Dust League Pre-Season gathering

Hey guys. Sorry for the delay.

No time issues here. I'm not going away until the end of August so I'm down to start whenever.

 

I don't have an email for Sam but his friend of FC St. Pauli I do. I wrote to find out if he could be his proxy. Otherwise, we will need a new manager.

 

Tarv, thanks for letting me know the situation. Sam's in the Atacama Desert (at a resort but presumably without email) right now and didn't talk to me about proxying before he left. But, we are good friends and I think he would be ok with me proxying for him. It's going to be slow-going, though, because I have a new baby and am prepping for a cross-country move.

Anyway, yes, I'll proxy for Sam. Once the google spreadsheet is up, I'll need permission to access/edit it.

 

I assume that all leagues use the same spreadsheet for the reason that the player pool should be the same across all leagues, vis-a-vis cup competitions. So even if leagues begin the draft at widely varying times, at least they are using the same basis.

I'm bring up the point of the source spreadsheet to request that we hopefully have a couple days to massage our own data before we start the draft no matter when the file is made available, and not start the draft without it or have it only for 2 hours or so.

 

Don't assume.... Although the differences are often quite minute, we have historically not used the same spreadsheet. We "freeze" the current rosters on the FPL site at the start of each draft, and then each league uses that for its draft. Players who are not in the system when the draft starts cannot be drafted during the draft (i.e., new players who transfer into the league). After the draft ends, there is a 24 hour hold on activity, and then a free-for-all to make any transfers desired. I believe there have been experiments in the past with having some order to the free-for-all, i.e., a second draft, but that it has largely been deemed unnecessary and not worth the time. It is certainly possible that a situation arises where multiple desirable players come in, but for the most part the free-for-all is tinkering due to revision of strategies, not a time when one team suddenly scoops up a group of stars that alters the balance.

You're theoretically right in terms of a potential disparity between teams when it comes to Cups. On the flip side, it's preferable to have as many players included on the drafting board as possible to avoid some of the free-for-all issues noted above. If a league is able to wait until later to start, why punish them by arbitrarily locking the board earlier when another league needed/wanted to start. In the end, I think we acknowledge that any advantage or disadvantage is minimal and that, in any event, the primary focus in on the league competition, with the interleague Cups a bonus attraction.

By locking at the start of the draft, you have virtually no time to massage the data, but can take such time as you need for those first picks, and can pretty much be looking at the players who will go in those first several rounds right now if that's your desire.

 

FC St. Pauli will be Sam Coles proxy.

 

I do not want to start too early with so much movement in/out of the league lately and rumored to happen shortly. August 2 or 3 sounds good to me.

BTW, my new team name will be VL Blackstone Sixxte.

 

Viola (my shirt color)
Lion (reverting to team name that I have used often over the years)
Blackstone (a river valley in New England)
Sixxte (3 times better than Twente, which is why Steve McClaren departed )

 

I suppose it's not a problem if everyone agrees, but (at least technically) the rules have provided that a proxy picker must follow specific instructions and cannot use any discretion of his own:

** From Hal on the rules page -- "The proxy picks have to have specific instructions and the proxy picker should not deviate from the instructions or apply his judgement."

My impression is that Sam Coles has given no instructions (since he wasn't aware this would be an issue when he up and left for his honeymoon). Several have stated a desire to wait which would solve the problem for Sam Coles with his return next week, but if the decision is to go forward now it would make more sense to me to allow the next owner in from the waiting list than to have FC St Pauli essentially drafting 2 teams in separate leagues and then having Sam Coles manage the one in Dust. Also, you really can't start now anyway if we're still waiting on a couple of reconfirmations of prior confirmations in Sand.

Not ideal, but the best solution in my view that accommodates these three schedules, as well the desire of others to wait, would be for tomvandamn to do a proxy list for the first 6 rounds or so and start on August 6 or 7 (anytime you want after Wendys returns on August 3). Once you start, go slow and get 2-3 rounds down each day, and then you'd have to crank out the balance with everyone involved on August 9-12 once he returns, but 3-4 rounds per day is quite doable in the later rounds. Depending on when you finish, you may want to shorten the 24 hour hold to provide a full day for post-draft scramble, but you can address that on the backside.

tvd is the one who gets the short straw on this, unfortunately, with the questions being whether he can do a proxy for the first part of the draft, whether he might have any internet access in the latter portion of the time that he's unavailable, and when he gets back and would then be available for the rush to the finish line. If you're going to ask tvd to do this kind of proxy, you should probably proceed with the assignment of positions at some point soon, as he should know that at a minimum in putting his list together to have a sense of who his first pick or two may be.


Bottom line is the schedules conflict. Those are my best (unsolicited) thoughts on it. Use or disregard as you choose.

 

I must say, every picture of Sutton celebrating a goal shows him with the same expression ... tonsils exposed.

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00717/sutton_280x390_717339a.jpg

 

I prefer to start later but since I wont be back since 8/9 I can and will send a proxy of picks if anyone wishes to volunteer.

Thanks
TK

 

The league should make an overall decision on the draft start date. Tom Van Damm may need to proxy someone 4 rounds of picks or so it the group decides to start before August 9th.

If you start on the 9th. There needs to be a plan in case things get down to the end. Usually consensus works things out.

 

I can be a proxy. No time or date issues.

 

All Rocks H-H Joust League, the all team season long head to head challenge has been set up. I pmed the code to Fraser to pass along

 

Is the 3rd or so too late to start? If so, I will also send a list of proxy picks. If not, I will be ready to go as best I can. We will be chilling on the beaches of Mexico for our anniversary, so my prep will be minimal. As you can see I'm already starting with the excuses!!!

Looking forward to the competition!

 

Everyone clean their message folder

This league needs to choose a start date.

I have sent tomvandamm a pm yesterday about someone being his proxy and sending in a list.

Wendys should be ready to send someone a proxy in case thing starts while he is away. I am willing to do that.

Somewhere the draft should start two weeks before the start of the season. July 30th to August 3rd. Choose a date.

SamCole will be back by then. Vandamm needs to elect a proxy. Vegas2U volunteered for Vandamm Wendy needs to send proxies in case the start date is before August 3rd. I can be the proxy.

Sand League needs Southside Saturns to make an appearance or Footy Magoo moves up.

Small starts July 30th, Very Small does the draft order on the 30th with a chance to start then or August 2nd. Dust should be thereabouts. Fraser's choice with league agreement.

 

Sent tarv my 4 digit number and if need be I'll send him some picks next week before I leave. Thanks!

 

I'm still easy so whatever suits the majority of the league is fine by me.

 

Saw this in the VSR thread. There is a draft order randomizer available here http://www.net-commish.com/tools/random/index.php instead of getting 4 digit numbers from everybody to use in the PA lottery. The result of the randomizer is mailed to everybody by the site. Dust used it last year and it worked out well.