Not that this blog is bloated with readers hanging on every word in every post, but I'm still sorry it's been a couple of weeks since I updated any news or history for the LOTC. Things have gotten very busy for my other job at Nova Fantasy Sports (obviously, with the fantasy playoffs going on right now), so I've been forced to neglect some of my less-important hobbies.
So it might seem rather sudden to be reminded that your FINAL keeper designations are due by midnight tomorrow night, but they are. I hope everyone meets the deadline, because every every draft pick you own will go down one spot for each day the deadline is missed. You can post your designations on our yahoo page OR as a comment on this blog. If you've already turned in your designations, please check that I've entered them correctly by going here and looking under the 'Keeper Designations' tab, under 2010.
In other news, this might or might not be important to you, but I have decided to stop managing my Djibouti Crust team next season. I'm the sort of crazed organizational nut who loves playing fantasy football, but who loves running a league as a commissioner even more. My already abnormal obsession has enabled me to [hopefully] deliver a product to you guys that is far superior to any other fantasy football league you are in. For me, my increased involvement in running things behind the scenes has hindered my ability to manage my team as well as I would like. I've actually been pondering this decision since the last offseason. There's even more changes I want to make in years to come to enhance and improve the LOTC experience and those changes will only make it harder for me to manage my team while maintaining the high standard that I want to hold as a league commissioner.
Like I said, I think one of the benefits to this decision will be that I can devote even more time to making this league the best fantasy football experience possible. Another pro is that you will have the benefit of having a commissioner who can make decisions and rulings as objectively as humanly possible. I'll obviously want to see the excellent heritage of the Djibouti Crust franchise continue, so I'll be pulling for them every year. But it still allows me to make more of the inevitably controversial decisions without the question of whether my choice is motivated by my own team's success. One of the settings changes to be brought about by this decision will be the dissolution of the trade approval committee. Now, all decisions on trades will be made by someone who is not running one of the teams in the league.
You can also now expect me to start planning an ACTUAL draft party every year. We had some makeshift stuff at Buffalo Wild Wings for a few years, but since I was trying to prepare for my own team's draft, I didn't put very much thought or effort into planning the party. I'm going to start planning the 2010 draft NOW, and I plan on having it at someone's house. At this point, almost half of the league managers are NOT living in Dallas and we might be even more spread out by the time the next season starts, but I figure with enough notice, we can at least get the majority of this group together for a draft party.
So that's that. I wouldn't bother protesting (if you were planning on it) because I'm not going to change my decision. I'm honestly more excited than ever about what this decision means for the LOTC and I think you will all eventually agree that it was a very good decision.
And in case you were wondering, the individual taking over management of the Djibouti Crust franchise is one of my good friends, Jacob Herrera, whom many of you already know. You probably didn't notice his username under my team page, but I added him as a co-manager more than a week ago so that he could take a look at the roster and choose his own keepers for next season. I'm fully confidant he'll do well in carrying on the great Djibouti Crust heritage.
Also, congratulations to Joe and David, whose teams, 'The Big Breesy' and 'The Undisputed' are facing off for the championship this week, which means we will finally have our first ever two-time champion in the LOTC.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Upcoming changes for the 2010 Season
Most of the changes are minimal, and this list is not at all complete, but I will update it as more ideas come to me.
- Interceptions will count for -2 points now, instead of -1
- Completions will now be worth .5 points instead of 1.
- Preseason trades of keeper designations will be allowed, but with a number of stipulations, including tighter approval guidelines, requirement to maintain the minimum position count (1 QB, 2 WR, 1 RB, 1 TE, 1 K/DEF).
- Pre-draft trades of redshirt designations will also be trade-able on the condition that both managers draft the redshirt player AND that the terms are even.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
2009 Regular Season Records & Interesting Facts
+ As of this moment, we at least know the first six draft spots (although Ben owns about half of the picks in the first round) in each round for next year's draft. They are, as follows.....
+ David Onyon's The Undisputed franchise had the biggest improvement from one year to the next, improving his win-total by six games in 2009. The second-greatest improvement this season was Jorge Parrales's Djibouti Crust, which had a four-win increase. Conversely, both Texas Thundermonkeys and Beatubad experienced six-game declines in 2009, and defending champion Wrong Answer declined by five games.
+ Stephen Dinger is probably happy to know that an LOTC all-time record that he owned has no been broken by another manager. Ben Weiss set a new mark for the longest losing streak in a single-season by starting this season 0-10.
+ This is the first time in seven seasons that no manager turned out a double-digit final score. The lowest scoring output of the season was Dinger's 129-point score in his opening-week loss to Aaron Diehl.
+ With Aaron Diehl's Vince Young missing out on the playoffs this season, the league-record for most consecutive seasons in the playoffs stands at three, an achievement held by Vince Young ('06-'08), Texas Thundermonkeys ('03-'05), Djibouti Crust ('03-'05), Tenacious D ('07-09), Deion Found Jesus ('05-'07), and The Undisputed ('04-'06). If Tenacious D make the playoffs in 2010, they will hold the new record of four consecutive seasons. Tenacious D, Djibouti Crust and Texas Thundermonkeys hold the record for the most overall playoff seasons, with five.
+ Wrong Answer is the fourth of six champions to miss the playoffs the year after their championship season. The only two league champions to make the playoffs in their title-defense season are The Undisputed and Vince Young.
+ Speaking of league champions, the LOTC has seen six first-time league champions since its inception in 2003. This year's top-two seeded teams, The Undisputed and The Big Breesy have both previously won a championship. In the four seasons that we have had a bye game in the first round of the playoffs, a bye team has won the championship twice. So history tells us we have a 50% chance of seeing our first repeat champion in league history.
- Beatubad
- First or Last
- Texas Thundermonkeys
- Wrong Answer
- Vince Young
- I'm a Texan
+ David Onyon's The Undisputed franchise had the biggest improvement from one year to the next, improving his win-total by six games in 2009. The second-greatest improvement this season was Jorge Parrales's Djibouti Crust, which had a four-win increase. Conversely, both Texas Thundermonkeys and Beatubad experienced six-game declines in 2009, and defending champion Wrong Answer declined by five games.
+ Stephen Dinger is probably happy to know that an LOTC all-time record that he owned has no been broken by another manager. Ben Weiss set a new mark for the longest losing streak in a single-season by starting this season 0-10.
+ This is the first time in seven seasons that no manager turned out a double-digit final score. The lowest scoring output of the season was Dinger's 129-point score in his opening-week loss to Aaron Diehl.
+ With Aaron Diehl's Vince Young missing out on the playoffs this season, the league-record for most consecutive seasons in the playoffs stands at three, an achievement held by Vince Young ('06-'08), Texas Thundermonkeys ('03-'05), Djibouti Crust ('03-'05), Tenacious D ('07-09), Deion Found Jesus ('05-'07), and The Undisputed ('04-'06). If Tenacious D make the playoffs in 2010, they will hold the new record of four consecutive seasons. Tenacious D, Djibouti Crust and Texas Thundermonkeys hold the record for the most overall playoff seasons, with five.
+ Wrong Answer is the fourth of six champions to miss the playoffs the year after their championship season. The only two league champions to make the playoffs in their title-defense season are The Undisputed and Vince Young.
+ Speaking of league champions, the LOTC has seen six first-time league champions since its inception in 2003. This year's top-two seeded teams, The Undisputed and The Big Breesy have both previously won a championship. In the four seasons that we have had a bye game in the first round of the playoffs, a bye team has won the championship twice. So history tells us we have a 50% chance of seeing our first repeat champion in league history.
2009 Regular Season Wrap-Up
Well, it was yet another successful regular season of fantasy football in the LOTC, and I'm very grateful to all twelve managers for being active and competitive all season long. In the coming weeks, there will be several updates and news regarding what you can expect in the offseason and next season, including some changes (mostly minor) that will be incorporated into the settings in the future. In the meanwhile, I thought I would recap some of the highlights from the regular season and also take a moment to preview this week's matchups. So without further ado.......
It was highly unlikely. In fact, to my memory, it was the least-likely win-and-in scenario I had ever seen. Jorge Parrales's (yes, me) Djibouti Crust franchise was holding on to a one-game lead over I'm a Texan and Vince Young as we headed into the final week of regular season games. But I was playing The Big Breesy, who would end up earning the #2 seed and first-round bye. The loss was imminent. If Djibouti Crust lost, all I'm a Texan needed was a win, because they had scored 100+ points more throughout the season, giving them the tiebreaker over the Crust. And, if Djibouti Crust and I'm a Texan both happened to lose, Vince Young needed a win AND 40 more points than Djibouti Crust to earn the final playoff spot.
Headed into Monday night's game between Green Bay and Baltimore, Djibouti Crust had clearly lost their game this week, I'm a Texan needed only 32.5 points between Ryan Grant and Derrick Mason (averaging 46 combined ppg to that point) to win their game, and Vince Young had successfully outscored Djibouti Crust by 43 points and held a 52-point lead against Texas Thundermonkeys, who had Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings (averaging 69.5 combined ppg to that point) left to play. The Vince Young franchise was eliminated by the first minute in the third quarter, as Aaron Rodgers turned in a spectacular performance. But the real shocker came in the mere 18 points that Ryan Grant and Derrick Mason combined to score for I'm a Texan, giving them the loss and giving Djibouti Crust the final playoff berth.
Djibouti Crust might have scrapped their way into the playoffs, but the magic seems highly unlikely to continue as they take on East division rival and winner, Deion Found Jesus, whom they have already lost to twice this season. Until this 2009 season, Djibouti Crust had enjoyed tremendous success against Deion Found Jesus, having only lost to Robby Grunwald's franchise once in five meetings. But Robby now has an opportunity to even things out at 4-4-0 if he can win one more time against Jorge. This marks the first meeting between thes two teams in the playoffs.
The #4 vs #5 matchup features North division winner Tenacious D and West division runner-up Hybrids, who just played each other last week in the final regular season game. If the results from that game (Hybrids won by 104.5 points) are an indication of what we should expect in this one, Hybrids should easily coast their way into the second-round. This is actually the second meeting between these two teams in the playoffs. The first was last season, in the #4 vs #5 first-round matchup. Hybrids also won that game, but lost in the second round to eventual champion Wrong Answer. My guess is that Ryan Hennesy is looking to make a change to his recent history against Tim/Michelle/David Ferguson.
It was highly unlikely. In fact, to my memory, it was the least-likely win-and-in scenario I had ever seen. Jorge Parrales's (yes, me) Djibouti Crust franchise was holding on to a one-game lead over I'm a Texan and Vince Young as we headed into the final week of regular season games. But I was playing The Big Breesy, who would end up earning the #2 seed and first-round bye. The loss was imminent. If Djibouti Crust lost, all I'm a Texan needed was a win, because they had scored 100+ points more throughout the season, giving them the tiebreaker over the Crust. And, if Djibouti Crust and I'm a Texan both happened to lose, Vince Young needed a win AND 40 more points than Djibouti Crust to earn the final playoff spot.
Headed into Monday night's game between Green Bay and Baltimore, Djibouti Crust had clearly lost their game this week, I'm a Texan needed only 32.5 points between Ryan Grant and Derrick Mason (averaging 46 combined ppg to that point) to win their game, and Vince Young had successfully outscored Djibouti Crust by 43 points and held a 52-point lead against Texas Thundermonkeys, who had Aaron Rodgers and Greg Jennings (averaging 69.5 combined ppg to that point) left to play. The Vince Young franchise was eliminated by the first minute in the third quarter, as Aaron Rodgers turned in a spectacular performance. But the real shocker came in the mere 18 points that Ryan Grant and Derrick Mason combined to score for I'm a Texan, giving them the loss and giving Djibouti Crust the final playoff berth.
Djibouti Crust might have scrapped their way into the playoffs, but the magic seems highly unlikely to continue as they take on East division rival and winner, Deion Found Jesus, whom they have already lost to twice this season. Until this 2009 season, Djibouti Crust had enjoyed tremendous success against Deion Found Jesus, having only lost to Robby Grunwald's franchise once in five meetings. But Robby now has an opportunity to even things out at 4-4-0 if he can win one more time against Jorge. This marks the first meeting between thes two teams in the playoffs.
The #4 vs #5 matchup features North division winner Tenacious D and West division runner-up Hybrids, who just played each other last week in the final regular season game. If the results from that game (Hybrids won by 104.5 points) are an indication of what we should expect in this one, Hybrids should easily coast their way into the second-round. This is actually the second meeting between these two teams in the playoffs. The first was last season, in the #4 vs #5 first-round matchup. Hybrids also won that game, but lost in the second round to eventual champion Wrong Answer. My guess is that Ryan Hennesy is looking to make a change to his recent history against Tim/Michelle/David Ferguson.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Keeper Selections Coming Due
While the deadline for posting your official keeper designations is not until Tuesday, December 29, managers who miss the playoffs will only be able to make their selections from their final rosters at the end of the regular season. Free Agent pickups made after this Monday will not be eligible keeper options for non-playoff teams.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Need Volunteers for Experimental League
I'm looking for five other managers (preferably all from the LOTC) to join me in an entirely experimental auction draft salary-cap league next season. The only reason I'm asking right now is because I'd like to know who the mangers will be so that I can communicate with you throughout the offseason while I work out the kinks on the settings and what-not. It's not meant to be a replacement to the LOTC by any means. I'm actually wanting to incorporate these changes into the LOTC in the next few years, and this experimental league will only exist until that happens. You'll essentially be guinea-pigs for a 'hopefully' radical shift in the way fantasy football is played.
There will only be bragging rights at stake. I am asking that you only commit to it if you can assure that you will remain highly active in both this league and the experimental one next season. There will be absolutely no offense for choosing to pass on it.
The basic idea of it will be a pre-set salary cap. We will bid on all players for our draft and once the draft is completed, all free agents will be assigned a 'dollar-value'. Adding and dropping will take place without waivers of any kind, you just must always stay at or below the salary cap at all times. A player's dollar-value is re-evaluated three times throughout the year (weeks 3, 7, 10) based on their performance throughout the season. There's more, but we'll leave it at that right now by way of teasers.
If you're interested, please text me and let me know.
There will only be bragging rights at stake. I am asking that you only commit to it if you can assure that you will remain highly active in both this league and the experimental one next season. There will be absolutely no offense for choosing to pass on it.
The basic idea of it will be a pre-set salary cap. We will bid on all players for our draft and once the draft is completed, all free agents will be assigned a 'dollar-value'. Adding and dropping will take place without waivers of any kind, you just must always stay at or below the salary cap at all times. A player's dollar-value is re-evaluated three times throughout the year (weeks 3, 7, 10) based on their performance throughout the season. There's more, but we'll leave it at that right now by way of teasers.
If you're interested, please text me and let me know.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Week 13 Matchups & All-Time Records
In an unlikely turn of events, Stephen Dinger's I'm a Texan franchise lost their week 12 game to the Texas Thundermonkeys which, coupled with a Djibouti Crust victory over Vince Young, put Djibouti Crust back into the driver's seat for the sixth and final spot for this year's playoffs. In any case, pretty much all of the playoff-relevant teams are playing for something.
The Undisputed have essentially clinched the top overall spot since they have a full-game lead over Ryan Hennesy's Tenacious D AND have outscored them by 250 points this season. Even if The Undisputed managed to lose to Beatubad (1-11), there is no chance Tenacious D can overcome that kind of point differential in a single game.
The number two seed and second bye game is a whole different scenario. If Tenacious D can defeat a very tough opponent in The Hybrids, that spot goes to Tenacious D. But a loss to Hybrids and a win by either The Big Breesy or Deion Found Jesus will cause Tenacious D to play in the wild-card round.
The Hybrids join division rival The Undisputed as the only other team whose playoff spot is pretty much certain. Regardless of how the other divisions play out, Hybrids will finish second in their own division, but have the better record or tiebreaker over whoever gets the sixth playoff spot, so they will be facing off against the lowest ranked division winner, likely to be either Tenacious D or Deion Found Jesus.
The final spot will belong to Djibouti Crust (7-5, 2482 points) , I'm a Texan (6-6, 2595 points) or Vince Young (6-6, 2444 points). If Djibouti Crust can defeat The Big Breesy, they will have earned the last spot. If Djibouti loses and I'm a Texan beats Deion Found Jesus, I'm a Texan will get the last spot. And lastly, if Djibouti Crust and I'm a Texan lose and Vince Young wins AND outscores Djibouti Crust by 40+ points, Vince Young will get the final spot.
Week 13 Matchups
Djibouti Crust (7-5-0) vs The Big Breesy (8-4-0)
Joe leads all-time 2-1-0
Hybrids (8-4-0) vs Tenacious D (9-3-0)
All-time 4-4-0 (Ryan leads regular season 4-3-0)
Deion Found Jesus (8-4-0) vs I'm a Texan (6-6-0)
All-time 2-2-0
Wrong Answer (4-8-0) vs First or Last (3-9-0)
Paul leads all-time 1-0-0
Vince Young (6-6-0) vs Texas Thundermonkeys (2-10-0)
JMB leads all-time 3-1-0
Beatubad (1-11-0) vs The Undisputed (10-2-0)
Ben leads all-time 3-2-0
The Undisputed have essentially clinched the top overall spot since they have a full-game lead over Ryan Hennesy's Tenacious D AND have outscored them by 250 points this season. Even if The Undisputed managed to lose to Beatubad (1-11), there is no chance Tenacious D can overcome that kind of point differential in a single game.
The number two seed and second bye game is a whole different scenario. If Tenacious D can defeat a very tough opponent in The Hybrids, that spot goes to Tenacious D. But a loss to Hybrids and a win by either The Big Breesy or Deion Found Jesus will cause Tenacious D to play in the wild-card round.
The Hybrids join division rival The Undisputed as the only other team whose playoff spot is pretty much certain. Regardless of how the other divisions play out, Hybrids will finish second in their own division, but have the better record or tiebreaker over whoever gets the sixth playoff spot, so they will be facing off against the lowest ranked division winner, likely to be either Tenacious D or Deion Found Jesus.
The final spot will belong to Djibouti Crust (7-5, 2482 points) , I'm a Texan (6-6, 2595 points) or Vince Young (6-6, 2444 points). If Djibouti Crust can defeat The Big Breesy, they will have earned the last spot. If Djibouti loses and I'm a Texan beats Deion Found Jesus, I'm a Texan will get the last spot. And lastly, if Djibouti Crust and I'm a Texan lose and Vince Young wins AND outscores Djibouti Crust by 40+ points, Vince Young will get the final spot.
Week 13 Matchups
Djibouti Crust (7-5-0) vs The Big Breesy (8-4-0)
Joe leads all-time 2-1-0
Hybrids (8-4-0) vs Tenacious D (9-3-0)
All-time 4-4-0 (Ryan leads regular season 4-3-0)
Deion Found Jesus (8-4-0) vs I'm a Texan (6-6-0)
All-time 2-2-0
Wrong Answer (4-8-0) vs First or Last (3-9-0)
Paul leads all-time 1-0-0
Vince Young (6-6-0) vs Texas Thundermonkeys (2-10-0)
JMB leads all-time 3-1-0
Beatubad (1-11-0) vs The Undisputed (10-2-0)
Ben leads all-time 3-2-0
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)