Fantasy Premierleague Draft League Keep In Touch Thread

Discussion in 'Games & Fantasy' started by Hal, May 28, 2005.

  1. Clan

    Clan Member

    Apr 23, 2002
    Just so as you are all aware, Ilovecolumbia is no longer allowed to post on Bigsoccer.Hasn't been for quite some time.

    Can't say anymore - admin decision.
     
  2. Ingromius

    Ingromius Member

    Feb 3, 2000
    NW London

    1. I don't agree with relegating TVD because we don't like his tactics. His inactivity still managed to place his team high above mine (sigh), so I don't have a leg to stand on in terms of criticizing his management style. It is my view that promotion & relegation rules must be consistent and consistently applied. Maybe Hal's trying to get his cup archrival Michel into the SR league so he can keep his eye on him... ;)

    2. I'd be interested in considering some kind of reward for cup competitions, but I don't think they should be combined in any way with season standings. There's a big difference between managing a squad throughout the season and making targeted transfers for the cup competitions, and I think they need to remain separated. We could do what the FA does with its cup competitions -- perhaps reserve one automatic promotion spot for cup winners, passed down to losing finalist if the winner's already in SR or already promoted through the league, then passed on to league standing if neither finalist in the cup is a promotion candidate. That would certainly make winning the cup an attractive goal, but could also encourage managers to check out once they'd secured promotion via a cup.

    3. My concern about a third league would be that we'd end up with 1-3 dedicated managers who, by no choice of their own, get stuck in a league with a bunch of new, tentatively committed who check out very quickly. Even I, who have been part of every season we've done, would find it hard to care about such a league if I got stuck in it. We'd need very solid commitments from managers if we form a third division in my opinion.
     
  3. lobomojo

    lobomojo Member+

    Chelsea, Gillingham
    Jul 17, 2004
    Freedom
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Hello:

    I am interested in participating, if space is available, and will commit to being active throughout the year. I have participated in fantasy leagues in the past and always remained active.
     
  4. Forza Moskva

    Forza Moskva New Member

    Sep 20, 2004
    Mila Kunis' Crib
    I'd be intereted in participating. I will participate year round, and I've been in many leagues before. I will also win :D
     
  5. Hal

    Hal Member+

    Sep 9, 1999
    To the new managers expressing an interest in joining our draft leagues using the Fantasy.Premierleague.com game:

    lobomojo

    Forza Moskva

    Please PM me your email address so we can send you the passwords for the league you get assigned to. If you've read the recent posts of this thread, it looks like the drafts will be done 5-8 August or thereabouts.
     
  6. Hal

    Hal Member+

    Sep 9, 1999
    Based on early commitments for next season, here is what I submit as the provisional make-up of the divisions, still needing some emails for new managers and commitments from some returnees so the divisions can be finalized before the draft: (BigSoccer names are in bold.)

    Still waiting on the veteran managers to weigh in on my proposal to place TomVanDamn in the Very Small Rocks league. Also, I'll be sending out an email to the veteran managers who have yet to express an interest in the keep in touch thread.

    Provisional Small Rocks League:

    1 WinningConnection, Jonathan (MtKillamanjohno)
    2 Kopite Juniors, Mark (kopiteinkc)
    3 Aviators, Hal (Hal)
    4 Nocturnal United, Jason (Darr)
    5 Windsor Wanderers, Andrew (subbuteo)
    6 AS Saint-Lambert, Jean-Michel (Montreal United) (Still need commitment for next season)
    7 FC Springfield, Andre/Ralph (Ibreak4coffee)
    8 1800-France.com Michel (1800-WorldCup) (Proposed Replacing TVD)

    Provisional Very Small Rocks League

    1 DC Chickenhawks,Jay (DoctorJones24)
    2 London St. Germain 3, Jon (ingromius)
    3 TVDPhenomenons, Tom (TomVanDamn)
    4 *Cannon
    5 *Clanblue, Paul (Prior participant and ran own Chelski league)
    6 marakana10 (still needs to provide email address)
    7 *djangone
    8 *garion

    Provisional TBD Small Rocks League

    1 jc84chill (still need to provide email address)
    2 lobomojo (still need to provide email address)
    3 Forza Moskva (still need to provide email address)
    4 The Class Acts, Brian (United Forever)
    5 RamRod FC, Justin (JG-Revs) (Only if commits to be active)
    6
    7
    8
     
  7. kopiteinkc

    kopiteinkc Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jun 1, 2000
    Shawnee
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    TVD earneed his promotion, and so should be in the top league

    But he has to commit to participating in a live draft.
     
  8. ibreak4coffee

    ibreak4coffee Member

    Jul 27, 2004
    New York
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Shouldnt Class Acts be in the Very Small Rocks???
     
  9. 1800-WorldCup

    1800-WorldCup Read Nomadic Gatherings - TravelNotes.org/magun

    Tottenham Hotspur
    England
    Aug 5, 2001
    Europe
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    I don't think it matters which league I'm in as I prefer to play for the cups..... and being in a different league to Hal might even help in the player pool pickings.

    The promoting/relegating, as stands (on end of season points), makes little sense to me as we'll always have teams going semi-inactive and not using transfers to get rid of the dead wood.

    If they had one or two good scorers in their team at the start, they would still look respectable at the end (because they dropped no points making transfers for the cups and double matchdays).

    Has Nocturnal United, Jason (Darr) shown any interest for this season? He also started with good intent and went AWOL.

    :rolleyes:
     
  10. Hal

    Hal Member+

    Sep 9, 1999
    Votes for keeping TVD in the Small Rocks League:

    For:
    kopiteinkc (Mark) (If commits to a live draft)
    DoctorJones24 (Jay) (If invited back at all, should be in Small Rocks)
    ibreak4coffee (Andre/Ralph)
    Ingromius (Jon)

    Neutral:
    1800-WorldCup (Michel)

    Against:
    Hal (Hal) Too much inactivity for me, but agree he met last season's criteria for promotion.

    I Offered a compromise - can play, but needs to stay in Very Small Rocks League. After reading Jay's post of either in or out, and the UP vote from 4 veteran managers, and since Tom has expressed an interest in playing again, I'm closing this discussion and withdrawing my proposed compromise.

    Latest Provision league make-ups. Still need to verify some commitments and get email addys of some new managers. Also, agreed with earlier post that as a returning manager, Brian (United Forever) should be in the Very Small Rocks league.

    Provisional Small Rocks League:

    1 WinningConnection, Jonathan (MtKillamanjohno)
    2 Kopite Juniors, Mark (kopiteinkc)
    3 Aviators, Hal (Hal)
    4 Nocturnal United, Jason (Darr)
    5 Windsor Wanderers, Andrew (subbuteo)
    6 TVDPhenomenons, Tom (TomVanDamn)
    7 AS Saint-Lambert, Jean-Michel (Montreal United) (Still need commitment for next season)
    8 FC Springfield, Andre/Ralph (Ibreak4coffee)

    Provisional Very Small Rocks League

    1 1800-France.com Michel (1800-WorldCup)
    2 DC Chickenhawks,Jay (DoctorJones24)
    3 London St. Germain 3, Jon (ingromius)
    4 The Class Acts, Brian (United Forever)
    5 *Cannon
    6 *Clanblue, Paul (Prior participant and ran own Chelski league)
    7 marakana10 (still needs to provide email address)
    8 *djangone

    Provisional TBD Small Rocks League

    1 *garion
    2 jc84chill (still need to provide email address)
    3 lobomojo (still need to provide email address)
    4 Forza Moskva (still need to provide email address)
    5
    6
    7
    8
     
  11. ibreak4coffee

    ibreak4coffee Member

    Jul 27, 2004
    New York
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada

    Hal I'm in the neutral camp, not for. He did win the league, but the inactivity from the league leader was annoying to say the least... plus he fielded players transfered out of the EPL for the whole second half, killing the cup competitions...

    I would propose, however, that we drop AS Saint-Lambert from the Small Rocks and replace him with 1800-World Cup (Michel). There was even less commitment from him in both the league and the cup competitions... plus we havent heard from him since the first half of last season.
     
  12. Clan

    Clan Member

    Apr 23, 2002
    I'm trying to get a Chelsea drafted league up and running too.
    It seemed to work out quite well last time.
     
  13. Cannon

    Cannon Member

    Arsenal
    United States
    Sep 2, 2001
    Washington, DC metro
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is my first year in this league so I don't know how the draft works. I'm looking forward to reading the rules and procedures posts that has been mentioned as forthcoming. So take the following comments for what they are worth.

    My concern with the live draft is that I've had some internet trouble the last couple of weeks. Unpredictable multihour complete outages. I am trying to get it resolved ASAP but knowing Comcast they'll probably knock my service off again as soon as the draft starts. :rolleyes: Is there a process for dealing with that situation?

    Second, do you guys plan on breaking for the Community Shield if the draft is held August 6-7 as many have suggested? I'd rather not run up and down stairs all game long. I'd probably end up missing 4 or 5 Arsenal goals if I'm away for even a few minutes. ;)

    For those reasons, I like the idea of either a longer (multiple days for at most a week) BigSoccer-based draft so that I can have a chance to recover from any outages. If that idea doesn't work, than could we have a pretty short (max 4-5 hours) live draft on any day other than August 7th that I can make sure I'm at a stable connection site for?
     
  14. 1800-WorldCup

    1800-WorldCup Read Nomadic Gatherings - TravelNotes.org/magun

    Tottenham Hotspur
    England
    Aug 5, 2001
    Europe
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Proposal For Smaller Draft Leagues

    As I see it, if we get the time right and everyone is comitted to being online at the specified time, the draft should move swiftly.

    However, just how quickly can the leagues be realistically drafted?

    8 teams have 15 picks = 120 picks.

    At 5 minute intervals that's 600 minutes.... or 10 hours.

    To speed the draft, maybe the draft leagues should have six managers each..... that would be 450 minutes, or 7.5 hours.

    We'd then have larger player pools to draw from during the season, which just might make for more trading activity and excitement.
     
  15. ibreak4coffee

    ibreak4coffee Member

    Jul 27, 2004
    New York
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Michel - interesting suggestion about 6 teams in each league. I agree it would make for more transfer activity... however it may also make it easier to manage a team if more players are available... I enjoy putting in that extra time to find those hard to find players or favorable fixtures that are required for success.

    My main concern with 6-team leagues though is that it would make cup competitions harder to organize. If we get three leagues, that's 18 managers instead of the neat total of 16 we need for the Rock Hard Championship Cup bracket. Of course, we could have some of the newbies in a "qualifying" stage, and give byes in the first round to say... oh i dont know, last year's cup champion ;)

    In any case, I recommend we keep 2 leagues of 8 managers like last year.

    Moving back to the draft. Cannon has brought up several good points, but I agree with Michel - if we all commit to a specific time frame, we can have the draft done in 5 or 6 hours, especially if we can get a round or so done before the official draft start time. If I recall correctly the Small Rocks did their draft in 5-6 hours last year... it only took the Very Small Rocks 11 hours to complete our draft because Ilovecolumbia kept not showing up. Of course, the whole draft doesnt need to be completed in one swoop. We can set a draft time, get most of the draft done that day, and then just continue on a slower basis the following days. However, I'm confident we can get things done, especially with regards to the more veteran managers who have done this before. I also like trying to get it done in one try - as Hal mentioned, leaving four or five days before the start of the season is as valuable as the draft and people can really reinforce their squads - I picked up Reyes in that window last year and he was one of my most consistent players all year.

    Cannon mentioned the community shield. It may be useful to schedule the draft immediately following the game, as most of us are bound to be watching anyways... is the shield on Saturday, August 6th? If so, may I be the first to propose a draft start time of Noon on Saturday, August 6th? (so 5pm London time, 6pm Europe time, and 9am US West Coast time). I think that would work for us all, especially if we keep the draft to 5-6 hours.

    Concerning internet problems... as a "loyal" Comcast customer myself, I understand Cannon's pain. Usually what we have done is exchanged cell phone or telephone numbers in case that happens... also preparing a proxy list and submitting it to the draft coordinator is another solution that is highly recommended... you never know what might happen.
     
  16. ibreak4coffee

    ibreak4coffee Member

    Jul 27, 2004
    New York
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Re: Proposal For Smaller Draft Leagues

    Michel point taken about length... however, if all managers are there for the draft, rarely do they take 5 minutes. For example, if all managers are there, and we average 3 minutes per pick (which is still a conservative estimate, usually goes faster)...

    3x8= 24 minutes
    24x15= 360 minutes (6 hours)
     
  17. Hal

    Hal Member+

    Sep 9, 1999
    Re: Proposal For Smaller Draft Leagues

    I agree with Michel. 5 minutes per pick is better than we've ever done.

    Usually, when it's someone's turn, they first spend a minute or two ensuring they know who has been selected (updating their draft spreadsheet since their last draft check-in). Then they have to consider their priorities and salary available as well as needs. Some players they expected to be taken may still be available, so they may adjust their draft strategy. This all takes at least 5 minutes unless one has been watching every pick.

    The speed of the draft is also a function of how much pre-draft preparation the managers have made. Usually the veteran draft league managers are better prepared. This helps them make picks quicker early, and tends to lead them to studying their pre-draft analyses before making later selections.

    Also, the first couple of rounds may go faster than five minutes, but the later rounds take more analysis to balance cap, team limits, and position limits.

    Typically, the first round goes for the top goalscorers, usually forwards, but some mids make that cut.

    The second round usually continues with forwards and a few mids.

    The dynamic changes once someone starts going for goalkeepers, typically rounds 3-5. Then, there may be a run on goalkeepers if you only wanted one or two.

    Along about round 8-12, some of the top, but very CHEAP, players have a run on them. This gives some managers greater flexibility later in the draft or in mining the free agent pool after the draft.

    Also, you will see Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester United players, regardless of position, going in the earlier rounds.

    What's always fun is who takes flyers on the new transfers into the Premiership. There are usually some good bargains here, but how quick will they acclimate to the Premiership pace and roughness?

    As some new players may be added to the database after the draft, it is important to check for those announced in the press each night when the database is updated so you get first shot.

    We can't draft anyone who is not in the Fantasy.Premierleague.com database.
     
  18. johno

    johno Member+

    Jul 15, 2003
    in the wind
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Re: Proposal For Smaller Draft Leagues

    I've got an idea for the draft...

    firstly, if I have to, I will try to get a proxy drafter, OR, sadly back out if I cant make the draft - however I've got a solution to the draft situation...

    How bout we hold it over two rounds? Rounds 1-7 and then 8-15 on seperate days... we could have 2 leagues (perhaps the other 4 teams could compete amongst themselves and based on their activity we decide if they replace anyone who was inactive from VSR next season?) and split the leagues up based on what day/time is convienient for people to draft.

    My suggestion is 1 draft day on Friday and one on Monday because the weekend is not an option for me at all. I work 9-5EST during the week and 20hrs on the weekend and I dont really have reliable internet access on the weekends, just the public library on Saturdays and only until 5pm (and even that's not guaranteed). If we split the draft up into 2 days we can probably agree on one intense period on each day... for instance I can stay late at work any day but Friday and draft into the night. Having 2 seperate draft days for the early and late rounds also helps because people can prepare plans for their first round and then get a break in between to fully prep for round two allowing that portion of the draft to run just as smoothly as the first, usually in drafts its all easy going until all the bignames are gone and then people have to do extra research which slows things down. I'm all up for the AIM concentrated draft if it can be done on a Friday during the day and any other weekday whatever the time (even if its all in one go).
     
  19. subbuteo

    subbuteo New Member

    Dec 17, 2002
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Re: Proposal For Smaller Draft Leagues

    Doing it in two stretches is a good idea. 3/4 hours at a time twice may be getter than 6-9 hours once.

    As for August 6th, I won't be available to draft that day. I have to help my brother move and it's in another state.

    I think we should do live drafting (perhaps the first day's rounds if we break it up into two scheduled days) on instant messenger.
     
  20. DoctorJones24

    DoctorJones24 Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    OH
    I've had lots of experience with online drafts. My baseball league this past year did ours on an AIM chatroom. We had 10 teams making 25 picks each, and it took 3.5 hours.

    There is NO REASON that 8 of us can't pick 15 man squads in that amount of time or less.
     
  21. ibreak4coffee

    ibreak4coffee Member

    Jul 27, 2004
    New York
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    I agree. If we decide to go the route of a weekday or two rounds however I wont be able to draft via IM... my work blocks those programs.
     
  22. subbuteo

    subbuteo New Member

    Dec 17, 2002
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    maybe you could do it through email or you can post your picks in a BS thread?
    We would give you more time to make your decisions because we'd email you the most recent picks since your last one so you could mull it over.

    Of course, if it's done on a weekend I guess it won't matter, huh?
     
  23. ibreak4coffee

    ibreak4coffee Member

    Jul 27, 2004
    New York
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    I could arrange a work from home scenario on the affected day, or even take a day off... I'm entirely flexible. Hopefully all of us can show so to ensure that everyone can focus on their own drafting needs... I'll warn everyone ahead of time that I'm bringing my A-game this year right from the start :) (after last year's disaster draft...)
     
  24. Clan

    Clan Member

    Apr 23, 2002
    I shall be on vacation the week begining August 8th - with no hope (under threat from my wife) of being anywhere within a 10 square mile radius of a computer.

    The Charity shield is on a Sunday btw.

    As for AIM.

    According to the admins, under the last upgrade, the server capacity of Bigsoccer was increased %700 - do people still get that busy signal today?
     
  25. lobomojo

    lobomojo Member+

    Chelsea, Gillingham
    Jul 17, 2004
    Freedom
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Very Very rare to get a busy signal now I've found, as long is it not during or immediatly before after Shield should not be a problem I imagine.
     

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