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| This is the awesomeness you are missing out on if you do your fantasy drafts online |
This weekend marks the prime-time for adults to channel their inner-nerds as we embark on the start of fantasy football season. (Note: If you did your draft weeks/months ago, you're doing it wrong. Way, way wrong)
Many of you folks will participate in a league or two (some of you three or four or however many Steve entered), so you're probably in the same boat as me and doing a little bit of preparation for the draft - although my level of preparation being the commissioner is a little different and more time-consuming than just browsing magazines and hoping I get a few of my sleepers in the later rounds.
To make the most of your fantasy football drafting experience, here's what I recommend:
(1) Do It Live - Fantasy drafts were meant to be done in person. If your fantasy football crew lives within 20-30 miles radius of where you live, there's no reason to have everyone on their computers at home when a potential congregation of losers can come to life. While the in-person draft adds a little time to the draft, it is a lot more amusing with the banter and beer enjoyed with the group.
(2) Be Prepared - You don't need to be a Boy or Girl Scout to know this one. Being prepared (i.e. a minimal understanding of the league rules, who is hurt) is crucial to ensuring that you don't piss off the people in your league when the draft begins. Being prepared also includes having some sort of list or fantasy magazine that you can cross names off of as the players are picked throughout the draft. It may seem like common sense, but having done the in-person draft as a commissioner five times and as a participant in about 10 others, you're never surprised when a new surprise pops up.
(3) Be Ready To Pick - Online drafts usually have a 1:30 or 2 minute window between picks, so as you're doing these drafts, you should have a general idea of certain players or a certain position you may be targeting with your next pick(s). On many sites that I have used, there is a draft queue that allows you to click/drag names of players who you may be targeting with your next set of picks. Utilize this tool to help you decide your players quicker than you would by just slowly browsing up and down the position ranks. Yes, there will be times where a certain player you were eyeing gets snatched up right before your pick, so you may need a little time to regroup. Just don't make it a habit and make the draft drag out longer than need be. In my in-person league, I added a draft clock app to my phone last year, and it gives drafters a good amount of time to make their picks (a generous five minutes). If you're in my league, please, please heed my advice in these points above and below so I don't blow a gasket or deflate your tires.
(4) Have Fun With It- I'm probably way too involved and get way into fantasy football, particularly my own league. It was a problem I recognized recently, so like anyone who wants to solve a problem, I took some action and decided to leave two of my money leagues. When you're to the point where you've joined so many leagues that you can't keep track of what players you have on what teams, and you find yourself rooting for specific players to achieve specific results waaaay too much, you may want to take a step back and realize that you may be in too many leagues and you're taking it way too seriously. While the goal is to win them (especially the money leagues), have fun with the process. Loosen up, have a few drinks, and remember, you're playing FANTASY football. There's no concussions, torn ACLs or broken necks involved in fantasy football...unless (again) you're doing it wrong.
(5) Tip The Commissioner - Just kidding. (No seriously, tip). Well, no need to tip, but realize that if you got a good commissioner, he or she is busting ass, doing painful, tireless work to ensure that everything in the league is all set for the big draft day. I hope my fellas out there know how much of a pain this can be, but the rewards of draft night being finished make it all worth it (well, somewhat worth it). At the very least, tell the commissioner how awesome he or she is and how you will bow down to him or her for being so righteously awesome.
(6) And As Always...No One Except The Teams In Your League Gives A Shit About Your Team - This cannot be stressed enough. I could tell you about the bold moves I made in the offseason of the sixth installment of Super Bowlek, like trading Peyton Manning, my two first non-keeper round picks for 2013 and my 2014 first pick for Jamaal Charles, Arian Foster and a bunch of picks...but do you really care? Most of you stopped reading that previous sentence before I even got to my first verb. If you're in a bunch of fantasy leagues, I expect you to have at least 4 or 5 high quality players, especially if there's less than 14 teams in your league. So don't rattle off the names of all of your great players if I'm not in that league - because I'm not really that interested, just like I know you're not really that interested in mine.
Now that you have your fantasy tips, you can commence your draft process. Now go along, study up, and draft a good team.
Just don't tell me who's on it.
