Eh, I like the regionality.
My defense got robbed on that crappy last second garbage time TD.
Your rise proved we didn’t need realignment to create parity. Teams will rise and fall in the ranks based on long-term planning and a little luck. We don’t need to fiddle with the divisional makeup and I’m glad we didn’t.
Ah, the parity thing is only as far as it relates to the playoffs - obviously the divisional realignment wouldn’t affect the actual quality of the teams. My team would’ve made the same rise with results-based divisions.
I think the worst thing about this league is the arbitrary divisions, actually. I don’t care who else is in my division - I’m barely aware of it. I consider Stringer to be my real competition. Which would work out better if we were both in the same (top) division most of the time. I’d rather have no divisions than the current divisions, because they’re meaningless. Basing it on geography is silly - in real life it works obviously for travel consideration for the teams, but also because it makes it easier for fans to travel to divison rivalry games, there’s often familarity between the culture of the fanbases when it’s regional, etc. None of that stuff has any meaning in fantasy football. We basically drew straws out of a hat to pair us up randomly and decided that’s just how it’s going to be indefinitely.
So what? The Cowboys are in the NFC East. Don’t see anything wrong with our divisions matching the NFL system. 
I still hate the idea of division realignment. Why is it fair to have good teams get punished for being good?
Also, if we realigned the divisions I would win the division and Beef would get the wild card. Why would we want the two best teams playing each other in the semis instead of the finals?
We don’t really need to re-argue the point. No one is going to change their mind. I just thought that it was silly to bring up my team as an example of why it was good that we didn’t re-align divisions. Non-sequitor as far as I can see.
But… as far as good teams being punished - don’t you want to beat the best? Would you prefer to just beat up on weak teams all year long? Why not just go join a yahoo public league if that’s your desire?
In sports where relegation happens like soccer, are teams “punished” when they’re deemed good enough to move up a league to face tougher competition? No, they’re happy to have the prestige, and the chance to compete at a higher level.
I just don’t understand the attitude. I try to make my leagues as tough and competitive as possible because I want to defeat the greatest possible challenge. What are you here for?
Agreed. Plus I like playing Hamlet twice a season. Feels like a rivalry to me.
I don’t think this analogy holds because the Premiere League doesn’t hold playoffs or compete in any way with the Football League.
I guess I just want the highest level of competition to be in the playoffs, and not during the regular season. It feels more like real sports to me that way I suppose?
Then a divisionless system would produce the best results. A division winner will always come from the worst division. Seattle made the playoffs by winning the NFC west last year. Having no divisions puts the top 4 seeds in the playoffs regardless of arbitrary grouping.
Yeah I can’t argue against that. I’d rather have no divisions than re-alignment.
Well, yeah, but teams which are relegated don’t get to play for the championship. Are you saying only the teams in the top league would be eligible for the playoffs?
But which are the weak teams and which aren’t? I really feel like we’re all pretty evenly matched and that, aside from Stringer, no one is guaranteed a playoff spot in this league. There are no weak teams to beat up on. We beat the best already.
About half the league has really weak rosters, IMO.
So how many of you tried to pick up Demaryius Thomas off of waivers over the last few weeks? He did absolutely nothing for 2 or 3 years now but I kept him on my roster hoping he’d bloom. I think he’s going to make his first start today…
Who specifically?
Look at the #12 team, Warner’s Brothers (dale). he has Brees, Cam Newton, Mark Ingram, Andy Dalton, and the #1 pick. He’s just a trade or two away from a very good team. That’s parity.
What happens to the divisions if I end up moving to Chicago? There’s at least a 50 percent chance of that happening before football season next year. Leaving me in Sunbelt is fine since I’ll still be an Arizona Cardinals fan.
Brees and Newton are nice to have. Ingram isn’t even in the top 30 RBs. He’s young, but it’s never reliable to have a New Orleans back, especially as your main guy. Not an enviable situation there. Dalton isn’t going to be a QB1 during his career. Other than that, scraps.
RNATB’s team is not good or young. His brief contention this year came down to the luck of head to head matchups.
Your team, despite making the playoffs, doesn’t impress me. Gore doesn’t have much time left, neither does McGahee. Fitz and Gabbert as your only QBs is not a place I’d want to be. I don’t think you have much in the way of young prospects either.
Omni has managed to scrape together a decent bunch of starters, but no depth and little youth.
What’s good on Ellis Dee’s team is essentially the Giants offense, and I’m not sure they’re so consistent that you can bank on them like that, but maybe. Gates and Steven Jackson are near the end of their careers without any replacements.
That was just a quick glance at the rosters, not a thorough evaluation of how I’d rank the teams.
You’ve mentioned all of the trouble spots on my team without mentioning Forte (the #6 RB), Roddy White (the #3 WR), Vincent Jackson, and Jason Witten. Also, Gabbert is a young prospect who has performed pretty well in his rookie season for the Jaguars. I may not be contending next year, but I’ve made the playoffs two out of the three years we’ve done this league. What else would qualify me as one of the strong teams?
It’s not bad. I have two very productive running backs, and bear in mind that I’ve been platooning Hasselbeck and Grossman as my quarterbacks for more than half a season thanks to the Schaub injury.
I agree that my early season record had a lot to do with luck though.
You scored 1440 points this year, which is the third worst. Only RNATB and Dale have scored fewer points. You made the playoffs in the first year while scoring 80 less than the average score. Your playoff appearances have come from H2H matchup luck.
I didn’t mention your bright spots because I was pointing out why your roster was poor. Forte and White are studs. Vincent Jackson is major boom/bust. Witten is good but old.
I don’t know how you can seriously contend that Gabbert has performed pretty well, or has any real fantasy prospects at this point.
I’m not trying to bash people for having poor rosters, I’m not even sure what you think this line of argument proves regarding our division structure. But the idea that we all have roughly equal rosters is pretty clearly false.