Slo Drafts

[DOUGHBOYS]

Some of us are in the midst of slow drafts. Some of us have already completed e-mail drafts. Some of us are waiting to be in a slow draft.

Here are a few thoughts-

Timeliness-

Don't be 'The Guy'. We have a 'The Guy' in our draft. We cringe when it nears his turn. He's the guy who thinks the 12 hour clock is like the 24 second clock in basketball. 'The Guy' is a one day time out for the other players.

Now, I know that I'll get responses saying that he may be a busy guy and needs his 12 hours. Later in the post, is what 'the guy' should be doing to help facilitate the draft during his 'busy time'. Some fellas that aren't armed with even a cell phone make more of an effort than 'the guy'.

My friend Rick Thomas likes to call these guys 'clockeaters' at the beginning of the draft. He says by the end of the draft, he feels like taking the L out of the word.

In short, it is good form to be timely.



The Draft Room-

It is functional. We didn't get the bells and whistles that we'd hoped for. Comparisons to MDC is a bit unfair since it is MDC's main function and they've been at it longer.

After the past year, we have come to not have the great expectations as we have had in the past.

Go in the draft room with that frame of mind.

In short, it works, be happy.



Draft Room Etiquette-

First, be nice. If somebody is 'The Guy', point out to him that 14 others are checking in while he is on the clock. If he needs to take the time for work, odd hours, etc. tell him to give the others a heads up as to when he'll be picking. If 'the guy' continues to be 'the guy', then he isn't changing and jokes can be made, but name calling really won't help.

If not able to check in for more than two hours and a possibity that a turn may come up, give a heads up as to when returning. When doing this, jot down the time zone, 2 pm means nothing without it.

If it is close to your turn and your going to be away for hours, use the 'autopick'. If afraid that two picks will be made while gone, ask the guys to hold up till you get back. They'll respect and appreciate that they got to make the one pick while gone.



E-Mail Drafts-

Nothing but good to say. These drafts rock along at a smoothe pace. There is no que or player list, so all studying is done at home. With E-Mail drafting, accessibility is not a factor as in the draft rooms. Some players with cells have chosen not to get the e-mails provided by the fanball drafts because they are sporadic or become cumbersome, it is never a problem with E-Mail drafts.

We've completed a 30 round and now a 50 round draft with absolutely no problems. A pleasure.

For those who want to start early next year, E-Mail drafts are highly recommended.



Hopefully, this post helps somebody out there.

If you haven't gotten into a draft yet, what are you waiting for, Christmas?

Sign up, don't be 'the guy', and have fun.

[JamesH]

I've always found it funny that people complain about slow draft being, you know... SLOW. I've been in my share of slow drafts, and I am never "the guy" that doughie is talking about, however I do share some sympathy for "the guy." The drafts were built to accomadate people like "the guy." That's why there's a 12 hour clock. Now I agree that it's common courtesy to let everyone know if you won't be able to draft. And I think everyone should be courteous. But the complaints that Doughie bring up can be turned around just as easily. If you don't want to wait around for hours than don't. You will be emailed or texted once it's your turn. You can log on at that time and not spend your whole day in the draft room.

[Schwks]

Non Slow Fantasy baseball drafts, have their own rhythm. Depending upon whether you are in an informal home league or a more structured league like the NFBC, the drafts move at either a fast pace, or a very fast pace.



I think that for this reason, most fantasy players like to see what their team is going to look like sooner rather then later. If they pass on a SP with the hope of getting him in the next round, your avg roto geek wants to know ex post haste whether he is going to succeed on his "finesse" (a bridge term for those who play).



THe slow draft can eat you alive this way. You need to go into it witht he mind set that you are going to pick and then wait. THis was very hard for m to adjust to. If it happens that things perk up and the draft proceeds quicker then expected...thats great.



Many people walk around Manhattan with their heads buried in their handheld computers. For those people, with internet access 24-7, these drafts will pose no problem.



But for the rest of us, playing in time zones spanning 3 hours, with jobs, significant others, children, holidays, and the necessity to sleep, we are confined to "windows of opportunity".



Some leagues start out with a 3 hour limit agreed upon. For everyone else, I agree that we should give the courtesy message as to when will return, but that will not necessarily speed up play.

[Surrender Dorothy]

Your post was right on Doughboys. The draft room *is* functional - lots of room for improvement, but it works.



Also, the email drafts are MUCH better in my opinion, largely because of the lack of a common rank list. I would love it if the draft room didn't come with a default rank list - just the players and their stats sortable alphabetically, by position or by stat category.



Otherwise, these off-season slow drafts are by far the best product available. I have faith that the design improvements to the draft room will come eventually.

[Greg Ambrosius]

This is a good post Dan and I agree with most of it. Last year it seemed like we got through about two rounds per day and finished 45-round Draft Champions Leagues in 21-22 days. Of course when KJ Duke ran his league those guys got done in about 8 or 9 days, which was amazing. But with everyone getting email and/or text messages of each pick it really shouldn't go much slower than that. Right now I see we have leagues in the 11th and 12th rounds for the most part after starting 7 or 8 days ago. It's a little slower than we'd like, so let's all try to stay vigilant when your turn is coming up and be ready to pick.



These are a lot of fun and very informative to the drafters. I'll try to spur even more interest with some teaser results soon and look at some of the early trends that we can all talk about. Once the holidays are over, I have a feeling we'll have new leagues popping up pretty regularly. If this isn't the best prep for the Main Event -- 750 players deep will cover all the players you need to know about!! -- then I don't know what is.



Have fun and take note of some of Dan's suggestions. They are right on.

[Jim Christie]

I was in the 50 round e-mail draft with Dan and 13 other really great guys. It was fun and a pleasure. There were only a handful of duplicate picks which really pointed to the expertise of the guys in this particular league. It should really be a competitive league.



I don't know if I can do a slow draft via the draft site after doing this e-mail draft. Especially since I don't have PC access for the site at work. We'll see though, as my friend and partner Kenny Magner says, I am Every League Luny



I am looking forward to doing another e-mail draft in 2012.

[sephrath]

I understand they are called slow drafts... but if each team took their allotted 12 hours, you would be drafting 50 rounds for 375 days. 12 hours is just too much... 9 hour is long, but at least it accounts for a work day, overnight drafts while your sleeping etc.



I don't think people mind if once in a while a given team ends up taking a lot of time, but when its the same team every round... it gets frustrating.



We calculated one guy has already taken over 45 hours of clock time through 10 rounds. And it might be worse if he didnt have teh #14 slot, where at least since the guy on the end makes his picks via autopick.

[fbc]

Originally posted by JamesH:

I've always found it funny that people complain about slow draft being, you know... SLOW.LOL. The nice thing about the slow draft is that it's probably the only chance for people who are busy round the clock with kids, family, crazy jobs, etc., to participate in a competitive draft. I agree with the other post that said something to that effect.



Now, if a person is continually winding down the clock every pick, that's not cool. But for some of us, the slow draft is a great option. Thanks for your patience.

[MadCow Sez]

BLUF: Courtesy goes a long way.



During the email draft my other brother Dan mentioned, I left the country, ran a marathon out of state, and did some time in the field on a training exercise. Even through those events I was able to work with the rest of the league to set up my picks so we never hit an unexpected delay. Texting works....as does having a short list of players you'd like to roster readily on hand.



The simple practice of posting your availability and/or unavailability makes the slow draft much more tolerable, even if it is....slow.



An aside....don't take the drafts too serious. This is a hobby and it should be fun. If it causes stress, it's time to take up yoga or needlepoint.

[Hoosier]

I am in the same slow draft of which Doughboys speaks and we figured last night that he is averaging over 8 hours per pick the first 9 rounds. I know these are slow drafts but that is ridiculous. As stated earlier, be proactive and let folks know if you are going to be away around your pick time and when you will return and all of us hopefully do have lives outside of fantasy baseball and will not be on the computer 24/7 or may not even have access during work hours, just let folks know, I believe most of us understand periodic delays or work schedule issues but last night from like 6-11 EST everyone around "the guy" is sitting their waiting to pick and not hold the draft up not having any idea if/when he would show up and pick. That is when it gets frustrating in my book.

[meanguy]

draft 1 round only button....

[Cornhusker]

Originally posted by meanguy:

draft 1 round only button.... Absolutely essential. All the other slow draft providers have "auto one pick" buttons and it speeds the drafts up tremdously. This way a guy close to the turn can auto his pick without jeopardizing his pick after the turn.



I won't do another Fanball slo draft until they add this very simple yet essential feature.