It's not just the hair, JVB.
My friend Robert (hereto known as Ert) holds the distinction of being our league’s worst owner. Over the past eight years, Ert routinely ranks in the bottom third of all teams, has never won a league championship and is a prime target for relentless Tuesday morning mockery.
His worst moments usually happen during those critical four or five hours during the draft. Robert is a very smart guy, and a great family man, but when it comes to game-time decisions, he falls apart like Tom Cable during a coaches meeting. Unfortunately, we migrated the league from CBS Sportsline to ESPN this year, so I can’t go back and pull some of his bigger blunders over the last eight years. But we do have a little recent history (starting Jamal Lewis, Derrick Ward and Sammy Morris on a consistent basis this year).
In any event, Ert pulled down Brees, Moss, T.O. and a number of ‘breakout’ players during this year’s draft, astonishing most of us while crowning him the regular season favorite. Things looked good in Week 1: 117 points and weekly honors for high score (and a $10 payout). Since then, Ert has gone 1-6, his only other win coming against your’s truly in Week 3 (a pathetic 62-51 affair). He has, by a good margin, the lowest scoring team in the league, and relies on Brees’ herculean performances to stay competitive week-to-week.
But I can’t pin his performance solely on draft decisions and weekly starts.
No, there’s an uglier issue lording over the whole of fantasy football. Unabashed luck. Pure and simple. Before the season, would anyone bet $50 or even $10 that T.O. would have only one receiving touchdown through eight weeks? Or that Greg Olsen would be the 17th best TE in football (keep in mind we both live near Chicago, where everyone and their brother was touting Olsen’s chemistry with Cutler)? Or that Ryan Grant would become an afterthought in Green Bay’s offense? As an aside, Ert’s other fantasy team, which he allowed to be auto-drafted in his Yahoo league, is currently in contention.
Anyone remember the days when a dominant back, one good receiver and a consistent quarterback could carry a team to the championship? Putting together that holy trinity took some planning, and usually paid out in spades if you could get it right. Those days are gone. Instead, we have a fantasy atmosphere that is three parts luck, one part waiver wire proficiency. Although Ert drafted a team that should do better, there are many more examples of weaker drafts now dominating leagues.
Luck has always played a role but never so much as this season. Even owners that took All Day with the first pick are struggling, as evidenced by our A.P. owner sitting in the basement (a team that includes Kurt Warner and Carolina’s Steve Smith). Forte owners only recently stepped back from the ledge. Andre Johnson is not living up to his billing. Nor is Larry Fitzgerald. Never mind increasingly hit-or-miss plays with Steve Slaton, Brian Westbrook and Tony Gonzalez.
As someone that’s lived the dream . . . having your fantasy team go to the league championship the same year your team (Steelers) wins the Super Bowl . . . its equally ruinous when your fantasy team sucks and you can’t enjoy an NFL game, even when your real life team is winning.
After spending dozens of hours preparing for this year’s fantasy draft, and reaping very few benefits on Sundays, there’s only two choices. Give up on your fantasy team altogether, checking in solely to avoid starting players on bye week. Or build a super team on the sly with other down-on-their-luck owners, trading key players to a single owner and splitting the bounty if that team wins out (a tough balancing act to avoid a veto from the league commish . . . something Ert and I have pulled off in the past).
The answer? Stop drafting players and start drafting teams by position.
You like the Giants running game? Draft them at RB1. You like the Cardinal’s receivers? Draft them at WR1. The Colts passing game? QB1. The rules would be pretty simple. Instead of rounds, the draft would go by position. A team could be drafted only once by position, but would become available again once the next position was up. The waiver would work the same — you could add/drop teams by position to the waiver. This would fit PERFECTLY into an auction system.
A team-by-position league would not only mitigate luck, but would allow homers to draft their favorite teams and not be immediately lambasted, helping reverse the Sunday curse of rooting for players playing against your team.
A few thoughts as my 2-5 Chicago Sharts struggle for their third victory tonight (go go Tony Gonzalez).
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Why Fantasy Football Should Draft Teams, Not Players
It's not just the hair, JVB.
My friend Robert (hereto known as Ert) holds the distinction of being our league’s worst owner. Over the past eight years, Ert routinely ranks in the bottom third of all teams, has never won a league championship and is a prime target for relentless Tuesday morning mockery.
His worst moments usually happen during those critical four or five hours during the draft. Robert is a very smart guy, and a great family man, but when it comes to game-time decisions, he falls apart like Tom Cable during a coaches meeting. Unfortunately, we migrated the league from CBS Sportsline to ESPN this year, so I can’t go back and pull some of his bigger blunders over the last eight years. But we do have a little recent history (starting Jamal Lewis, Derrick Ward and Sammy Morris on a consistent basis this year).
In any event, Ert pulled down Brees, Moss, T.O. and a number of ‘breakout’ players during this year’s draft, astonishing most of us while crowning him the regular season favorite. Things looked good in Week 1: 117 points and weekly honors for high score (and a $10 payout). Since then, Ert has gone 1-6, his only other win coming against your’s truly in Week 3 (a pathetic 62-51 affair). He has, by a good margin, the lowest scoring team in the league, and relies on Brees’ herculean performances to stay competitive week-to-week.
But I can’t pin his performance solely on draft decisions and weekly starts.
No, there’s an uglier issue lording over the whole of fantasy football. Unabashed luck. Pure and simple. Before the season, would anyone bet $50 or even $10 that T.O. would have only one receiving touchdown through eight weeks? Or that Greg Olsen would be the 17th best TE in football (keep in mind we both live near Chicago, where everyone and their brother was touting Olsen’s chemistry with Cutler)? Or that Ryan Grant would become an afterthought in Green Bay’s offense? As an aside, Ert’s other fantasy team, which he allowed to be auto-drafted in his Yahoo league, is currently in contention.
Anyone remember the days when a dominant back, one good receiver and a consistent quarterback could carry a team to the championship? Putting together that holy trinity took some planning, and usually paid out in spades if you could get it right. Those days are gone. Instead, we have a fantasy atmosphere that is three parts luck, one part waiver wire proficiency. Although Ert drafted a team that should do better, there are many more examples of weaker drafts now dominating leagues.
Luck has always played a role but never so much as this season. Even owners that took All Day with the first pick are struggling, as evidenced by our A.P. owner sitting in the basement (a team that includes Kurt Warner and Carolina’s Steve Smith). Forte owners only recently stepped back from the ledge. Andre Johnson is not living up to his billing. Nor is Larry Fitzgerald. Never mind increasingly hit-or-miss plays with Steve Slaton, Brian Westbrook and Tony Gonzalez.
As someone that’s lived the dream . . . having your fantasy team go to the league championship the same year your team (Steelers) wins the Super Bowl . . . its equally ruinous when your fantasy team sucks and you can’t enjoy an NFL game, even when your real life team is winning.
After spending dozens of hours preparing for this year’s fantasy draft, and reaping very few benefits on Sundays, there’s only two choices. Give up on your fantasy team altogether, checking in solely to avoid starting players on bye week. Or build a super team on the sly with other down-on-their-luck owners, trading key players to a single owner and splitting the bounty if that team wins out (a tough balancing act to avoid a veto from the league commish . . . something Ert and I have pulled off in the past).
The answer? Stop drafting players and start drafting teams by position.
You like the Giants running game? Draft them at RB1. You like the Cardinal’s receivers? Draft them at WR1. The Colts passing game? QB1. The rules would be pretty simple. Instead of rounds, the draft would go by position. A team could be drafted only once by position, but would become available again once the next position was up. The waiver would work the same — you could add/drop teams by position to the waiver. This would fit PERFECTLY into an auction system.
A team-by-position league would not only mitigate luck, but would allow homers to draft their favorite teams and not be immediately lambasted, helping reverse the Sunday curse of rooting for players playing against your team.
A few thoughts as my 2-5 Chicago Sharts struggle for their third victory tonight (go go Tony Gonzalez).
Like this: