Wednesday Chat Has Begun

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:09 pm

Originally posted by fandango:

quote:Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:

We are going to do everything we can to minimize any possible distractions in each of the cities. We are aware that some folks had some problems with being too loud so we'll work to correct that next week. Tom, in regards to the NY auction leagues, i would rather switch to the AL auction friday afternoon instead of teleconfrencing the MIXED league between 2 or 3 cities ....in auction leagues you need to look the other GM's in the eye...its not the same otherwise.... [/QUOTE]Scott, right now we have 11 New York owners who have committed to an AL Auction League. Four are at $1,250 and seven are at $650 as Pete Lukowicz just joined the group. My feeling is that rather than try to fill both leagues, I'm going to combine both at $650 if the four owners are willing to move down and close this off. If you want that 12th spot, let me know and we'll run with this league. We'll then work our tails off to fill those last 7 spots in the New York Mixed Auction League or see if those owners would be willing to participate in a teleconference. If neither option works, then life moves on.

I'm working LATE tonight, so call me at 715-445-4612, ext. 284 or we'll hook up via e-mail.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:11 pm

Originally posted by viper:

Looks like we came close to the 105th in NYC. Would you select the NYC draft slots once they got to 120 even if the other leagues were short? My guess is not since all these guys after 285 are likely only playing if you get to 300. No. We are going for 300 and we have some options to make this work if New York goes over by a few picks. I also have enough feelers out there to feel confident that we will hit 300 by Sunday, so don't be scaring off my final signups as we'll be fine. Stay tuned.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:16 pm

Originally posted by Chameleon:

Tom -- have you guys got a relatively "sound proof" plan for the draft rooms etc. for Chicago (and NYC and Vegas, for that matter). As you'll recall from post draft-day banter last year, the fact that you could clearly hear the selections of other drafters in other leagues really made drafting in your own league difficult, what with trying to time player selections, sleepers, position runs and so forth. THANKS. Good question. Last year there was a lot of noise and my goal this year was to partition the rooms down the middle if possible. Once we finally got the room layouts from all three hotels, we found that the rooms we're in don't partition down the middle, so all of my good plans went up in smoke.

However, in New York we have twice the room size and our goal is to use all of it and space out the leagues big-time. We may even stagger them so that you're not exactly across from another league. New York should not be a problem. We also have plenty of space in Chicago and should be able to stagger those four U's as well to avoid noise confusion. Again, we're going to really space these out, so it may look like we're wasting space but it's for an obvious reason.

In Las Vegas, we're a little tighter and the partitions at the Rio go across the room, not down the middle. Those are useless for our Saturday purposes. I'm trying to space the nine leagues out there and may even face each league against the walls in opposite directions, thus creating less noise "bounce." I'm still working on that one and we did buy 2,500 extra square feet there, which should allow us a little room to experiment. It might be a different look this year, but don't be alarmed.

There's always going to be noise from the other drafts as one of the cool things is seeing multiple drafts going on at once. But we understand the noise concern and will be working on it.

ITIS · Post by **ITIS** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:31 pm

Greg, would it be possible to have everyone submit, when its there turn to pick, their pick to the person working that draft on paper, then the sticker goes on the board everyone sees it, and no words are really spoken? It might take a little more time, but would cut down on the overhearing of names from other leagues, and requires no further modifications to the room/setup.

If a team cannot see the board so good, they could ask the team next to them, and they can quietly relay the pick name to them, if necessary.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:43 pm

It's not a bad suggestion, but honestly I don't want these drafts to feel like a day at the library. It's possible that a name will come up across the room that you were hoping to sneak through, but somehow I think every owner who comes to this event is well prepared and they didn't just learn about a new prospect because his name was hollered out from across the room.

What we will do this year is tell our draft facilitators to walk out to the next person up to draft this year and then announce the pick in a better way. Not every pick needs to be shouted out for the whole room to hear, but we do want everyone in the league to know who it was. I think we can find a happy middle ground.

rising stars · Post by **rising stars** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 2:54 pm

do we have an idea when ulimate auction league will know when reserve round order is?

granted it is not until round 24 that it matters....but hoping tito landrum still has a shot to get on the squad....lol

if not him sixto lezcano

If you give me a call tomorrow, we'll pick them tomorrow morning!!! Or call me tonight as I'm here. I plan on picking the Ultimate Auction League order tomorrow.

[ March 09, 2005, 09:18 PM: Message edited by: Greg Ambrosius ]

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:16 pm

Originally posted by :

Hey Greg, I got a suggestion for you to fill in the last 10 spots. give Steve Cohen a call at SIRIUS Sat Radio and have SIRIUS sponsor a few spots , he is also the owner of Footballinjuries.com and you did have Adam Caplan in the Football Fantasy draft. Just A thought. Or even XM Radio since they broadcast the MLB now. I know Adam and STeve very well. Good suggestion. I was just on XM Radio last week with Jeff Erickson and we're buying spots on KENO in Las Vegas right now and doing live shows. We're out there, trust me, but you are right that we need to tap every available market. I had hoped for more beauty sleep before Las Vegas, but it's not happening now. I'm working, not sleeping these nights.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:20 pm

Originally posted by fandango:

Tom, in regards to the NY auction leagues, i would rather switch to the AL auction friday afternoon instead of teleconfrencing the MIXED league between 2 or 3 cities ....in auction leagues you need to look the other GM's in the eye...its not the same otherwise.... and i was thinking of changing my plans and joining the mixed auction in chi-town. we'll get the teleconference going with NY and you can have your chance to compete in the same league as me. haven't you been crying about that?

i need to see if i can get there by friday though. let me know if you're going to stick to the mixed or run away. if you stick, i'll make it a point to be there.

[ March 09, 2005, 09:21 PM: Message edited by: Gordon Gekko ]

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:03 pm

Originally posted by rising stars:

do we have an idea when ulimate auction league will know when reserve round order is?

granted it is not until round 24 that it matters....but hoping tito landrum still has a shot to get on the squad....lol

if not him sixto lezcano

If you give me a call tomorrow, we'll pick them tomorrow morning!!! Or call me tonight as I'm here. I plan on picking the Ultimate Auction League order tomorrow. Wow, rising stars has morphed into Greg! It's just like that episode of Sesame Street where Elmo turns into a bird.