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by Mike MacGregor
of Pro Football Analysis.com
6/8/01
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Ok, so you've been doing this fantasy football thing for a little
while, competing in redraft leagues and perhaps keeper leagues.
Maybe you're in a dynasty league, done the auction draft thing and
dabbled with individual defensive players. You think you've probably
done the whole gamut of fantasy league formats, right? Well, not
quite.
I'm here to outline two truly unique fantasy league formats I've
found in our ever growing fantasy football community. By no means
am I suggesting you convert or abandon one of your traditional fantasy
leagues in favor of one of these formats. However, if you can squeeze
another league into your repertoire and you're looking for something
different, find some friends (Huddlers,
Geeks, Sharks
or what have you) and give one of these a shot.
Survivor Format
"And the next off the island is..." Last year I had the pleasure
of competing in HEFFA
(Huddle Elimination Free For All) which, to my knowledge, is
the first fantasy league format based on CBS' Survivor reality TV
show. The league was born at the Huddle forums and is the brainchild
of Scott McCoy (a.k.a. OKIPAPPA).
In this Survivor league, similar to the show, the goal is stay on
the (virtual) island until you are the only one left. "Out Draft,
Out Score, Out Last"? There are no immunity challenges and you can't
form a voting alliance to save your bacon in this league. Eighteen
owners draft a fantasy team and each week of the NFL regular season
the lowest scoring fantasy team is dropped from the competition.
Not really knowing how this format would play out, and since many
HEFFA owners were already in numerous other fantasy leagues, the
league rules had an overriding motto to keep it simple. We drafted
only 10 roster spots - which is still decent depth considering there
are 18 teams - and from the 10 started 1 QB, 1 RB, 1 WR/TE, 1 K
and 3 flex-RB/WR/TE each week. There are no trades allowed except
during the draft and no free agent pickups so it really is a test
of consistency and perseverance for the players you draft to form
your team. Your top receiver tears his ACL? Deal with it. Only starting
QB out with a concussion? Better you than me. One bad week and you
could be gone.
Bye weeks are a bit of a concern since there aren't enough starting
quarterbacks and kickers to go around, and with only room for 10
players, each roster spot is very valuable. You can choose to draft
someone to cover the bye week or roll the dice during a bye that
some other team will suffer a really horrible week and get the boot
instead of you. I tried to cover a week 13 bye week for Jeff Garcia
with Jeff Lewis, who I was sure would take over for Steve Beuerlein
by that time. That mistake turned out to be my bon voyage from the
island. I don't think we ever did solve the "1 kicker or 2?" debate.
To give you an idea of what to expect, the inaugural HEFFA champion's
roster was: Troy Aikman, Tim Couch, James Stewart, Michael Pittman,
Priest Holmes, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Amani Toomer, Jacquez
Green and Sebastian Janikowski. This is probably the only 2000 champion
fantasy team out there that can say it sported Troy Aikman and Tim
Couch at QB.
One thing the league has tried to come to grips with is keeping
owners active after they get the boot. Side contests help a little
in this regard. Just hope the infamous week 1 departed owner is
a good sport because half the fun is not letting this person forget
it - right Hokie?
Drafting skills and luck are both huge determining factors in your
success in a Survivor league like this, not necessarily in that
order. This is a really fun format though and I highly recommend
you try it out. The thing that really appeals to me is that it is
low-maintenance during the season but a very tense competition week-to-week
(plus no Jeff Probst).
Thinking Outside the Box Format
In looking for leagues to discuss in this article, one I came
across at FF Today seemed like a natural. "A
Somewhat Different Fantasy League" (ASDFL) was created by Michael
James (a.k.a. Meglamaniac) and is starting its first year of existence
for the 2001 season. According to Michael, "the purpose was to try
'something different' and to see how (an) unusual format would go
over with some FF managers I knew had experience."
What is so unusual you're wondering? First off, its a total points
league instead of head-to-head format. Not common but certainly
not unheard of. How about having a random draft order by round?
That one certainly piqued my interest.
If you're an advocate that draft order doesn't matter, or if you
feel you're a bit of a gambler, maybe you want to give this method
a try. Probabilities would indicate everyone will end up with similar
average draft position, but tell that to one team in ASDFL who will
be drafting 10, 14, 13, 9, 14 and 13 through the first 6 rounds
in this 16-team league.
You might be thinking this team doesn't have a chance but not so
fast. After week 8 the league is going to redraft every player using
a serpentine format in reverse order of overall standings. This
gives teams a great opportunity to go back on draft mistakes or
recover from crucial injuries from the first half of the season.
I was a little skeptical the draft can get done in 1 week, but a
live draft is planned and owners will have to appoint a substitute
if they can't make it.
Besides being a league with some unique twists in the rules, it
looks to serve a couple purposes in the ongoing research of fantasy
football. After the first draft, but before the start of the season,
every owner is to submit their player statistic projections to the
league for their top 15 QBs, 30 RBs, 45 WRs and 15 TEs. The reason
is to test Michael's hypothesis that some fantasy positions are
easier to project than others. Also, the results from using the
random draft order will give some hard data about how important
draft position is.
This league is aptly named because certainly it is different than
the norm. Although you might not want to follow the league rules
to the letter, I've included it here as a great example of a league
developed outside the box of conventional thinking. You might have
some wild ideas for a fantasy league but thought it too crazy to
try out. You never know though. Sometimes the best way to stretch
your mind thinking about draft strategy and player evaluation is
to go against the grain, much like ASDFL is doing.
:: comments to mike
macgregor
Mike MacGregor is the owner and operator
of Pro Football Analysis.com,
which he recently started up in May 2001. Pro Football Analysis.com
provides research, analysis and tools for handicapping NFL football
and playing fantasy football.
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