Auto-Pick is a Fickle Lover

So my fantasy football teams and leagues are locked and loaded for this year.

 

My first fantasy draft was for my new Auction League and you can read the first of the Magnate Chronicles where I talk about rules, and knowing them before you do stuff.

 

Well, the rule for my next two leagues is as follows:

Nothing ever goes as planned.

I always run my Fumbled Returns auto-pick League of Experts before my Borderless League Draft.  The goal is, of course, to do one last final run of my draft “plan” or “strategy”.  This auto draft went fairly well in my opinion and I was pleasantly surprised that I got first pick.  This was fairly close to my borderless league position which I will explain shortly.   With mock drafts, as well as the League of Experts draft,  I look for trends and relative “availability” of players at certain points in time during the draft.  The fact that I was able to get Matt Forte at the end of the second round was a positive sign.

Now, this is the point where you can open the window and throw everything I just said – OUT!

The Borderless League is my money league and the one I have been doing the longest of any online sports related activity.  Even longer than this blog.

Let me first start off by saying that the Borderless League is a Keeper League where one has the option to keep one “franchise” player if you want to.  If you do, it counts as your first round pick.

Last year I chose to draft instead of keeping anybody, and was able to pick up Michael Turner because folks were scared that he had an injury and was not quite as valuable anymore.  Matt Ryan was in the same boat.  I was able to get him late in the draft as well as Jamaal Charles in the 4^th round last year.

So, I had Turner, Ryan, and Charles to choose from for keepers.  In fact, if Turner, Ryan and the Falcons had not fallen flat on their faces late last year, I probably would have won the league.

So, like a spurned lover left at the altar, I decided to keep Charles.

Perhaps I should now include another rule.

Payback is a bitch pain in the butt.

Because of circumstances beyond my control, only about half the league was actually able to make it online and participate in the live draft.  This meant that half the teams were on auto-pick.

Auto-pick is a computer.

You can’t trash talk or distract or dis a computer.  Well, actually you can . . . or at least try . . . but it is kind of pointless.

And believe me, I did.  By the time for my second (actually 1^st live draft) pick, Everybody who I had targeted as a 1^st team pick was gone.  EVERYBODY!  That NEVER happened in any of my mock drafts!  EVER!

The Auto-picks cleared the whole board!

All I had left was 2^nd and 3^rd tier targets.

So, what did I do?

The only thing I could do.  I stuck with my plan.

And went ALL IN.

If this were poker, my all in team would be called a bluff.

I went all in on folks who are out of favor and off of people’s radar, at least for top round picks.  Even this plan was not 100% successful, because good ol’ auto-pick stole the Miami rookie RB Thomas out from under me in the next set of picks.

My All In Dream Team !

Oh well, maybe some of the auto-pick dream teams in my Borderless league will fall harder than the Eagles and my plan will end up being pure genius.

I guess that is one reason why they call this Fantasy Football.  😉

Hey, it’s a long season and, as I have already seen, anything can happen.

The Magnate Chronicles – 1

I love Fantasy Football.

I also love rules.

The Fumbled Returns League of Magnates is a first for me.

A real auction style draft.

 

And this league is already proving to be filled with drama and excitement and even a little bit of learning from life’s little lessons and testing the rules.

 

Rule # 1: Read the Rules.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Reading the rules is very helpful.  They set parameters and if written well, have consequences.  Rules let you know, and everybody else, what is expected and how to play the game.  They help define strategies, and define behaviors.

 

In a way this little condition leads to . . .

 

Rule #2: Know Thyself.

I knew that there would be at least one person in my auction league to break rule #1.  I also knew that I am a kind and benevolent ruler who could be easily swayed to have a league vote and possibly change the no trade rule.

So, I set the league up as a “custom” league as opposed to a “manager” league. ( Yes, I am typing this with a slight sly smile)

You see, I followed rule #1 and read ESPN league definitions and rules.  Custom leagues can not be changed once the settings are set and created.  The only referendum that can be done is a vote to change the league name.  A manager league can make such changes and have any number of league votes for changes.

As a slight consolation, I also unchecked ESPN “can not drop” on top fantasy players. Just in case somebodies stud has a nasty booboo and becomes dead weight on the roster.

So, this morning I received an email from one of the members of the Magnate League asking about my no trade rule.  I of course diplomatically said that unfortunately this can not be changed and explained why and that I even went in and double checked to see if it could and also if I could set up a referendum and league vote.  Of course, I already knew the answer.

This leads me to . . .

 

Rule #3: People are human and mistakes are bound to happen.

The important thing is to learn from your mistakes and get better and make the best of an unfortunate situation.

 

Rule #4: I too am human.

Hence, I am not without fault either.

I broke at least one rule of auction league strategies.

 

Broken Auction League Rule #1:  Never bid too high, too early for a QB.

I was actually trying to bid up others to spend more.

Devious but true.

 

Broken Auction League Rule #2: Never bid up spending once the bidding actually does get too expensive.

 

So, who did I pay too much for?

Aaron Rodgers.

 

I had no intention of winning him. I just made a mistake – OK actually two.  But considering it is Aaron Rodgers, I guess if I had to do it on anybody, he is as good a candidate as anybody.  However it changed my outlook and strategy for the rest of the draft.  I was planning too draft a perfectly good QB later, for much less.  Such as Matt Ryan for less than $10. or Josh Freeman for less than $20 or even Romo for less than $20 too.

Arrrgh! I could have used that extra money on somebody else.

I also wanted to see if I could finish the bidding draft with money left over.

That didn’t happen either.

 

So, what does my first ever (semi official) auction league team look like?

Here it is . . .

 

QB Aaron Rodgers 51
RB Rashard Mendenhall 42
RB Steven Jackson 30
RB/WR Lee Evans 6
WR Julio Jones 8
WR Greg Jennings 38
TE Greg Olsen 4
D/ST Bears D/ST 3
K Stephen Gostkowski 1
BE John Beck 1
BE Daniel Thomas 4
BE Sam Bradford 3
BE Chad Ochocinco 5
BE Mike Thomas 2
BE Lance Moore 1
BE James Jones 1
Total: 200
Remaining: 0

 

Yes, I love Fantasy Football.   And I already love what has happened within this league.

I am sure that there will be more Magnate Chronicles to follow.

 

Until next time . . .

 

Be good. Do well. Have fun.