I conducted the double blind draw of the teams and draft numbers to establish this season's Small Rocks League Draft Order for the 2005/06 EPL season using the Fantasy.PremierLeague.com fantasy soccer game. The following is our draft order for the odd numbered rounds and reverse it for the even number rounds. (Please hold down the celebrations and the gnashing of teeth, whichever applies!) Rounds 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15 1 Nocturnal United Darr 2 Springfield FC Ibreak4coffee 3 1800-France.com 1800-WorldCup 4 Aviators Hal 5 Windsor Wanderers subbuteo 6 TVD Phenomenons tomvandamn 7 Kopite Juniors kopiteinkc 8 Winning Connections MtKillamanjohno Rounds 2,4,6,8,10,12,14 1 Winning Connections MtKillamanjohno 2 Kopite Juniors kopiteinkc 3 TVD Phenomenons tomvandamn 4 Windsor Wanderers subbuteo 5 Aviators Hal 6 1800-France.com 1800-WorldCup 7 Springfield FC Ibreak4coffee 8 Nocturnal United Darr Request that the managers post their draft availabilities here and their Time Zone relative to EDT. And if some are interested, we could hold a round or two in this thread, very slowly, if managers are willing to get a leg up on the draft date. From the Keep In Touch thread, it seemed like 3-8 Aug was the best window. Tomvandamn expressed internet access concerns from Europe and may need to arrange for a proxy agent. (I was able to access the internet and make team moves from a London BurgerKing (a few $ per hour) and from a library (1 hour free) in Scotland last March. You might check into those possibilities, Tom.) And I think one manager wanted the draft during the workweek, which is bad for me. I'm leaning to holding the draft first thing Saturday morning, Aug 5. As we've had Michel stay up late in the past, I'm willing to start at 6-7 AM EDT unless we have someone on the West Coast.
wow... I thought we had the whole "I'm not available on the weekend" thing sorted out, I guess we don't though. I'm available any weekday from 8:30AM EDT to 5:30PM EDT (except on Fridays when I have to leave at 5:10PM) Also, M-Th I can be online from 6:00PM-8:00PM in a pinch to finish off the draft or something. If the draft must be done on the SAT I will find a proxy or schedule to be off work, but I warn you, I will be highly upset if I take a day off to sit at a computer and wait for people who don't show up and this thing runs into Sunday because I can't blow off work for no reason.
Not at all. Yours was the only one that preferred during the workday during the workweek. We've always ended up holding our previous drafts on the weekends and evenings to best accomodate the most managers. Michel, aka 1800-World.cup and Jon, aka Ingromius, who are in the UK have spent some late nights. One year I even put a call into Michel when it was near his turn so he could wake up, review the recent picks, make his selection, and go back to bed. Often, the UK based folks would give a round or two of preferred selections when they were not going to be on for a while. However, since the draft order is set, and if our other managers are willing, and even though there is a risk that there will be some subsequent blockbuster transfer into the premiership, we could go ahead and start our draft and see how many rounds we get in with managers just coming on here occasionally, and making a selection. For example, darr, manager of Nocturnal United may have tipped his hand with his "I will not pass on Lampard again" post in the Small Rocks League Message Forum. Nothing prevents darr from posting that here as his first official draft pick. Then, there would be nothing to stop Ibreak4coffee from making his pick, and so on.
Ok, so - all bollocks aside... WHEN IS THE DRAFT if you let me know, I can plan... when I voiced my concerns noone that I know of and please do correct me if I am wrong, said, "nope, cannot draft during the week" and we then proceeded to list everyone's preferred times or was it times they could not do it... anyway, what I'd like to know is when is the scheduled draft.
At the beginning of this official draft thread, I asked that the Small Rocks managers: In the Keep In Touch Thread, which managers were assigned to which leagues was not yet established. I took those draft availability comments as good FYI, but now we need to get serious and set our time. I am aware of your preference; in fact, that's why I'm suggesting we start sooner, even at the risk of missing someone else to transfer into the premiership. I'm suggesting we start, without a clock deadline for each pick, so that you can get in some picks during your preferred hours. From work, I can check in occasionally, but I can't lock myself up as I do when I work the draft from home in the evenings or on weekends. Because I was totally involved from start to finish of previous drafts, I was a good option for other managers to send me their proxy picks via email or via PMs or via phone calls if they had to be offline for a while. I'm not volunteering for that role this year. I'm willing to defer to the draft process that Jay, aka DoctorJones24, comes up with, even willing to sign up for AOL's Instant Messenger. However, I cannot install AIM on my computer at work. If Jay wants to use an AIM Chat room as our draft locale, I cannot participate from work. Regardless of what Jay comes up with, there is nothing to preclude us from getting a head start on the draft and start making picks now, even without a deadline for each selection. It's slow, it bogs down when a manager's whose turn it is to pick doesn't check in for a couple of days, but we might be able to pick a few rounds during the day. We've tried that in the past as well. Our experience is that during the day the draft would slow down, sometimes 4-5 hours for the next pick. Then, the draft would pick up speed about 5 PM EST and go semiregularly until 9-10 PM EST. Michel, from the UK, might sign off at 9 EST. 2-3 AM to him. Our best previous draft was all completed in one day, a weekend. At that, we had lots of proxies and some uncomfortable delays due to managers absenting themselves without arranging for proxy manager to make selections according to their guidance.
Draft comments from the Draft Organization Thread: This suggests that Michel wouldn't be able to start participating, even in a slow draft, until 27 - 28 Jul.
as for AIM - I don't see the need for it, because the busy signals are gone... however if we had to do an AIM draft you don't have to download anything. just go to aim.com and look for "AIM Express" its a webbased instant messenger... also, if you have netscape at your office as a webbrowser you can install AIM (no matter what IT says )
Number 2!!!!! Thanks Hal!!!!!!!!! Much better than number 7 last year I'm flexible for the draft but it looks like we cant accomodate everyone. Friday, August 5 is good for me (I can take the day off) and the weekend works perfectly, although I know mtkillamanjohno cant draft weekends. It looks like we'll just need to settle on a time that works for most of us... we may not be able to do this until Michel comes back however... If we start drafting very slowly right now, what happens if my pick injures himself? I know who I want (Number 1 pick is MORE than welcome to select Lampard ) so I am hesitant to draft three weeks out... but I assume that's part of the fun, just taking that risk. I think once Michel gets back we can start drafting very slowly... at the same time, however, please note I most likely wont have any internet access July 29-31. I will be at a wedding. If you like, I'd be happy to submit some names to Hal in case I would be holding up the draft...
Whether I can dowload it or not, it is against my work policy to use any sort of instant messenger system -- I am not getting fired over our draft. I would prefer weekday too.
I think mtkillamanjohno summed it up perfectly... there are fewer busy signals on bigsoccer now so we should just stick to the tried and tested method of posting the results here on this thread. If Hal or someone is stuck with any proxy picks, I'd be glad to take responsibility for giving draft recaps after every round
Let me qualify my statement about August 3rd: I probably could have phone access if necessary that day if someone wanted to ring me each time it was my pick. I depart for a trip the morning of July 29 and fly back the 4th. I will have full capabilities on August 5th, unavailable again August 6th unless it's by phone (just realized I could do phone on that day), then available again August 7th onwards.
On availability in the future, I would prefer to have this done before Hal's target date of August 5th or Saturday the 6th... August 5th is a Friday and I'm taking the next week for vacation and would just love to be able leave late on the 5th or early the 6th for my lake house.... I'm not saying it's set in stone, I could draft the 6th and leave after that... It's a possibility but would prefer it as a last resort... Also it's possible that we'll get enough done on these boards where only a few picks would be left for proxy... Like Mark/Kop my work also would block/reprimand me for downloading any IM device for my laptop.... The work firewall is also a bastard, sometimes it does mess with the bigsoccer connection... My preference would be a weeknight draft or weekend... I'm willing to start making picks right now, but I do believe pick 3 is traveling until the 27th or 28th? Is that correct? So thats 5 days for me to wait and see if my "pick" blows out a knee...
That's correct, I think Michel comes back July 28. No point in going ahead and picking now. As a possible solution to this problem of weekend vs weekday... once Michel gets back we should start drafting on an informal basis and see how far we get. Then maybe we could potentially set aside Friday evening from 6-8pm as a start for the draft, and then finish off Saturday morning? Maybe we can all agree to this now so that we can alter schedules as necessary? Mtkillamanjohno is this good for you? I know it might not be unless you take time off, but this seems to be the window that works best for all of us on both availability and taking into account time differences for our UK based drafters. Hal, is starting the informal draft next week OK? I know you probably havent had time to do all necessary research, but the first rounds tend to be easiest to draft with big names still available, and I imagine we wont get more than two rounds done this way anyways. Basically in the Small Rocks we have a group of managers that have shown both commitment and good football knowledge in the past... that should mean we dont need to be as worried about people not showing up if we set a time, as well as not worrying about an insane amount of time to draft since we all know the EPL and can make quicker decisions that potential newbies.
While we've created 3 divisions this year, I make the obvious point that we're all still in the same league, will be competing in various interdivisional competitions, and should all be playing by the same rules. I can't see anything but DISadvantages if you all choose to do your draft early, but I request/encourage you not to break off into your own rogue state by handling the draft differently from the other divisions. Once the other leagues have sorted out their composition and draft order (and I don't think we should allow much longer for missing managers to check in), then perhaps the various league administrators can discuss how each draft will be handled. It's great that you've already created a division-specific draft thread, not great that all other discussions have been abandoned before the entire league is established. I'm posting this same comment in the general league thread so other managers not in Small Rocks who've logically ignored this tread can weigh in as well.
I agree with you in principle but I dont think we need to hold the drafts at exactly the same time, just around the same time. We are in the same league, but the drafts have no bearing after all on drafts elsewhere. In an ideal world though, it would be nice to hold all the drafts at the same time. We are not as ready as it may seem anyways. Three managers havent even created teams yet on our league site, and we have not even set a time for the draft. Moreover, I doubt we will start drafting heavily in the next week or so anyways... there's always the problem of drafting two weeks before the season and having your guy sustain a major injury.
w/ regards to me... any time i need time off I need to state so, 2weeks in advance... which is why, I've been begging and pleading to have this sorted out once and for all. It hasn't and anything happening 6-8 on Friday won't work for me, but the best idea is for me to drop out all together. I've made crystal clear specifically what times I was available for and the only times I can't draft (weekend, night) seem to be the most convienient for others... so, screw it I've had my fun and two top 2 finishes is enough for me - if we can't get this sorted out properly soon, u can count me out.
Well can we go ahead then and say that Saturday, August 6 starting at 9am will be our official draft time? That's two weeks from now, and we are all available if mtkillamanjohno takes at least the morning off. Friday doesnt work for Hal and mtkillamanjohno, adn Sunday doesnt work for Darr, subbeto, and mtkillamanjohno. Therefore Saturday makes the most sense and we should decide today to pick that Beyond that I would hate to see a defending manager drop out because of a draft conflict... I say we go ahead and start drafting informally sometime next week, set in stone the draft time for 9am on Saturday, and I volunteer to make proxy picks for you if there some type of remaining conflict. If we set this time in stone but can get some early rounds of drafting, you'll at least get to select your top 2-3 players, and then even with a proxy pick schedule you would have some ownership of the team, given you picked the core. And lets not worry about other leagues. If we cant square draft times that shouldnt be too much of an issue. But I think the point of squaring a draft time NOW are well taken. Darr_ needs to plan for a vacation, mtkillamanjohno needs to make a request to take time off, and otherwise we just need to stop debating times and go ahead and select one. Accordingly, I reiterate we should go for that Saturday morning, which works timewise for everyone. It is also only a week before the season starts, so injuries and transfers are less liekly to occur. Most importantly, we can stop discussing and start planning. Mtkillamanjohno has stated he can get the time off if we square this now (or at least today I guess). I dont see any more reasons not to set this up for August 6 with an informal draft starting earlier, and again I volunteer to proxy pick for mtkillamanjohno if need be. I've already looked over the website and have a pretty good draft strategy in place.
I agree with coffee... As soon as world cup is back next week I'm all for starting the draft informally. Mtkillamanjohno hopefully can get in alot of picks because I would hate to see him not defend his crown... It's quite possible that we could get in 7-12 rounds before next Saturday...
I posted this in the other thread concerning the question of draft procedures. Anyone should feel free to chime in. I want to stress I am not trying to take Jay's job away from him. I'm just trying to get things moving as people are starting to be frustrated with a lack of certainty around the process. As stated earlier I think we should just agree to Saturday, August 6 at 9am so the one affected manager can get the time off (or at least to end the uncertainty around the draft, as this time affects the fewest mangers out of all the times). In the meantime, we should start drafting informally after Michel returns next week (which would mean getting in touch with Tom ASAP, if anything for a proxy list) so everyone can at least build the core of their team. After that's done, I'm sure we could do some proxy picking. Speaking of that... Realistically it will be hard to get everyone together for a draft at the same time. I think that if a manager has demosntrated prior commitment to the leagues they should be allowed to have a proxy picker. As I stated in the other thread however, if we can start earlier and get the first couple of rounds done, then the proxy issue becomes less of an issue. Basically if you select the core of your team (3-4 high price stars), you can still identify with the team even if the other picks are proxies. I would recommend simply skipping that person and skipping them until the return. Once they return, they can get two picks. If they missed mutliple rounds, say 4, that wouldnt mean they get 4 picks in a row. 2 maximum per turn would be my suggestion If for example we do a draft Saturday, August 6, maybe 9am on Monday, August 8? If not, 24 hours after the draft has finished I believe trades should be allowed during the draft. However, I would recommend that they can only be announced when the person completing the trade has his turn to pick... My recommendation would be to handle this after the draft is completed. For example lets say I plan badly and run out of cap space in the 13th round. My suggestion is that that manager will not be allowed to draft any longer, and once the draft is over must go back and drop a high priced player, and make his final selections. I also recommend that in this case, the free agent pool cant be opened until all teams are under the cap and finished the draft. If caught right away I say that person should be allowed to draft again. However, I suggest we do not reset the clock for 5 additional minutes. If they exceed the 5 minutes, or we dont catch it till later, they get two picks in the next round. However, I think we can avoid this by posting results by round, after every round. But it is bound to happen later in the draft as well, especialyl as we start drafting cheap, unknown players. Again because this is a result of bad planning, I suggest waiting till the draft is over, and then having that manager substitute a player with whoever is left. That person would then be a free agent to be picked up in the free agent window
Ok now that World Cup posted in the other thread and said he will be back tommorow sometime, I will be making the 1st pick late tonight or early tomorrow morning... So good luck to all, and lets see how much we can get done... Everyone has different times during the week so I won't get my hopes up that we'll speed through but we should get a good amount done over the next 7-8 days...
DoctorJones24 has been on an auto vacation for the last ten days, and gets home late tonight. Let's see what draft procedures Jay comes up with and whether he concurs with the suggestions ibread4coffee posted in this thread or that I posted in the main draft organizing thread. Also, we may be going to 3 9 man divisions so don't make your pick yet, Jason. If we go to 9 teams, and I'm not sure we will, I'll just select a number from 1-9 out of a hat and the 9 th team will get that draft slot with the draft position formerly held by that number and all later picks to drop down one. But, like I said, I'm not sure we're going to 9. We close registration tomorrow and let's see how the numbers sort out.
After reading others comments carefully, I retract my earlier vote for 9 team leagues, 8 teams per division is the best way to go.
The more I think about it, I concur with Michel and kopiteinkc... lets stick to 8 mangers per division. Before we start drafting informally as well, we need to make sure Tom is around. He hasnt posted in a while, and it makes no sense to draft if he isnt around.