Well the inevitable has arrived. It happens to all of us and the
more leagues that you participate in the more likely it is that
it will happen to you….I have bowed out of every league tournament
without a single championship.
Now the fact that I participated in 4 leagues and made the play-offs
in all 4 is reason enough to be proud. I mean that is no easy
feat. I was dominant in two leagues, so-so in another and just
plain lucky to get in the fourth tourney. I did make some noise
but exited all too quickly in each tournament... the biggest disappointment?
I didn't win any damn cash.
Quick run-down of my tourney exits before I get into this weeks
topic, dynasty leagues.
MFFL
I was lucky to get into the tournament as the lowest seed. I won
my first game as an upset adding Chris Fua'matu Maafala to aid
the victory. I added Bob Christian prior to the round 2 game and
he unfortunately was my leading scorer as Rich Gannon failed me
miserably. I did still have a chance to win though as I had a
10 point lead with my opponent having only Ray Lewis and Isaac
Bruce to play. Defensive players get 1 point per tackle…
Lewis scored 15.5 points ending my tourney run on a Sunday night
before Bruce added another 26 points on Monday night. The championship
game is this week with #1 seed playing the #4 seed. The number
4 seed beat me so I have to root for him right? The number one
seed should have gotten beat last week by the number six seed
but the somewhat suspect owner tried to outthink himself and benched
Marshall Faulk in favor of Trung Candidate (something about a
bad Bursa Sac and playing Carolina and maybe resting him) and
adding Alex Van Pelt to start ahead of Doug Flutie (or my suggestion
of Brad Johnson). There will be some MAJOR trash talking going
on at next years draft for sure!
CCL
Only the top four teams get into this dynasty league play-off
systems and despite having the second best record I was the wild-card
fourth team. The owner with the 3rd best record beat me by 8 points.
I made a somewhat similar mistake as the chump above as I chose
to start Trung Candidate instead of a third receiver like Michael
Westbrook which would have scored me 9 points, enough for the
victory. The owner that beat me was the inaugural winner of the
CCL dynasty league and is looking to be the first repeat champion.
RRL
This loss burns me up pretty badly. I by far had the best team
in the league but was just flat let down this week. A freakin'
break-out performance by Dominic Rhodes signaled the end of my
run in that league... which does not penalize for interceptions.
Even the big number day for Aaron Brooks couldn't help.
Idiot League
I was screwed twice and will not be in the league again. Let me
start off by saying that the owner is a superior of mine and I
can't really say too much but I will say that I tried to pick
up Dominic Rhodes back in week 8 or 9 when no one had him and
because the commish of the league felt sorry for the owner of
The Edge gave him to him "because my team is good enough
already"….I blew it off. Yeah I know you see it coming
the owner who knocked me out of the play-offs? The guy who added
Dominic Rhodes, oh yeah…He ended up with same record as me
but got the bye because he had more points. I was running a shadow
team in that league to for an owner who dropped out after the
draft. We made the championship of the Toilet Bowl only to get
beat by a guy who miraculously added Shawn Bryson. Doubly screwed.
Now on to today's real topic… dynasty leagues; the good
and the bad and how to start them. I operate one dynasty league
that is just about to finish it's third year. We have had some
success but I will be honest it is truly a pain in the ass and
while I really like some of the guys I would have a tough time
not kicking their ass if I'd ever meet them face to face.
Let me give you a little history of the league. The core group
met here on the FF Today site four years ago doing a mock draft
for Mike, the proprietor of the site. We started e-mailing back
and forth and after awhile decided to start a league. The first
year it was a re-draft league on ESPN. After the first season
we decided to turn our little league into a dynasty league. I
designed a system of contract years and transaction that would
act as our salary cap and everything seemed to be cool. We finally
agreed on a scoring system and drafted our teams. Year one went
by with basically no problems and everything seemed peachy. As
the winter subsided and spring arose there was a marked lapse
in communication with the other owners and it seemed as if the
league needed something different. A very heated debate took place
about whether or not to add individual defensive players that
caused one owner to leave the league and then ask to come back
and several other owners to waiver their interest. We finally
came together on a plan and drafted our individual defensive players.
After year two I made the worst mistake I could ever make….I
asked to set up a system that would allow everyone to make suggestions
on the best way to make rules changes. I had 15 different propositions
that were to be raised in front of the whole group and voted on.
Some were drastic… reduce the total number of players on
the roster from 28 to 14! The rules changes were voted but have
caused such dissent that owners are publicly accusing each other
of tanking games and general malfeasance.
I am sad to say that I am going to make a motion after the Super
Bowl to break up our dynasty league and go our own ways. Quite
honestly it's just too much trouble.
How can you avoid the same problems, follow these easy steps…
- Pick the owners that will be in this league very carefully.
If anyone balks about the idea of doing a dynasty league you probably
should not have him or her in the league no matter how good a
friend they are. My own brother is in my Dynasty League and I
have qualms about putting him in any new leagues that I will create.
He is a good guy but doesn't have the gusto for fantasy football
that I have. Pick the owners with care.
- Write the rules down. It seems like a no-brainer but the biggest
problem my league or any other league has is that rules are not
written down. Don't leave anything to interpretation. Leave nothing
to the recollection of other owners. Get it on paper and make
sure everyone has a current copy.
- Have a system that allows for the adoption of rules changes.
Whether it is every year or every other year make sure that you
give everyone the opportunity to make suggestions on the removal
of rules or the addition of rules that makes the league more enjoyable
for all participants.
- Put it on a website. There is nothing worse than having a massive
league, all dynasty leagues are massive and full of bureaucratic
bull-shit for the commish, that the other owners can't follow.
Make everything very public so that each owner can strategically
follow when the other owners have made payments, added or dropped
players and changed their line-ups. Nothing will make an owner
lose interest quicker than making the league difficult to manage
on an individual basis.
A couple of notes on salary caps; some dynasty leagues use them
and some do not. I for one like to put them into place. Here is
how my league worked (note this was also part of the problem because
it became difficult to monitor). Each owner had 28 roster spots
that could be filled by any NFL player of the following positions…
quarterback, running back, wide receiver/tight end, kicker, defensive
lineman, linebacker, defensive back (cornerback or safety). Each
player may be given a contract of 1 to 4 years with the total
number of contract years not to exceed 70 years. Also each team
was given one franchise designation that made a player exempt
for amortization of contracts. Each year after the fantasy super
bowl all players contracts were reduced by one year (Tiki Barber
has 3 year contract it automatically reduces to a 2 year contract)
each owner would then have between the fantasy Super Bowl and
the NFL Super Bowl to re-negotiate their players contracts and
waive anyone that they no longer wanted.
Let me backtrack a bit… each owner gets 15 transaction per
season to add/drop, add waivers and to negotiate contracts. Each
year after the NFL Super Bowl everyone starts with a fresh 15.
Therefore if you used 15 transactions on add/drops or waiver pick-ups
during that fantasy season then you would not be able to renegotiate
any contracts during the contract period mentioned above. The
opposite is also true if you used none of your waivers then 15
contracts could be renegotiated as long as your total did not
exceed 70. This system was devised so that a savvy owner could
keep all of his players on his roster if he was practical about
his add/drops and waivers during the year. An owner would have
to balance his chances of winning the Super Bowl against the long-term
ability of his squad to be successful. Therefore I was able to
trade for Priest Holmes prior to week one this year by looking
at his owners squad and seeing that he had a lot of players with
one-year contracts that he would never be able to completely renegotiate.
His choice was lose him now when he is basically unknown or be
forced to release after the year when his value is known or wait
and renegotiate his contract at the expense of another player.
It obviously worked out better for me as it cost me the worse
of my two upcoming first round draft picks.
An alternative to a dynasty leagues is a keeper league. A lot
of commish's don't understand the difference. In basic principles
here is the difference. Dynasty leagues you keep everyone in keeper
leagues you keep a limited number of players. I have pledged to
myself never to be in another dynasty league…. However I
am in 2 keeper leagues now and even a keeper baseball league.
I hope this little piece helps you if you have any specific questions
just e-mail me and I will help out the best I can.
Last Time
In my last article I asked that you write to me with your play-off
methods…here are two of the best responses I received:
Thought I would let you in on my league's playoff system as
you didn't mention one of this type in your last column, and
I think it is a good one. Our league consists of 12 teams - 2 six team divisions. The
top three records in each division make the playoffs along with
the next 2 highest point totals for the year. Our playoffs are
based on total points - not head to head match ups, so the top
four points in round one move on, then the top two from round
two. This ensures the two best teams in the playoffs will make
the league championship which then obviously is head to head.
This system makes the "lucky week" impossible: ie
Team 1 vs Team 2 ends up 50 to 49, while another guy scores
100 and loses.
Trevor
SCFFL (Space Coast Fantasy Football League) Member
******
Mr. Commish I am a Commish in a League through work. I am Pressman
at Indianapolis Star. You said send comments on how others do
playoffs.
Well our league is 12 team, 4 Division,13 game season league.
Division opponents play each other twice, once against every
other team. We use CBS Sports Fantasy Football site online as
stats compiler for season. It's a TD only league. (TD's only
points you get).
Eight Teams make playoffs. 4 Division winners are top 4 seeds.
Other 4 wildcards seeded #5 thru #8. Ties included during season.
Tiebreaker in playoffs is higher seed. Playoffs are weeks 14
thru 16. FA's Pickups were worst team picked first throughout
season with last FA pickup being before week 13 final Regular
season game. Loser Bowl is between 4 teams not making playoffs
in weeks 14 & 16. Playing for $50 league fee.
Unlike some leagues that use NFL playoff matchups. Our league
uses a NCAA Tournament Bracket matchup. Once team is placed in
playoff brackett it stays in same bracket regardless of what seeded
team advances.
Thanks for your time and giving me opportunity to explain our
league. I have run it last few years and found I had to write
very precise rules to settle any squabbles. They are posted on
site. Thanks again.
Tim
Thanks to both of you guys for your response. I will see you
in the new year good luck with your teams!
I know many of you will be making the resolution to lose weight
for the new year…this recipe comes from the Weightwatchers.com
website.
| C H I C K E N P
A R M A G I A N A S A N D W I C H |
| » |
1/4 cup(s) fat-free Italian salad
dressing |
| » |
1/3 cup(s) seasoned bread crumbs |
| » |
1 lb(s) boneless, skinless chicken
breast(s), four 4 oz breasts |
| » |
1/2 cup(s) canned tomato sauce |
| » |
1/4 cup(s) part-skim mozzarella
cheese, shredded |
| » |
8 slice(s) reduced-calorie bread,
Italian-style, toasted |
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a baking pan with cooking
spray.
2. Place Italian dressing and bread crumbs in separate
shallow bowls. Dip chicken in dressing and turn to coat;
dip chicken in bread crumbs and turn to coat.
3. Place chicken in prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.
Top with tomato sauce and cheese and bake until chicken
is no longer pink, about 10 minutes more.
4. Place each chicken breast on 1 slice of bread; top
with remaining slices of bread and serve. |
|
:: comments to the
commish
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