TFP Fantasy Football 2009
 

Yahoo reports fantasy football registration is now available. Just sayin...

You beat me to it. I created a league at Yahoo for TFPers. I commissioned the league for a couple years way back but took a break from it last year.

The league ID #: 207527
Password: tilted

The draft is tentatively scheduled for late August but I can change it if we have to.

Just a heads up, Yahoo did not offer any semblance of a fair waiver system last year in their Free league, but ESPN did.

This is not a complaint. I did not play in TFP last year and wasn't planning on it this year (already have two leagues committed too), but just wanted to throw out a heads up.

I'll join....as always if I am not the one running it.

Just curious Cross Over, what did you find unfair about the waiver system?

I'm in, SCREAMING EAGLES. I'll be at the beach that week for the draft, but hopefully will have internet access.

I'm in. midway monsters.
never done fantasy football before. any tipsters are welcome.

I've been trying to get into the TFP league for nearing two years now, but I was always away somewhere else before I had the chance to get involved.

I'm glad I have the opportunity this year.

My team'll be Kilmarnock's Legend. (It took me awhile to come with that one, and I'm still not fully sure what it means)

I'm in as Lions Lose... Again! again. Proved prophetic last season. We'll see if they can keep the streak alive!

New name this season Montana? The Archivist will probably have a remark or three on that subject!

The 4 division concept looks like it could be fun. 8 team playoff... no byes, sounds good. Now we need to fill all 16 slots!

(Who's idea was a 9:30 Saturday night draft?)

What's this waiver system? I'm not familiar with that.

I did the Yahoo fantasy league for a few years, but the premierleague started to do one, so I jumped ship for the last 2 seasons.

I'm in... should be interesting with the divisional setup

is there a fantasy football for dummies link somewhere?

I gained the barely useful knowledge I have now by being thrown in midseason and learning why some wide recievers/running backs get more "looks/touches" than others.

I guess this link could be of value to anyone, but for you and me especially, I'd venture, since this is only my second FF team.

Fantasy Football Draft Kit - Free Fantasy Football Leagues, Rankings and more -- ESPN

I use The Usual Suspects in just about every league except this one so I just finally took it across all leagues.

I just noticed 16 teams, HOLY FUCKING SHIT MAN!!!

That is gonna be BRUTAL

Starting to see some teams I remember from past years. I was once the Dungeon Family, but have reincarnated into Benjamin3000. We should really keep track of the history of Tilted Fantasy Football. I have records of the past four years, does it go back farther than that? Call me a geek, but I think a small wiki would be cool with historical standings, and TFPers.

I would be SHOCKED, if were unable to fill the 16 slots. This league usually fills up at 12 pretty quickly. I think the 4 divisions adds another wrinkle to FF. Once we get all 16 teams accounted for, I'll start tinkering with the schedule and come up with something interesting.

Everybody okay with the draft date? Grumpyolddude, I may change it to an earlier time, but let's wait until we get closer to draft day.

Yeah, the talent pool will get spread rather thin, especially after the inevitable injuries start occurring. Things should get pretty scrambly a few weeks into the season. Fun:thumbsup:

If you participated in the TFP leagues you should be able to see the archived results. Mine show TFP football going back at least to 2004. And just mentioning, being the defending champion from last year.:thumbsup:





All Fantasy Games
Overall Performance: Help
Game Year Rank Team League Commissioner Private League
Baseball 2009 7 of 10 * SCREAMING EAGLES The Tilted Diamond No Yes
Baseball 2008 5 of 12 SCREAMING EAGLES The Tilted Diamond No Yes
Football 2008 1 of 10 SCREAMING EAGLES Tilted Time No Yes
Pro Football Pick'em 2008 5 of 13 SCREAMING EAGLES Tilted Forum Project No Yes
Baseball 2007 6 of 12 SCREAMING EAGLES Tilted League Baseball No Yes
Football 2007 3 of 10 SCREAMING EAGLES Tilted Time No Yes
Pro Football Pick'em 2007 1 of 5 SCREAMING EAGLES TFP pickum Yes Yes
Baseball 2006 8 of 12 SCREAMING EAGLES Tilted Batter's Box No Yes
Baseball 2006 11 of 12 SCREAMING EAGLES Tiltedbaseball_Roto No Yes
Football 2006 4 of 10 SCREAMING EAGLES Tilted Time No Yes
Football 2006 5 of 12 SCREAMING EAGLES Jeremy Conn Show 2 No Yes
Pro Football Pick'em 2006 3 of 14 SCREAMING EAGLES TFP No Yes
Baseball 2005 6 of 11 SCREAMING EAGLES Tilted Time No Yes
Football 2005 9 of 10 SCREAMING EAGLES Tilted Gridiron No Yes
Pro Football Pick'em 2005 3 of 13 Crewsor TFP pickum Yes Yes
Baseball 2004 5 of 14 Screaming Eagles Majorly Tilted Baseball No Yes
Football 2004 2 of 12 SCREAMING EAGLES TFP Football No Yes
Baseball 2003 2 of 10 Screaming Eagles TFProject.org Private League 1 No Yes
Football 2003 5 of 10 Screaming Eagles Yahoo Public 417388 No No

look around here for the 2008 fantasy thread and I believe I put up the past results in there

Raveners back for another season of getting my ass kicked!

man, is this how it is every year?

I can't believe I missed this experience for the past two years I've known about fantasy football. 15 other teams, though, will glaringly show how much of a dilettante I truly am.

I might have placed runner-up in my inaugural and rookie debut in another FFLeague, but it was an eight-man league, and to boot, I missed my draft. If I had to rely on myself instead of the computer, my team never would've had Warner, Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, Steve Smith, Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, both the Steelers and Ravens D, as well as B. Marshall, C. Cooley, & O. Daniels. That's how the cards fell.


Hopefully some of last year's luck will rub off here as well. :thumbsup:

My archived results only show last year... damn, there's a lot of history missing!

Oh, well, time to make some new memories, eh?

Don't worry, Jetée . The trash talk hasn't even begun, yet!

I find this extremely interesting, especially since i'm an Orton fan.

Kyle Orton: the next great fantasy QB

Last February, we wrote an article anointing Aaron Rodgers the next great fantasy QB. This year, we’re giving that title to Orton. Call us crazy, but considering the fact that the man who had his job last year threw for 4,525 yards and 25 TDs, it’s not that far fetched. The 26 year old Orton has been officially named the Broncos starter, and will have plenty of weapons to toss the rock to in Josh McDaniels’ pass friendly spread offense. Considering he threw for nearly 3,000 yards and 18 TDs last season in Chicago’s conservatively boring attack, we believe he’s ready for fantasy stardom. And, best of all, he can be had for a pretty darn low price.

Here is a bootleg way of looking at old leagues.

Go to the league page from last season

http://archive.fantasysports.yahoo.com/nfl/2008/26143

(I ran the league last year) and use the drop down box above the standings (I linked previous years leagues) so you can see past league results.

We maybe kinda should get in the habit of having one commish for each sport who sets up the MAIN or primary TFP league per sport.

I know in years past there has been more than one league and someone volunteered to run it, but if we have a standard commish year in and year out for a main league we can keep a nice running total via that linked league thingy on the league page. Also if there are enough teams maybe even possibly the winner of a secondary league gets automatic bid into the main league the following season? That could just be me making too much of it though.

I'm not familiar with tfp having more than one league at any given time. I recall our fantasy league and the in house pick-'em that we've had, but that's all. Have you been holding out on me?

I'd like to see us max out this league, then see what happens next. Frankly , I'm trying to find a way to not run my company's pick-'em this year.

Thanks for the link,, Montana! It'll be fun to go back and reread some of those recaps and get inspired for another season of sarcasm and ridicule. Grow some thick skin, fellas! You know it's all good-natured fun:thumbsup:

I'm in.

The Usual Suspects is in my division which is not a good thing.

Oh well. Not too long until draft day.

In Yahoo's free league, you could pick up a free agent during a game. For example. somebody picked up Matt Cassell during the games when Tom Brady tore his ACL. People can use the counter argument about hand-cuffing your top picks, but this is rarely done with QBs and would really spread you thin if you hand-cuffed RBs, QBs, etc.

Additionally, ESPN allowed free live score tracking of the fantasy games, and yahoo did not. You could buy the stat tracker in yahoo for $5-$10, but why bother if it could be free in ESPN. ESPN sent out a group email saying there were providing the same free features as last year, so I would pick it over Yahoo.

The "big" news is that Yahoo! now offers free-live score updating, so it is now on-par with ESPN's system. I think I actually preferred waivers on Yahoo! last year compared to ESPN's "tues. set, thurs. claim., sun. lock" method. It was confusing to say the least.


Now that I have been tinkering with Yahoo!'s mock draft lobby, I can honestly say that autopicking sucks. I tried some 15-20 rounds over the past 3 days, and it has become evident to me that if you miss your Yahoo! live draft, you will invariably struggle/lose in your league.

I don't know if other fantasy football providers allow you to choose a picking-option for each round,
e.g. Rd 1-RB Rd 2-RB or WR Rd 3-QB or WR Rd 4-WR or TE, etc.
but the way Yahoo!'s autopicking aims to fill your starting roster first, then draft 1 backup RB and QB, 2 backup WRs, and a backup kicker really defeats the purpose of creating your own draft rankings.

First time for everything TFP Fantasy Football, I look forward to the fun.

YEARS ago, Yahoo used to have free Stat Tracker then they got freedy and started charging for it, but now that so many places offer free scoring they had to give it away again if they wanted to keep people. Also lowered the price of their Plus! leagues to $29.99 per league as opposed to the $125.99 in years past.

You can pick up a FA during the game, but cannot start them so I guess that is fair. I have played in MANY MANY leagues that have it either way (free for all style, or Tues-Thurs style with everyone being a FA Fri-Sun)

I don't have a preference for either one, I roll with whatever.


As for multiple TFP leagues I could have SWORN that sometime in the past someone had started up a 2nd league because one was full, may have been baseball though and not football or I could very well just be loony. That isn't out of the question.

Ah, ESPN has exactly the feature I was thinking about—they call it "autopicking stategy", and it would appear Yahoo! has no such feature enabled within free leagues (have no idea if it is in Plus! either). :(
This is what it looks like:

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3438/draftpage.jpg

If there's room I'm in.

As of 11 am EST, we've room for 4 more teams. dive on in, Pan!

I am in.. team Off Constantly... that way when I lose, you can say you beat off constantly. WOOT, looking forward to a great season.

I think a majority of people here could say that regardless of the outcome.:crazy:

+1

A WORD FROM THE COMMISH
---------------------------------

Welcome to the 2009 season of Tilted Fantasy Football! I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this is the best season yet. I have a few notes about the upcoming season.

-There are only 3 spots left! If you are debating whether or not you want to participate this year, please decide soon. I expanded the league to 16 teams this year, but there will always be willing members who are left out.

-Make sure you take some time to look over the league settings. This league does not use the standard Yahoo scoring settings. It IS a PPR league (points-per-reception) but receptions are still only lightly weighted. Understanding the way this league's scoring is geared will help you make decisions during the draft.

-If you are new to fantasy football, there is a plethora of information out there. ESPN has some user friendly guides to bring you up to speed. Along with Yahoo, they also provide mock drafts so you can acquaint yourself to the draft process and get a feel for where players are being drafted at.

-Please post team logos or pictures at your team page. Multicolored helmets are boring and add little to the league. Let's try to spice up our league and inject a little creativity into it.

-Week 11 will be rivalry week. It's the first week when all players have completed their byes and a pivotal game just before the playoffs begin. If you want to call out a team and start some rivalries, now is the time to do it. Otherwise, I will assign rivals.

-If someone wants to take the initiative to post the results from past seasons of Tilted fantasy football, the information is out there. I don't know where the best site would be to host the history of the league along with the results, standings, and users. I would help out with it if someone wants to get the ball rolling on that.

-Finally, MAKE SURE YOU SHOW UP FOR THE DRAFT. Inevitably, teams that miss the draft either have a decreased interest in the rest of the season and stop adjusting their rosters, or they are stuck with a crappy team courtesy of autopick. If you know will not be able to make the draft, at least move players who are retired, injured for the season, or unsigned to the bottom of your pre-rankings.

**The draft is currently set for Sat Aug 22 6:30pm PDT/9:30 EST**

Looking forward to a great season in 2009, and hoping everyone has FUN!






P.S. Unfortunately, it will be a waste as team Benjamin3000 will reign supreme...

http://i455.photobucket.com/albums/q...in3000copy.jpg

Once the teams get set, will we be able to vote on how much we like or dislike the scoring system?

I am okay with it as is, but would still like to offer a suggestions for the PPR system, like for "every 3 receptions, you get 1 point, or for every 5 receptions, you get 3 points". I do like the way you set the punt returners' method to obtaining points.

I think with sixteen teams, good point-producing players will be spread inexorably thin, therefore the scoring system can counteract the slight of proficient players by flexing the points in extra addition.

Mass Minutemen

I joined as Casual Insanity. Hope I don't embarrass myself too bad.

ONE spot left.


As for raising the value of receptions, this could backfire. I've seen leagues where the teams with receiving running backs dominate the league. There's only a few workhorse running backs in the NFL who play a major role in the passing game and they can win leagues.

Or is it also being suggested to remove the fractional points (right now receptions are worth .2) by awarding points every so many catches? I was thinking about changing this too. It's the only statistical category that has fractions. This isn't necessarily a problem as it does act as a tiebreaker between teams on a small scale.

Perhaps I meant to lower the very high plateau set on obtaining those extra points awarded; in the case of the points for receiving, I think the bar is set too high at 150 yards (ah, I see now that you lowered both rushing and receiving to 100 yards to receive 1 point, or maybe I read it wrong from the start). I wouldn't be ooposed to seeing the opinions of others on accumulated percentage for reception. I thought a quarter was on the low side, but it is currently set that for every five receptions, you get that whole point.

Maybe I don't value one single point; I don't know--I'd love to see it raised to 2, but that's just my personal preference (but not any higher than that). Also, I mean to say that my advice or preference for scoring would be that: for every 100 rushing/receiving effort, that player would be awarded 2 additional points; for every 5 receptions, that player would be awarded 2 additional points.

That's my take.

One thing I see is that trade review is set to commish.

In my experiences this needs to be owner votes. All it takes is the commish to push one trade through that someone doesn't like and all hell can break loose. At least with the owner votes the majority of the league has to vote against it for it do veto.


Why are passing TD only worth 5 points when all others are 6?


Also, we won't have a K this year?

My original thinking with the commissioner reviewing trades was that it would act as including both forms of vetoing trades. I'm assuming this will be an active league and if a few teams all share a concern about a possible trade, the commissioner can review it. In attempt to keep trades efficient, the review period is two days. That is likely not enough to expect at least 5 teams to log on, review trades, and for all of them to decide it is unfair and to protest a trade. It only takes a small number of teams to post their protests if there is a problem and the trade will be looked into. I think with this option, trades will run more smoothly and the protest process will be more transparent.

Passing TDs occur much more frequently than other TDs, placing an exaggerated importance on the QB position. Many fantasy football leagues have lower scoring for passing TDs. ESPN's and Yahoo's default settings are both 4 points.

No kickers this year. With 16 teams drafting for 13 rounds I figured that was an easy concession to make. They're so random and largely only consequential in close games that I think fantasy football will phase them out more and more.

35 DAYS LEFT!!!

Oh, thank goodness it's only 13 rounds... I would have been fine with 12, but 13 is one more than the minimum I would have conceded to, so thank you.

I don't see how a TD being the same point value for passing vs running or receiving places an exaggerated importance on QB. The QB already has to throw for more yards to get a point for passing yards than a RB or WR has to for rushing or receiving to get points so doesn't it all equal out?

I don't agree with the default scoring being 4 either, TD is 6 points, let it be 6. The other points can all be up for question because it is something you are adding to make the fantasy aspect of it such as PPR, or receiving yards or even a bonus point after every 100 etc.



I still say league votes is the fairest way to go. If a guy doesn't like a trade let him hit the veto button and be done with it. He shouldn't have to go to the commish or post something up stating his opinions on it because that just opens up more criticism from those who are involved in the trade. I am just going from the majority of experiences in the past, if someone was to put up that they think trade XX is unfair then the owners involved usually then get into debate with that owner about why it isn't or is. If it is league votes each owner can cast their no vote, or just be silent and let it go if they feel it is fair, all the while remaining anonymous.

If 2 teams make a trade and I don't like player X, I voice my displeasure of the trade and you, as the commish, decide my reasons aren't valid you are in effect nullifying my vote, that shouldn't be the case. Each owner has their say on it no matter the reasons.

I have been in leagues where no other owner ever lets a trade go through, that's just the way it is, I may not want to lose ground on the first place team, or an opponent I am playing that week.

It would appear I dropped the ball on this... looks like the league is full. If someone decides to drop out before the draft, I'll take the spot.

Talk about dropping the ball.

I was trying to leave one league o join another and left the TFP league by mistake. Glad I got back in before anyone else joined up.

I have had a hard time refixing my team's identifying logo within Yahoo!, especially without completely destroying the logos of my other FF teams; can you only have one individual picture to identify your Yahoo! team(s), along with either using your avatar or one of those 10 generic helmets to show your team's individuality?

Yeah, I was having this problem too. Apparently, you can only use one picture at a time for you Yahoo Sports leagues. Now my picture is the same for all the leagues but it's not too big a problem.

Yeah, my avatar is still stuck in 2007 mode. I don't know what i was thinking even devoting more than an hour (more like three) customizing it.

I've updated my team picture now (hopefully it shows).

Burnt Toast dropped out and gave me a heads up, so I'm in!

My new name is The Long Bombs.

I just glanced at the settings. Looks like a lot of deviations from the standard ones. Not sure I understand why they're all necessary but I guess I can live with them. Just seems like a lot of unnecessary changes to me.

I think the defenseive scoring is pretty odd. It seems like if a QB is getting -1 for being sacked, the Defense should be getting +1, not +.5. Same with the interceptions, -2 for the QB but only +1 for the D? I don't get it.

It also seems extremely strange to have no Kicker. Field goals are a HUGELY important part of the actual game. How many games are decided by that last-second field goal? I feel they should at least play some role in fantasy. I know the K position in fantasy is something of a throw-away, but still.

Maybe we should hash out the details amongst ourselves of how much difference having 16 teams is going to affect the talent pool is going to have on our overall ability to accumulate points. Also make decisions/poll the value of whether "this should net this many points", or whether it is better off higher/lower.

I understand the reasoning in deduction of points slimming, but like Mister Coaster pointed out above, there are some discrepancies.

Also, it seems most of the discrepancies in default points-netting is being skewed to minimize the affect and effectiveness of any team's slotted DEF.

I personally like the position of DEF, because it seems over the years I'm only good at choosing the best ones. I can usually find myself owning Tampa, though last year, in two leagues, I owned both top-scoring Pitt. and Balt. DEF, which helped propel me into the championships.

So, other than that, most of the scoring seems suitable.

---------- Post added at 10:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 AM ----------

I do have a suggestion though, could you rachet up the points gained on a safety and blocked kicks?

Those are so rare and hard to come by in an entire season, maybe occurring 5 times on average for each instance throughout over 100 regular season games played.

I'd like to see a safety worth 3 or 4 points, and maybe a blocked kick worth the original 2 points (though I do think 1.5 suits better).

I'll certainly look over the scoring settings again. I actually spent over an hour typing up why I set the scoring the way I did and finding statistical evidence from different fantasy leagues to back it up, before I came to the conclusion that it was turning into a colossal time dump for something of trivial importance. Now that I see there is some interest in looking into tinkering with the scoring system, I may break out the statistical war machine again.

In short, though, the goal of adjusting the scoring settings was to make it balanced so no position was disproportionately more important than another. In Yahoo standard leagues, you may as well call it Fantasy Quarterback. Whoever has the uber-quarterback for the season generally wins (barring no holes in their roster). Also, defenses are generally rewarded in fantasy football for sacks, interceptions, safeties, that sort of thing. However, not much weight is actually put into the most important defensive statistic--keeping the other team from scoring points. I toned down the "event" statistical categories and turned up the points awarded for points allowed. This way it's more of a reflection of the ability and performance of the real-life counterpart defense.

Regardless of whatever statistical methods are used in fantasy football, there is no advantage to any one team unless there is an owner who doesn't look over the scoring methodology pre-draft. For instance, in a PPR league, Houshmanzadeh would have a priority over someone like Berrian who catches less passes but for more yardage. With this league, I would say that there may be less of a need to load up at one position and to draft a balanced team.

I didn't really think the QB was of much importance in standard-like settings; unless the position was garnering points every 10 yards like RBs and WRs, as well as getting the full value of a TD, well, then that'd have a different thing altogether. (as I see it, 4 points-TD, 1point-25 passing yards is conservative)


I do see your side on the defense argument, though. Personally, I love the defensive side of the ball; it always looks like an opportunity to sway the balance of the game for me and snatch away what looks like a runaway (ol'-school smash-mouth fanatic).

I mean, the most unregarded and unsexy team defense last year was Washington, and they finished overall as a top-5 DEF. I guess they really bogged down the other team, and bent, but never broke, allowing only field goals instead of TDs. Washington games, over the past four years I've noticed are never high-scoring affairs, for either team.
I mean, they lost to the Giants in the opener by a small margin (16-7, I think), then they beat both the Cardinals and Saints (2 of top 3 scoring leaders), and squeaked past the Browns and Lions, and Eagles, in what was probably the least interesting game ever witnessed, winning eventually to the tune of 10-7.


Although you say you want to emphasize the ability of a true defense to limit the amount of points gained, your score setting actually nets you fewer points than the standard Yahoo! settings in every category, save for shutouts. I'd say raise those back to standard, or +1 higher, if you tone down the "event" categories instead.

Just my 2 cents here so take it for what it's worth....

When you change up the scoring categories and values from the 'standard', it makes it difficult for regular players to 'figure out' what is most important. I know you are using your experience in prior leagues to create what you think is a more 'fair and balanced' scoring system. But in my experience this tends to just make it 'different' not neccesarily 'better'. Again, JMHO. It certainly gives the 'creator' a decided advantage in drafting because he knows what will be more important in the end.

Also 16 teams really spreads the talent extremely thin. As experienced players know, there are definitely different 'levels' of players at each position. Once all the players of a certain level are drafted the productivity level drops off markedly to the next level. Agreed, there are 30 teams and 30 QB's, but generally, no one is going to win the league with the 16th ranked QB. With 16 teams, the draft order becomes of paramount importance and that is always a random thing.

I was in a league last year with 16 teams that were divided into two conferences. Each conference had their own draft and the two conferences had a playoff at the end. Just something to think about. IMHO, it's more fun when everybody has a 'good' team and is not 'stuck' with also-ran players. Also with 16 teams there will not be many 'available' players to fill in in case of injury. Checking the waiver wire and picking up players is what makes FF fun.

Thanks for being the commish, it is a PITA sometimes. Good Luck, I'll be following this thread.

essendoubleop, I see your point about rewarding a Defense for stopping the other team from scoring, but if that's your major way for the Defense to score points on fantasy, then just bumping that reward a point or 2 doesn't add up. For example, a Defense that limits the other team to 3 field goals (9 points) or just a single TD + PAT (7 points) would be considered a sparkling defensive performance, yet that is only good for 5, only ONE point higher than Yahoo's default. AND that's 2 points LESS than an interception that gets runback for a TD. Is a single "right place right time" play worth more than an entire game of keeping the other team out of the end zone?

I'm not necessarily saying that Yahoo's defaults are any better, but it is the system I have (most have) been playing under for several seasons. If you feel the need to change so many of the defaults, that's fine, but I'm not seeing the logic behind the values you have changed them to.

And I still cannot figure out why there is no kicker in the league... If points are being scored in a game, they need to be able to be claimed by a fantasy owner. It's that simple. If something like carrying the ball for 30 yards is worth 3 points, then something like a (potentially) game-winning field goal should be worth something too.

I have decided to bow out of this league. Hopefully it is early enough to replace me before the draft date. There are just too many differences from what I am used to. Thanks for your efforts Essendoubleop.

Wow, talk about walking into a beehive; though, I am glad we're garnering a lot of discussion about the scoring now rather than later. With all the talk about the scoring settings, I'm expecting nobody to be griping about it come September. Speak your grievance now while we can still do something about it. My goal is to address the concerns of every owner and to find the right settings for this league that can be agreed upon by the most owners.

Notes:
1) Jetee: I think you are right about the defensive scoring probably needing to be raised higher. Take a look at the top 25 projected defenses scoring from last year compared to the top 25 projected quarterbacks scoring. The defenses scored roughly half of what the quarterbacks scored. The standard deviation is also much lower.

2)DDDave: That's a good point. There is definitely a few drawbacks to having an "original" scoring system. However, it could also be argued that those who have more of a history with Yahoo leagues will have an advantage over others. I've been playing Yahoo leagues (and others) for years and I have noticed a few trends that crop up in the winners (mainly top-shelf quarterbacks winning leagues, take a look at the differences between the top quarterbacks in scoring). There really is no way around it besides familiarizing yourself with the projected scoring "fan points" which can be found by clicking on the "PLAYERS" tab at the league home page and looking at the "fan points" column on the far right side. Notice which statistical categories are important to that position and draft based on their projected stats. Along those lines...

3) Return men. If you look at the return yardage points, you'll see a few running backs and receivers that are higher up than in other leagues. For instance, Steve Breaston's 3 TDs and 900+ return yards netted him 213 points compared to Donald Driver (148 points) even though they had comparable receiving numbers. Do you guys think this places too much of an added bonus to return game? Or do you think it will help expand the available scorers in a 16-team deep league where players like Johnnie Lee Higgins is a viable option? I would certainly be open to at least toning it down a bit.

4) Your point about the teams being unable to compete with the 16th ranked QB is a valid one. That's a good reason why balancing the positions is so important. Even if you get stuck with Chad Pennington, you can still win with a couple sure-fire RBs and a few sleepers at other positions. 16 teams (almost) ensures that every team will have two viable options to start at QB, or to make a trade if necessary. It's really the max size for a fantasy league.

5) Mister Coaster: You're right. The defense category still needs adjusting. Certainly, the points awarded for allowing points should be increased further. Do you suggest toning down the points awarded for a defensive TD as well? I would suggest accounting for YARDAGE allowed as well, but Yahoo doesn't list that as a possible statistical category.

6) I'M pretty firmly against having a roster position for kickers. But if enough owners are for it, we can add them too. I just think that they are too random to project and shouldn't be the deciding factor in close games. They're always drafted in the final round and could be another factor in the randomness of the draft order giving the final team the worst kicker (though they probably won't end up ranked in their slot anyways).

6) Also, the helmets have got to go. Put some interesting pictures up. Use it to create rivalries! One cool addition this year is rivalry week. With 16 teams playing 13 regular season games, we have to use unbalanced schedules which creates the opportunity for creating rivalries.

7) Playoffs look good to everybody? Half the league makes the playoffs, no bye-weeks. It would be cool to have a climbing ladder too but Yahoo doesn't allow for that.



24 DAYS LEFT!!!
(AND ONE SPOT AVAILABLE)

I too am going to pass, again for reasons mentioned above just too much for me.

Call me a fuddy duddy or stuck in my ways but I like what I am used to.

Sorry.

Are you sure you don't want to at least give it a shot and stick around? I remember some of the previous leagues having different rule setups.

Yeah... I think I'm out too. I was excited to land a spot when it opened up. But with THIS many changes I'm just left scratching my head. REAL games are decided on the kicking game, why not fantasy?

I'll give you a day or 2 to make some serious changes otherwise I'm gone.

SO... Call me a fuddy duddy or stuck in my ways but I like what I am used to.

Sorry.

Snoop,

I don't want to rain on your parade but I too am going to have to drop out. I don't see how a straight 16 team league is going to work. Have you even considered bye weeks? How will the QB position work? QB's get hurt every week and yet you don't even have enough for each team to have 2. Are you telling me that one of my receiver positions will need to be a returner because of the extra weight placed there? How many top returners are there, like 3? No kicker????

Sorry.

Okay, so the take-home message thus far:

14 teams=fine. 16 teams=disaster.

In my experience, 14 teams are ideal for fantasy football. It allows each team to play each other once and thus provides an even playing field before the playoffs begin; providing you have the playoffs run through weeks 14-16.

I think 10-14 teams is fine. 8 is the minimum, which is what I was involved with last season (my rookie season) and I finished 2nd overall.

Noticing that we have twelve teams now, I think the four divisions works out perfectly.
We can have three teams in each division, and the winning divisional teams advance, with perhaps an option that of the eight remaining teams, the top two teams in terms of win-loss record also advance. Just a suggestion for now, because i have no idea if yahoo! has a way to implement this.
Although, there is a discrepancy in which one division has two teams, while the other has four; can this be amended?

Yes, I will certainly balance the divisions after the draft. I'm not going to lock the league just yet, though I think we've given ample opportunity for anyone who has to wanted to join to do so.

4 DAYS LEFT

Ben Foster was a must since Van Der Sar is out

Week one is over. whats everyone think so far? I'm having a blast for this being my first league.

I highly over-rated my team. And I can't pick matchups to save my life.

Hopefully week 1 was an aberration for my running backs, but I highly doubt it. It seems as though Darren Sproles is my RB1 for the rest of the season.

Yeah the first couple weeks are near impossible to gauge matchups (save the Rams and Lions). Sproles is looking to be an excellent pickup.

I'm trying really hard to not overreact to the first couple of weeks results. Can't let 2 games define a player's whole season. But if I get whacked by the league's hottest RB once more... hell, what CAN i do about that?

week 2 in the books. what a weird week for injuries.

week 3 just about done. what's everyone thinking?

I still have no faith in my "elite" players, and I overthink the matchups, injuries, and my affinity for Leon Washington and Darren Sproles makes slating my roster each week nerve-wracking.

But, I'm having fun, and I guess that's what matters. Still, I'd like to cook up a better streak that involves more "W"'s than "L"'s.

I did like this coincidence last week: all NFC North teams (GB, Minn., Det., Chi.) won their respective games.

what many may find unreal is that I would have gained more points if i'd played kyle orton and knowshon instead of Brees and kevin faulk.

Yeah, it's weird. I knew I *should* have sat Frank Gore this past weekend, but everyone always says I'd be a fool to sit my first/second round pick at any point in the season. I would have won had I trusted my instinct, but I lost due to listening to the masses.

Also, had I not been insisted to lunch early, I would have subsitituted McFadden for Moreno in that game; I had a feeling he would be more productive. I lost that game as well.

Go with your gut. It'll help you more often and alleviate that feeling of regret you'd have with a tough game for your star player; better to see if you have a more favorable option elsewhere.

You can't predict injury, so you assume Frank Gore would have played the whole game last week. That being said, you never bench your studs, especially after they run for 2 TDs and around 200 yards.

Wouldn't that feeling of regret been worse if Gore repeats his performance from the previous week while he is on your bench?

looks like I owe the San Fran D/ST a round of beer.

how many people have quit playing this league already?

woot, 7-0.

Is it possible to always, and I mean I always, sit your best WR, week in, week out?

I probably have had the best roster of receivers this season, but I never know which one of them is an "automatic" start other than Andre Johnson.

At least I won, yes, but it just breaks my being to leave unnecessary points on my bench because I overthought the intangibles.

Sidney Rice and Sims-Walker and Steve Smith and DeSean would be never-bench WRs on other teams, but when you can only choose 1 of them, well, you see how it can be nerve-wracking to "guess" which one of them will "most likely" have the best day.

choosing who to start and who to bench is tough and it really comes down to two things. 1) who's the matchup against and what strategy for that team to win is gonna be used (i.e. run or pass) and 2) who are the other players on that persons team.

for instance, I played miles austin, felix jones, and marion barber last night and between the 3 of them, I think I got 10 points. I didn't pay enough attention to hear that jones is no longer doing returns. that hurt.

congratulations on your win, jet.

Can someone post the final standings? Just curious. I see Jet won apparently.

Did you partcipate in both leagues? Or, um, did you want only the standings of the weeks 15-16 league?

No, I was looking for the standings of the league this thread pertains to. I was only in the other league or I would know the results from this one.

No problem. The shakedown of TFP 2009 (or is it the rundown?) :oogle:

Regular season standings:
midway monsters - .923 win % - 1st in pts
Flying Monkeys - .692 win % - 3rd in pts
Bengalsbrowns=clowns - .615 win % - 5th in pts
Parting Clouds - .538 win % - 2nd in pts
indebut's inferno - .538 win % - 4th in pts
Benjamin3000 - .462 win % - 7th in pts


Playoffs:
Quarters...
midway monsters and Flying monkeys both had first round byes (week 14).
Parting Clouds over indebut's inferno, 111.05 to 79.38
Bengalsbrowns=clowns over Benjamin3000, 92.88 to 58.66

Semis...(week 15)
Parting Clouds over midway monsters, 144.74 to 100.30
Flying Monkeys over Bengalsbrowns=clowns, 94.39 to 75.65

Finals...(week 16)
Parting Clouds over Flying Monkeys, 109.36 to 89.12


Overall:
Champion - Parting Clouds (Jet)
2nd Flying Monkeys (icersfan)
3rd midway monsters (dksuddeth)
4th Bengalsbrowns=clowns (pan6467)
5th Benjamin3000 (essendoubleop)
6th indebut's inferno (indebut)


Winning Roster:
QB Philip Rivers
WR Andre Johnson
WR DeSean Jackson
RB Darren Sproles
RB Steven Jackson
TE Vernon Davis
W/R Joshua Cribbs
DEF Arizona

BENCH
Brett Favre
Sidney Rice
Steve Smith (NYG)
Jerome Harrison
Jason Snelling

Thanks Jet, looks like you really came on in the playoffs when it counted after some tough luck during the season. 2nd in points with only a slightly over .500 win % seems unlikely. Congrats.

But that's the way it happened. I was less than 9 points from the points leader in week 12, even though dksuddeth had 5 or 6 wins over my team.

I had the same problem in this league that you perhaps witnessed in the mainstay TFP league I also happened to participate in (and win): I left a lot of points on my bench because, in essence, I had too many 'good players' on it, and overthought who to start when.

I can barely count the numerous times I left 20+ and 30+ point explosions by Ricky Williams, Steve Smith, Brett Favre, Jonathan Stewart, Jamaal Charles, Sideny Rice, and especially DeSean Jackson etc.

For example, I only played DeSean Jackson a total of maybe 4-5 times in this league, even though he had a Pro-Bowl caliber season, because, well, I thought for the longest time he was only a home-run threat, and couldn't maintain his lucky streak of 50+ TD strikes when he only averaged around 5 offensive touches per game. Then, when I got over that thought for a second, he gives me a big fat ZERO in points when I thought I could count on him (the Tampa Bay game). Additionally, I had what seemed like much better options at WR with Steve Smith catching around 9 balls per game, Sims-Walker having his best days when playing at home, and Sidney Rice becoming this year's second-best 3+ year breakout receiver (behind Miles Austin). Besides, Andre Johnson, who never came out of my line-up, I could only choose 1 amongst 4 quality receivers each week, most often times.

So, it gets to be bad breaks of line-up shuffling, when in actuality, the team is doing extremely well as a whole, that sinks the overall winning percentage.