Are You Ready For Some.......Fantasy Football!!!

           

Many people will be holding their Fantasy Football drafts sometime in the next 7-10 days.  We held our draft back on July 31st and are eagerly awaiting the upcoming season.  As the Sportz Assassin, I am the commish of our fantasy league.  And I do it the ol' fashioned way.  I run it.  Sure, I use an "office manager" to help with the scoring...but I made the schedules...held the draft at my house...conduct all business thru me...type and distrubute all paper work.

This year, I've entered some online fantasy leagues.  I really don't care about winning them...I am just intrigued to find differences and nuances that many leagues have that I may want to incorporate into our league in the future.  If any of you have some...feel free to respond with them. 

I am in now way a fantasy expert....but this is just some of the things our fantasy league does that may be out of the norm:

*BASIC LEAGUE SETUP.  We start 1 QB....2 RB....3 WR/TE....1 K....1 DEF.  You must start that exact lineup each week.  We kept the league to a mere 8 teams.  Everyone plays each other twice.  After the 14-week season...we go to a 3-team playoff.  The #1 team gets a by into our championship game...while the #2 and #3 teams play for the right to face him.  The winner of our championship game wins a Championship Ring.

*DRAFT EARLY.  There is that time between January and September that football fans are chomping at the bit.  My league is full of guys like that.  We talk about the upcoming...well, down the road....draft for months.  We can't wait to get it started.  Due to the odd nature of my our work schedules...we have to get in when we fit in [we work 13 days on....1 day off].  So, July 31st opened up for all of us.  We had our draft then. 

*DRAFT BIG.  Since I run all the league...I want the less AMOUNT of work I can get.  The biggest way I have done that is by expanding rosters.  We have 21 players on our roster.  The roster consists of 3 QBs....6 RB....7WR/TE....2 K....3 DEF.  The reasoning for this is that I want everyone to have a full roster in case of injuries, bye weeks, etc.  I want the least amount of transactions as I can.  One problem with the online fantasy leagues is the constant waivering.  You play one week...then hit the waiver wire on Tuesday to pick up the guys you want for next week.  That isn't fun.  Our league makes you a "team".  Those guys that are on your roster on Week 1....well, you are stuck with 'em! 

*TEAM QUARTERBACK.  In past fantasy seasons...the biggest problems certain teams have had is at QB.  With byes, injuries and demotions....there were times there was no QB to play.  One guy had Tommy Maddox, Steve McNair and Brad Johnson.  Maddox and Johnson lost their jobs [Maddox to injury] and McNair was doubtful all year long.  So there were times he couldn't start a QB.  You are right...the easiest solution is to draft one of your QB's backups...but that isn't fun.  So, we took it a step further and started a "Team QB".  That means, instead of Joey Harrington...you get "Lions QB".  Whomever the Lions play...either Harrington or Garcia....you have him.  This also helps Peyton Manning owners who watched as Manning stood on the sidelines during the 4th quarter.  "Colts QB" owners get the stats that Jim Sorgi puts up.  It also helps with the aprehension of starting certain guys.  Steve McNair owners were hesitant to insert him into the lineup because he may not play.  But as a "Titans QB" owner...you get whomever goes out there.  "Jets QB" owvers watch Chad Pennington get clocked in the 2nd quarter and leave the game??  You get his backup.  It helps on so many levels. [note:  AOL's fantasy site gave us the idea for this]. 

*KEEPERS.  I love keepers.  I gives owners a sense of "franchise".  We allow a holdover of 3 players....and no two players can play the same position.  So, you can't hoard running backs.  You have to decide.  Personally, I kept "Colts QB", Ahman Green and Tony Gonzalez.  There were some people that had to decide between Willis McGahee or Jamal Lewis.  Terrell Owens or Javon Walker.  Preist Holmes or Edgerrin James.  It makes the draft more interesting...as everyone has different needs.  I didn't need a QB, since I had Peyton Manning.  But I needed to target receivers and backs.  Another guy had Carson Palmer as his QB and needed to focus at getting one of the top QBs.  It also skews the draft.  Most of the top guys are gone.  You must sort thru the rest.  The first round of our draft went like this:  1-McGahee, 2-E. James, 3-C. Johnson, 4-D. Davis, 5-K. Jones, 6-R. Johnson, 7-C. Martin and 8-S. Jackson.  Not the names that are atop many draft board, eh?  Draft strategies are truly changed. 

*ONE DROP/ADD DURING YEAR.  That is it.  You have ONE opportunity to throw a player off your team and add a new one.  That is it.  Just one.  So it is held in the highest regard to everyone.  You don't use it until you absolutely have to.  Trades are allowed, but must be approved by 4 other owners.

*INJURED RESERVE.  We do compensate by having an injured reserve.  What this means is if you got a player who is placed on the NFL's injured reserve [meaning he is done for the season]...then you can replace that player.  If someone had Stephen Davis last year, they could replace him with another running back the instant Davis was officially placed on IR.  This helps depleted rosters out. 

*HAVE AN "AMNESTY AUGUST".  This is the first year we've tried this...but since we hold our draft so early, we allow some tinkering in August.  Upon looking at your drafted roster...you see some problem in there you can drop/add as much as you like.  From August 1-August 31...we allow each team to make these moves.  Most have been minor.  But it does help for guys who suffer big injuries [Rex Grossman] or fall down on depth charts [Maurice Clarett].  Once September hits...each team falls under that 1 drop/add rule again. 

These are just some of the odd-ball things we do to keep our fantasy league fun, civil and exciting.  Please do leave comments about things that your league may do that is different.