… AAAANNNND we’re back, for another fun-filled, historic, generation-defining season of the Straight Dope Message Board Dynasty League! I’m your (tardy) host & Commissioner, VarlosZ, here to act as a guide and mentor, show you the sights, and pass judgment on niggling issues of rules interpretation. We’ve got all 12 teams re-registered and ready to go, so without further ado let’s “kick off” this adventure to see if we can’t embrace this upcoming Autumn and discover again our ability to laugh … and love?
2015 Champion: VarlosZ
2014 Champion: Stringer (We Do HGH)
2013 Champion: VarlosZ
2012 Champion: Hamlet (CuteWiddleBunny)
2011 Champion: SenorBeef (Exploding Pancakes)
2010 Champion: Stringer (We Do HGH)
2009 Champion: Really Not All That Bright
Points Leaders by Year (including Weeks 15-16)
2015: VarlosZ; 2183.64
2014: Stringer; 2177.27
2013: SenorBeef; 2132.81
2012: Stringer; 2095.83
2011: Stringer; 2229.75
2010: Stringer; 2167.03
2009: Hamlet; 2207.00 2015 Final Results:
– Justin gets furt’s last pick.
– Justin gets Varlos’ last pick.
– Beef gets dale’s last pick. Notes
Opening Day 2016 is on Thursday, September 8th. Each of the past two seasons our draft has taken 10 days to complete, so I would very tentatively schedule the draft to start on Friday, August 26th, which would imply a cut deadline of August 24th. Input welcome. The schedule is a little awkward for us, as Week 3 of the preseason doesn’t finish until the 28th, so waiting until then for the cut deadline would leave us with, at most, 9 days or so to complete the draft and get our rosters/lineups entered correctly. That’s cutting it pretty close, so weigh how much you think we want to have that info against the possibility of a problematic end to the draft, and let us know if you have an opinion one way or the other.
Do we want to formalize last year’s extra-late trade deadline (right before the start of the last week of the regular season)?
Any other rules/etc. proposals? The sooner the better for any new ideas, of course.
Ok, and I think we’re all set. Trading is now open (including the trading of 2017 draft picks). Please take a look at your draft picks and the Year Seven Trade Log (below) to make everything looks right and I haven’t forgotten anything. I’ll update the Yahoo page in the coming days to set up our divsions, schedule, etc.
I have a strong opinion that our draft should start on Sunday night of week 3 of preseason, right after the night games. Say, midnight ET. This would give us 4 hours shy of 11 full days to complete the draft.
It’s better to end a little late than start a little early. Starting early means we miss out on a huge amount of information for every team in the league. (The all-important week 3.) Ending late means the final few picks (the dregs) might happen after (or during) one single game between the Panthers and Broncos.
So definitely count my vote as strongly in favor of starting the draft at midnight on Sunday night of week 3 of preseason, in perpetuity.
Sure, I don’t see why not. I didn’t do any late trades but I think some did, and I don’t recall feeling it was a bad thing. So sure, works for me.
D’oh! – there’s a lot of copy & paste in these OPs, I guess I missed that title.
I can see that, but then what do we do about the cut deadline? Need to leave a little time after Week 3 for people to edit their keepers, and a little time to make sure everything is then squared away and entered correctly on Yahoo. Earliest we could start the draft is more like Monday night/Tuesday morning, which gives us 4 hours shy of 10 days, but actually less because the draft can’t go right up until kickoff (I’d want at least an 8 hour buffer so everyone can set their lineups and deal with any issues stemming from the draft, preferably more).
That’s definitely do-able, but it is a squeeze, and a faster pace than we’ve managed the past two years. That said, I do assume the draft would naturally speed up to fit into the time allotted.
Thinking more about it, preseason injuries and rookie preseason performance are less of a factor in dynasty leagues compared to other leagues, so I guess it doesn’t matter all that much. You make a good point about cut deadlines and setting lineups. It’s much better to finish the draft before opening kickoff.
We could split the difference and start it on Saturday night after the night games end; figure midnight ET. There’s only three games on Sunday, so that would minimize the issue. (There are five Saturday night games.)
The week 3 preseason schedule is as follows:
Thursday: 2 night games
Friday: 5 night games
Saturday: 6 games (1 day, 5 night)
Sunday: 3 games (1pm, 4pm, 8pm)
I think the best compromise / safest cushion would be to start the draft Saturday night / Sunday morning. That gives us 4 hours shy of 12 days to complete the draft and get our lineups set in time for kickoff. Plus we get to see almost all of week 3.
EDIT: Also, that would make the first full day of drafting a Sunday, which seems appropriate and fun.
I would prefer to start the draft after week 3 preseason games. I would actually prefer the cut deadline be after that point - it’s more likely the week 3 games are going to influence a borderline cut than influence the first 1-3 picks of the draft. I know that leaves us on a relatively tight schedule, but if we start cracking down on people who say “listening for trade offers” and then waiting 11 hours, we’ll be fine. Communicate with people and tell them you might be interested in a trade if your guy isn’t picked before it actually comes up, that way people can move on quicker if nothing is happening.
I’m going to be aggressive about pursuing either a running back or one of the top draft picks. My WRs are Allen Robinson, Jordy Nelson, Josh Gordon, Demaryius Thomas, DeVante Parker, Travis Benjamin, Martavis Bryant. Willing to package two or one with a draft pick or maybe one with a part time RB like Ellington for a top draft pick or good RB.
I’ll only have sporadic computer access during the end of August and into the first few days of September, but I also don’t have a pick until the 3rd Round, so I’d be OK with a later start.
I’m back for this season. I like a late cut deadline with slightly less time for drafting. But, I’m pretty flexible on that, I’ll certainly try to be as quick as possible with my picks
As is Petey, who sent a PM. Still waiting on 2 confirmations.
For those who don’t know, Yahoo this season decided to auto-register everyone in returning leagues, which of course is idiotic since it means we have no way of knowing who’s actually back, so every commish has to manually take attendance.
Didn’t there used to be a option in Yahoo to declare keepers? Not seeing it any more, though maybe that’s because we’re set to have an offline draft, but that seems stupid.
