TV

With the lockout over, I went in and activated our league from last year.  We will again have football to obsess over this fall (thank god).

So, two questions to get us going:

1) Does everyone who was in last year want to be in again this year?  If so, drop me a note in this thread.  In case you've forgotten whether or not you were in the league (hey, last year was a long time aog), the members last year were: me, Kim, Ted, Mark C, James M, Dereck, Trevor, Brian G, Michael M, Allan, Matt S, and Lee M.

2) Were there any pressing rule changes we needed to make this year?  I took a look at last year's thread.  Prior to the season, the big debates were over scoring for punt return yards/TDs, playoff spots, divisions, and the schedule.  As a refresher:

* Punt return yards/TDs: we couldn't settle on a way for individual players to get credited for PR/KR yards, although they do get credit for TDs

* We went with six playoff spots (meaning the top two teams get byes in the first round)

* We ditched having divisions in favor of one big 12-team super league

* We continued to go with a 16-week season (meaning the regular season ends in Week 13 and the playoffs run in Weeks 14-16).

Are we still cool with these moves? 

The only other issue that I saw crop up in last year's thread was ties.  We had two ties last year, which ended up having an effect on the playoffs (had the cunting Hoopleheads won instead of tied their game, they would have made the playoffs).  Do we want to institute a tiebreaker of some sort this year?  ESPN offers the following options:

* Home team wins
* Most QB points
* Most RB points
* Most WR points

No option for most bench points that I can see.  Personally, given those options, I'd rather just continue with ties. 

I can't wait for Kim to draft -- and trade -- Matt Forte again this year.

In.

Any interest in adding PPR scoring for receivers?  We did it in my work league last year.  My impression was that it made a solid WR more consistent as a scoring iption on a weekly basis, and since they score more WRs weren't as overshadowed by QBs and RBs.

I'm in. I tend to do significantly better with football compared to baseball (couldn't be any worse).

I'm in.

We should definitely have tie-breakers. The home team winning sounds good, since it's basically a coin flip. Another option is using bench points, which has always worked out well for my other league.

James

I'm in. Let's see if I can make Matt Forte my official fantasy kryptonite this year.

I'm in.

I like Ted's idea for points for receptions.  I've always heard about it but never actually played in a league that had it.

We should have tie-breakers (* fucking Hoopleheads *).  I'm surprised there's no option for bench points though ... that's how it's set-up in my other ESPN league.

>> I'm surprised there's no option for bench points though ... that's how it's set-up in my other ESPN league. <<

That's what I thought, too, so I went rooting around in the FAQ sections...

As an exception, "Most Points from Bench" is an option only available for grandfathered Custom Leagues which used such a tiebreaker rule in the past season.

BAH.  That seems like a really dumb change. 

Given the tiebreaker options we do have (home team, most QB pts, most RB pts, most WR pts), I guess I favor the home team one the most.  As James noted, that's basically like flipping a coin, which seems reasonably fair.

I wouldn't mind giving PPR a try, either.

Oh, and we're definitely keeping the waiver auction system -- if only to see who we all blow our waiver budgets on this year.

(Kim may still be ruing that bank-breaking bid on Brandon Jackson...)

I'm in.

Thanks for doing this again Ross.

1) I'm in.

2) I don't think I had any problems with last years settings, so my vote is "no change" unless there is a consensus to do so.

>>As an exception, "Most Points from Bench" is an option only available for grandfathered Custom Leagues which used such a tiebreaker rule in the past season.

BAH.  That seems like a really dumb change.<<

That's really strange. It seems like such an arbitrary option for ESPN to take away, especially given that they seem to realize a lot of longtime users would miss it.

(Also, sorry for missing the part in your initial post where you said bench points wasn't available as a tiebreaker. Had I noticed that, I like to think I wouldn't have then immediately suggested it.)

James

(Also, sorry for missing the part in your initial post where you said bench points wasn't available as a tiebreaker. Had I noticed that, I like to think I wouldn't have then immediately suggested it.)

No problem.  And, yeah, I really don't get why they would take it away.  It's been a staple of fantasy football leagues for a while.

Thanks for getting this going Ross; I am definitely in.  I'm with Ted on moving to PPR scoring on the WR.

The year ends in an odd number, so I'm going to try this again:

I'm in, if there's an opening.

I'm in. Thanks.

If there's room for additions this year, I'll give it a go. Based on history, I'll settle in to a nice spot just below the average for the league.

Thanks.  Still waiting to hear from two guys, so I'll let you know as soon as I do.

Thanks.  Still waiting to hear from two guys, so I'll let you know as soon as I do.

If you need someone to make it even I am especially good at being last. zitposh at hotmail dot com.

Lee decided not to come back this year, so welcome aboard!

Thanks!  We are currently at an odd number, so I'll keep you in mind if I don't hear from the last remaining guy from last year.

Noice!

erik (no spaces here) haltson (at) gmail.com

I'm gonna need a clever TV-based team name, aren't I?

Yes.  I'd start thinking on that now.

Got it. Phineas and Ferb-stylee, my team will be the Danville Football-inators!

I added you to the league and sent an invite.  Let me know if you didn't get it.

Welcome aboard!  I never heard back from Allan, so I'm going to assume he's taking a break this year. 

I added you to the league and sent an invite - let me know if you don't get it.

I'm thinking of freshening up my name.

"Godless Killing Machine" was so old-school Colbert.  Maybe "The Super PAC"...

I thought about changing the East Dillon Giraffes, but I'm definitely keeping it for one more year.

Damn, Kevin Boss is in Oakland now, which means the odds that I'll draft him and repeat the "Like a boss" meme for another year are now very long.

Two quick questions.

1) Do we want to bring in PPR (points per reception) this year?  Ted suggested it and I'm game to try it out, but majority rules.

2) I tentatively set the draft for 8:15 EST on Tuesday, September 6.  That was just a date/time I pulled out of a hat, though, so I'm happy to change it if that doesn't work.  I tried to avoid weekends/holidays since that's what we've done in the past.

Draft day and time works for me.

I'm a little wary of PPR, but I'll give it a try.