Robert Meachem's Fumble Return TD In Week 13

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A wild play in the WAS/NO game in week 13 caused a conundrum in fantasy football scoring in Yahoo leagues. In the 2nd quarter WAS safety Kareem Moore intercepted Drew Brees and attempted a return when NO receiver Robert Meachem stripped the ball and returned it for a TD. Yahoo initially scored the play as a defensive TD for NO but it was reversed as a 'offensive fumble return for a TD' and 6 points were given to Meachem.

Yahoo made the right call. Meachem should be awarded the points, as it was NO's offense on the field and not their defense. It can be argued that when an offense turns the ball over that they become the defense as they try to stop the opposing team from scoring. However, if you agree with that idea then a team DEF could not score a TD in fantasy because they would be considered the offense at that point.

I wrote back to Yahoo and advised they should change the name of the rule 'offensive fumble return for a TD' to 'offensive turnover recovered for a TD'. Here is a log of the email sent to Morris of the Yahoo Fantasy Sports Team.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

R. Meachem's defensive touchdown in week 13.

I just want to know if Yahoo's ruling on this play is consistent.
Has it always been when an offensive player makes a defensive play that
the points go to the team DEF, and not to the actual offensive player?
Has Yahoo's adjustment been made to all Yahoo Fantasy Football
leagues? Has there been any complaints or praises about this adjustment?

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

I appreciate your bringing the issue with the New Orleans/Washington
game to our attention. I know this comes at an inconvenient time for you
and your league and for that I apologize. We are currently looking into
the Brees INT/Fumble play in which Meachem scored a TD. We will update
scoring in accordance to our rules when a ruling has been reached.

Thank you for using Yahoo! and for your interest in Yahoo! Fantasy
Sports. If you have further comments or questions, please feel free to
reply to this email and we will gladly assist you.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

Regards,

Morris

Yahoo! Fantasy Sports Customer Care
Sports Fantasy Football

Morris,

Thank you for responding to the scoring issue in week 13. It's really more of a puzzle than an inconvenience. It looks like Yahoo made their decision.

I've noticed that the points for the TD were awarded to Meachem with an asterisk that footnotes it as an 'offensive fumble return for a TD'. I believe this is the right call but I would recommend renaming the rule to something like 'offensive turnover for a TD', then I think all the bases are covered.

Thank you for the support.

Jan

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

We're glad to hear that your question has been answered and thanks for
your offensive turnover suggestion.

If there's anything else we can help you with, please let us know.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Fantasy Sports.

Regards,

Jimmy

Yahoo! Fantasy Sports Customer Care
Sports Fantasy Football

Fantasy Football Quitters: Overriding Line-ups Amendment

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It appears that everyone in the BFFG is still involved except Anchors Aweigh. I have dropped a line to JD (email, text message, and phone call) and have not received a response. I assume since his team has not done so well he has decided that he has better things to worry about, which is fine.

I am still contemplating on how to deal with quitters. It's been a brain-buster actually. I apologize to everyone for not having all these details worked out ahead of time. I can ensure you; however, that the experience will have me more prepared in the future.

I've decided that I need to work on what I already have started with one exception; I'm not going to lock JD's team. I want to allow him to come back if he decides to. It's all up to him.

I am going to honor what I previously wrote about overriding the lineups but there are some concerns. His team has so many injuries, but all of his players are still active. He has no players listed as NA or IR. For this reason I'm not going to do any add/drops. My intentions are to edit his line-up to the most common sense configuration and make no more changes for the rest of the season.

Thank you guys for your support. I'm doing my best to develop a fool-proof system. If you have any questions or input let me know.

A Fantasy Draft Formula Designed To Keep You In All Season

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Imagine coming all the way from the bottom of the standings to competing for the last playoff seed in your league. You went from last to 5th in a 5 game win streak. Its do-or-die last week in the regular season. Your match-up looks tight but you definitely got a chance. Too bad the guy also competing for the same spot is facing Team Quitter this week. Team Quitter's starting QB has been on IR for 2 weeks and the other positions are not much better. That's because Team Quitter has no more stake in the game. He gave up 3 weeks ago. No matter how good your chances are to come from behind or maintain a lead in the standings, if the competition is facing a dead team your probably not going anywhere.

You can't blame people who quit on fantasy football too much. Staying in and playing the spoiler doesn't do it for everyone. No doubt managers who quit still impact the league because their team remains and there's no way to tell how they'll leave. They can leave hurt, inactive, and players with bye weeks coming up in starting slots.

In my league, the BFFG, the draft order is based on the results from the previous season. The idea is to give everyone a fair shot at the cream-of-the-crop players. The last place team gets first pick followed by each sequential team and last pick goes to the league's champion. I thought giving 1st pick to the last place team would entice managers who do not do so well to come back and join again next year. The problem is it also entices teams in last place to stay in last place, killing competition.

My new formula is designed to keep managers who are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs to stay involved and compete. Here is how it works with a 12 team league and 6 teams going to the playoffs.
7th seed - 1st pick
8th seed - 2nd pick
9th seed - 3rd pick
10th seed - 4th pick
11th seed - 5th pick
12th seed - 6th pick
6th place - 7th pick
5th place - 8th pick
4th place - 9th pick
3rd place - 10th pick
2nd place - 11th pick
1st place - 12th pick
(New managers to the league follow the 12th pick in chronological order of when they signed up.)

Having a top draft pick is a treat. You're bound to land an MVP type player. This method of assigning the draft order will give those who might normally quit something to play for.

Fantasy Football Quitters

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One of the dilemmas of being fantasy commissioner is that you also have your own stake in the league. It's possible for this to be perceived as a contradiction when the time comes to perform a commissioner duty. There are; however, certain things a commissioner must do to preserve integrity in the league, but you have to make sure these actions are consistent. In other words, don't cheat.

My #1 priority in the BFFG is to run a fair and challenging league as commissioner. My #2 priority is to win. So, it bothers me when I feel I may have to interfere with a team's roster. I promise that my intentions are to increase competition and make things fair, and not to cheat for myself.

There are only 2 reasons I would interfere with a team's line-up: 1. at a manager's request, or 2. if a manager quits. The first reason needs no explanation. The second is a more complex.

There's really nothing wrong with quitting the league. You may feel that you're mathematically eliminated from the playoffs and rather not bother. You may have a personal obligation that comes first and have to put fantasy aside. Or, ya just might not give a shit anymore. It happens.

Let me explain how I will handle the issue of quitting in the BFFG:

1. Identify a quitter. Ideally, I would like to actually speak to a manager and hear them say something like, "Ya, I've given up. I can't make the playoffs. Oh well, there's always next year. [etc.]" But it might be that your W/L record and level of participation speaks for you. In which case I will . . .

2. Override the line-up. When I assume a team has quit I will lock that team and adjust their line-up with 1 thing in mind: do as little as possible. Basically, put the best players in and don't change anything for the remainder of the season. The only exception is if that team can't start a player in every position; in which case I will pick up a needed starter and put them in. If I add a player to a dead team it will be a player that is ranked in the middle of what is available in the free agent pool. There will be no trading or dropping of players from the dead teams.

My rules on quitters are not new. I have dealt with dead teams ever since I started my fantasy football league in 2001. I have handled it pretty much the same way except that now I try to communicate more with managers and document all issues in this blog. I promise to increase fair deliberation on fantasy issues and continue to write in this blog.

I don't want to see anyone quit. I don't want to lock teams. I think that even when you are eliminated from the playoffs it's still fun to try your best and play the spoiler. But if you stay involved in the league and you try real hard against a guy one week, you should also do the same the next week. My rule on quitters is to ensure that no one has a free ride to the championship. All I ask is that managers who participate legitimately try to win. It is the best way to keep the league fair, interesting, and fun.

Field Goal Agony

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It's the quietest moment in pro-football. The teams line up in field goal formation. The fans hold their breath, clench their fists, and pray. Here it is. It all comes down to this moment. [Timeout], the other team. Then they do it all over again. "And the kick is . . . ."

The result of a clutch field goal kick to win or tie a game can leave you in jubilation or agony. We've already seen some dramatic going-for-three in 2009 and NFL's week 6 ended with even more traumatic field goal kicking.

The Vikings lead the Ravens 27-10 going into the 4th quarter and then things got interesting. The Ravens' offense came out of hibernation and scored 3 TDs using their newly characteristic passing attack. Mark Clayton and Derrick Mason both grabbed passes for TDs and Ray Rice rushed for a 33 yard TD. The Vikings answered with 2 field goals in the 4th, which actually put them back in the lead 33-31 with just under 2 min left to go. Then the Ravens, who looked unstoppable up to this point, get all the way to the 34 and spike the ball with 2 sec left on the clock. It all came down to a 44 yard field goal for Steven Hauschka. Baltimore held their breath. The kick was just a bit too far to the left. Vikings win.

Another nail-biter in week 6 came down to clutch field goal kicking. The Jets' Jay Feely and Bills' Rian Lindell each missed field goals, which would have given their teams the lead and prevented the game going into overtime.

And then Monday night in San Diego, Nate Kaeding, who made a beautiful 50 yard kick earlier in the 3rd quarter, missed a 55 yard one to win the game. It was just a little to the left.

Should we blame it all on the kicker?

Jim Mora of the SEA Seahawks basted Olindo Mare after he went 4 for 6 in field goal kicks in a 25-19 loss to CHI earlier in the season. Is that fair?

Jim Mora is not the only one who downs kickers. Kickers don not typically hold the most respect in football. Some even consider the position to be completely separate, and in a lower class, from the rest of the game. Three-pointers are taken for granted. Perhaps because the kicker, who has perfected his skill, makes it look too easy sometimes. And perhaps because kickers are rarely involved in any contact in a sport that revolves around hitting people. What makes it worse for kicker is how terribly bad a missed field goal looks. It's like missing a dunk in basketball or running into another outfielder in baseball. It's a frustrating moment for a teams' fans and a laughable one for the opposing teams' fans.

After the Ravens loss to the Vikings the press spoke with Hauschka, who was emotionally rocked over the ending of the game. He said many of the Ravens came over to him after the miss and encouraged him that they will need him for a "big kick" later in the season. Those Ravens have the right attitude.

Kickers deserve more praise for what they do. Their position may not include tackling, blocking, or leaping into the air but it doesn't lack the pressure that all payers experience to win a game.

Fantasy MVP: Peyton Manning

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It's week 6 and roughly the middle of the fantasy football season. In my league the Baltimore Fantasy Football Gurus, which is considered to be a QB heavy league because passing TDs are awarded 6 pts instead of 4, Peyton Manning is the man. Shocker!

Peyton leads all positive QB stats except for rushing. He has: 1645 passing yards and 12 TDs, which equal 133 fantasy points in the BFFG. The Colts are on a bye this week then they face: STL, SF, HOU, and NE. These match ups are favorable for Peyton who has a good chance to continue carrying the torch the rest of the way. The NFL's MVP last year is campaigning to win the award again this year.

Peyton has been taken in the first round in the last 3 years of the BFFG. He should be a first round pick in every league. Payton's popularity in fantasy football will not change anytime soon because: the Colts win a lot of games, he never gets sacked, he barely makes mistakes, and throws the ball to anyone.

It doesn't matter who is on the receiving end for the Colts. Peyton will make them stars. Not only does Peyton continue to be a fantasy gem, he raises the stock of players he plays with. Pierre Garcon and Donald Brown are good examples of players on the rise, probably in the free agent pool at the beginning of the season, and now are must-pick-ups.

Should The Ravens Go For T.O.?

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Terrell Owens in Buffalo doesn't seem to be a good match. He has not generated any chemistry with the team and especially not with QB Trent Edwards. He has 202 receiving yards and 1 TD in 5 games, which are sub-par numbers for what is considered to be a top WR in the NFL.

The disappointing engagement has already generated some trade rumors, but what is the likelihood that T.O. will be traded? After watching how well Braylon Edwards contributed last night in his first game with the Jets, it's hard to doubt what NFL teams will do now in the middle of the season.

So who would be interested in acquiring T.O.? The Ravens?

The Ravens have already been burnt by T.O. before. The year he signed with the Eagles, T.O. was in talks with the Ravens but said he changed his mind because of their QB situation. What has changed since then is BAL has a new QB and a new head coach.

Joe Flacco's deep passing abilities and T.O.'s big play ability are connections that all parties would be interested in. Also, coach John Harbaugh has some familiarity with T.O. when they were both on the Eagles. The Ravens upcoming bye week would give them time to work T.O. in the offense.

Would acquiring T.O. help the Ravens? It's hard to say. Last year he had 69 catches for 1052 yards and 10 TDs for DAL. Those are numbers that BAL would be looking for if he came. The Ravens receiving core doesn't lack talent but does lack variety. The Ravens #3, and biggest receiver, is Kelly Washington who has 212 yards and 1 TD, which is ironically similar to T.O.'s #s. Acquiring T.O. in a package for Washington or their #4 WR Demetrius Williams would be an upgrade. Then the question becomes, "Will he behave?" Who knows? But the Ravens coaching staff and managing staff are no-nonsense dudes. It would only happen if T.O. convinced them that he wants to play like a Raven.

Fantasy Basketball

Fantasy basketball is near the last rung of exciting fantasy games. You would think all the excitement in the NBA should transcend into a great head-2-head fantasy league. It just doesn't seem to carry over well. Not that fantasy basketball is all bad. There's plenty of stats and players to support it, but it seems there is just something missing.

I once ran a fantasy basketball league called The Starting Five, which had a roster size of 10 and , yes, 5 starters. It was a head-2-head league that used the basic stat categories: PTS, REB, STL, AST, etc. I thought it was set up well but there was something missing. The league lacked a strategic approach to winning. It seemed you could just simply lock-in you best 5 players and run with it. Your chances of winning were almost the same if you just took auto pick in the draft and never made any changes to the starters.

I gave up on The Starting Five for a few years and joined public fantasy basketball leagues instead. I tried them all: head-2-head, rotisserie, and points style. I felt each of these had them same problem. There was just no strategy.

This year I'm hoping to revamp The Starting Five. I developed a simple and basic structure that I hope will make the league interresting. These are the key settings for the league:

League Size: 10-14

Scoring Type: Head-to-Head

Roster Positions: PG, G, PF, F, C, BN

Players Stat Categories: Free Throw Percentage (FT%), Points Scored (PTS), Total Rebounds (REB), Assists (AST), Steals (ST), Blocked Shots (BLK), Turnovers (TO)

Draft Type: Live Draft
Draft Time: Mon Oct 26 8:00pm EDT

Max Moves: No maximum
Max Trades: No maximum

Max Acquisitions per Week: 1

League ID#: 98337
League Name: THE STARTING 5
Password: fad5
Custom League URL: http://basketball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/thestartingfive

Hopefully things will start off on the right foot with a live online draft the night before the NBA season begins. Live drafts are fun and the timing is relevant.

I'm going with a roster size of 6 with the bench spot being the 6th man. With 10-14 teams in the league, this will leave the top NBA stars on managers teams. There will be plenty of familiarity on teams and also in the free agent pool.

It will go head-2head and stick with the basic stats that everyone can conjure.

The only restriction on moves will be the 1 acquisition per week setting. The idea hear is to allow managers to change players all they want but prevent a loop hole where you could change your team everyday and never have regular days off. I acquisition per week should still generate plenty of interactivity.

I included the league ID and Password above. The league is just-for-fun. No entry fee. If you read this and you are interested, please join.

Need a Wideout?

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There's good news this morning if you're in need of a WR on your fantasy team. Braylon Edwards is traded to the Jets and Michael Crabtree signs with the 49ers.

Braylon's stock should go up considerably playing for the Jets. Although the Jets are listed just below the Browns in passing offense, Braylon goes to a team that is doing much better overall and has no QB controversy. Mark Sanchez is the man for the Jets. Coach Rex Ryan seems to have Sanchez playing the same role as Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan did for their teams last year. If the Jets follow similar footsteps as the Ravens and Falcons you will see their offense improve very soon. The Jets obviously want to improve their in-the-air game and Braylon's talent should contribute a great deal.

Crabtree finally signs with the 49ers who are already off to a good start in their division: 3-1, and in 1st place. QB Shaun Hill is 11th in passing rank. There seems to be plenty of room for an offensive player on the team. Crabtree should contribute considerably. The 49ers and their fans are eager to see what their 1st round pick can do.

Its likely each of these players have been dropped in your league and are available. Their talent is deserving of top echelon picks in a fantasy draft but their situations have lowered their stock so far in 2009. Need a WR? Pick them up. Make sure to check game time status as each may not necessarily start this week but should be on the field catching balls very soon.

Rodgers Tonight.

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Coming down to this highly anticipated Monday Night Football game; Aaron Rodgers barely outscores Brett Favre in QB rating on the season. Their stats are almost neck-and-neck. The match up must really haunt Rodgers who can't evade constant comparisons to Favre.

Fantasy owners of Rodgers and Packers fans would love to see him come out and play a little angry in this game. If the Packers lose they would stay in 3rd place with plenty of season left to catch up, including a home game rematch with the Vikings on 11/1. So, if Rodgers can at least perform well tonight it'll calm down some scrutiny. Packers fans will lay-off. Fantasy owners will not hate themselves for their 3rd/4th round starting QB pick. As long as Rodgers puts up respectable numbers, all is good. Their schedule is favorable: DET and CLE in the next 2 weeks.

Hopefully you started all available players in this game. There's gonna be a lot of showing off and that's always good for fantasy points.

What is the Right Size for a Fantasy Football League?

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How many teams/managers should you have in a fantasy football league?

Recruiting is essential to how fun, challenging, and rewarding the league will be throughout the season. I've been a fantasy football commissioner for almost 10 years. My experience as head-honcho has taught me a lot about how to structure a league. If you are thinking about commissioning or joining a league for the first time then you may want to consider my thoughts on the right size.

One of the main goals in the league is to have something to play for. Many successful leagues play for prize money. When managers feel they are in it for something it generates more interaction and a more fun league. Another goal is to have the right amount of depth. The league should be both inviting for newbies and challenging for veterans.

My previous leagues have been between 10-14 teams. This number seems to work pretty well because: every manager gets good familiar players, it leaves the right amount of good talent in the free agent pool, teams play each other no more than twice, and there's plenty of revenue for prize money. Currently my league is 12 deep and has the following settings, which are based primarily on Yahoo's default settings:

Roster: 1QB, 3WR, 2RB, 1TE, 1K, 1DEF, 7BN.
Playoffs: 6 teams, WKs 14, 15, 16.
Divisions: 2, with each division winner clinching a playoff spot.

My only change is the additional BN spot to make up for having maximum moves set to 10. I believe these are good settings for a league that's 12-14 deep. Unless you have no maximum moves set, then I would decrease the BN to 6. Having too many players on your team can be frustrating as you'll constantly fight yourself on who to start. Also, it allows managers to horde players just for the sake of not letting anyone else have them.

The question then becomes, "What is the minimum and maximum amount to have in a league?" Most fantasy football applets such as Yahoo allow you to have between 4-8 teams make it to the playoffs. Ideally you want no more than half of the teams make it into the playoffs. Otherwise there's really no reason to be competitive in the regular season. You would also have trouble collecting a good amount of revenue for first, second, and third place prizes. For this reason I think 8 teams is as low as you can go. You might discover an 8 team league leaves too much talent wasted in the free agent pool. A good fix might be to increase the roster size to 16 and add a utility player, like a WR/TE, RB/WR, or RB/TE. I would use these settings for a 8 team league:

Roster: 1QB, 3WR, 2RB, 1TE, 1RB/WR (or WR/TE, RB/TE), 1K, 1DEF, 7BN.
Playoffs: 4 teams, WKs 15, 16.
Divisions: none.

Yahoo allows you to set your league up to 20 teams. This really seems too much since a lot of the talent will be tapped out of the free agent pool. Also, since there are only 32 regular NFL teams it would be difficult for every team to carry backup QBs, Ks, or DEFs, which will lead to frustration with a lot of managers. For this reason I think 16 deep is the largest you want your league to be. I would use these settings for a 16 team league:

Roster: 1QB, 3WR, 2RB, 1TE, 1K, 1DEF, 6BN.
Playoffs: 8 teams, WKs 14, 15, 16.
Divisions: 4, with each division winner clinching a playoff spot.

This may actually be the ideal size for a competitive league. Half of the NFL's 32 teams is 16 and would allow each manager to carry a backup QB, K, and DEF. It would be highly competitive with 8 teams going into the playoffs. 16 teams would give the league a lot of revenue for prize money. You would probably see more action on the trading block since available free agent talent will be scarce. With plenty of competition, depth, interaction, and reward, you would be on your way to commissioning a great fantasy football league.

Romo Tonight

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I'm looking forward to watching Tony Romo answer to the C'boys fans who are calling for his head.

As a fantasy owner of Romo, I'm not too worried. His last start looked bad but he still got 2 TDs against a tough D. True, that game was hard to watch. Even harder if you're a C'boys fan; they lost the last game in the old stadium and the first game in the new one.

I'm guessing Romo is still popular in that locker room. Even if his accuracy is a bit off like last week, Jason Witten, Roy Williams, and others will go after the ball and take pressure off Romo. I'm thinking 300 yards and 3 TDs. I don't care if the Panthers are #3 in passing defense. C'boys will get it done tonight. Dallas relax.

"Willis McGahee is done."

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That's what was heard last year in a disappointing season for # 23. LeRon McClain stepped-it-up and was the leading rusher for the Ravens in 2008. The thought for many was Ray Rice would take over in 2009 and handle most of the carries. That theory seemed relevant as Rice is now listed as #1 on the depth chart and has started in all of the Ravens games in 2009.

Ray Rice could very well be the future but what is also for sure is the Ravens, like a lot of other NFL teams, are using a committee running back system. A lot of the top rushing teams seem to mix-it-up with a blend of old and new, or strong and agile, or both into their running games. The Ravens for example, who are the #4 team in rushing, mix it up with McGahee, Rice, and McClain. McGahee and Rice both have 190 rushing yards on the year. Every ball carrier has a score. McGahee has 6 TDs, which leads the NFL. The Saints, who are #1 in rushing, have done so with 4 ball carriers: Mike Bell, Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush, and Lynell Hamilton. Each have at least a TD. The first two have shared 75 of the team's carries. The Dolphins split-it-up with Ronnie Brown and Rickey Williams. The Broncos do it with Correll Buckhalter, Knowshon Moreno, and LaMont Jordan.

The exceptions (teams that seem to use the 'every down' back system so far) are the Titans, Vikings, and Bills. Chris Johnson, Adrien Peterson, and Fred Jackson seem to handle most of the load for their teams. But those exceptions all have great spell backs who will most likely see more carries as the feature back will defiantly need to rest later on.

The running back committee system allows for more players to get their second chance and for older players to last longer. Don't expect the Ravens to part with McGahee any time soon or even slow his role.

Another rusher called, "done" is LaDainian Tomlinson who was out last week with an ankle injury. The Chargers, who are second to last in rushing, will desperately need L.T. to get their team back in their regular form. When L.T. is back, start him. If he is somehow in your free agent pool, text the guy who dropped him, "you're an idiot," pick him up and at least start him against the Broncos in week 6 for sure.

Weelky Waivers

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The massive wave of waivers claims went through today. I like the process. The experience has me thinking of adjustments for next year. I'm thinking of setting the "max moves" and "max trades" to "no maximum", returning to a 15 man roster size, and activating weekly waivers. I can simply rely on teams' waiver budget management to keep player acquisitions fair and even.

Wildcat = Fantasy Fun

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Last night was the 1 year anniversary of the Dolphins tromping the Patriots and surprising the crap out of everyone with the wildcat offense. MIA won 38 - 13. How could I forget. I had good 'ol Ronnie Brown on the bench and only missed out on 5 TDs, one being a freakin pass. My opponent that week was at the Ravens game with me; laughing his but off as we watched, on the jumbo-tron, Ronnie run all over NE. I made sure to start Brown this time.

This year the offensive tactic was no surprise, but still, hard for IND to stop. I had a ball watching Ronnie get 137 yards and 2 TDs. One thing is for sure, the induction of the wildcat offense has changed a lot in fantasy football. Primarily, it raises the stock of the player who takes the snap. In MIA's case its their 1st-string running back. Why wouldn't you want Ronnie Brown on your team?

I snagged up Ronnie in the 4th round this year. Thinking not only is he the 1st-string back in a run-heavy offense but the potential fun factor of watching him play. It paid off. While I didn't quit see any passes from Ronnie, or 5 TDs, I sure needed the 25 pts to ensure my win over last weeks top scorer. It almost felt like having another QB in the line-up.

I'm sure I'll get trade requests for Ronnie now. No way am I parting with this dude. I'll start him even in a tough match-up against a good DEF. It's just too much fun to watch.

Oh ya, and I'm happy with my team this year.

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. . but I'm not super sure about Romo. SWASHBUCKLERS
1. (11) DeAngelo Williams
2. (18) Andre Johnson
3. (39) Tony Romo
4. (46) Ronnie Brown
5. (67) Derrick Mason
6. (74) Chris Cooley
7. (95) Devin Hester
8. (102) Sammy Morris
9. (123) Ted Ginn Jr.
10. (130) David Garrard
11. (151) Brent Celek
12. (158) Kevin Curtis
13. (179) Arizona
14. (186) Jason Hanson
15. (207) Houston
16. (214) Shaun Suisham

The Season Has Begun

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Guess I slacked off for a while there but, I'm back.

A lot has happened in my league (B.F.F.G.) since my last post. There's been some surprises and some set-backs. The good news: I'm in the 3rd season of the B.F.F.G. as an awards-style fantasy football league. This is why Football is #1.

The live on-line draft was a success. I was kinda worried about possible technical difficulties but everyone seemed to log on and know what to do when everything started. Using the Yahoo on-line draft tool reduced the draft time to 1 1/2 hours. A lot less than the 7 1/2 hours last year when we drafted manually. It didn't take any fun out of the draft either. There were a few parties of teams doing their own thing at home. 2 guys decided on autopick and it didn't hate on 'em too much. The chat tool was amusing at times. The experience was better than expected.

It's safe to say I will stick to the live on-line draft style next year, but I must say I missed having the party. I was reluctant to have one since I didn't know how a wireless router would respond in the situation. 14 PCs hooked up for the draft sounded like an overload waiting to happen. Thankfully, there were no technical difficulties with 5 PCs hooked on the wireless router. So I think its good. I plan to reimplemented the draft party next year, "B ring Y our O wn L aptop" style.

The only small set-back was losing 2 teams due to hard times in a bad economy. This brings the B.F.F.G. down to 12 total teams for 2009. Luckily, I was able to edit the schedule before week 2, making the 2 lost teams face each other every week. The lost teams will not affect the rest of the league this season.

The challenge then becomes, what to do with the players on those teams? I'm very happy with the advancements in Yahoo. I was able to dump the players on the 2 teams and place all free agents on waivers. This allows each team to simply make claims using their acquisition budget. To make up for the addition talent in the free agent pool I increased the max moves and trades to 12 each, which was the average request by some team managers.

The process of dealing with the 2 lost teams made me think about some of my settings. The idea of max moves and max trades is to keep the free agent acquisitions fair. I set the roster size to 16 from the standard 15 to adjust for the fact that each teams max moves is 10. I'm wondering now if I went back to 15 on the roster, weekly waivers from Sun - Tue and set the free agent acquisition budget to 200 if it would not only keep things fair but make it more interesting. I'll have to think about that one.

Setting Maximum Player Acquisitions

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As a fantasy commissioner, you can't turn a blind-eye to activity in the free agent pool. Prior to 08, my league was set to "no maximum" for allowed add-drops and trades. Of course there are many legitimate reasons for needing to drop and add a player. If and when a player gets hurt, or decides to take a year off, you have to fill that empty spot on your roster.

The problem with having a "no maximum" for add-drops was it created "Free agent vultures." These are players who add a free agent just for the sake of take him before someone else could. Its a rotten strategy. Mainly, the only real skill is the ability to jump online before anyone else could.

After researching the subject I found that different leagues do different things for free agents. Having a "no maximum" method was the most common but the "free agent vulture" strategy was mentioned every time as a common downside.

Some leagues actually pay additional dues in order to pick up a free agent. At first the cash for players method seemed most appealing. There is a sense of realism in it; however, dawned on me that I had no real recourse to collect extra money from members in-time to make the exchange before game day.

What I decided for my league (B.F.F.G.) was to simply set the maximum acquisitions to: 10 for add-drops, and 10 additional trades. The change adds a value to the add-drop move. It also makes the live draft more important part of the season.

Doing Keepers

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A hand-full of members in my league were disappointed this year on my decision not to do keepers. When Yahoo Plus added the keepers feature, the idea grew very popular in my league. Each team would choose 2 players, in any position, on their roster from last year. Last year, I communicated the possibility of starting keepers in 09. Consequently, I received many protests from other members, who drafted late or poorly. Its a shame since I had Steven Jackson and Andre Johnson, as my to-be keepers.

I decided to side with the protesters for two main reasons: (1) I mentioned we would do keepers after the 08 draft; some members did not draft properly to do keepers (2) I'm adding 5-6 new members in 09, which means I would need to do a private draft. A private draft with 5-6 new players would be very awkward.

I like the keepers idea because it gives members a sense of identity. Yahoo Plus allows you to set 1-5 keepers. Each team would, in a sense, have a core of players to build the rest of their team around. Another advantage would be making the yearly draft shorter, allowing more focus on ranking NFL rookies.

I just felt my league was not properly set up to do keepers. This year I making changes and communicating to all members, prior to the draft, that keepers will be activated in 2010. Yahoo Plus finally added the IR position this year. I've implemented 2 IR spots for each team. The IR spots will allow members to keep their franchise guys on their roster even if they go on the real-life IR or DL.

Setting the Draft Order

My decision to base the draft order on W/L and total points from last year drew some protest. Is it fair to have the team with the lowest # of wins pick first in the draft?

I set the draft order as follows: team with lowest # of wins picks first. Lowest overall points is the tie-breaker. New members to my league pick after the champ from last year in order of who signs up first.

Setting the draft order his way mimics the real NFL in two ways. 1 bad teams get first pick. 2 teams know in advance where they will pick in the draft.

Members who do poorly 2 or 3 years in a row may not want to rejoin. One of the keepsakes in my league is that i have a lot of returning members and hopefully implementing 2 keeper players next year.

Fantasy Football Registration

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Is there anyone else like me who started checking for fantasy football registration back in late April. I just couldn't wait to start my league back up again.

For 7 out of the last 8 years my league has been hosted on Yahoo. The exception was 2004 when I chose NFL.com. Also the only year I won 1st place. Most of my members claimed it was not as user-friendly as Yahoo. I personally didn't think it was as good looking as Yahoo's. There were some advantages like customizable logos, setting divisions, etc. All of which I do believe are available on Yahoo Plus now.

Anyhow, I've renewed my league and kept all the previous year's scoring settings. I was happy to include some of the new fantasy features on Yahoo Plus. The 3 I'm most excited about are: 1 ability to go up to 4 divisions, 2 IR, and 3 the waiver acquisition budget.

Another great new feature is the online mock draft. I've done 3 already. Not only does it allow you to analyze draft picks but it also gets members familiar with the online drafting tool. Because of this new feature I've decided to conduct my draft online this year.

The past 2 years my draft was done offline in a draft party. Draft parties are tons of fun but too long for most people. I think last year's was 7 hrs or so. Not only were members losing track of who was still available but wives started calling cell phones. The last few rounds just dragged on and we were all making bad picks anyway. The drafting too is much more efficient and I'm glad to find all of my members approve the change.

Maybe the draft party can be replaced with a trophy party? The only protest I hear from my members is they liked getting everyone together and talking trash. The problem is I'm not too sure how to host a trophy party. I live in a small 2 bedroom apt for one. I guess It's just something else I'll ponder over during this season.

Hey, all you fantasy commissioners. Lets Talk.

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So for 8 straight years now I have volunteered my extra time in being a fantasy football commissioner. I assume those of you who have donated the same effort would agree with me; there's a lot to think about. Surely your fantasy members have no idea how much thought you put in constructing the league. They just sign-up and have fun. We commissioners; however, must do more than simply participate.

Commissioners set the structure for league. We adjust the rules and scoring. We recruit. We are trusted with collecting dues and paying out rewards. We are managers. The role we must play in the league is two-fold. Since we also have teams fighting to win within our league we must stay competitive but we can't exactly have a dog-eat-dog mentality.

The commissioner must be the backbone. If members get bored the simply stop participating and the rest fall like dominoes. Commissioners are also responsible for upholding integrity in the league. No one wants to play in a corrupt league. If members get the slightest suspicion your league is faulty they will most likely quit and you could have big trouble on your hands.

What do I hope to accomplish with The Commissioner's Corner? Well, mainly to develop a place to discuss the rules and structure of fantasy leagues. The little details that commissioners ponder over in an effort to make leagues more fair, fun, and realistic. The Commissioner's Corner will focus more on the fundamentals of a fantasy league and less on player rankings and stat-talk.