STATs AND MDC

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:48 am

Originally posted by Walla Walla:

The facts on the 12 team online draft I did. I signed into the draft it started and the program locked up. Was it my computer or thier software I have no idea. But I put in my draft picks 2-14,1, 15. Why? Because I got burned on the corner picks in two other drafts on MDC before this draft. The problem was if you miss your first pick it auto's the next pick also. So I changed my picks for the first time ever. I've always gone 1-15. While MDC

was rolling back the draft Greg did get on the board and started slaming us for not drafting fast enough! I know Greg must of been tired.For others to say this was a way for me to get an edge is just stupid. Todd Zola had no problem with it. He's doing well in this league. John, that's an interesting observation of that night. I was monitoring other drafts that night when I got summoned to your draft to make a decision on rolling back the first round. Not only did we want to get that first round correct, we gave you the benefit of the doubt and then had to make one more stop when Todd was on auto draft. So we had to roll back again. The first round of a 12-team draft took THIRTY FIVE minutes. THIRTY-FIVE. That's when I told all of you to behave and get down to business. We had seen two rollbacks and one request for a refund in 12 picks and it was time to get that one very unique league going in the right direction.

I monitored your draft and my two others for a few rounds and then left. I agree that nobody was trying to get an advantage, the bottom line is that two owners had trouble getting online to start the draft and everyone made concessions in this league to get going. Then we did the right thing for you and for Todd to get the first round correct. Everyone had one shot at Johan Santana and nobody wanted him until you took him in the second round. From that point on there were no problems.

But I wasn't quite the slave driver you make me out to be. I felt if we averaged 35 minutes per round this league wouldn't be done drafting in time for the season to begin. So yeah, I'll take the blame for that one.

Good luck in that league. And in all your leagues. Your initial complaint is bringing out suggestions for MDC, so see, you did well in your final season with us.

Mithrophon · Post by **Mithrophon** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:56 am

I wish my car could fly, but I'm not complaining to Toyota.

If you can find a better fantasy baseball experience out there for the same amount of money or less, go for it. If it's out there, it must be amazing, because this one's pretty darn great.

Gordon Gekko II · Post by **Gordon Gekko II** » Fri May 01, 2009 10:53 am

Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

Your initial complaint is bringing out suggestions for MDC, so see, you did well in your final season with us. greg - walla is approaching "snake" territory.

imagine all the free time you'd have if you didn't have to babysit someone who is clearly off his medication. hopefully walla will be outta here after this year. he's starting to bring your boards down (esp to newbies who don't know he's a lunnie) with his "call outs".

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:05 am

Just two cents on MDC. The only problem is with the pre-rankings. I pre-rank all the players and for that site I need to plan an entire weekend of my prep for it. It's not fun. If it were a little more user-friendly more people would use it.

Geoff, Greg, et al. please know that since I pre-rank I am consistently the fastest drafter in my satellites. If it were a bit more user friendly and everyone did it, you would have much faster drafts and it would be a lot less hours for you to have to monitor. Thanks for listening.

Gordon Gekko II · Post by **Gordon Gekko II** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:09 am

greg - i've never pre-ranked players on mdc and never will. i'm probably wrong about this, but only the weak do it. and yes, i'm a very fast drafter

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:23 am

Perhaps that explains the Joe Blanton pick.

Just saying...

CC's Desperados · Post by **CC's Desperados** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:25 am

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko II:

quote:Originally posted by Greg Ambrosius:

Your initial complaint is bringing out suggestions for MDC, so see, you did well in your final season with us. greg - walla is approaching "snake" territory.

imagine all the free time you'd have if you didn't have to babysit someone who is clearly off his medication. hopefully walla will be outta here after this year. he's starting to bring your boards down (esp to newbies who don't know he's a lunnie) with his "call outs". [/QUOTE]Are you kidding me? He has 800 post in NFBC career. Snake is well over 10,000. I'm sure you have given Greg more aggravation in your fantasy career. It wasn't more than a week ago you threw Greg under the bus and back it up to get him a second time. GGII has 1200+ post never mind what GG had.

Gordon Gekko II · Post by **Gordon Gekko II** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:26 am

Originally posted by Buster:

Perhaps that explains the Joe Blanton pick.

Just saying... sorry, not following you. blanton was a target of mine in most drafts. if the drafts were held today, i'd still be targeting him.

you and crazy are probably big brian bannister fans

Gordon Gekko II · Post by **Gordon Gekko II** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:30 am

Originally posted by CC's Desperados:

Are you kidding me? He has 800 post in NFBC career. Snake is well over 10,000. I'm sure you have given Greg more aggravation in your fantasy career. It wasn't more than a week ago you threw Greg under the bus and back it up to get him a second time. GGII has 1200+ post never mind what GG had. perhaps u should go back to being switzerland

come on baby, if greg was trying to remove the smoltz rule for THIS year, that was 100% the wrong decision. i protested, along with others. thankfully the 2009 rules remained in tact. u can choose to remain silent when such things happen. i don't

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:31 am

Originally posted by Walla Walla:

Tom, Got it! Send your money to us! But if you have a problem with our partners thats your problem! Take care of the problem yourself! Got got it! That's honestly the interpretation you have of what I said? Seriously? I'm sorry John, but nothing could be further from the truth. My point was that contacting MDC with comments is a helpful tool to utilize because they are extremely responsive to ideas and suggestions that can improve their site. They're working with you and us John to make the leagues we offer better. So if you have ideas or suggestions you don't just have to post here, you can also contact them directly.

I'm surprised that anyone who has been in our events for a lengthy period of time would believe we don't want to work with our customers to make what we offer better.

CC's Desperados · Post by **CC's Desperados** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:42 am

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko II:

quote:Originally posted by CC's Desperados:

Are you kidding me? He has 800 post in NFBC career. Snake is well over 10,000. I'm sure you have given Greg more aggravation in your fantasy career. It wasn't more than a week ago you threw Greg under the bus and back it up to get him a second time. GGII has 1200+ post never mind what GG had. perhaps u should go back to being switzerland

come on baby, if greg was trying to remove the smoltz rule for THIS year, that was 100% the wrong decision. i protested, along with others. thankfully the 2009 rules remained in tact. u can choose to remain silent when such things happen. i don't [/QUOTE]I could care either way about the Smoltz rule. I don't use it. I do care that you made it sound like that is why you drafted the guy which is total BS.

Gordon Gekko II · Post by **Gordon Gekko II** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:49 am

Originally posted by CC's Desperados:

I could care either way about the Smoltz rule. I don't use it. I do care that you made it sound like that is why you drafted the guy which is total BS. i said PART of the reason i drated smoltz in the rounds i did was because of his DL status and my ability to use him in my lineup. yes, i liked smoltz, but i woulda pushed him down another round or two if he couldn't be used like other DL pitchers have been used every year the nfbc had a DL rule.

if you thing i'm BS'ing about that, you are wrong. sorry

CC's Desperados · Post by **CC's Desperados** » Fri May 01, 2009 11:58 am

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko II:

quote:Originally posted by CC's Desperados:

I could care either way about the Smoltz rule. I don't use it. I do care that you made it sound like that is why you drafted the guy which is total BS. i said PART of the reason i drated smoltz in the rounds i did was because of his DL status and my ability to use him in my lineup. yes, i liked smoltz, but i woulda pushed him down another round or two if he couldn't be used like other DL pitchers have been used every year the nfbc had a DL rule.

if you thing i'm BS'ing about that, you are wrong. sorry [/QUOTE]Are selling more BS here? You drafted him because you thought he would help you this year. If you waited any longer, you risked missing him in the draft.

There is absolutely no edge by putting Smoltz in your lineup week after week. When he gets activated, I'm going to go over your team and see how many mistakes you made for two months.

Gordon Gekko II · Post by **Gordon Gekko II** » Fri May 01, 2009 12:01 pm

Originally posted by CC's Desperados:

Are selling more BS here? You drafted him because you thought he would help you this year. If you waited any longer, you risked missing him in the draft.

There is absolutely no edge by putting Smoltz in your lineup week after week. When he gets activated, I'm going to go over your team and see how many mistakes you made for two months. the only BS here would be yours

if u don't find having smoltz beneficial, GREAT for you. i DO find it beneficial. nuff said, no?

just a suggestion, but u may want to spend your time doing something productive...like looking at your teams and trying to improve them.

Gordon Gekko II · Post by **Gordon Gekko II** » Fri May 01, 2009 12:03 pm

i just printed off the Kentucky Derby Past Performance sheets. got any winners for me?

CC's Desperados · Post by **CC's Desperados** » Fri May 01, 2009 12:09 pm

Originally posted by Gordon Gekko II:

quote:Originally posted by CC's Desperados:

Are selling more BS here? You drafted him because you thought he would help you this year. If you waited any longer, you risked missing him in the draft.

There is absolutely no edge by putting Smoltz in your lineup week after week. When he gets activated, I'm going to go over your team and see how many mistakes you made for two months. the only BS here would be yours

if u don't find having smoltz beneficial, GREAT for you. i DO find it beneficial. nuff said, no?

just a suggestion, but u may want to spend your time doing something productive...like looking at your teams and trying to improve them. [/QUOTE]Let me think...I can't remember seeing a CC's Desperados disaster thread. It looks like my team is a closer this year. By your comments, your team already threw the jockey!

Geoffrey Stein · Post by **Geoffrey Stein** » Fri May 01, 2009 1:15 pm

Hey guys,

I'll try to keep this as short and sweet as possible and try to knock out as much as I can.

1) We can only do so much to get drafters ready for their league. We have multiple ways to search for a player rather than scrolling down our default rankings including a search box where you can type in the player's name and an alphabetized list option. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to alert users to those within the software -- it is up to them to figure it out. If the user doesn't take the time to familiarize himself with the software -- in the 20 minutes prior to the start of the draft or with the account comped as being a member of the NFBC -- there isn't a lot we can do.

2) At the start of every draft I give out the info of what to do in case of an emergency. If there is a problem with the site, everyone will have an issue, including the MDC and NFBC reps. However, we can't monitor when someone is having a problem with their computer, which 99.9 percent of the time is an issue with something other than the MDC software. Once again, it's up to the user to make sure they're set with the phone number given to them at the start of the draft. Nobody who's ever contacted us right away has come away unhappy.

3) We do realize that the rankings process could be easier, but from a technology and budget standpoint, there isn't a lot that we can do at this point. If you ever have troubles with anything, I urge you to contact me or the MDC support team and we'll do our best to make creating your rankings as stress free and short as possible.

4) We pride ourselves on our customer service and listening to what our customers want -- much like Greg and Tom. However, we're a two-man operation, that gets by on the love of what we do, the fear of having to get a real job and lots of caffeine. Trust me, Jason and I aren't cruising around Miami in BMWs while wearing fancy tailored suits and gold chains. Most times we're in a freezing cold/scorching hot -- depending on the season -- office trying to do 20 things at once. If we don't follow through on one of your suggestions, it's not because we thought it was dumb or we're being lazy, it's because we sat down, talked it out and decided that we don't have the manpower and/or budget room to make it happen.

We really enjoy our relationship with Greg, Tom, the NFBC and all its participants and really want to make sure that everyone involved is getting the best product/service. If you need help with anything or have any suggestions, feel free to contact me at: geoff @ mockdraftcentral.com.

Thanks much. Have a great weekend. I'm off to drink my Dos Equis, which is much, much better than Corona by the way

CC's Desperados · Post by **CC's Desperados** » Sat May 02, 2009 12:45 am

Geoff-

Do you have the abilty to remove names of players who don't play any more?

This can't take more than a couple of hours before each season. It doesn't have to be perfect, but losing some dead weight couldn't hurt.

bjoak · Post by **bjoak** » Sat May 02, 2009 5:13 am

Geoff,

Can I make a small suggestion for pre-rankings that should not cost a lot of money to implement (I hope)? The biggest problem with the pre-rankings to me is the drag and drop process. It is useful if I forget a guy and want to put him in the middle later, but I build my lists from scratch and have to drag and drop every player to the end of my list.

Anyway, if I type in a player's name (like I do now) but then could press a button next to his name once he comes up to make him automatically go to the end of my list I'd have no problems with the process whatsoever. It is just that dragging and dropping of every guy that is tedious and lengthy.

In lieu of that, I think it would be easier to just have a single list of players that scrolls down every time you add someone new. The three columns are difficult to use. I'd love to be able to just scroll through the list. That might be tougher to implement, but the first suggestion seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to add. Thanks for giving my ideas consideration.

[ May 02, 2009, 11:22 AM: Message edited by: bjoak ]

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Sat May 02, 2009 6:59 am

As far as my drafting 5 pitchers hurting the other teams for the over all in the On-line draft are false. The current 2nd team in the overall is from this league. Sorry I didn't follow the experts line.

BARBERIAN · Post by **BARBERIAN** » Sat May 02, 2009 8:32 am

WHY WOULD ANY RATIONAL MAN EVER FLY INTO SEA-TAC?

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Sat May 02, 2009 8:39 am

WHY WOULD ANY RATIONAL MAN EVER FLY???

Gordon Gekko II · Post by **Gordon Gekko II** » Sat May 02, 2009 9:10 am

Originally posted by BARBERIAN:

WHY WOULD ANY RATIONAL MAN EVER FLY INTO SEA-TAC?