They Walk Among Us

Bursting from beneath the earth emerges the dead who were once fantasy relevant. They roam through the fields in mindless pursuit of their once celebrated stats. Walking corpses are everywhere—staring at you—chanting, "Brains. Brains. Brains." They are fantasy zombies! So grab your gear and run for your life. It's time for the Walking Dead League!

We've all been there—the grave of fantasy football—the downs—it sucks. That's why, in the 15 years I've commissioned our league, we've begun each season with a clean slate. Starting over is one of the best things about this game, and I hope y'all get a chance to do the research and get your favorite players in the draft. Good Luck!

I know many of us really enjoy The Walking Dead. The rest of you, I'm sure, are familiar with TV's top horror-drama. Zombies are one of the biggest genres of American pop culture, so I don't expect any problems with y'all finding metaphors, similes, and puns to work with here. Have at it! Can't wait to see the silly shit y'all come up with. It's good to be back!

Who Will Take the Iron Throne?

Lords, warriors, imps, bastards, dragons, wizards, witches, and the undead—all roam Westeros to
make their claim on the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, the dysfunctional family that is House Lannister struggles to conceal their weaknesses and keep their boys perched upon the royal seat. War is inevitable! With each unholy union, and after each blood-bath wedding, after each battle on the icy wall, or in the forrest, or in the harbor, soon the privileged will face a contender capable of taking over. Can the Lannisters defend their dynasty—or will a new king emerge? We will see.

Behold! Gameday of Thrones is here! It's time for you to form a battle-plan, draft your troops, set your lineup, and take no prisoners!

That's right fellow team-owners, we're back for another season of fantasy football. This time, our matchups will take place within a medieval fantasy world. And just in time! Red Riders defends his two-time championship (winner in 2013 and 2014). The last two-time defending champion was Svvashbucklers in 2010 and 2011. Is it time for a regime change? Oh yeah! Prove it!

You know the drill. Leaguesafe payment requests will be sent out soon. Pay your dues ($50), and register your team in Yahoo. Let's shoot for a 14-team league this year. That means if the 10 we had from last year all renew, we'll have 4 open spots, so spread the word. We're recruiting serious fantasy-footballers only. Below is the draft order for 2015. The Draft will be online—Labor Day (Monday Sept. 7) at 1:00 pm EST.

1st pick - Nips
2nd pick - Lou
3rd pick - Commish
4th pick - A-Ron
5th pick - Kenny
6th pick - Kevin
7th pick - Jason
8th pick - Cha
9th pick - The Dean
10th pick - Mr T
11th pick - new team-owner
12th pick - new team-owner
13th pick - new team-owner
14th pick - new team-owner

Predicting Thursday Night Football Blowouts

Predicting blowouts provides a useful fantasy football advantage. Simply, one should start multiple players on the winning team and avoid starting players on the losing team.

Last night, the Falcons put up a ton of points against the Bucs. Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Steven Jackson, Devin Hester, Antone Smith, and the Falcons defense all scored double digits (Harry Doulas also chipped in a touchdown). While the Bucs had no double digit earners—only scraps of points from Bobby Rainey, Vincent Jackson, and Mike Evans—all were made during junk time.

So how does one gain a fantasy football advantage from this?

Consider the following trend in weeks 1, 2, and 3, and predictions for weeks 4, 5, and 6.

The first three Thursday Night Football games have all been blowouts. In each game, the home team has won. In each game, the winning team had something to prove.

In week one on TNF, Seattle needed to prove that they were still the same team that won the championship, especially since many of the past Lombardi Trophy winners have had post season Superbowl hangovers. The Seahawks blasted the Packers 36-16. Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, and Percy Harvin had excellent games. Aaron Rodgers had one of his worst.

In week two on TNF, the Ravens were coming off of a humiliating loss at home against their division rival in Cincinnati. Desperate to avoid starting 0-2 at home and for the season, the Ravens needed to prove that they were over their Superbowl hangover from the 2012 season and show that they were indeed playoff contenders once again. The Ravens manhandled the Steelers 26-6. Joe Flacco, Bernard Pierce, and Justin Tucker had nice games; Owen Daniels served as a fantasy zombie—coming to life with 2 touchdowns. While the Steelers failed to get into the endzone.

In week three on TNF, the Falcons were coming off of a humiliating loss handed to them by the Bengals as well. ATL needed to prove: they were over their fluke from last season, are indeed a force to be reckoned with, and are contenders for the playoffs. The Falcons squashed the Bucs at home 56-14.

In week four on TNF, the Redskins host the Giants. Coming off a poor performance at Philly, The Skins will need to prove that they are real contenders for the division without RG3. Washington will beat New York 35-7. Advise: start Redskins; bench Giants.

In week 5 on TNF, the Packers host the Vikings. After a disappointing start to the season, the Packers will need to prove that they are indeed an elite team. Green Bay will beat Minnesota 45-14. Advise: start Packers; bench Vikings.

In week 6 on TNF, the Texans host the Colts. Once considered a top Superbowl prospect, the Texans need to prove that they still have a dominating defense and can use it to win the AFC South. Houston will beat Indianapolis 20-6. Advise: start Texans; bench Colts.

Feminism Is Not a Fad; It's the Future

I'm male. I'm a feminist. And I'm not perfect either.

Months ago, when the first video of Ray Rice dragging Janay Palmer out of the elevator went public, I watched in denial. "Maybe she got drunk, passed out, and he tried carrying her up to their room," I thought. Then after watching the whole video, I felt like an ass. My only excuse: I was a fan of Ray Rice and desperately hoped that he wasn't a bad guy. Conclusion: I was ignorant.

The problem with men such as myself: we are unbearably slow. Too often, we need to play extra innings in order to arrive at the appropriate responses to situations that concern women. Nevertheless, women tolerate us. We're lucky they do.

The reason for our slowness: we lack control of our emotions. Contradiction to reality, women are the ones typically accused of being overemotional, and this is bullshit.

When confronting mental challenges, men such as myself try swinging a bat at our emotions in hopes to bash out feelings and let logic happen. And like a Hail Mary pass to the endzone, sometimes we get lucky. In fact, I consider luck one of my best virtues, especially when it comes to getting a second chance with women when I don't deserve it.

Notably, women are the ones who manage logic and emotions methodically like quarterbacks leading their teams on long drives. Some women are even capable of doing our thing better than us. You'd think we'd let them do it, and encourage them as well, but we don't because it scares the shit out of us.

Paranoia, fear, anger: these are the emotions (in that order) that give men such as myself problems. We notice the inevitable: women obtaining equality in every field. This change freaks us out. We're paranoid where women's equality will lead, we fear everything we know changing, we get angry every time there's tangible progress. Ray Rice's atrocity was finally handled this week. Regardless of various opinions on the matter, the tone that was dominate in men's responses to the incident was anger (no points awarded for guys who tried to hide anger with amusement and posting things on Facebook like, "Good riddance!").

When it comes to women's equality, where do you draw the line? You don't. You can't. Women will eventually obtain their goal: 50% of everything. They're unstoppable.

My prediction is that we'll be alive to see a lot of big changes in women's equality: a woman president, women priests, and women playing in men's professional sports.

You went, "Pfft," at women playing in men's sports didn't you? (Not you ladies.) Allow me to introduce Mo'ne Davis.

She's not a softball pitcher; she's a baseball pitcher and appears to be the total package. What are the technicalities prohibiting women from playing in men's professional sports leagues? Who the hell knows! But I believe nothing is going to stop Mo'ne Davis and all the other young ladies who got "the stuff" and are well adjusted like she is.

Still poo-pooing my predictions? Whatever.

A realm exists where everything that you say will never ever happen - will happen. It's called the future.

A few things before kickoff

Acquisition Budgets
You may have noticed your acquisition budget beginning at 100 instead of 1000. Both Yahoo and ESPN use a base budget of 100 to gauge players for waivers, trades, and auction drafts. Although I feel using low numbers don't truly represent the monetary nature of the NFL, there's no need to be different. This way, the value that analysts put on players will make sense in our league.

Small Leagues
Due to a lot of legacy team owners stepping down this season, The Lumbergh F*cked Her Leagues are 10 and 8 teamed. Hopefully, we'll see them back next season. In the meantime, one thing that should change this year is an increase in trades and a decrease in drops. Virtually all of your players rank inside the top 150. This leaves very few of them droppable. Use the trade block and remember that trades process faster than waivers.

Smack Talk
With all the fancy video and picture taking apps available for smartphones, there's simply no excuse not to get more creative with smack talk this year. Have fun! That's why you joined isn't it?

Far and Away
Y'all know I've moved to LA, and I'll be missing my B'more crew, so chat with me during the games. I'd like to use Twitter and/or Facebook chat over group text messages. Agreed?

Chomp Down on the Competition with Draft Sharks' MVP Board

photo by Joshua Ridgeway

You're fantasy football draft is coming up. You have the jitters all over again. That dreadful feeling of dissatisfaction from last season's draft looms over you. Don't be a victim of another bad draft. Instead, take a great white leap in the air and bite down on a prime fantasy football advantage! Become a member of Draft Sharks.

After trying out Draft Sharks' MVP Board, I'm convinced that it's one of the best tools out there for ensuring a quality draft. Let me do you a solid. I'm going to get right down to the chum of this thing and explain exactly why you should use Draft Sharks' MVP Board for your next fantasy football draft.

Draft Sharks Wins Awards

In two of the last four years, Draft Sharks has been awarded "The Most Credible Pre-Season Fantasy Football Projections" by FSTA. I found their overall player rankings to be close with mine and that of my most trusted resources. Personally, I would call DS's rankings, "down-to-earth."

The MVP Board Syncs with Your League's Settings

This is the single feature that won me over. With a DS account, you can configure the MVP Board by logging into your league's provider and transferring the settings. It was easy with Yahoo. The MVP Board uses your league's specific settings to rank the best player for your team when it's your turn to draft. Skeptical of its suggestions at first, I analyzed my first mock draft using the MVP Board and agree it works well. Because my league scores 6 points for passing touchdowns and rosters 1 QB, 2 WRs, 2 RBs, 1 TE, and 1 WR/RB/TE, QBs and RBs should be favored, and WRs and TEs are almost on the same level. DS made the right adjustments for this on the MVP Board.

The MVP Board is NOT an Auto Draft

The MVP Board Makes it easy for you to choose the right player in the right round. While you update the board with your picks and the picks of other team owners, the MVP Board computes the best players for you and suggests them in groups of 5. You simply choose the one you like the best. If you do not like any of the 5 suggested players, you can X them out individually (X-ed out players will repopulate if they're not drafted). This makes the MVP Board feel more like a personal assistant rather than Big Brother.

What You Need to Know
You'll need to practice using the MVP Board before you draft for real. No worries, there's an easy sample board for you to try out before you subscribe to their service. If you are drafting online, you'll essentially need to use two screens: one for the MVP Board and one for your actual online draft. I used the Windows Snap Feature and zoomed out a bit and this worked for me (see pic below). If you're drafting offline (like at a party) then don't let anyone sneak a peek for free. 

The Bottom Line
You'll draft a better team with Draft Sharks' MVP Board, and likely be in contention for the championship, if you continue to use its other valuable fantasy football features. Good luck and happy drafting.

  

Fractions of Pennies

Office Space's subplot serves up the perfect theme for trying out a Points Per Reception league (A.K.A. PPR). Don't worry. You won't have to learn how to "laundry money" or anything, in fact, some of you may find the PPR style easier to understand. Below are the differences between how my standard league scores and how the PPR will score.

Stat	Standard	PPR
Passing TDs	6	6
Passing yards	1 per 25 yards	0
Completions	0	1
40+ yard completions	0	1
Interceptions	-1	-1
Pick 6s	-1	-1
Reception TDs	6	6
Reception yards	1 per 10 yards	0
Receptions	0	1
40+ yard receptions	0	1
Rushing TDs	6	6
Rushing yards	1 per 10 yards	0
40+ yard rushes	0	1
Fumbles lost	-1	-1
Return TDs	6	6
Return yards	1 per 20 yards	0

I'm also interested in changing the free league into a paid league with $20 dues. I'll set up a poll to get your thoughts on this.

Break Down the Cubicle Walls

Face it. You couldn't handle your boring job if it wasn't for fantasy football. Walking into the workplace looms dreadful thoughts, "Ugh! 8 more hours of this shit." The only bright spots at the beginning of your shift: possible free donuts in the break room and checking your fantasy football team.

No other flick sums up the common American goal of not doing work at work than the classic comedy Office Space. Therefore, I present to you: The "Lumbergh f*cked her" League. It's time to blow off authority, do as you please, and get recognition for it, like Peter did when he just said, "Fuck it," and got promoted.

Many of us have been fantasy footballin' together for over 10 years now. I'm proud to be your commish, and I would certainly conspire to infiltrate "the man" and steal fractions of pennies with you. So here we are, together again for another exciting season. Pay your dues, and sign up soon. We got a lot of not working to do.      

End of Season Report: Time to Try Draft Kings

Alas, another fantasy football season ends, depriving team owners of their weekend treat. Replacing your #1 fantasy sports hobby with games like NFL Playoff Challenges and Fantasy NBA is likely more sad than it is satisfying. And Fantasy Baseball and March Madness Brackets are close but no cigar! Thankfully, Draft Kings may have the jelly to fill your empty doughnut hole.

I'm trying Draft Kings for the first time this weekend. I've entered the Fantasy Football $400,000 Divisional Clash, drafted a team, and entered it into nine separate contests, all while taking advantage of the LeagueSafe 5% transfer bonus. I haven't been this excited since Round 1 of the Greed is Good FFL Playoffs. Wish me luck! And try it out for yourself!

Again, congratulations to the winners of the Greed is Good FFL! Based on Red Riders tenacious approach to managing his teams in the past few years, I knew it wouldn't be long before he'd grab the trophy. Y'all can thank me for stopping him from going undefeated . . . .

As promised, below is the draft order for next season. I really had a great time having you all in the league, and I hope to see you return. Happy off-season to yas!

GiGFFL Paid
1st pick - Discard After Use
2nd pick - Von Miller's Dealer
3rd pick - timesofgracefullness
4th pick - I Got Gronkitis
5th pick - He Hate Me
6th pick - Terrorizors
7th pick - DC In Yo Face
8th pick - I Pitta Da' Fool $$$
9th pick - Mad Ravens
10th pick - CarefreeCFC
11th pick - SwashBucklers
12th pick - Nip-com-plete
13th pick - The Dean
14th pick - Red Riders

GiGFFL Free
1st pick - gettinitdone
2nd pick - M.I. Man UP
3rd pick - Four Loko
4th pick - Turd Fergusons
5th pick - Bitchtits
6th pick - Hail Mary
7th pick - poon dogs
8th pick - Super Heater
9th pick - The Commish
10th pick - Bobbum Man

Protect Your Investment: Play for Your Draft Pick Next Season

The Greed is Good FFL season ends tonight, and the playoffs begin Thursday, December 5th.

Like the closing of the stock market, you strive to make those last minute decisions, hoping to send your team into the win column and among the enterprising elite. Some make it and some don't. But don't fret. You are encouraged to keep your firm afloat. Play out the rest of this season to improve your draft pick for next season.

Those of you who do not make the playoffs will compete in the consolation bracket. Winning will move you closer to the beginning of the order in next season's draft. Here's how it works.

• 5th place = 1st pick
• 6th place = 2nd pick
• 7th place = 3rd pick
• 8th place = 4th pick
• 9th place = 5th pick
• 10th place = 6th pick
• 11th place = 7th pick
• 12th place = 8th pick
• 13th place = 9th pick
• last place = 10th pick
• 4th place = 11th pick
• 3rd place = 12th pick
• 2nd place = 13th pick
• League Champion = 14th pick
• newcomers = pick after league champion in order of earliest sign-up

"The most valuable commodity I know of is information."

- Gordon Gekko

    

Q&A - How to manage trades

How should I manage trades as commissioner?

Ideally, commissioners should not review every trade in their league. Reviewing trades is time consuming and creates a lot of unwanted drama.

As commissioner of 12 years, I only vetoed one trade. And although I still feel that my veto was justified, it caused me a lot of grief and has lead me to set my league to 'Trade Review - League Votes.'

By setting your league to: Trade Review - League Votes, the commissioner is taken out of the picture. This democratic approach allows the commissioner to react to trade arguments objectively. If there comes to be too many trade vetoes, or not enough, then that is the fault of the team owner majority, and it's up to them to communicate and react to trades fairly. If major trade problems occur in the league, the commissioner should speak up, and request that owners be more reasonable or they won't be invited back to the league next year. Commissioners who opt out of reviewing trades, and leaving the responsibility to the team owners, strengthen the integrity of their league. The Trade Review - League Votes setting eliminates the chance for you, as the commissioner, to make a mistake managing trades. You won't be accused of vetoing a trade that would otherwise affect your team's chance at winning. And you won't be accused of helping out, or not helping out, another team for some insinuated personal reason.

Set the time to vote on trades to 1 day.

To stimulate trading in your league, try reducing the standard 2 days for voting on trades to 1 day. 24 hours is enough time for team owners to get the notice of a trade and make their call whether to allow it or not. Trades should have some advantage over waiver pickups, which are typically set to 2 days.

Fantasy football websites should allow teams to include acquisition budget dollars into trades.

Wouldn't that be cool?

Q&A - Dealing with team owners who quit

Should the commissioner dump all of the players from an abandoned team into the free agent pool?

I've learned the best way to handle things as a commissioner is to do so with the least amount of manipulation as possible. Don't overreact to problems. Remember, you're the commissioner, but you're also a team owner. Other team owners in the league should understand that there may be some problems along the way, and you can only do your best to make things as fair as possible.

There are at least four things a commissioner can do when someone quits the league. I'll rank these in order of most ideal to least ideal.

1. Assign the team to a new owner. Some fantasy football sites like Yahoo allow you to do this. Look in Commissioner Tools. If a new owner takes over and actively participates - problem solved!
2. Do nothing! I call this the "as is" solution. You simply do nothing to the team - no add/drops or any roster changes. Teams will have to face the so-called "dead team," and while the matchups will not be fair for each team that faces the dead team - at least you won't be blamed for making things worse. The last thing you want is to manage a dead team to somehow honorably lose each week. That's too much manipulation from the commish in my book.
3. Place all the dead team's players on the bench. This only works if each team in your league plays the dead team the same number of times. It's like creating a bye week for each team.
4. Dump the dead team into the free agent pool. Some team owners request that the commissioner dump the players from the dead team into the free agent pool. I've found this to be the worst thing you can do. Rarely will each team owner accept this idea. Also, depending on your free agent acquisitions, and who's on the dead team, the opportunity to pick up players will probably not be fair to each team. I consider dumping players to be a overreaction by the commissioner and will only make things worse. Keep your leagues integrity and go with one of the other solutions above.

Creating the Schedule

One of the most overlooked tasks for a fantasy football commissioner is devising a simple way to
create a fair schedule. The schedule has a profound influence on how a team will perform in the season. As team owners look anxiously over their schedule, they check for those tough weeks and for those big breaks that come throughout the season. What will you do when both your #1 QB and your #1 WR face the Seattle Seahawks defense in the disruptive CenturyLink Field? Could you, in fact, luck out and face the team that has Adrian Peterson and RG3 when they're both on their bye weeks? Lots of things can happen, and it's all dictated by the schedule.

There are three ways to create a fantasy league schedule:

1. leave it based on the order in which team owners joined the league (default)
2. the commissioner manually creates the schedule week to week
3. the commissioner randomizes the schedule

Although the default method of allowing the schedule to be based on when team owners joined is basically random, and it requires no action from the commissioner, there is no way for the rest of the league to know that. In fact, the case may be that the commissioner could have invited owners and had them sign up in an order that's fortuitous for their team by cherry picking who they'd rather face more often. Also, leaving the schedule based on sign ups just doesn't feel right. It's generic.

Having the commissioner manually create a schedule week to week is the most troublesome. Making decisions on who should play who, how often, and when is too difficult and too time consuming for commissioners. And if your commissioner sets the schedule manually after the draft, you should be very suspicious, as all the information they need to rig the schedule their way is there for them to manipulate.

This leaves randomizing the schedule as the optimal choice for commissioners. A random schedule is fair, and it's easy for the commissioner to manage. There are at least three important things for the commissioner to do when randomizing the schedule for their league:

1. randomize and set the schedule before the draft, this virtually rules-out the idea that the commissioner could have rigged the schedule
2. click the 'Randomize Schedule' link only once, clicking it multiple times suggests some level of manipulation from the commissioner, and it's unnecessary
3. have a team owner present as a witness, or document the randomizing of the schedule with a Screencast-O-Matic video

I have followed-through on all points of my scheduling creed. You may view the randomizing of the Greed is Good FFL schedule here on YouTube.

 

Football Never Sleeps

Every fantasy fanatic knows football never sleeps. Ever since the lights went out in Superbowl XLVII, you've been pondering over your strategy for the next season. Like the buying high and selling low jungle of the stock market, you've envisioned your #1 pick, your must-starters, your trusty backups, and your sleepers. You cannot afford to make the same simple mistakes of last year. You cannot allow yourself to pity those who are not worthy. You must dominate! No loss will be tolerated; no win will be apologetic! This is business!

"I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought." - Gordon Gekko

Welcome to the Greed is Good FFL! This year there are no excuses, no fear, no holding back - you will put your best foot forward, you will go all-in, you will let your balls hang out!

"If you need a friend, get a dog." - G.G.

I'm excited to have you all back, and I'm excited for the improvements we will have this year. One more round of applause for the top three of 2012: (3) Discard After Use, (2) CareFree CFC, (1) DC In Yo Face - clap - clap - clap - SILENCE! The slate is now cleaned. We begin anew. This year our champion will sit atop Fantasy-opolis in a skyscraper looking down on the wannabes like ants. The sacko will peek up through the bars of sewer drains with treacherous envy. 

2013 League Improvements

• League size pledge - minimum number of team-owners = 8, maximum = 14
• Flex spot - WR #3 has been replaced with a W/R/T flex spot
• Trade time - the time to protest trades has been reduced from 2 days to 24 hours
• Player adds - the maximum number of players you can add per week is now 4

Check your email for the payment request from LeagueSafe. Once you're paid up, I'll send you the invite to re-register your team in Yahoo.

The draft is set for Labor Day 9/2 at 2:30 PM. I'll keep you all posted on a possible draft party or post draft party.

Again, welcome back and good luck - you're gonna need it!

Commish

2012 Championship Report

In one galaxy the mighty Sith has been beaten. Blasted in the wing of his TIE Advanced +1, the dark lord ricochets out into space. He will return, rebuild his empire (with the third pick in the draft), and restore order to the galaxy . . . .

In another parallel universe, the mighty Sith has met his match with the one who is true to the powers of the force. "Obi-Wan has taught you well." says the father to his son. They each fight to their last breath. Good prevails! But not by the hands of the padawan, for, it was the the "chosen one" all along who was - - - - destined to bring balance to the force.

The story ends.

Until Disney starts it up again in 2014; let's hope they don't ruin a classic [fingers crossed].

I hope you all had as much fun as me this season. 

Both BFFG Paid and Free leagues are settled. I expect Yahoo to update the results of the brackets tomorrow morning. In the meantime, expect the final scores from yesterday to stand. Below are the final standings and awards. Those of you who paid dues and placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, can login to LeagueSafe soon to retrieve your prize.

Congratulations everybody!

BFFG Paid

***League Champion - DC In Yo Face - 300 - 12th pick***

**Runner Up - CarefreeCFC - 200 - 11th pick**

*3rd - Discard After Use - 100 - 10th pick*

4th - Mojo Nipson - 9th pick

5th - He Hate Me - 1st pick

6th - Terrorizors - 2nd pick

7th - SvvashBucklers - 3rd pick

8th - Mad Ravens - 4th pick

9th - Rolling Rockers - 5th pick

10th - Knights of N. Hill - 6th pick

11th - Baltimore Smasher - 7th pick

12th - Whatchu Talking Bout - 8th pick

BFFG Free

***League Champion - The Commish - a one-handed clap - 10th pick***

**Runner Up - Turd Fergusons - a pat on the back - 9th pick**

*3rd - Goingfor3 - the irony of your name - 8th pick*

4th - Renegade Roughnecks - 7th pick

5th - Super Heater - 1st pick

6th - Bitchtits - 2nd pick

7th - Tuck&Roll - 3rd pick

8th - Squealer Squashers - 4th pick

9th - FUPAscoopas - 5th pick

10th - FourLoko - 6th pick

  

   

End of Season Report

Fellow team owners - this is it! The championship weekend is here! It looks like we will have our league champion crowned this Sunday night. Since the Monday Night Football season finale ended last week, we will have our league's superbowl little sooner this year. Also, this is a special heads-up: there is a Saturday game this weekend: get your lineups in order and good luck.

I'm happy to be playing for first place in the free league and seventh place in the paid league. I'm also pleased to see how engaged everyone was in the league this year. We have definitely grown to become - what I believe to be - one of the most competitive leagues around. Cheers to you all!

I have a lot of important announcements about changes to the league, all of which will be effective next year - so bear with me. Here is a quick list of what's coming.

1. change to the league name
2. change to the league sizes
3. change to starting roster
4. change to trade rules
5. change to player acquisitions

1. Name Change

I've been wanting to change the name of our league for a long time. The BFFG (a.k.a. Baltimore Fantasy Football Gurus) is so bad I'm ashamed of it. I'm pleased to announce that this horrible name will officially retire after this season.

"What's the new name?" you ask. Well, I wanted to come up with something that fits with the kind of league we have. So, I though about how everyone manages their team and how I felt about the league in general.

The first word I thought up was, "business." I feel like our league is a business because everyone takes it seriously. That's what I like about it! Sure there's some jive - a little trash 'talkin - but mostly it's a steady-pragmatic race to the top. Each week you can count on your opponent to make moves and set their lineup for their best chance to win. Our league is very business like indeed.

So "business" is the theme. Here's a look into my brain during the creative process for coming up with the new name. Brace yourself ;-)

A business . . . "The Business" . . . "Big Business" . . . things that are a business . . . downtown . . . Wall Street . . . 80's Wall Street movies . . . "Risky Business" No! . . . "Wall Street" Yes! . . . "Gordon Gekko" hmmm . . . Gordon Gekko's lines in the movie . . . "Greed is good." Bingo! "GREED IS GOOD FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE!" It's settled.

So what do you think? LMK. I think it has a nice ring to it, and it signifies a good mindset for winning in fantasy football. 

2. League Size Pledge

The minimum and maximum numbers to run the Greed is Good FFL are 8 and 14. I have changed the maximum several times. Yahoo allows up to 20 teams. That is way too big! I have said in the past that I would try to recruit up to 16 teams, but after managing the league as your commissioner for 11 years now, I realize that 14 teams is the best-reasonable limit.

You'll notice when doing a mock draft that your choices for league size is also 8 to 14. These are really the best limits to set for everyone to have the most fun.

The order of team owner recruitment is as follows. (1) Invite all team owners of the paid league to rejoin. (2) Invite team owners of the free league to join the paid league. (3) Invite all team owners of the free league to rejoin. (4) Invite team owners in the paid league to join the free league (*if needed). (5) Invite new members to join either the paid or free leagues (*if needed).

3. The Flex Spot
Several of you have requested that I open up a flex spot, and I imagine that the rest of you wouldn't mind either. After giving this inquiry careful consideration, I've decided to deliver the goods. Granted! Next year I will replace WR #3 with a RB/WR/TE flex spot.

What I've learned about the flex spot is that it's actually more of a standard in today's leagues. There are several benefits: gives owners more flexibility (pun intended), balances the free agent pool, and increases the overall creativity of not only drafting teams but also setting lineups. Indeed, I'm convinced that adding a flex spot will improve the Greed is Good FFL.  

4. Promoting Trades
The only major feature that's missing from our league is trading. A lot of the players that I see dropped should be traded. There was not a single trade all year! Trading in fantasy football is an essential concept. We lack the experiences of "buying low" and "selling high." The trading block is a ghost town! Let's learn how to use this feature to our advantage.

The deadline to protest trades will be reduced from 2 days to 1 day. This makes trading faster than a waiver pickup.

I will also make repeated requests for team owners to update their trading block status. This does not mean you have to trade any of your players, but it's a good idea to think about it anyway. You never know what kind of deal you may be offered. You could be missing out!

5. Picking Up Players 
The limit for weekly acquisitions (or adding players to your team) will be changed from "no maximum" to 4 per week. This acquisition setting will be added next year to fix a loophole where team owners have the ability to deliberately churn players through the waiver process. Not that we have a major free agent vulturing problem in our league, but I have seen some questionable things go on in the transactions - so I want to put this legitimate fix in now.

And there you have it! Good season everybody!

Please respond with your questions and comments. I'd love to hear from you all. Thanks.



   

Kickoff 2012

The 2012 fantasy football season is finally here! I want to communicate a few points to my team owners before things get rolling.

Most importantly, the NFL season starts on Wednesday this year, which is irregular but exciting. All that fantasy drafting got me siked-up for watching football. So I'm glad it's starting early. NYG vs. DAL kicks-off at 820 PM tomorrow 9/5. It should be a great game with tons of fantasy impacting plays. Bring it on!

Yahoo made changes to the fantasy league pick 'ems. There's a different setup to it, and it's more fun if everyone takes part. If you want to keep up on the fantasy league pick 'ems then you need to make your picks before the first game of the week kicks off. This week it's Wed, but it will be on Thurs every week afterwards. Once the night games kick off, you'll be locked out of making picks. There's no incentive for it, it's optional, bragging rights, superstitions, whatever. Go to "matchup" then scroll to the bottom to find it.

A change to the league.
A minor change has been made to the playoffs settings in the paid league. This change could probably go unnoticed but I wanted to make sure everyone is updated. The playoffs reseeding set to "yes" means that if the #6 seed beat the #3 seed in round 1 then the #1 seed would face #6 in round 2 and #2 would face the winner of #4 vs #5. Got that? I believe this to be what most of you would expect the setup to be so I made the change. The Yahoo default setting follows the NFL with #1 facing the winner of #4 vs #5 and #2 facing the winner of #3 vs #6 regardless. LMK if you have any questions about that.

There's plenty of interesting things I can add about the draft. I'm impressed with how well everyone did. Some of you actually have a chance at beating me ;-) I don't have time for a full analysis but here is a list of the top 1st and 2nd pick-combos for both the BFFG Paid and Free leagues together.

1. RB/WR with 5
2. QB/RB with 5
3. RB/QB with 3
4. WR/QB with 2
5. RB/RB with 2
6. TE/WR with 2
7. QB/WR with 1
8. WR/RB with 1
9. RB/TE with 1

I went RB/RB with the 8th pick in the paid league and QB/RB with the 6th pick in the free. I'm surprised that there were not more RB/RB picks and that there were 3 TEs taken in the first two rounds in both leagues. Back in the day there were way more RB/RBs, and I thought that tactic would come back in 2012 with all the RB uncertainty, but I guess everyone wants their QB locked-up first in the BFFG, which I guess is understandable since a TD pass = 6 pts. That's good math'in y'all ;-)

My Top 6 Fantasy Football Big Bonuses

A fantasy football big bonus is a play that you don't expect to happen, but when it does, it pays-off in a big exciting way. Unlike: QB passing-TDs, RB rushing-TDs, and WR rec-TDs, which are expected and bummers when it doesn't happen, a rare big bonus play is what you'll talk about all week. It's what makes those unforgettable fantasy football moments. Here is a short list of my top 6 fantasy football big bonus plays.

#6 The Safety

Sacks in the endzone are an exciting way to earn points. Holding and intentional grounding penalties are not as much fun, but are interesting ways to gain points as well. Safeties can go unnoticed depending on how your league is set. If the safety is +2 then all other defensive plays should be set at +1 that way it gets the recognition it deserves. The team with the most safeties in 2011 was NYJ with 3.

#5 A 50+ Yard Field Goal

Kickers are probably the least exciting position on the standard roster. Their typical contribution comes in chip-shots for 1 or 3 points. Seeing a kicker set up for the 50-yarder is much more rewarding, especially if your league awards 5 points for the longer kicks. The top 3 big-boots from 2011 were David Akers, Seabass, and Phil Dawson, each with 7 +50-yarders.

#4 A DEF TD

You're happy enough if your team-D simply makes plays and holds-off from being scored-on. When they get in the endzone, it's a big time play and time to celebrate! The level of excitement is increased if your DEF is playing against any of your opponents fantasy players. The team with the most DEF TDs in 2011 was DET with 7. The next closest were BUF and CHI with 6.

#3 A RET TD

It's the play that has you screaming, "Go, go, go, ahhh, goooooo, YEAH!" Return TDs are certainly big plays since it may take the whole length of the field to make one. It is also pretty rare and usually involves a WR or RB who is lower on the depth chart. Devin Hester had the most in 2011 with 3 total ret-TDs. Randall Cobb and Ted Ginn Jr also had multiples.

#2 A RB 20+ Yard REC-TD

As important as RBs are to fantasy football, you're usually watching them run into big piles, or the pile runs into them, either way it's pretty deflating, usually. Big yard rushing TDs are no doubt exciting but you expect to get a few of those from your starters at some point in the season. When a RB goes long for the bomb and gets it for a TD, you go bonkers! Darren Sproles racked up 710 rec-yards and 7 rec-TDs in the air in 2011. The next best was Ray Rice who caught for 704 rec-yards and 3 rec-TDs.

#1 Opposing QB Throws a Pick-Six in the Redzone

Bear with me. In my league, the BFFG, a pick six thrown is -2. A passing TD is +6. So if the QB you face in your weekly match-up throws a pick-six in the redzone, that's a potential 8 point swing. Add on the possibility of you having the team DEF, in that play, and it's a whopping 15 point swing (-2 for the pick-six, -6 for the possible TD, +1 for the interception and +6 for the DEF TD). Rooting against your opponent's players is as much fun as rooting for your own. Almost nothing matches the drama of a pick thrown in the redzone, especially if it goes back the other way for a TD. Not only is this play huge in the real game but if you're rooting against your opponent's QB, then it's probably a tight match-up and this play can definitely put you in the win column. GB had the most interceptions in 2011 with 31. Philip Rivers threw the most pick-sixes with 4.

Please comment with your favorite fantasy football big plays.  

   

     

  

BFFG $$ 2012 dues info and scoring settings

I am using LeagueSafe for the third time this season. It has worked very well the past two times. Not only does it make collecting dues a whole lot easier, but payouts are also way more simple. If you win, then you simply login and collect the reward. You may choose from check, check card or electronic transfer. I won, and chose the check card, and it worked out well for me. They even give you the option of printing a trophy on the check card if you like to show off ;-) LeagueSafe has good customer service. They primarily handle problems through email, which I have found to be just fine. Each time I contacted them with questions they were very responsive and gave me assuring answers. I recommend new team owners to Google LeagueSafe and read up on them. You'll find they are very legit.

The BFFG has run with the majority of the following settings for 11 years now. My goal is to make sense of fantasy scoring by representing the most relevant NFL player stats to the league's scoring categories. Points are primarily awarded for yards and touchdowns. There is no points-per-reception (a.k.a. PPR). The BFFG is considered to be a 'QB heavy league' since 6 points are awarded for a passing TD as opposed to the common default setting of 4 points. Here are the scoring settings.

Offense	League Value	Yahoo! Default Value
Passing Yards	25 yards per point
Passing Touchdowns	6	4
Interceptions	-1
Rushing Yards	10 yards per point
Rushing Touchdowns	6
Reception Yards	10 yards per point
Reception Touchdowns	6
Return Yards	20 yards per point	0
Return Touchdowns	6
2-Point Conversions	2
Fumbles Lost	-1	-2
Offensive Fumble Return TD	6
Pick Sixes Thrown	-1	0
Kickers	League Value	Yahoo! Default Value
Field Goals 0-19 Yards	3
Field Goals 20-29 Yards	3
Field Goals 30-39 Yards	3
Field Goals 40-49 Yards	4
Field Goals 50+ Yards	5
Point After Attempt Made	1
Defense/Special Teams	League Value	Yahoo! Default Value
Sack	1
Interception	1	2
Fumble Recovery	1	2
Touchdown	6
Safety	2
Block Kick	1	2
Points Allowed 0 points	10
Points Allowed 1-6 points	8	7
Points Allowed 7-13 points	6	4
Points Allowed 14-20 points	4	1
Points Allowed 21-27 points	2	0
Points Allowed 28-34 points	1	-1
Points Allowed 35+ points	0	-4
4th Down Stops	1	0

  

Episode XII: Return of the Guru

A long time ago in a galaxy far,
far away . . . .

Once again the desperate rebellion finds that it's no match for the unrelenting genius of The Empire. Puny jawas scramble to find a safe planet, while the Death Star surges through space leaving asteroids in it's wake. The so-called Jedi ramble excuse after excuse in hope to disparage the consistent success of the SvvashBucklers who make use of their flaws and continue to dominate the galaxy . . .

Fantasy football is back my padawans.

How will the saga continue?

One thing is for sure.

You don't know the power of The Dark Side.

Standby for the payment request from LeagueSafe. Then register your team in Yahoo. And prepare for your doom.