We know each other. Virtually every owner that has joined the league came from a personal reference from another owner. There have been a rare few that came in response to an on-line message board ad. More than 75% of all owners were invited by a current owner.
Our budget or salary cap is $2.60, not $260.00. This was because we started while we were in high school and didn’t have hundreds of dollars to spend. To this day we open the bidding with “A penny for Matt Kemp.”
We draft in person. There are many, many fantasy baseball leagues that are done on-line. We draft in person. Some years there have been scheduling conflicts and an owner has drafted via a conference call or cell phone connection to their proxy. While our stats are compiled by an on-line stat service, we are not an on-line league.
No alcohol. Some leagues, mostly football, will hold their drafts in a bar and multi-task by drafting their teams as well as their beer.
We’re a keeper league. Some others are as well, however we have numerous and very detailed rules about our keepers. We can keep as many as 15 going in to a new season. In addition to those 15 we can keep up to four minor leaguers. We can keep players even longer by signing them to Long Term Contracts.
The league is bigger than the owners. This concept started with our first Commissioner, David Mahlan. He was also owner of David’s Copperfields. Immediately, being an owner and Commissioner implies there is a conflict of interest. With David there never was. He always put the needs and best interests of the league ahead of any benefit for any team, including his own. That integrity carries on today with our current Commissioner and the Executive Committee. I have heard many times over from owners in other leagues that their Commissioner will interpret or create rules that decidedly favor their own team. That concept is so totally foreign to the CFCL, I literally could not understand what I was hearing from these other owners.
Also: categories. Just using quality starts instead of wins has improved my blood pressure. Also: holds+saves, total bases, OBP, and my favorite: K/BB. Come on.
ReplyDeleteI can't say I liked the going around the table bidding style so much at first - seemed way too slow - but I've gotten used to it and have come around to like it. It's so much more organized and easy to tune out if you don't care about a player. I'd highly recommend it.
I'd agree on the categories, Kenn. It's something we discussed for a long time - years, in fact - starting with quickly dismissed suggestions to replace BA with OBP, and eventually leading up to the formation of a committee and roaring, at times heated, online debates. Even a bit of controversy in the voting. I'm sure the category changes will end up being a topic at some point.
DeleteVery interesting perspective on the around the table bidding style. You don't hear of many people used to the free for all auction who end up liking around the table ... and certainly not the pace that the method leads to.