis Dee C Palmer 28 Omni
Chuck A Smith 8 Dio
Kiros T Housh 20 Kiros
Omniscient R Johnson 43 Kiros
SenorBeef D Williams 16 SenorBeef
Varlos B Jacobs (NYG) 36 Ellis Dee
Diomedes A Boldin 19 SenorBeef
Ellis Dee Westbrook 43 Omni
Chuck C Cooley 3
Kiros Thomas Jones 30 Ellis Dee
Omniscient Tom Brady 28 Kiros
SenorBeef Calvin Johnson 10 SenorBeef
Varlos Eagles D 4 Dio
Diomedes Roy Williams 19 Dio
Ellis Dee Steve Smith 28 SenorBeef
Chuck V Jackson 9 Omni
Kiros D McNabb 13 SenorBeef
Omniscient D Brees 16 Chuck
SenorBeef A Peter son (min) 9 SenorBeef
Varlos J Norwood 7 Omni
Dio Reggie Wayne 20 Omni
Ellis Dee Chad Johnson 21 Varlos
Chuck T Holt 17 Dio
Kiros J Walker 9 Kiros
Omni Ronnie Brown 6
SenorBeef P Burress 10 Ellis Dee
Varlos C Benson 7 Dio
Dio T Glenn 2 Dio
Ellis Dee M Lynch 5 SenorBeef
Chuck Lee Evans 7 Varlos
Kiros D Driver 5 Kiros
Omni A Johnson 6 Omni
SenorBeef R Moss 5 SenorBeef
Varlos B Roeth 1 Varlos
Dio Ward 4 Dio
Ellis Dee L Coles 10 Ellis Dee
Chuck Reggie Brown 3 Chuck
Kiros J Lewis 3 SenorBeef
Omni Shockey 8 Ellis Dee
SenorBeef Balt 4 Kiros
Varlos Cad Williams 4 Varlos
Dio N Kaeding 1 Dio
Ellis Dee Cotchery 3 Ellis Dee
Chuck Colston 6 chuck
Kiros McAlister 2 Kiros
Omni V Davis 1 Ellis Dee
SenorBeef NE Def 2 Chuck
Chuck Vinatieri 1 Chuck
Varlos Branch 2 Chuck
Kiros Heap 3 Omni
Omni Chargers Def 1 Omni
SenorBeef Pit Def 1 SenorBeef
Varlos S Holmes 1 Varlos
Ellis Dee R Droughns 1 Ellis Dee
Kiros E James 4 Kiros
Omni B Edwards 2 SenorBeef
Varlos S Moss 1 Varlos
Ellis Dee L Washington 1 Ellis Dee
Chuck T Gonzo 4 Kiros
Omni Clinton Portis 4 Chuck
Ellis Dee A Toomer 1 Giants def 1 jets def 1 tynes 1 pennington 1
Omni Barber III 3 Omnio
SenorBeef O Mare 1 SenorBeef
Varlos Stallworth 1 varlos
Chuck Ahman Green 1
Varlos Betts 3 Varlos
Chuck P Rivers 4 Varlos
Varlos 1 Gostkowski Varlos
Chuck F Taylor 1 Chuck
Varlos Panthers 1 Varlos
Chuck Romo 1 Chuck
Varlos Darrel Jackson 1 Varlos
So, as a wrap-up to the auction:
LOUNE takes three players and says goodnight. Ellis Dee saves his cash to pick up the Giants and Jets’ third string offensive linemen. Edgerrin James goes for 4 bucks in the umptteenth round. And everyone regrets spending way too much, way too early.
If I made any errors, please bring them to my attention, we can reconstruct what happened from the chat log.
Oh, and I need to make sure I have the team names correct.
Exploding Pancakes = SenorBeef
Last Place = Kiros
Quentin’s Jammers = EsotericEnigma (didn’t show)
New York Fanyboys = Ellis Dee
Varlos’ zzz = Varlos
WhereAreTheWhores? = LOUNE
Cecil’sYourDaddy = Dio?
Overly Sentimental = Chuck?
Good Rex Bad Rex = Omni?
Rosters are set up now, please tell me if I made an error.
Thanks guys for coming and making it a fun experience, overall I’m happy with how it went, although I’m not overjoyed with my team.
I’ll comment on the crazy way the draft went down later.
Waiver order isn’t set yet, I have to reconstruct the draft a bit to do that. We decided that the most money left has first priority, and for those who tied at 0, people who spent all their money last would go ahead.
You have to set your starting players up - it starts by default with all players on the bench. Better get that done by tomorrow if you have any starters in that game.
All correct. (I just finished figuring them out.)
Sorry about Eli, not sure how I forgot.
Ellis Dee: eli 1
Omniscient: lol
Omniscient: yours!
VarlosZ: Sold
Kiros: have a ball
Omniscient: you have to pay me
I started this post a few minutes ago, but apparently there’s a key that deletes entire posts and somehow my cat found it when she stepped on my keyboard.
So, here’s my draft, in order.
-
Winslow, $11.
Dio nominated him early, I hoped to snag him later for cheap. I overpaid for him even this early in the draft, but I’m big on him this year. He’s better recovered from his injury, has been looking good, during the playoffs he’ll have a better QB, and will work in a TE-friendly offense under the guy who was his offensive coordinator in Miami. I had to have him in one of my drafts. -
Reggie Bush, $36.
In retrospect, I wish I’d have paid big for one of the top tier RBs. Instead I loaded up on second and third tier RBs. The strategy might pay off - in the event that McAlister, Fred Taylor, Chester Taylor, or DeShaun Foster get hurt or demoted, I have a very nice fantasy back ready to step in. And I think Marshawn Lynch and Jamal Lewis will be solid producers. Problem is, of course, that I don’t have any clear cut stud to always man my RB1 spot.
- Maurice Jones-Drew.
I had him last year, and he was a big part of the reason I won my league. I don’t think he’ll put up quite so many touchdowns this year, but I expect him to get more yards. Last year even when he was at his most productive he was often only getting 10 carries or less per game… there’s no way they can keep doing that this year. It’s not all that likely that Taylor will be healthy all year either.
I really wish I had the Reggie Bush/MJD combo in my other league, which has partial PPR and return yards.
- Kitna $18
Overpaid. I’m big on Kitna this year, especially with the default scoring system that doesn’t punish Kitna for his bad play all that much. I expect lots of yards and TDs out of him. That said, I could’ve gotten a pretty good QB later for really cheap, but I thought at the time this was a fair price.
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DeAngelo Williams, $16. I nomimated him because I wanted someone else to take him, to be honest. I thought I was driving up the bidding a bit, but got stuck with him. Overpaid, especially given what more productive backs went for later in the draft. However if anything happens to DeShaun Foster, I like his talent.
-
Anquan Boldin, $19. Pretty decent value by what receivers were going for at this point in the draft, but not by later. I have Fitz in my other league, so I’m all for Arizona’s passing attack to be good this year.
-
Calvin Johnson, $10. I opened the bidding at 10, and that’s among my biggest mistakes of the draft. In most leagues, he’s being overdrafted in the 5th round or so, so I thought someone would take a shot at him, especially at less than half the price of a first tier receiver. So I was mostly nominating him for someone else to take. Woops.
-
Steve Smith, $28. Even though there were great WR values in the late rounds, I’m happy to have gotten arguably the best receiver for $28.
-
McNabb, $13. Everyone seemed to forget about him until most (if not all) people had a starter and there wasn’t that much money to go around. This is one of the first big steals, and he’ll be my starter, with Kitna being a very capable backup.
-
Adrian Peterson (Min), $9. Happy here. I love his talent, but don’t like the RBBC. He may end up being a productive fantasy back even with the time sharing, much like Addai or MJD last year. If anything happens to Taylor, look out.
-
Marshawn Lynch, $5. Huge steal here. Look for 1000+ yards and 6+ TDs out of him his first year.
-
Randy Moss, $5. Okay, a solid tier 2 WR who might have a fire lit under his ass and become a tier 1 WR this year for $5? I’ll take it.
-
Jamal Lewis, $3. 1200 yards, 9 TDs, book it.
-
Pittsburgh Def. Best defense left at this point (I got outbid for New England). I don’t usually like having the fantasy players of the enemy - but it’s a respectful rivalry between us and the inbreds, not the hatred of the illegitimate entity of the east coast city with all the crack.
-
Braylon Edwards, $2. Oh come on Dio, not going to steal any homers from me? Third year WR magic incoming. He’s a talent that needs to be consistent. Depending on when Quinn begins starting, I see 1100 yards out of him this year.
-
Olindo Mare. Best kicker left (probably, who knows with kickers?) with my last pick. Thanks guys for letting me redo this one.
This week I’ve got Reggie Bush in one league, and him starting against me in another. That’s one of the big reasons I generally only like to do one fantasy league, but I think this league will end up being fun.
Great job coordinating this league, SenorBeef. The auction was quite fun.
I’m tinkering around with my utility to try and get it to support auction drafts. Mostly I’m doing this because there is some data analysis I want to post that will really shed light on how truly insane the pricing ended up being. I should have it done in a day or two.
While I was setting this up, it occurs to me that keepers could be deadly in an auction league. Think about the ramifications of being able to keep ANY three players at the same price you won them the year before. Just glancing at the list, Cadillac, Edge, and Portis all went for $4 each…
Obviously this draft could not be converted for a keeper league, but hot damn there is some potential in the idea.
Same deal with McNabb. Hmmph.
Yes, our draft did end up being crazy in the way we all ran out of money in the end. Guys that would otherwise be solid 3rd-4th round picks went for like $5.
I, personally, didn’t adjust my spending enough from the projected average auction value of 12 man leagues to what that means in an 8 man league. Our top tier prices ended up correlating fairly well with the top tier of a 12 man league, but our 2nd and 3rd tier talent went a whole lot cheaper, and even then, we ran out of money very quickly. Probably because there was a whole lot more 2nd and 3rd tier talent available to us individually than there would be in a league with more players, where they’d more quickly progress to the 4th tier.
I think the optimal strategy, in retrospect, would’ve been to spend big one one of those top tier players - LT, SJ, LJ, and someone else pretty good like Rudi Johnsone or Westbrook - and then be thrifty until later in the draft. And then you’d have your choice of Lee Evans/Edgerrin James type talent to fill out the rest of your roster.
I’ve corrected a few errors. Sorry about making them. I just had a lot to do during the draft - play auctioneer, be a participant in auctions, write down picks, I originally tried to create a sorted roster and keep track of money but offloaded that to other people (thanks for helping out with that) when it became too much.
Next year we can split the responsibilities up in a more orderly way and make the draft more efficient. For now, just tell me if there are any errors I missed.
BTW, Ellis Dee, I forgot to save the chat log at the end, and so I only have about 75% of it which I saved earlier. Could you take a look for me and see if Chuck drafted anyone I don’t have on his roster now? He thinks he filled his roster, but can’t figure out who he’s missing.
Sorry, man, I thought by overbidding on KW, you’d let me have at least him. By the time Braylon came up, I couldn’t afford $2.
-
Larry Johnson, $65 I was really hoping to overspend on Tomlinson, but LOUNE was way more aggressive than I could stomach. Missing out on him and Jackson made me start to worry about susuring I’d get two top-flight backs. The whole point of an auction draft is that you can get two first round picks, right?
-
Joseph Addai, $65 And so I got two first round picks. I had planned on spending $100 on running backs. I should have forced myself to stick much more closely to this plan. After this, I wasn’t able to seriously bid on any big targets for about 5 rounds.
-
Alge Crumpler, $8 Not a bad pickup at all, but I should have waived the opportunity. The $7 difference between Crumpler and a midlevel TE (that I expected would be there at the end of the draft at this point) would have been huge in the final rounds. Still, I think Joey Harrington throws a better ball than Vick, and never runs away with games. Should be good for even more garbage-time make-up scores.
-
Alex Smith, $8 I like Alex Smith, a lot. I expect I’ll put in a waiver claim for someone like Jeff Garcia or J.P. Losman to the sounds of laughter Week 2.
-
Eagles D, $4 Seemed like a decent price: the only other D that had come off the board at this point was Chicago, who went for three times this amount. I might have overpaid hugely her, but I wasn’t really worried at the time.
-
Roy Williams, $19 I think this guy is way underrated by fantasy players, though still way overrated by himself. At this point, I began to panic: I’d only drafted one wide-out, and was down to $31.
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Torry Holt, $17 But this pick calmed me down a lot. Two top-flight wideouts to go with my two top-flight backs make me optimistic for week one. I’m pretty much out of cash at this point, so it’s on to find bench warmers at this point, mostly.
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Cedric Benson, $7 He’s a Chicago running back. I don’t care what everyone in the world thinks about this guy, I’m going to love him when Johnson finally breaks himself late in the season.
9.Terry Glenn, $2 I’m down to 7 bucks, and I can’t bid 3, so I nominate and pay two for a guy whose last good season was probably last year. He’ll do…
-
Hines Ward, $4 …until I remember Hines is still out there. Ward, Williams and Holt are as good a receiving corps as I’ve ever had in a fantasy league, even accounting for only 8 players.
-
Nate Kaeding, $1 He’s a kicker. He gets a point for each LdT touchdown.
My roster appears to be missing a $1 Jeff Wilkins… thanks!
(And thanks for running it!)
Like Beef, I think in a league with this setup, the optimal strategy would be to “overpay” for two Top 10 RBs (and maybe a Top 3 QB or Top 1 TE), then fill out the roster with mid-level bargains. Just like in a regular league, it’s extremely hard to win without at least one top tier back and one upper-second tier back, so if you have to overpay for them, that’s what you do.
I wonder if the following would work in future leagues: ditch waivers, run free agency by silent auction every week, and each team starts the season with however much money they finished the draft with. (Then , a day or two before each weekend’s games, free agents are available for free like normal so players don’t get screwed be losing an auction without a chance to find a different player.) I don’t know, might not be feasible for one reason or another, but it would add another layer of strategy.
Fun Fact: why you’d rather have the 10th pick in the draft than the 6th
Willie Parker - $42
Rudi Johndon - $43
Willis McGahee - $43
Brian Westbrook - $43
Lawrence Maroney - $43
Not a bad idea at all.
I just didn’t want to get too complicated since we’re all new to the auction draft thing, so I figured I’d confine the whackiness to the draft only and also not make people worry about the strategy of saving money for later.
Ok, here’s the draft results, cleaned up a bit, sorted by price.
L Tomlinson 100 LOUNE
S Jackson 73 Chuck
L Johnson 65 Diomedes
J Addai 65 Diomedes
F Gore 60 Varlos
S Alexander 55 LOUNE
P Manning 45 LOUNE
W McGahee 43 Omniscient
L Maroney 43 Varlos
R Johnson 43 Kiros
B Westbrook 43 Omniscient
W Parker 42 Chuck
R Bush 36 SenorBeef
B Jacobs 36 Ellis Dee
T Henry 35 Kiros
M Harrison 35 Chuck
A Gates 34 Varlos
M Jones-Drew 32 SenorBeef
T Jones 30 Ellis Dee
C Palmer 28 Omniscient
T Brady 28 Kiros
S Smith 28 SenorBeef
T Owens 25 Kiros
L Fitzgerald 24 Kiros
Chad Johnson 21 Varlos
T Houshmanzadeh 20 Kiros
R Wayne 20 Omniscient
A Boldin 19 SenorBeef
M Bulger 19 Omniscient
Roy Williams 19 Diomedes
J Kitna 18 SenorBeef
T Holt 17 Diomedes
D Williams 16 SenorBeef
D Brees 16 Chuck
V Young 15 Varlos
D McNabb 13 SenorBeef
Chicago 12 Omniscient
K Winslow 11 SenorBeef
Calvin Johnson 10 SenorBeef
P Burress 10 Ellis Dee
L Coles 10 Ellis Dee
V Jackson 9 Omniscient
A Peterson 9 SenorBeef
J Walker 9 Kiros
A Smith 8 Diomedes
A Crumpler 8 Diomedes
J Shockey 8 Ellis Dee
J Norwood 7 Omniscient
C Benson 7 Diomedes
L Evans 7 Varlos
Ronnie Brown 6 Omniscient
A Johnson 6 Omniscient
M Colston 6 chuck
M Lynch 5 SenorBeef
D Driver 5 Kiros
R Moss 5 SenorBeef
Philadelphia 4 Diomedes
Cad. Williams 4 Varlos
H Ward 4 Diomedes
Baltimore 4 Kiros
E James 4 Kiros
T Gonzolez 4 Kiros
C Portis 4 Chuck
P Rivers 4 Varlos
C Cooley 3 Chuck
Reggie Brown 3 Chuck
J Lewis 3 SenorBeef
J Cotchery 3 Ellis Dee
T Heap 3 Omniscient
M Barber III 3 Omnisciento
L Betts 3 Varlos
T Glenn 2 Diomedes
D McAlister 2 Kiros
New England 2 Chuck
D Branch 2 Chuck
B Edwards 2 SenorBeef
E Manning 1 Ellis Dee
B Roethlis. 1 Varlos
J Wilkins 1 Kiros
N Kaeding 1 Diomedes
V Davis 1 Ellis Dee
A Vinatieri 1 Chuck
San Diego 1 Omniscient
Pittsburgh 1 SenorBeef
S Holmes 1 Varlos
R Droughns 1 Ellis Dee
S Moss 1 Varlos
L Washington 1 Ellis Dee
A Toomer 1 Ellis Dee
Giants 1 Ellis Dee
Jets 1 Ellis Dee
L Tynes 1 Ellis Dee
C Penington 1 Ellis Dee
M Nugent 1 Ellis Dee
O Mare 1 SenorBeef
D Stallworth 1 varlos
A Green 1 Chuck
S Gostkowski 1 Varlos
F Taylor 1 Chuck
Carolina 1 Varlos
T Romo 1 Chuck
D Jackson 1 Varlos
By position.
RB
L Tomlinson 100 LOUNE
S Jackson 73 Chuck
L Johnson 65 Diomedes
J Addai 65 Diomedes
F Gore 60 Varlos
S Alexander 55 LOUNE
W McGahee 43 Omniscient
L Maroney 43 Varlos
R Johnson 43 Kiros
B Westbrook 43 Omniscient
W Parker 42 Chuck
R Bush 36 SenorBeef
B Jacobs 36 Ellis Dee
T Henry 35 Kiros
M Jones-Drew 32 SenorBeef
T Jones 30 Ellis Dee
D Williams 16 SenorBeef
A Peterson 9 SenorBeef
J Norwood 7 Omniscient
C Benson 7 Diomedes
Ronnie Brown 6 Omniscient
M Lynch 5 SenorBeef
Cad. Williams 4 Varlos
E James 4 Kiros
C Portis 4 Chuck
J Lewis 3 SenorBeef
M Barber III 3 Omnisciento
L Betts 3 Varlos
D McAlister 2 Kiros
R Droughns 1 Ellis Dee
L Washington 1 Ellis Dee
A Green 1 Chuck
F Taylor 1 Chuck
QB
P Manning 45 LOUNE
C Palmer 28 Omniscient
T Brady 28 Kiros
M Bulger 19 Omniscient
J Kitna 18 SenorBeef
D Brees 16 Chuck
V Young 15 Varlos
D McNabb 13 SenorBeef
A Smith 8 Diomedes
P Rivers 4 Varlos
E Manning 1 Ellis Dee
B Roethlis. 1 Varlos
C Penington 1 Ellis Dee
T Romo 1 Chuck
WR
M Harrison 35 Chuck
S Smith 28 SenorBeef
T Owens 25 Kiros
L Fitzgerald 24 Kiros
Chad Johnson 21 Varlos
T Houshmanzadeh 20 Kiros
R Wayne 20 Omniscient
A Boldin 19 SenorBeef
Roy Williams 19 Diomedes
T Holt 17 Diomedes
Calvin Johnson 10 SenorBeef
P Burress 10 Ellis Dee
L Coles 10 Ellis Dee
V Jackson 9 Omniscient
J Walker 9 Kiros
L Evans 7 Varlos
A Johnson 6 Omniscient
M Colston 6 chuck
D Driver 5 Kiros
R Moss 5 SenorBeef
H Ward 4 Diomedes
Reggie Brown 3 Chuck
J Cotchery 3 Ellis Dee
B Edwards 2 SenorBeef
T Glenn 2 Diomedes
D Branch 2 Chuck
D Stallworth 1 varlos
S Holmes 1 Varlos
S Moss 1 Varlos
A Toomer 1 Ellis Dee
D Jackson 1 Varlos
TE
A Gates 34 Varlos
K Winslow 11 SenorBeef
A Crumpler 8 Diomedes
J Shockey 8 Ellis Dee
T Gonzolez 4 Kiros
C Cooley 3 Chuck
T Heap 3 Omniscient
V Davis 1 Ellis Dee
K
J Wilkins 1 Kiros
N Kaeding 1 Diomedes
A Vinatieri 1 Chuck
L Tynes 1 Ellis Dee
M Nugent 1 Ellis Dee
O Mare 1 SenorBeef
S Gostkowski 1 Varlos
DEF
Chicago 12 Omniscient
Philadelphia 4 Diomedes
Baltimore 4 Kiros
New England 2 Chuck
San Diego 1 Omniscient
Pittsburgh 1 SenorBeef
Giants 1 Ellis Dee
Jets 1 Ellis Dee
Carolina 1 Varlos
So, do you think LOUNE is aware that Peyton is on his bench? Colts kick off in under 100 minutes…