Week 16 Results

Kiah 9-0 (78.12 pts)
Abe 8-1 (77.71)
Jerod 7-2 (77.06)
Nathan 6-3 (73.55)
Jon 5-4 (66.38)
Joe 4-5 (65.50)
Tony 3-6 (61.09)
Bryan 2-7 (53.88)
Justin 1-8 (51.21)
Brad 0-9 (48.80)

Current Standings
Kiah 107-37
Abe 93-51
Tony 90-54
Jerod 81-63
Bryan 66-78
Jon 64-80
Justin 58-86
Joe 56-88
Nate 54-90
Brad 51-93

Week 15 Results

Kiah 9-0 (111.53 pts)
Jon 8-1 (90.75)
Justin 7-2 (89.93)
Tony 6-3 (87.79)
Jerod 5-4 (80.77)
Joe 4-5 (69.58)
Bryan 3-6 (58.30)
Nate 2-7 (50.03)
Abe 1-8 (42.90)
Brad 0-9 (41.89)

Current Standings
Kiah 98-37
Tony 87-48
Abe 85-50
Jerod 74-61
Bryan 64-71
Jon 59-76
Justin 57-78
Joe 52-83
Brad 51-84
Nate 48-87

Week 14 Results

Justin 9-0

Tony 8-1

Abe 7-2

Kiah 6-3

Bryan 5-4

Brad 4-5

Jon 3-6

Jerod 2-7

Joe 1-8

Nate 0-9

1. Kiah 89-37
2. Abe 84-42
3. Tony 81-45

4. Jerod 69-57
5. Bryan 61-65
6. Jon 51-75
6. Brad 51-75

8. Justin 50-74
9. Joe 48-78
10. Nathan 46-80

Week 14: Scores Through Sunday Night

1. Justin (87.11)
2. Tony (83.69)
3. Abe (74.97)
4. Kiah (72.42)
5. Bryan (72.05)
6. Jon (70.34)
7. Jerod (63.69)
8. Joe (58.47)
9. Nathan (51.22) *Brandon Lloyd
10. Brad (46.20) *Marshawn Lynch, Steven Jackson

Week 13 Results

Week 13 Results

Kiah 9-0

Abe 8-1

Tony 7-2

Justin 6-3

Joe 5-4

Bryan 4-5

Jon 3-6

Jerod 2-7

Nathan 1-8

Brad 0-9

Updated Standings
1. Kiah 83-34
2. Abe 77-40
3. Tony 73-444
4. Jerod 67-50
5. Bryan 56-61
6. Jon 48-69

7. Brad 47-70
7. Joe 47-70

9. Nathan 46-71
10. Justin 41-74

**Yahoo will verify by morning, but Brad should be ahead of Joe to break that tie.

Week 12 Results

Tony 9-0 (85.01)

Kiah 8-1 (77.56)

Brad 7-2 (68.12)

Bryan 6-3 (63.96)

Jon 5-4 (60.67)

Jerod 4-5 (60.37)

Nate 3-6 (60.06)

Abe 2-7 (57.94)

Justin 1-8 (53.17)

Joe 0-9 (42.82)

Updated Standings

1. Kiah 74-34

2. Abe 69-39

3. Tony 66-42

4. Jerod 65-43

5. Bryan 52-57
6. Brad 47-61
7. Nathan 45-63
8. Jon 45-63

9. Joe 42-66
10. Justin 35-73

Week 11 Results

Week 11 Results

Tony 9-0

Abe 8-1

Justin 7-2

Joe 6-3

Nate 5-4

Kiah 4-5

Jerod 3-6

Brad 2-7

Bryan 1-8

Jon 0-9

Updated Standings

1. Abe 67-32

2. Kiah 66-33
3. Jerod 61-38
4. Tony 57-42
5. Bryan 46-54

6. Nathan 42-57
7. Joe 42-57

8. Brad 40-59
9. Jon 40-59
10. Justin 34-65

Scores Through Sunday

Tony 89.07

Justin 71.73 (A. Hernandez)

Joe 68.14

Nate 62.48 (D. Branch)

Abe 59.38 (W. Welker, R. Gronkowski)

Kiah 58.15

Brad 50.33

Jerod 49.85 (D. Bowe, D. McCluster)

Bryan 43.25

Jon 11.75 (T. Brady, B. Green-Ellis, Patriot K)

Week 10 Results

Week 10 Results

Bryan 9-0 (86.73)

Abe 8-1 (78.75)

Kiah 7-2 (78.44)

Tony 6-3 (74.21)

Nate 5-4 (67.73)

Justin 4-5 (66.96)

Joe 3-6 (64.90)

Jerod 2-7 (59.93)

Brad 1-8 (54.12)

Jon 0-9 (37.48)

Updated Standings

1. Kiah 62-28

2. Abe 59-31

3. Jerod 58-32
4. Tony 48-42

5. Bryan 45-46
6. Jon 40-50
7. Brad 38-52
8. Nathan 37-53
9. Joe 36-54
10. Justin 27-63

Scores Through Sunday (Week 10)

Kiah 78.44

Bryan 75.38 (J. Finley, Packer K)

Tony 74.21

Nathan 67.73

Justin 66.96

Joe 61.40 (P. Harvin)

Jerod 60.11

Brad 42.12 (Packer D)

Abe 37.00 (A. Rodgers, A. Peterson, J. Nelson)

Jon 29.88 (G. Jennings)

Week 9 Results

Kiah 9-0

Justin 8-1

Bryan 7-2

Tony 6-3

Joe 5-4

Jerod 4-5

Brad 3-6

Abe 2-7

Jon 1-8

Nate 0-9

Updated Standings

1. Jerod 56-25

2. Kiah 55-26
3. Abe 51-30

4. Tony 42-39
5. Jon 40-41
6. Brad 37-44

7. Bryan 36-46

8. Joe 33-48
9. Nathan 32-49
10. Justin 23-58

Scores Through Sunday (Week 9)

Kiah 75.15 (L. McCoy)

Bryan 70.14 (Bear D)

Tony 66.86

Joe 61.93 (J. Knox)

Brad 56.60 (D. Jackson)

Jon 55.55

Abe 53.35 (J. Maclin)

Jerod 50.83 (M. Forte)

Justin 47.95 [-5] (J. Cutler, D. Hester, Bear K, Eagle D)

Nathan 45.70 (M. Vick)

Week 8 Results

Week 8 Results

Kiah 9-0

Nate 8-1

Brad 7-2

Abe 6-3

Jerod 5-4

Tony 4-5

Justin 3-6

Joe 2-7

Jon 1-8

Bryan 0-9

Updated Standings

1. Jerod 52-20
2. Abe 49-23

3. Kiah 46-26
4. Jon 39-33
5. Tony 36-36

6. Brad 34-38

7. Nathan 32-40

8. Bryan 29-44
9. Joe 28-44
10. Justin 15-57

Scores Through Sunday

Kiah 86.05

Nate 84.59

Brad 73.08 [78.08-5]

Abe 69.99

Jerod 58.74 (D. Bowe)

Tony 52.18 (A. Gates, R. Mathews)

Joe 51.61

Bryan 48.02

Jon 43.26 (M. Floyd)

Justin 36.25 (P. Rivers, V. Jackson, Chiefs K)

Week 7 Results

Week 7 Results

Kiah 9-0

Jerod 8-1

Jon 7-2

Nathan 6-3

Tony 5-4

Bryan 4-5

Abe 3-6

Joe 2-7

Justin 1-8

Brad 0-9

Updated Standings

1. Jerod 47-16

2. Abe 43-20
3. Jon 38-25
4. Kiah 37-26

5. Tony 32-31

6. Bryan 29-35
7. Brad 27-36
8. Joe 26-37
9. Nathan 24-39
10. Justin 12-51

Scores Through Sunday (Week 7)

1. Kiah 87.22

2. Jon 70.63

3. Jerod 65.21 (Raven D)

4. Nathan 63.24 (Raven K)

5. Tony 58.55 (M. Thomas, R. Rice)

6. Bryan 56.35

7. Abe 53.01 (E. Dickson)

8. Joe 51.27

9. Justin 38.58 (M. Jones-Drew)

10. Brad 24.97 (A. Boldin)

Week 6 Results, Updated Standings

Week 6 Results

Nate 9-0 (73.04)

Abe 8-1 (72.83)

Bryan 7-2 (70.75)

Joe 6-3 (69.90)

Kiah 5-4 (65.39)

Justin 4-5 (60.94 [65.94-5])

Tony 3-6 (55.71)

Jerod 2-7 (52.21)

Jon 1-8 (51.98)

Brad 0-9 (41.64)

Updated Standings
1. Abe 40-14

2. Jerod 39-15
3. Jon 31-23

4. Kiah 28-26
5. Brad 27-27
6. Tony 27-27
7. Bryan 25-29
8. Joe 24-30
9. Nathan 18-36
10. Justin 11-43

Scores Through Sunday (Week 6)

1. Nate 73.04

2. Abe 72.83

3. Joe 67.35 (D. Keller)

4. Bryan 61.60 (S. Holmes)

5. Justin 60.94 [65.94-5]

6. Kiah 59.94 (B. Marshall)

7. Tony 55.71

8. Jerod 51.66

9. Brad 41.64

10. Jon 34.98 (Jets D)

Week 5 Results, Updated Standings

Week 5 Results

Jerod 9-0 (92.18)

Brad 8-1 (87.20)

Nate 7-2 (79.10)

Jon 6-3 (76.17)

Kiah 5-4 (73.48)

Abe 4-5 (71.41)

Justin 3-6 (63.95)

Bryan 2-7 (56.97)

Tony 1-8 (52.28)

Joe 0-9 (47.62)

Updated Standings

1. Jerod 37-8
2. Abe 32-13
3. Jon 30-15

4. Brad 27-18
5. Tony 24-21
6. Kiah 23-22

7. Bryan 18-27
8. Joe 18-27
9. Nathan 9-36
10. Justin 7-38

Scores Through Sunday (Week 5)

1. Brad 87.20

2.Nathan 79.10

3. Kiah 68.48 (Lion D)

4. Abe 65.41 (Lion K)

5. Jerod 61.70 (M. Stafford, C. Johnson, M. Forte)

6. Jon 61.57 (J. Best)

7. Bryan 54.97 (Bear D)

8. Tony 52.28

9. Justin 49.00(B. Pettigrew, Bear K)

10. Joe 46.77 (J. Knox)

Week 4 Results

Week 4 Results

Jerod 9-0(109.50)

Bryan 8-1 (89.06)

Brad 7-2 (85.07)

Jon 6-3 (71.07)

Abe 5-4 (68.18)

Tony 4-5 (65.82)

Joe 3-6 (62.71)

Kiah 2-7 (62.71)

Justin 1-8 (55.22)

Nathan 0-9 (52.59)

Updated Standings
1. Jerod 28-8

2. Abe 28-8

3. Jon 24-12
4. Tony 23-13

5. Brad 19-17

6. Kiah 18-18

7. Joe 18-18
8. Bryan 16-20
9. Justin 4-32
10. Nathan 2-34

Scores Through Sunday (week 4)

Jerod 109.50

Bryan 89.06

Brad 85.07

Abe 68.18

Jon 68.12 (R. Wayne)

Joe 62.71

Kiah 56.12 (M. Williams)

Justin 55.22

Tony 52.77(L. Blount)

Nathan 50.94 (K. Winslow)

2012 Free Agency Rule Change Proposal

Per Joe:

"We keep our system exactly the way it is, but after the last person has picked, FA is an open free for all until Sunday at noon."

Discuss

Week 3 Results

Week 3 Results

Abe 9-0 (91.43)
Jerod 8-1 (91.21)
Tony 7-2 (85.20)
Joe 6-3 (74.21)
Bryan 5-4 (59.74)
Jon 4-5 (59.54)
Kiah 3-6 (58.71)
Brad 2-7 (53.68)
Nathan 1-8 (33.97)
Justin 0-9 (29.17)

Updated Standings

1. Abe 23-4

2. Jerod 19-8

3. Tony 19-8
4. Jon 18-9
5. Kiah 16-11

6. Joe 15-12
7. Brad 12-15
8. Bryan 8-19
9. Justin 3-24
10. Nathan 2-25

Scores Through Sunday (week 3)

1. Abe 91.43
2. Jerod 91.21
3. Tony 82.20 (J. Witten)
4. Joe 71.06 (D. Bryant)
5. Bryan 59.74
6. Jon 59.54
7. Kiah 58.71
8. Brad 53.68
9. Nathan 33.97
10. Justin 28.02 (F. Davis)

Scores Through Sunday Afternoon (week 3)

(this will not be a regular feature; however, since I figured it out for my own purposes, I decided to post it for funs. There may be slight errors in the numbers).

1. Abe 87.43

2. Jerod 76.46 (Mike Wallace--S)

3. Tony 74.20 (Steelers Defense--S, Jason Witten--M)

4. Joe 68.86 (Dez Bryant--M)

5. Bryan 58.67 (Dallas Clark--S)

6. Jon 57.79 (Reggie Wayne--S)

7. Kiah 56.41 (Rashard Mendenhall--S)

8. Brad 48.51

9. Nathan 33.97

10. Justin 28.02 (Fred Davis--M)

Addendum: The numbers are a bit off here; I'd correct them, but I'll be putting up scores through Sunday soon enough anyway.

Week 2 Results

Week Two Results

Kiah 9-0 (88.91)

Jon 8-1 (83.61)

Tony 7-2 (81.65)

Joe 6-3 (75.70)

Abe 5-4 (74.41)

Jerod 4-5 (74.13)

Justin 3-6 (71.89)

Brad 2-7 (66.84)

Bryan 1-8 (61.76)

Nathan 0-9 (61.06)

Updated Standings

1. Abe 14-4

2. Jon 14-4

3. Kiah 13-5

4. Tony 12-6
5. Jerod 11-7
6. Brad 10-8
7. Joe 9-9

8. Justin 3-15
9. Bryan 3-15

10. Nathan 1-17

Scores Through Sunday (Week Two)

1. Jon 83.61

2. Kiah 82.16 (H. Nicks)

3. Tony 81.65

4. Jerod 74.13

5. Joe 69.96 (A. Bradshaw)

6. Brad 66.84

7. Justin 61.89 (Ram K)

8 Bryan 61.76

9. Abe 61.30 (E. Manning, M. Manningham)

10. Nathan 61.06

Week One Results

Abe 9-0 (92.96)

Brad 8-1 (85.78)

Jerod 7-2 (77.05)

Jon 6-3 (66.49)

Tony 5-4 (66.44)

Kiah 4-5 (64.55)

Joe 3-6 (58.50)

Bryan 2-7 (57.49)

Nathan 1-8 (56.45)

Justin 0-9 (55.39)

It doesn't take a true PHENOM to realize this is also the current standings, and the reverse order of week one Free Agency.

Scores Through Sunday Night (Week One)

Jerod 77.05

Abe 68.51 (W. Welker, B. Lloyd)

Brad 65.05 (K. Orton, Raider K)

Kiah 64.55

Tony 58.64 (Patriot K)

Bryan 5749

Justin 55.44

Nathan 50.45 (Dolphin K)

Joe 45.70 (D. McFadden, Patriot D)

Jon 35.60 (T. Brady, B. Green-Ellis, C. Ochocinco)

Starting Lineup Strength

One way to analyze each team's strengths and weaknesses is to look at the rankings of the players in each team's starting lineups. Listed here, then, I provide the rankings of each team's projected Week 1 starters. I'm using ESPN simply because it has a convenient Top 300 list with sortable positions. I'm also going with the POSITIONAL RANKINGS, not overall rankings, since I think that gives a better reflection of how each team fares at a position (it's also easier).

It should be obvious this is not a total evaluation of team strength, as it ignores depth (personally, I went weaker at #2 RB and #3 WR than I otherwise might have so that I could be strong at #3 RB and #4 WR, trying to build a team for the long haul). But it does give us some ideas of where managers might try to fortify weaknesses, and where we might stand going into the season.

It is also obvious that we who have drafted some of these players would certainly dispute the players' rankings.

I have taken the starting lineups that you have plugged into Yahoo!.

Kiah

QB: #9

RB: #7, #8

WR: #4, #10, #14

TE: #11

Jerod

QB: #17

RB: #14, #15

WR: #5, #7, #13

TE: #22

Justin

QB: #2

RB: #3, #5

WR: #8, #57, #63

TE: #10

Tony

QB: #7

RB: #6, #19

WR: #18, #20

TE: #3, #4

Joe

QB: #8

RB: #12, #16

WR: #6, #12, #21

TE: #12

Brad

QB: #14

RB: #11, #23

WR: #1, #11, #24

TE: #14

Nathan

QB: #6

RB: #9, #10

WR: #2, #16

TE: #1, #8

Bryan

QB: #1

RB: #4, #13

WR: #27, #41

TE: #2, #5

Jon

QB: #4

RB: #20, #21

WR: #3, #9, #26

TE: #6

Abe

QB: #12

RB: #1, #2

WR: #17, #19, #22

TE: #13

Roster Analysis 2

I noticed that this year (seemingly more than ever), there is a lot of discrepancy between different sources' rankings. For example, Maurice Jones-Drew is ESPN's #5 overall player, while he is Yahoo!'s #16 overall player, Darren McFadden makes a jump from #21 to #9, and Shonn Greene is Yahoo!'s #19 but isn't even in ESPN's Top 50. So for the sheer hell of it (and since I'm not blogging about real football this season), I'll post the same Roster Analysis as I did a few days ago, but with Yahoo!'s rankings rather than ESPN's.

Kiah

Rashard Mendenhall (#5), Lesean McCoy (#13), Hakeem Nicks (#17), Miles Austin (#25), Mike Williams (#34), Ben Roethlisberger (#47)

Jerod

Calvin Johnson (#12), Matt Forte (#23), Mike Wallace (#28), DeAngelo Williams (#35), Felix Jones (#39), Dwayne Bowe (#43)

Justin

Chris Johnson (#7), Michael Vick (#15), Maurice Jones-Drew (#16), Vincent Jackson (#26)

Tony

Ray Rice (#3), Shonn Greene (#19) LeGarrette Blount (#29), Tony Romo (#32), Mark Ingram (#41), Jermichael Finley (#48)

Joe

Darren McFadden (#9), Larry Fitzgerald (#14), Ahmad Bradshaw (#30), Dez Bryant (#42), Matt Schaub (#46), Brandon Marshall (#49)

Brad

Andre Johnson (#6), Steven Jackson (#27), DeSean Jackson (#36), Ryan Grant (#37), Peyton Manning (#40), Beanie Wells (#50)

Nathan

Michael Turner (#8), Roddy White (#11), Frank Gore (#20), Philip Rivers (#21), Antonio Gates (#45),

Bryan

Jamaal Charles (#4), Aaron Rodgers (#10), Drew Brees (#18), Peyton Hillis (#24)

Jon

Tom Brady (#22), Greg Jennings (#31), Reggie Wayne (#33), Jahvid Best (#44)

Abe

Adrian Peterson (#1*), Arian Foster (#1*), Brandon Lloyd (#38)

Roster Analysis

After an auction, with its flexibility of roster construction, it can be interesting to match our teams against a top-50 list and see how teams were constructed. I'll show where the players we draft show up on ESPN's Top 50, and you can see for yourself how rosters were constructed. It should be noted (obviously) these rankings do not bear correlation to the actual auction costs of players, to the values of certain positions in our league, or even to where players might have been taken in a snake draft.

Kiah

Lesean McCoy (#8), Rashard Mendenhall (#12), Hakeem Nicks (#17), Miles Austin (#31), Mike Williams (#39), Jeremy Maclin (#41)

Jerod

Calvin Johnson (#18), Mike Wallace (#23), Matt Forte (#27), DeAngelo Williams (#30), Dwayne Bowe (#37), Jonathan Stewart (#38), Felix Jones (#48)

Justin

Chris Johnson (#3), Maurice Jones-Drew (#5), Michael Vick (#9), Vincent Jackson (#26)

Tony

Ray Rice (#6), LeGarrette Blount (#40), Tony Romo (#42), Santonio Holmes (#49)

Joe

Darren McFadden (#21), Larry Fitzgerald (#23), Ahmad Bradshaw (#33), Dez Bryant (#34), Knowshon Moreno (#35), Matt Schaub (#47)

Brad

Andre Johnson (#9), Steven Jackson (#19), Peyton Manning (#22), DeSean Jackson (#32)

Nathan

Roddy White (#10), Frank Gore (#13), Michael Turner (#15), Philip Rivers (#29), Antonio Gates (#36), Marques Colston (#43)

Bryan

Jamaal Charles (#4), Aaron Rodgers (#7), Drew Brees (#16), Peyton Hillis (#25), Dallas Clark (#50)

Jon

Greg Jennings (#14), Tom Brady (#20), Reggie Wayne (#28), Jahvid Best (#44), BenJarvis Green-Ellis (#45)

Abe

Adrian Peterson (#1), Arian Foster (#2), Brandon Lloyd (#46)

In which I submit a radical alteration to draft strategy

You know what really grinds my gears? Asterisks. Asterisks imply some sort of hijinks like PEDs. If this is true, why not do what the NFL surely has already done... look the other way and let everyone juice. So, in honor of my "tainted" championship I submit a radical idea. Let's have a snake draft this year.

HW: Great Draft Moments

The Spirit of Fantasy Football has shined his face upon us for many exciting drafts. There have been a lot of memorable bidding wars (Justin v. Kiah for Terrell Owens in 2007, Nate v. me for Frank Gore in 2010), but a lot of things slightly tangential to the draft itself (why Abe called Marques Colston "Baby Colston," and why the nickname stuck, is a mystery to me).

Please, I beg you to include some of your specific memories of Hazelweird drafts past. I'm sure your memories are different than mine.

(note: I don't always remember the precise numbers, hence occasional asterisks).

"What the heck, I like him: Larry Fitzgerald"

In 2005 we had our first of three snake drafts (also '06 and '08). Larry Fitzgerald, entering his second year, was selected by Justin somewhere in the middle of the draft. And sometime late in the draft, we're talking last few rounds, Brad uttered the infamous words written above, and spent the rest of the night getting us all drinks.

It's not just that Brad tried to draft a player that was already drafted; it was that he did so with a sort of "Oh, I know this is a silly pick, but I'm going to make it out of emotion anyway, oh well" tone that made it legendary.

Nobody saw how it ended; we all hit our heads when we fell out of our chairs.

In 2008, Jerod put out an interesting bid for the Viking Defense: $15. "Thunderstruck" might be how I would describe the reaction of the table. Well, most of the table. Brad said $16. Then Jerod said $17.

Well, I might have started that differently, but different strokes and all.

In 2010, Justin already had Tony Romo on his roster for $36*, and if memory serves me, he had another QB already on his roster too. Yet when his turn to throw out another player came up, he said "Philip Rivers $49*." Everybody just sort of gave each other funny looks as we mechanically flipped our cups over. The look on Justin's face at that moment was sort of like, "Oh."

Little did I know what the future held.

In 2003, the bidding was going on for Brett Favre. I had no interest in drafting Brett Favre. In fact, I hated Brett Favre and wished nothing but ill upon him and everybody who rooted for him. Yet I thought I had a responsibility to bid Favre up, to make one of those sorry Packer fans pay as much as possible for him. But this was the one year Rob decided he shouldn't take Favre (I traded Favre to him after week 3), and as it was down to Brad and I, and I raised the bid to $29 expecting it to march on its way much, much higher, Brad flipped his cup and said "You can have him." I jumped out of my chair and cursed. I set aside my beer and began drinking gin mixed with Mountain Dew Code Red (that's how I rolled c. 2003).

Brad is involved in a lot of these.

Some of you may think that Brad passing on players and ending up with a lot of money when everybody else is busted is some new phenomenon. Well, let me tell you a little story about 2003. Near the end of the draft I had a few measly dollars left, and I was all hot and bothered to draft D'Wayne Bates, the Vikings #2 WR that I had high hopes for, playing across from Randy Moss. Brad had $47 left and only one roster spot to fill it with. I think I threw out D'Wayne Bates for a $1, grinning like the purple-blooded piss-ant I was. Brad said $2. All energetic about the Vikings, I said $3. Brad shook his head and huffed. "47 dollars!" he shouted. I was crestfallen. What's more memorable about that draft: that Brad paid $47 for D'Wayne Bates because he had too much money left at the end of the draft, or that I was crestfallen that I didn't get D'Wayne Bates?

Fine, Jerod, Fine. You'd want me to include this.

I wasn't always so great at hiding my love for the Vikings. In 2004, everybody knew all I really wanted out of the draft was Randy Moss to be on my team. Maybe that's why, in a league where the most expensive player the year before had been under $80, Abe started the bidding on Randy Moss at $100, then looked at me laughing and grinning maniacally (Abe started on the whiskey early in that year's draft, lest any of you think that is also a new development). I, my face ashen, said $101. Rob said $120. All blood out of my face, I said $121, and set a record for the most expensive player. And a few picks later, I paid $102* for Priest Holmes, and my draft was pretty much over.

HW Rule Changes Over the Years

As we enter the 10th Hazelweird season, I may do some retrospective posts to help us think about it. Today: significant rule changes over the years. Later: greatest draft moments (we relive a lot of the pre-draft party and draft party moments, and probably ought to save those for the bit more closed circle of email anyway, but I'll refresh us on some great moments during the draft).

Open Bench

Hard to believe: the first year we actually had fixed backup positions: you were required to draft a backup kicker, backup defense, etc. The second year we opened up three random bench positions, then going forward we opened the entire bench (actually at this point the entire roster is open: you don't have to draft a full starting lineup).

Fractional Scoring

A great move once we started using Yahoo for FFB (another crazy note: we didn't start that until 2007. From 2002-2006, either Justin or I got everybody's lineups through email, then MANUALLY ADDED SCORES. Ridiculous. 2007 was also the start of this blog). Now every yard is equal.

From 25 yards per point to 20 yards per point

It's still a TD heavy league, but we've created more scoring and given more credit for yardage. Fractional scoring and the 20 yards per point changes have greatly increased excitement, I think.

Three Starting WRs

A very recent move: until 2009, we started two WRs (though we evolved flexible lineups so that you could start three WRs, but it meant starting only one RB).

Preseason Free Agency: One Pick Each

We started our preseason free agency system because (a) we have closed rather than open FA system and (b) we started doing the draft very early in summer to accommodate various things. I think our new change--away from the injury picks, to everybody getting one and only one preseason FA pick--is going to be a major change. There had been other evolutions to this rule (including removing retirements, trades, and cuts from preseason FA pick eligibility).

A few other changes of note:

--We changed our auction salary cap from 265 to 275 to 300 and may (Abe! Brad!) change to 300 with $0 bids.

--AP recognition: We've been through the grisly history of this recognition before, but I do think it has value: you want to score as many points as possible in fantasy football, and this gives you recognition if you score the most. It's another fun thing to follow and chase.

Am I missing anything: are there some other significant changes we've made? Which of these changes has been the biggest?

Football News Discussion

Here is a place to discuss current NFL news, and how it might affect fantasy football (in other words, here is where you can make wild claims about how much you'll pay for players).

Catastrophic Free Agent Discussion

Justin proposed a "catastrophic free agent pick" concept. Since his proposal is conceptual without the details fleshed out, I'll just repost his message here:

Okay, I really like the 1 Free Agent rule because it does give us all a chance to pick up a player to improve our team

However, the rule was there to help if a team was devastated by injury. Is there a way we could have a catastrophic "injury" rule.

For instance lets say I draft 3 QBs and all 3 get hurt and are going to miss week 1 then the QB I take with my FA pick I take a QB who then gets hurt also and is going to miss week 1.

Could we have some sort of catastrophic rule (that more than likely would not ever need to be used...sort of like a "nuclear option") or do we say no and say that would have to be addressed via trade with another team?

Just wondering.

Skills Competition (Updated with Course Info)

The game is minigolf, at Goodrich Golf Dome. Two teams, selected by the 2010 skills champion (Justin) and runner-up (Nathan). The team scores will be added, and the winning team gets seats 1-5, losing team seats 6-10 (within those groups, ordered by individual score). If the individual on the losing team has the lowest individual score, he still gets seat 1, with the winning team scooted down a seat. The game takes place Saturday before the draft, at our leisure.

That's what we've discussed so far: here is the post for a skills competition discussion thread. Flame on!

Update: The Course

A few notes on Goodrich's Minigolf Course, and some matters we'll need to agree on for the contest itself.

--the course itself is very casual, and very isolated: probably precisely what we want. There aren't too many gimmicks. It's $5.25 per person.

--each hole has two cups (white and red). We should decide which color cup we're playing ahead of time, though there'd be no harm in letting each golfer choose either cup on each hole.

--There's no precise tee box: we'll probably just start from behind the rock marker.

Some things we'll need to set:

--some sort of out of bounds rule: several holes have very open gaps to get O.B.

--how to split up groups (each team going, or mix teams, or go in three groups, or go in five pairs?).

--how to deal with balls hitting balls (I think marking balls when necessary, replacing a ball that gets hit, is fine).

2011 Proposed Rule Changes

Rule Changes #1, #2, and #3 PASSED

Rule Change #1: Firm If-Then Lists: PASSED

current voting: 6 yes (Bryan, Joe, Kiah, Justin, Jerod, Tony)
Under IF/THEN RULE

(insert as final paragraph):

“Any changes to a lineup require an If-Then list sent to the league prior to the start of a game where a player in that game will either be removed from or added to the lineup: no retroactive changes are possible without the If-Then list ahead of time. It is the responsibility of the manager to send the If-Then list if there is any possible need for a lineup change.”

Rule Change #2: One Preseason FA Pick: PASSED

current voting: 6 yes (Bryan, Joe, Kiah, Justin, Jerod, Tony)

Under PRESEASON FREE AGENCY:
(replace entire rule with):

“Each manager is granted ONE preseason free agency pickup, where he may drop a player on his roster in order to pick up a free agent player. This pick may be used at any point from the immediate completion of the draft until the beginning of the final game of week one (subject to the rule excluding from the free agent pool any player whose team's game for that week has begun). The manager may use this pick at any point for any reason, but once it is used, that manager has no more preseason free agency pickups. Preseason Free Agency picks are tradeable commodities.”

Rule Change #3: Zero Dollar Bids: PASSED

current voting: 6 yes (Kiah, Bryan, Justin, Joe, Tony, Nathan), 1 no (Jerod), 1 abstain (Jon)

Under Auction Draft:
(replace):

“The manager must reserve money to pay a minimum of $1 for each of the 16 required positions. This means that the most money a manager can bid on one player at any time is X minus remaining roster spots plus one, which is here called ‘Maximum Bid.’ Otherwise,”

(with):

"A manager has $300 with which to fill his 16-man roster. Bids in whole number dollar increments may not exceed the remaining dollars in a manager's account; the minimum bid for any player is $0. Any player acquired for $0 is automatically added to the winning manager's roster with no subtraction to the manager's account. If the bidding for a player exceeds (or, if another manager in the bidding reaches) a manager's remaining money, that manager is automatically out of the bidding."

(replace):

“minimum bid of $1”

(with):

“minimum bid of $0”

(cut):

“There are no “cents:”

RULEBOOK

As of August 2nd, 2011

HAZELWEIRD LEAGUE RULEBOOK

Cross Country Standings
Each week, every team competes against every other team. If there are ten teams in the league, the team with the most points that week defeated everybody else, thus going 9-0. The team with the second-most points defeated eight other teams, but lost to one team, thus going 8-1. Yada Yada Yada, the team with the least points was defeated by everybody, thus going 0-9.

Weekly Scores:
Most points: 9-0
2nd: 8-1
3rd: 7-2
4th: 6-3
5th: 5-4
6th: 4-5
7th: 3-6
8th: 2-7
9th: 1-8
10th: 0-9

These are the wins and losses for the single week. For the season standings, wins and losses from every week continue to be added up. Each week, your wins and losses for that week are added to your wins and losses for the season total.

Teams scoring the same number of points in a single week have a tie, and a tie will be included in the standings for the week and the season.

2. Championship
The manager of the team with the MOST WINS for the season is declared the Hazelweird Champion.
1st tie-breaker: if two teams have the same number of wins, the team with the fewest losses (e.g., best winning percentage) is declared the Hazelweird Champion.
2nd tie-breaker: if two teams have the same number of wins and losses, the team with the most total points is declared the Hazelweird Champion.

AP Recognition: The team with the most total points for the season is recognized with an AP title. This is not a league championship, but recognition for a secondary accomplishment.

3. Scoring
Offense
The Hazelweird League uses fractional scoring for yardage.
Passing Yard: 50 yards per point
Passing TD: 3 points
Rushing Yards: 20 yards per point
Rushing TD: 6 points
Receiving Yards: 20 yards per point
Receiving TD: 6 points
KR or PR TD: 6 points
2-Point Conversion: 2 points
Offensive Fumble Return TD: 6 points

Kicking
Field Goal: 3 points
PAT Made: 1 point

Defense/Special Teams
Sack: 1 point
Interception: 1 point
Fumble Recovery: 1 point
TD: 6 points
Safety: 4 points
KR or PR TD: 6 points
0 points allowed: 6 points
1-6 points allowed: 4 points
7-13 points allowed: 2 points

4. Roster and Lineup
Rosters consist of 16 positions. There are NINE positions required to fill a starting lineup: QB, WR, WR, RB, TE, W/T, W/R, K, D. While you are required to draft 16 players during the draft, you are not required to draft all nine starting positions. The remaining seven positions are bench positions and can be filled with any positions. You must fill all 16 positions during the draft. After the draft, you are allowed to carry fewer than 16 players on your roster at any time. After the draft, you are no longer required to carry all nine starting positions at all times.

A weekly lineup consists of QB, WR, WR, RB, TE, W/T, W/R, K, and D. There is no specific deadline to have your entire roster for a week set. However, in order to start a particular player in Week A, you must have that player in the lineup prior to his team’s game during Week A.

IF/THEN RULE
Sometimes, league members have obligations which make it difficult or impossible to follow injury updates and make necessary lineup changes just before games. The Hazelweird League attempts as much as is reasonable to accommodate members when this situation arises. Typically, if a player's status is in doubt, we allow members to send a mass email to the league, along lines such as 'If X plays I want to start X, but if he doesn't I want to start Y.' League commissioner(s) are able to retroactively adjust lineups.

This is not a policy to be abused, and is fairly limited; we attempt to use this only for players' whose playing status is in doubt, and only when obligations prevent members from following and finding out about injuries that morning. In its limited capacity, it may be used for any game starting time or day (but is subject to the rule requiring the substitution player to play at the same time or later than the initial player).

In a "If Player X plays I'll start Player X, but if he doesn't I'll start Player Y" scenario, Player Y's game must start at the same time or later than Player X's game; you cannot substitute a player whose game occurs prior to Player X's game.

Any changes to a lineup require an If-Then list sent to the league prior to the start of a game where a player in that game will either be removed from or added to the lineup: no retroactive changes are possible without the If-Then list ahead of time. It is the responsibility of the manager to send the If-Then list if there is any possible need for a lineup change.

TEAM KICKER RULE
You are allowed to carry multiple placekickers from the same NFL team without affecting your 16 spot roster limit. All placekickers from the same NFL team count as one roster spot.

However, you are only allowed one placekicker in your starting lineup. Therefore you must choose which kicker to start for an individual game.

5. Auction Draft
Auction drafts will be the preferred format of the Hazelweird League.

"A manager has $300 with which to fill his 16-man roster. Bids in whole number dollar increments may not exceed the remaining dollars in a manager's account; the minimum bid for any player is $0. Any player acquired for $0 is automatically added to the winning manager's roster with no subtraction to the manager's account. If the bidding for a player exceeds (or, if another manager in the bidding reaches) a manager's remaining money, that manager is automatically out of the bidding."

The seating order will be determined by an agreed upon system at time of the draft. When seated, we will go around the table in order, with each manager throwing out a player to be bid on, with the manager starting the bidding with a minimum bid of $0. All bidding must be made in whole numbers, an increase of at least $1. You may increase the bid by more than $1.

For each new player thrown out, each manager begins with an open cup, which declares to the other managers that he is in the bidding. At any point, a manager may flip his cup upside-down, which declares him to be out of the bidding for that player. Once your cup is flipped on the bidding for Player A, you cannot re-enter the bidding for Player A. Bidding goes around the table until one manager has made a high bid, and all other managers have flipped their cups. The player being bid on goes to the manager who bid the highest amount, and that amount is subtracted from his salary cap.

Once a manager wins the auction for a player, each manager still in the auction must flip his cup back to the open side, and another player will be thrown out by the manager whose turn is next (according to the seating order, who is sitting clockwise or counterclockwise to the last manager to throw out a name).

Once the amount of the bid reaches a manager’s Maximum Bid, he is automatically removed from the bidding (he must flip his cup).

When it is your turn to throw out a player, you are allowed to pass. If a manager passes, it is the manager next to him who gets to throw out the next player. However, if all other managers in the auction pass consecutively, the first person to pass must throw out a name.

Each manager is in the bidding until his 16 position roster is filled. When your roster is filled, you are out of the auction, which continues with the remaining managers who have not yet completed their roster. Any salary cap money remaining when you fill the roster is lost.

If you attempt to throw out a player who has already been thrown out earlier and is now on a roster, you must get drinks for people for a specified amount of time (not during actual bidding).

6. Snake Draft
In the event that an Auction draft cannot be reasonably held, we will have a Snake Draft.

A snake draft “snakes” around: if you have the first pick in odd rounds, you will have the last pick in even rounds.

We will have a selection for draft order: instead of simply assigning the draft order by standings, we will allow people to choose their slot in the draft order. The order for selection is the ORDER OF THE PREVIOUS SEASON’S STANDINGS. If you won the league in Year A, you get first choice for a spot in the draft order of Year B. You select a draft slot that fits into the entire snake draft’s pattern.

Draft will last 16 rounds.

Draft picks are tradable commodities; you must have a total of 16 picks for the draft, but you may trade them prior to an agreed upon trade deadline.

If you attempt to draft a player who has already been drafted, you must get drinks for people for a specified period of time.

7. Free Agency
Free Agency Period begins immediately after the end of the last game of the week (typically, this will be at the end of the Monday night game, though the Free Agency Period will actually likely need to wait until weekly results and updated standings are posted). Each manager is granted ONE free agent pick per week. The order of free agency pickups is the reverse order of the overall standings: if you are in last place, you get the first free agency choice, then the second to last place team, yada yada yada.

Only players who are free agents BEFORE the start of Week A Free Agency Period may be picked up during Week A Free Agency Period. In other words, if Player X is dropped by a team during Week A Free Agency Period, Player X may not be picked up until the next week’s Free Agency Period. Since Free Agency Period does not begin until the end of the last game of the week, players dropped from a roster at any time before the end of the last game of the week (even during the game) are eligible free agents.

Only players who have not played yet during Week X are eligible free agents during Week X Free Agency Period. This means that you may select a free agent playing in a Thursday night game prior to the start of Thursday night's game; however, after the start of Thursday night's game, players on either of those teams are not eligible free agents until the following week.

Unless you made an unbalanced trade during Week A which gives you more than 16 players on your roster, or if you already have fewer than 16 players on your roster, in order to add a player during Free Agency Week A, you must cut a player on your roster.

A manager has 12 hours to make a pick, after which he will be “passed” to the next manager. "A manager who is passed is still entitled to that week’s free agent pick, and may make a pick at any time before the start of the final game of that week (subject to the rule excluding from the free agent pool any player whose team's game for that week has begun)." A manager may also voluntarily pass on his pick, and still be entitled to a free agent pickup to be used at any time prior to the noon games Sunday.

After the free agent period (after the last person has either picked or passed), a manager who has already used that week’s free agent pickup may make additional pickups at the cost of 5 points deducted from his score for that week for each player selected. The score will be deducted from that week, but not from the season total points.

Free agent picks are tradable commodities: you are entitled to one free agent pickup each week, and you are allowed to trade a specific free agent pick or future free agent picks for other free agent slots or for players.

PRESEASON FREE AGENCY
Each manager is granted ONE preseason free agency pickup, where he may drop a player on his roster in order to pick up a free agent player. This pick may be used at any point from the immediate completion of the draft until the beginning of the final game of week one (subject to the rule excluding from the free agent pool any player whose team's game for that week has begun). The manager may use this pick at any point for any reason, but once it is used, that manager has no more preseason free agency pickups. Preseason Free Agency picks are tradeable commodities.

In rare instances, a game might be postponed on very short notice. If a manager has a starter whose team's game gets postponed, and the manager has no backup on his roster for that starter, that manager is granted EMERGENCY FREE AGENT PICKS. The manager may immediately select a free agent replacement for the postponed starter, without needing to drop player(s) to meet roster limits. That manager is REQUIRED to start the player who was selected with the emergency free agent pick that week. The manager would have until the following week's free agent period to reduce his roster to 16 players.

8. Trade
The trading period traditionally lasts from the moment the draft is over until the start of games one week after the last week including byes.

Trades may take place between any two teams. Trade numbers do not need to be balanced: while a legal roster includes 16 players, the Hazelweird Yahoo! Page will include four empty bench positions to allow for unbalanced trades.

If you trade fewer players for more players (for example, if you trade two players to get three), you are allowed to carry the additional players for the next week, including during games. Carrying the additional players will not limit your ability to make a free agent move for that week: you must still cut one player to add one player, but the result may leave you with over 16 players on your roster. If you make an unbalanced trade in between Week 1 and Week 2, you must be trimmed back to a 16 spot roster before the start of games Week 3 (usually, this will occur during free agency).

If you trade more players for fewer players (for example, if you trade three players to get two), so that you have fewer than 16 players on your roster, you are able to make a free agent pick during the next free agency period without being required to drop somebody. You are NOT granted an immediate or extra free agent pickup to get your roster to 16 players.

9. Rule Changes
Changes to league rules are made by a democratic vote. When a rule change is proposed, everybody has a chance to make persuasive arguments to the group. If the majority of the league agrees to a rule change, the rule is changed. It is not merely a majority of people who actually vote, but a majority of the entire league required to change a rule. A person who abstains from voting on Rule Change A essentially casts a vote of “no” on Rule Change A; not voting is a vote against change.

Generally speaking, major rule changes affecting scoring system, roster requirements, or lineup requirements should not take place during season (from the beginning of the draft until the end of Week 17). Rule changes can be made at any time, but fundamental rules which would have altered a manager's actions or strategies related to the draft and/or changing and maintaining rosters should be done in the offseason.

HAZELWEIRD CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
2002: Joe
2003: Justin
2004: Kiah
2005: Kiah (AP: Rob)
2006: Jerod
2007: Rob (AP: Brad)
2008: Bryan (AP: Rob)
2009: Kiah
2010: Nathan

Week 17 Results, FINAL STANDINGS

Final Standings

1. Nathan 103-50

2. Jon 82-71
3. Jerod 82-71

4. Justin 78-75
5. Brad 76-77

6. Bryan 74-79
7. Kiah 73-80
8. Joe 69-84
9. Tony 68-85
10. Abe 60-93

Week 17 Results

Joe 9-0 (85.93)

Nathan 8-1 (76.66)

Jon 7-2 (69.68)

Abe 6-3 (67.65)

Bryan 5-4 (51.68)

Tony 4-5 (48.35)

Justin 3-6 (45.86)

Brad 2-7 (45.30)

Jerod 1-8 (44.00)

Kiah 0-9 (41.12)