Draft Recommendations

After my last post, I had a comment requesting draft recommendations.

So, here they are:

1) First and foremost, have fun. And like the picture said in my last post, Eat – Drink – Draft. And if your league mates are after your same players, have them Drink some more!

2) Keep the conversation on topic and appropriate for the occasion. Discussing family, women, booze, sports, music, entertainment, etc. is all acceptable, but discussing work is not. Discussing work is grounds for immediate removal from the party at which point your selections will be made at the discretion of your league commissioner.

3) Bathroom breaks are only allowed immediately after your selection in any given round. And only liquid breaks please. No Albert breaks and under no circumstances no stinkies.

4) Using the “T J Whosyourmomma” joke is grounds for everyone in the room to toss various projectiles in your general direction.

And last but certainly not least. . .

5) Having ESPN, SportsCenter, Any Football Game, or Rock Music / Videos are perfectly acceptable and even necessary for complementing the occasion. But, not just any music / video.

Please choose from the following:

• Led Zeppelin
• Pearl Jam
• Rolling Stones
• Metallica
• Aerosmith
• AC/DC circa 1975-1980
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Eminem
• Incubus
• Anything else you consider bad ass in the rock and roll or hip hop genres

Please burn and break anything remotely like the following:

• The Jonas Brothers
• Katy Perry
• Miley Cyrus
• The Backstreet Boys
• O-Town
• Britney Spears
• Justin Bieber
• Anything featuring Justin Bieber
• Any artist that rhymes with Justin Bieber
• Anthing that makes others stop and say out loud, “Wait…is this Justin Bieber?!?!”

Oh, and if you were hoping for some insight into draft strategy beyond drafting the best person available for a position . . .

Here is mine for my Borderless Team this year . . .

8 – 6 – 4

A special Kudos to the first person to figure this one out . . .

Football faults and a plan

Everybody has them. Take for instance the auditor I met at work today from Chelmsford Massachusetts.

He was really smart and personable but suffered from a common malady which afflicts many from that area of the country.

He was a Patriot Fan.

Of course he saw my Redskins Mug and asked if I was a Redskins Fan. OK, strike the smart part from the previous paragraph.

I said “Born and Raised”

He said he was a “Patriot” fan.

I said I wouldn’t hold it against him and asked how the 12 step plan was coming along . . .

He said that the Pats were the better team . .

I said we get more headlines . . .

Speaking of plans.

My Borderless League (I’m Commish) is implementing Keepers for the first time this
year. We are treating it as the equivalent of picking a Franchise Player and selecting one player from last years roster. Out of 12 players, 7 picked a keeper.

Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, MJD, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Miles Austin are now officially off the board.

I did not pick a keeper. I was really torn as to what to do. My top 3 choices were; DeAngelo Williams, DeSean Jackson, Jay Cutler. OK, so maybe Jay is not much of a choice . . . So I kept flip flopping back and forth between DeSean and DeAngelo.

In most leagues and most drafts, DeAngelo is the higher rated player of the two but in my league we count return yards, so based on last years results, DeSean is actually rated higher.

Now for a brief review of how ESPN works Keepers and drafts.
Draft order is locked until all keepers are selected.
Keepers count as your selection for the round. So if you have a team or league with 3 or 4 keepers, you know how the first 3 or 4 rounds will go for you. If you have less keepers picked than the max, you get to draft from the pool.

So, in my league if you pick a franchise player, that is your first round pick. If you don’t, you get to draft from available players.

So, my draft order position in the 12 team league based on last years final standings is 7th. But because of the other people selecting keepers and me NOT selecting a keeper, I get to pick 4th in the first round from available players.

Going strictly by ESPN rankings that leaves Ray Rice, Steven Jackson, Frank Gore, Andre Johnson, Michael Turner, Randy Moss all higher than DeAngelo and DeSean; Followed by Larry Fitzgerald, Ryan Grant Reggie Wayne and Cedric Benson.
I think I like my choices compared to either of the two D’s from my team last year.

Worst case, I could end up picking them anyway, which I would not necessarily mind.

I still want to get DeSean though and feel that I can easily get him with my 3rd round pick.

So there it is, no keepers for me with the hope of getting somebody slightly better with perhaps a bit more potential.

The draft is set for this Sunday and I can’t wait. We are planning our regular draft party and conference call along with the live online draft; and of course good food and drink to complement the occasion.