If You Draft Your Fantasy Football Team This Early You Are A Lunatic
Last night I was clumsily putting together a new bookshelf (because I read books, nbd), getting more frustrated by the minute because the instructions were pictures only, and I'm an idiot (nbd). I had ESPN on in the background to avoid the sound of silence and being alone with my thoughts, something that terrifies me more and more the older I get. I'm a headcase I've come to learn. But anyway, ESPN was running what they called a "24-hour Fantasy Football Marathon".
Which ended up being lie #1 because it's not actually a marathon.
I was under the assumption a marathon means hours upon hours straight. 24 in this case. A Christmas Story on TNT on Christmas day. The Godfather Trilogy on AMC. Ridiculousness on MTV every day of the week. Those are marathons.
Not a few hours here and there in blocks of Field Yates and Damien Woody (who by the way, how the fuck did this guy escape the chopping block of mass layoffs ESPN made last month?) gushing over how amazing Garrett Wilson is going to be this season over and over again.
But that's not even the point of the this blog. What caught my attention, was this graphic they kept putting up on the screen of a number tabulating what they claimed was "how many teams had been drafted on the ESPN Fantasy App". It was ticking upwards continuously like those national debt counters you see on highway billboards in some states. I was shocked and awed when I saw that the number was at 1.3 MILLION teams. (Allegedly).
Surely this cannot be the case, right?
It had to be ESPN inflating their numbers again (lying) to try to drum up interest in viewers to get them to login and join public leagues (a minor lunatic move) or to send a text or email out to their fantasy league and tell their buddies to stop dragging their feet because they needed to draft. (A true lunatic move).
Mind you, we are technically in PRE-SEASON Week 2.
Aside from the myriad of injuries that are inevitable to occur, there are guys still finding their respective teams and hoping to make rosters.
Unless you're Steve Cheah, in which no normal rules apply, what on Earth would possess you to hold a meaningful draft at this point?
I figured there was no way this was the case-
But I was wrong.
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Our guys The Lost Kingz apparently felt June wasn't too soon to draft…
(insanity)
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I understand that normal rules don't apply to dynasty or keeper leagues. My honest question is what is the point of drafting this early even if you're in a dynasty league? Is the point to not get a sample size or ensure as much risk as possible with your rosters?
My favorite response was from this guy. Who seemed to have been forced to draft already. But against his will.
Except for the fact that he turned out to be his league's commissioner…
It's good to know my fantasy commissioner isn't the only one.
The most intriguing response, and best argument, though I'm not really understanding of following exactly, came from a guy who dropped the concept of "Best Ball League" on me. Something I've never heard of until now.
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Hold up, March?!
Very very interesting…
Upon first review, I can't tell if this sounds attractive or not.
Where exactly is the skill? The fun of working the waiver wire, swindling your friends via late night trades while they're hammered and you catch them being vulnerable (shout out Bobby Lite)? Where's the joy in 9 guys teaming up to clown the lazy p.o.s. who slept in and forgot to bench his guys on bye weeks?
But on the other hand, this does away with the whole concept of "head to head" weeks and wins and losses. Something that's always felt like a luck of the draw schedule influenced variable you can never really account for. I think part of me actually likes the cumulative point scoring?
I don't know. Jury is out. As usual, the more I know, the less I understand. If you're a best ball fan please tell me more. If you drafted already, or plan to this week, please realize you're nuts.
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p.s.- curious to see people's thoughts on which app is better? I play leagues in both and find myself loving and hating features in each. wish they could combine forces - yahoo's league history, yahoo's scoring projections, yahoo's trade evaluator, yahoo's in person draft capability, espn's player injury or benching alerts, espn's interface and ease of use, to name a few.
It appears from the staggering amount of replies to this tweet that “Sleeper” also deserved a nomination. A ton of people vouching that it blows ESPN and Yahoo out of the water. Now I want to check it out this season.
p.p.s.- this gif came up when I was looking for a thumbnail for this blog.
which reminded me how great The League was. can we get that show. to come back please? it's not like any of those guys are doing anything besides Pete who's now on The Morning Show on Apple+. I need Rafi in my life like I need air to breathe