My Basement Review

[ToddZ]

Unfortunately, I was unable to travel to any of the live drafts this year so I had to do the Main Event from my living quarters in the basement.

It is a bit crowded as I have been busy lately and letting some clutter accumulate. The food was pretty poor as all I had time to do was pick up a sandwich at the gas station convenience store. The bathroom was a complete mess (see the busy lately part). I did have time to clean off my computer desk so at least that was in decent shape.

Overall, I'd grade the experience as meh, and really hope to be able to return to Vegas next March.

[Navel Lint]

[DOUGHBOYS]

I thought the ambiance was good. The smell of sweat sox wafting through the air. Baseball player profiles strewn all over the floor.
However the autographed photo of Ron Shandler on the wall was slightly a kilter.
The snacks of cheetos, pringles, and ho ho's were excellent.
Dinner at Lil Caesars put the experience over the top.

Todd had 17 computer windows open and was trying to update his site while drafting. How he did it with ho ho's in hand....let's just say that we came away impressed.
Online drafters have to pay the extra $$$ for amenities too. The cheetos, pringles, ho ho's and Lil Caesars were great, but it was tough for us to fit in Todd's basement. We snuggled in there and were ok, but had a little tiff with the neighbors.
Todd is a chemist by trade and likes to conduct experiments in the basement. His neighbors have viewed him taking vials, tubes, and chemicals into his house. When the drafter with the first pick screamed, "I'm taking Kemp!!", Todd's neighbors thought 'Kemp' must be a drug of choice (correct in a way) and called the Police.
Fortunately the officer that showed up spoke Numerish and Todd smoothed out the situation.
I would recommend the experience again for next year. As long as Todd prepares his sister and neighbors of the arrival of 'the geek squad' next time.

[Rainiers]

To be brutally honest, ...the basement sucked.

First of all, no greeter. No lanyards. No nothing. Just my wife telling me where to go.

The facilitator was really mean, gruff and picked on me unfairly. When he declared other peoples picks, he would whisper them so quietly I could never hear him. But when it came to my turn, it always seem I was looking at lists or something, and he would shout at me, really loudly: " YOU ARE NOW ON THE CLOCK!!!!!". He never did that to anybody else.

I did get lunch delivered on a tray, and it was OK. But she never came and got the dishes and I almost tripped on them on the way to the bathroom. About round 20, I tried to shout out for a cup of coffee, but she was nowhere to found....

Give me St. Louis again, or Las Vegas again, or maybe I'll try Chicago next. Anywhere but the basement.

[Raskol]

My basement sucked too. Well, I live in California and we don't have basements, so I took over the kitchen, taped cheatsheets to all my cabinets and made the best I could out of a bad situation. The food was subpar, consisting solely of a frozen pizza in round 10. The drinks were plenty to be had but whoever facilitated Friday night's events over-served me and I wasn't ready to start over. Still it was a wonderful time, the draft room worked great, everyone was on time and ready to go. Kudos to Greg, Tom and all the folks at STATS for making the on-line experience run smoothly.

Next year, Vegas. And I'm bringing my soon-to-be 7 year old son with me. He loves crossing off names, but keeps telling me to take Manny every round.